I'm chagrined I am not going to be able to make Jeff Pulver's Fall VON 2000 Conference in Boston next week from October 18-21. It promises to be a very good show.

But as exciting as it will be to hear all the latest scoop on VoIP, the October 17 Charity Poker Tournament underwritten by pulver.com promises some real ol' fashioned action before the official VoIP-talk begins. As far as I can tell, the deck is stacked only in favor of finding a cure for diabetes, as the proceeds from the charity event will benefit the Barton Center for Diabetes Education, Inc. The tourney sounds like a highlight of the Boston confab, and a chance for the attendees to put on their poker faces.

PS--While I'm plugging worthy causes, my colleague Kyle Dixon, who can put on quite a poker face of his own, is moderating a "View from the Hill" panel on Monday afternoon at the VON Conference. No doubt he'll do a great job of sorting out what to expect from those on Capitol Hill who might be planning to shuffle the deck next year.