It was either 2005 or 2006 (I believe it was 2006), when Royal Vegas Poker offered a special St. Patrick's Day tournament to its participants. Having set up a couple of alternate skins, such as Poker Time, the RVP folks didn't quite get the private/special connections for the event worked out. Play began, but was terminated a short while later. Monies were refunded, but no complete explanation other than the usual "technical difficulties" was ever offered.

What are the odds that I'd get in another St. Patrick's Day tourney on a different site, and that the same thing would happen again?

Bet the over, whatever odds you get. Between watching basketball, handling some off-line chores and knocking off a couple of last-minute pieces, I found time to sign up for a $1,000-added St. Patrick's Day event over at poker.com. It was an R&A event (not my favorite), but I chipped up gradually through the first hour, about doubling my initial 2,000-chip stack.

When, suddenly, the lights went out. A message went up on the screen stating that the tournament had been cancelled by an administrator and that all entry fees would be returned to the players per site rules. That's fine and all, but I detest things like this, particularly when the message indicated that the tournament had been halted intentionally, for whatever reason. Maybe it had something to do with the U.S.'s early shift to Daylight Savings Time, or maybe a pack of kangaroos invaded poker.com's Aussie headquarters.

I'm just jealous of my time, and I hate having it snatched from me in such a manner. Obviously, I'm not supposed to be playing promotional poker tournaments on St. Pat's Day, am I?