Hit Parade

Had threatened a few posts back to do another one of those end-of-the-year lists before we moved on to 2008. Can’t very well go around making threats then not following through, can I?

So I spent a little time poking around in Google Analytics and figured out how to identify the most-frequently hit posts of 2007. Here are the top 15:

1. “David ‘Chip’ Reese (1951-2007)” (December 4)
On the poker legend’s passing.

2. “Night of the Living Bots” (May 13)
Regarding the “NL Bots on Full Tilt” horror show.

3. “The Sunday Million Show (Now With Hole Cards)” (November 8)
On PokerStars’ new policy for the Sunday Million replays.

4. “The Idea of the IGREA” (May 22)
On Barney Frank’s H.R. 2046.

5. “Surveying the Poker Podcast Landscape (1 of 2)” (March 27)
The first part of a list of summaries/reviews of poker podcasts. (The “landscape” has changed a lot since March.)

6. “2007 WSOP, Day 25: The $50K H.O.R.S.E. Event -- More Bracelets Than Entrants” (June 25)
Previewing the H.O.R.S.E. event.

7. “2007 WSOP Final Table Hand No. 24: ‘The Action Man’” (September 13)
A look at an interesting, not-much-discussed hand from the Main Event final table.

8. “2007 WSOP Final Table Hand No. 9: ‘You Certainly Started Out Gambling’” (September 7)
A look at an interesting, very-much-discussed hand from the Main Event final table.

9. “A Hearing Impaired” (June 10)
Breaking down a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on online gambling.

10. “The Caveman, Cub, and Donkey Are Back” (February 23)
Announcing the debut of the PokerWire podcast (destined to go off-air by September).

11. “Focus on Ethics” (March 1)
On some of Jamie Gold’s shenanigans at the 2006 WSOP as well as Paul Wasicka’s Bluff article regarding so-called “joint sessions.”

12. “Surveying the Poker Podcast Landscape (2 of 2)” (March 29)

13. “Poker Podcast “‘News and Notes’” (October 26)
Responding to a short miscellany of items, including the debut of Big Poker Sundays.

14. “Shamus in Vegas: Episode 9 – What Happens in Vegas Gets Spread All Over the Internet” (May 1)
Of the ten posts I wrote about my April trip to Vegas, this was the one with the most sex (by far).

15. “Stephan M. Kalhamer and Chad Brown’s Act to Win in Texas Hold ’em Poker” (August 18)
A review of one of the year’s crummiest poker books.

Three other posts written in 2006 were actually among the leaders for most-hit in 2007. Well, four (if you wanna be technical).

People continue to find those “Doing the ‘What if?’ Shuffle” posts from July 2006 (both part one and the sequel). Some find it via the PokerDiagram link, but many are searching for info about the shuffling or “RCG” programs used by online sites and landing on those pages.

Another very short one from the spring of 2006 called “Hilarious Haralabos” is way up there in terms of hits as well. The post isn’t that special – just a brief reference to Haralabos Voulgaris’s gut-busting appearance on the old Circuit podcast back in May ’06. As far as I can tell, two factors have made that particular post a popular target of late: (1) Voulgaris’s return as a co-host on the new podcast Big Poker Sundays; and (2) the unlikely coincidence of both me and searchers’ having correctly spelled his name.

Finally, a post from July 2006 titled “169 Ways to Showdown” continues to be the single most popular entry on Hard-Boiled Poker. (In terms of unique hits, anyhow.) In the post I take a shot at analyzing some of my PokerTracker data, but I’m convinced a lot of people are finding the post after searching for charts with starting hand rankings for Hold ’em. They are finding a chart there, all right, but it ain’t a terribly useful one (in my view).

Onward to 2008! Happy New Year, all.