The Online Poker Pro

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China and the United States are the two most influential countries in the world when it comes to free trade and World Trade Organization (WTO) commitment compliance. Ironically, both countries claim that compliance is essential, yet neither has demonstrated that through their online poker and Internet gambling laws.

The U.S. is already in trouble with the European Commission, which has given our lawmakers a grace period so they can clean up Internet gambling legislation and be in compliance with European Union trade agreements. The U.S. has yet to heed the warning, though, and the next step would be for the European Union to bring the case to the WTO.

But if Representative Barney Frank has his way, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) will be repealed and the U.S. will be on its way to a more progressive policy on Internet gambling. Frank has long recognized that millions of people in the U.S. want to be free to gamble online legally — no matter whether they want to play pai gow poker, slots, roulette or any of the other games of chance available online — and that taxation of the online gambling industry could provide financial windfalls at every governmental level. He’s been busy gathering support in the House of Representatives for his bill and just added his 50th and 51st official supporters last week.

China has not come quite as far as the U.S. when it comes to overhauling their Internet gambling laws. The Chinese government has mandated filters, which prevent citizens from accessing Internet casino gambling sites. In fact, the Chinese government’s stance on Internet gambling is so oppressive, as recent as February of 2010 a Chinese Web site developer was sentenced to six years and ordered to pay a fine of 5 million yuan ($735,000 dollars) for his role in building casino gambling Web sites. Nineteen other Chinese men who were involved were also given prison terms ranging from one to five years and fines of 20,000 yuan to one million yuan.

Now that there’s  a marked shift toward legalizing many forms of Internet gambling in the United States, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism has granted $3 million to revisit a study done in 1999-2000 that identified where and how often problem gambling was happening and the consequences.  The grant was spurred by concerns that greater access to Internet gambling will produce greater chance for gambling addiction to take root.

The University of Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions (BRIA) is the recipient of the grant. Senior Research Scientist John W. Welte, Ph.D., of the BRIA conducted the original investigation and will once again be heading the research project. The study will consist of Welte and his team conducting phone interviews and other behind-the-scenes research to see how online gambling expansion is affecting problem gambling figures. Welte will incorporate data from his previous research project with new research to reach his conclusions. Research topics will not just be limited to Texas Hold ‘em poker and other popular forms of online and casino gambling, but also on the more informal worlds of fantasy sports and office betting pools.

According to Welte: “This research will examine trends in gambling behavior and gambling problems among adults in the United States since 1999. Most importantly, we also will examine the relationship between gambling trends and changes in the social approval of gambling, changes in neighborhoods and changes in state gambling laws.”

The focus on local gambling is key because cities and states control casinos and lottery outlets, in effect giving voters and policy makers influence over the rates of problem gambling in society at large.

A Gambler Gambles

An argument for legalizing online gambling, is that there will always be and always has been forms of gambling. For centuries people have gambled.  Ancient cave drawings have depicted people playing dice; dice made of the bone of ancient and extinct dogs have been found that date back 40,000 years.  Mahjong, the Chinese tile game is a game of chance that dates back to 2300 B.C., and archeologists have even found gambling artifacts  in what was ancient Greece, even though gambling at that time was forbidden. It is said that the universe was split into heaven, hell, and the sea by a game of dice between Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon. Gambling has been around a long, long time.

“The thing is,” says long time risk taker David Giordano, “that there are those that gamble, and there are those who just don’t.  Take my wife for example.  She’s never bought a lottery ticket in her life. She doesn’t know how to play poker. I take her to the casino, she goes to the spa. She won’t even let the gas needle get lower than half a tank.  She doesn’t risk anything!”  He takes a drag off his cigarette and continues, “Me?  I’m a gambler. I play the stocks, I bet horses, blackjack. I’ve lost some on the Knicks. I play poker online and if there’s an ad that looks good that’s blinking at me and says click here to win, guess what?  I click it.  That’s just me.  A gambler gambles. Hey! I may lose just as much or more than I win, but that don’t stop me.  Why would that stop me? And why should I be stopped by the Congress?  It’s America, I’m free right? And I want to gamble online without repercussion. And I know what I’m doing, so they should just let me.  No two ways about it. Legalize it. Legalize online gambling.”

Playing card photo by Chris Withers

Image via Wikipedia

If you write or blog about poker or gambling in general, chances are you want some artwork to go with your stories. There’s plenty of fee-based art but chances are you don’t want to pay for it if you’re just doing something for yourself. Quite frankly, there isn’t a whole lot of free casino gambling clip art on the Internet — at least not that’s of much use. But I managed to round up some resources that are professional looking and also completely free. I actually created some of them, so it wasn’t too hard to compile the list!

I’ve listed these free gambling clip art and photo resources below. Please let me know if you have any others you think should be included on the page.

Stock Xchng
Searches for “gambling,” “poker,” “casino gambling” and other related terms will bring up some great images. The photos in one section are affordable stock images but there is another section where you’ll find plenty of free images. Please review the terms for each image, which is located under the green bar that reads “Availability.” Even if the terms don’t require it, providing a photo credit is considered good etiquette because Stock.Xchng photographers take the time to upload quality images for no charge.

Royal Flush Clip Art
This royal flush clip art was created by yours truly, using Picnik.com, the free online graphics software. A link to the page where the clip art resides would be appreciated but isn’t mandatory.

Playing Cards Clip Art
I also created this collection, which features every card in the deck in three patterns: regular, puzzle pieces and a wavy look. The same linking request goes for this as for the royal flush clip art.

Vintage-look Poker Hands Clip Art
I also created these vintage-looking poker hand images that give an Old West feel that’s perfect for articles related to the origins of poker. The same linking request goes for this as for the royal flush clip art.

I hope you find this list of free Internet gambling photos and clip art helpful!

Aficionados of online casino gambling in general and online poker in particular will now have to wait until June 1, 2010, to see their fate in the United States. December 1, 2009, was supposed to be the deadline for implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), a mangled mix of regulations that put the onus on U.S. financial institutions to enforce who can and cannot gamble online in the United States. This regulation doesn’t affect non-paid Internet gambling, such as free blackjack, bingo or poker that just pay out play chips, but it’s literally do or die for gambling sites that deal in U.S. dollars.

It’s not surprising that the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and the Department of the Treasury jointly announced the six-month delay, because financial institutions were in an uproar over how to implement it. The UIGEA, which was hastily tacked onto the Safe Port Act in the last session of Congress in 2006, forces financial institutions to block unlawful Internet gambling transactions. Yet the bill did little to define what would be considered unlawful. The result was that in the absence of clear guidelines, financial institutions would have no choice but to block their customers’ transactions with online gambling sites, including wagers placed on horse racing and the purchase of state lottery tickets.

Proponents of UIGEA modification now have until June 1, 2010, to convince Congress that not only is the bill unfair, but that it also blocks a huge source of tax revenue at a time when the country could really use it.  As John Pappas, the executive director of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), an advocacy organization with a major stake in the outcome of this fight, says,  “In these trying economic times, we’re the only industry that’s coming forward and saying, ‘Here’s a pile of money!’”

The six-month delay came about because of a petition filed by the PPA, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and the American Greyhound Track Operators Association, which would all face similar problems if the UIGEA were implemented as is. But the PPA and many others realize that altering the UIGEA won’t provide strong enough regulation for the online gambling industry. That’s why they also stand firmly behind Representative Barney Frank’s H.R. 2267 and Senator Robert Menendez’s S. 1597, which would provide protection for underage and compulsive gamblers.

You can be sure that all stakeholders will be busy for the next six months trying to convince any lawmakers not already on-board that online gambling is not a crime and that it’s time for realistic legislation that benefits everyone involved.

Image via Wikipedia

There’s no question that online poker is getting more popular by the day. And with U.S. gambling regulations being called into question right now in Congress, the game could get an even stronger foothold in the future.

In the coming weeks, hearings will be held in Washington to see whether the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) should be overturned. Representative Barney Frank has led the charge to overturn this law that provides hindrance to players, yet little protection. Many, including Parry Aftab of the Internet safety group WiredSafety, believe that legal online gambling governed by well-thought-out regulations would protect players better. Online players are currently falling victim to unregulated companies that rip them off and clear regulations could potentially circumvent a lot of this cybercrime.

Frank and many others who support overturning the UIGEA have taken their stance because it’s clear that online poker and other forms of gambling are not only here to stay, but they’re on the rise. Statistics show that so much money can be made by players that people will find a way to play, legal or not.

According to the PokerListings Traffic Report, the top four poker sites currently have nearly 100,000 players on their sites at peak times. And out of 3,757,629 players being voluntarily tracked by PokerListings, there are at least 100 recent players who have made more than $300,000 playing online poker, five who have made over $1 million, one who made over $3 million and one who brought home a whopping $4.5+ million — and those are only the players who are being tracked.

The opportunity to make so much by playing poker online is no doubt is due to the hordes who came online after learning to play Texas Hold’em while watching the many TV shows about it, or by participating in ubiquitous local tournaments. Transferring those skills to the online arena was simply a natural progression.

With any luck, the U.S. Congress will see the handwriting on the wall and understand that trying to block online poker and other froms of Internet gambling will be about as effective as Prohibition was in the 1930s: a lot of money will be spent in enforcement and not a lot will be achieved.

This is the third in our series of notable poker hands from television shows. This hand is from High Stakes Poker, which has done quite a bit to improve poker strategy implementation for players everywhere, by providing access to poker pros in action. For those who are unfamiliar with it, High Stakes Poker can be seen on the Game Show Network.

We begin with David Williams opening the pot by betting $1,800 after receiving the jack of spades and 9 of clubs.

Brad Booth then raises to $5,800 with the 4 and 2 of spades.

Phil Ivey is next and he re-raises to $14,000 with the king of hearts and the king of diamonds.

David Williams folds and Brad Booth calls, making the pot $31,100 before the flop. The flop is the 3 of diamonds, the 7 of spades and the 6 of diamonds.

Phil Ivey, with his pocket kings, is way out in front and bets $23,000, making the pot $54,100.

Brad Booth, with nothing but an inside straight draw and back-door flush draw implements a very gutsy poker strategy and goes all in. The pot is now $354,100 and Phil Ivey would have to go all in to call. Even though Booth probably put Phil Ivey on exactly what he had, an overpair, it was still a tremendous play against one of the best (many say, the best) player in the world. Ivey, concerned that Booth had flopped trips, folded and Brad Booth took down a large pot with very little.

This is one of those poker hands that make you truly respect the experience and poker strategy at work when the pros play. For those attempting to learn to play poker, High Stakes Poker and other television shows can be invaluable sources of poker tips, because poker theory literally comes to life and plays out right in front of you.

Check out these other High Stakes Poker hands:

• Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari
• Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate and Barry Greenstein

Playing card clip art courtesy of Dave Schloss

Brad Booth image © High Stakes Poker and the Game Show Network

Image via Wikipedia

Rejoice all you multiple-tournament online poker players! The latest online poker accessories are synchronized breaks that take place at 55 minutes past every hour and allow all the action to stop at once. In April, Full Tilt Poker addressed the needs of every holdem poker online player who ever lost blinds during poker hands because they got up to get a drink, answer the phone or go to the bathroom, and now PokerStars is doing the same.

On PokerStars breaks take place at 55 minutes after the hour, no matter when the tournaments start. So even tournaments beginning at 50 minutes before the hour will have a break five minutes later. Not all tables have breaks though. To find a tournament with synchronized breaks, look for this notation in the event’s information window: “The tournament goes on break at 55 minutes past the hour.” The “Breaks” area of the tournament information screen will also note whether the tournament will be paused at 55 minutes past every hour.

Full Tilt’s synchronized breaks also start at 55 minutes past the hour but several tournaments don’t have the action paused, including sit-and-gos with fewer than 30 entrants, tournaments available for late registration, standard tournaments in the first blind level and turbo tournaments in the first two blind levels. Re-buy tournaments have 30-second to two-minute breaks following the re-buy period so players can add on.

PokerStars anticipates it will allow even more opportunities for synchronized breaks once they have a chance to test how it works and gauge player reaction. If the reaction from players who use the feature on Full Tilt is any indication, more tournaments of this kind will definitely be added, industry-wide.

Daniel Negreanu image via Wikipedia

This is the second in our series of notable poker hands from TV shows. This hand is from High Stakes Poker:

The hand begins with everyone folding to Phil Hellmuth who bets $3,200 with the ace of diamonds and the 2 of spades to make the pot $4,900.

Daniel Negreanu calls the $3,200 with the king of diamonds and the 10 of diamonds. The pot is $8,100.

Antonio Esfandiari raises to $12,000 with the jack of diamonds and the jack of clubs. The pot is $20,100.

Phil Hellmuth folds and Daniel Negreanu calls the additional $8,800. The pot is now $28,900. The flop is the queen of spades, the 6 of spades and the 10 of clubs.

Antonio’s jacks are still best. After Daniel checks, Antonio bets $15,000. The pot is now $43,900. With only a pair of 10s and an over-card on the board, Daniel comes over the top and puts Antonio all in. The pot is $173,900.

Daniel showed a lot of confidence when Antonio didn’t call immediately, making Antonio believe that Daniel had a pair of queens. Daniel Negreanu is one of the best poker players in the world and can usually chat at any point in any of his poker hands without giving anything away. But this time he agreed afterward with many of the players that he may have said too much, because Antonio picked up something and made a great call.

The turn was a 2 of diamonds, but unfortunately for Antonio, the river was a king of hearts, giving Daniel two pair and the win.

Both players have their poker strategy down cold, so they made great plays. And Antonio did everything right, including making a terrific read and a great call. But as you know if you’ve played in any poker room for more than an hour, the river can really be unkind. Ah, but it’s always good to have outs.

Check out the first hand we covered from High Stakes Poker, which also featured Daniel Negreanu, plus Barry Greenstein, Tom Dwan and Peter Eastgate.

Being a great poker player takes a lot of practice and skill. Consider playing at WPTCasino.com to practice when you’re not able to play in person.

Playing card clip art courtesy of Dave Schloss

Check out these other High Stakes Poker hands:

• Phil Ivey, David Williams and Brad Booth
• Tom Dwan, Peter Eastgate and Barry Greenstein

This is the first in our series of notable poker hands from TV shows. This hand is from the Game Show Network’s  High Stakes Poker:

The hand begins with the blinds at $400/$800 and $200 antes.

Barry Greenstein is dealt the ace of hearts and the ace of clubs under the gun and opens the pot with a bet of $2,500. He gets called by Tom Dwan with queen of clubs and 10 of clubs, David Benyamine with the 3 of diamonds and the 3 of clubs, Eli Elezra with the jack of diamonds and the 9 of spades, Ziigmund Sahamies with the 7 of hearts and 6 of spades, Daniel Negreanu with the king of diamonds and 4 of diamonds, Peter Eastgate with the 4 of hearts and the 2 of diamonds and Doyle Brunson with the ace of spades and the 9 of clubs.

Barry Greenstein	Tom Dwan	David Benyamine	Eli Elezra

Ziigmund Sahamies	Daniel Negreanu	Peter Eastgate	Doyle Brunson

The pot is $21,600 and on the flop comes the 2 of clubs, the 10 of diamonds and the 2 of spades.

Peter Eastgate (with the best hand: three deuces, 4 kicker) checks. Doyle checks and Barry bets $10,000 to try to find out where he is in this 8-handed pot. Dwan raises to $37,300 and everyone folds to Eastgate who calls. Barry also follows with a call. The pot is now $133,500.

The turn is a 7 of diamonds. Eastgate and Greenstein check and Dwan, with a 5% chance to win the hand (as he is dead to a 10), bets $104,200. Eastgate with the best hand, folds his three deuces with a weak kicker (no doubt concerned that Dwan might have with pocket 10s and a full house), which now leaves Barry with his pocket aces and a 95% chance of winning the hand. But with seven other players originally in the hand on the flop, he knows that poker odds indicate that the chance of someone hitting trips was very good and he also folds.

Dwan makes a tremendous play to win this hand. High Stakes Poker announcer Gabe Kaplan was so impressed that he remarked that about the only other player he would expect to see that kind of poker strategy from was the late Stu Unger.

Playing card clip art courtesy of Dave Schloss

Check out these other High Stakes Poker hands:

• Phil Ivey, David Williams and Brad Booth
• Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Antonio Esfandiari

Want to know what to get for the poker player who has everything? These poker gifts go beyond run-of-the-mill and will give you Christmas, Chanukah and birthday gifts sure to make any poker player smile.

This poker chip set is a great way to commemorate your poker-playing friends and family members’ military service.  The aluminum case features colorful artwork for either the U.S. Air Force, Army or Navy, and contains 500 chips, two card decks, and professional dealer and blind buttons. A metal insert in these 39mm-diameter, clay-filled poker chips gives them a casino-quality weight of 11.5 grams each, and a special technology fills them with clay, so they look and sound like clay poker chips.

$59.95

$59.95

Larry Curly and Moe, AKA The Three Stooges, try their hands at poker in this textured-surface art print that’s similar to an oil painting. Each framed print comes with a cherry burgundy finish and hanging hardware. Poster Size: 36″ x 24″ Frame Size: 39″ x 27″

Let your poker-playing friends freak out their competitors with these eery holographic eyeball sunglasses, similar to those worn by “Fossil Man” Greg Raymer during the 2004 World Series of Poker. Just make sure whoever you give them promises not to wear them at the table with you!

$4.95

$19.99 each

These limited edition bobblehead dolls make great poker gifts and are made of ceramic-like poly-resin, so you can see every detail, down to the numbers on the playing cards. Many popular players are available, including Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Jennifer Harmon, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen and Phil Hellmuth.

This stylish stainless steel money clip features the authentic World Series of Poker (WSOP) logo and is perfect for hauling around all that cash your friends and family win at cards or poker. And they don’t even have to have been to the WSOP to use it!

$89.95