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.
Flying dice photo by G & A Scholiers (TouTouke on sxc.hu)
December 16th, 2009 Topper Posted in Barney Frank, Online Poker, Play Texas Hold 'em, Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act No Comments »
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.
August 9th, 2009 Topper Posted in Full Tilt Poker, Online Poker, PokerStars No Comments »
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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 poker 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.
July 25th, 2009 Topper Posted in Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Eli Elezra, High Stakes Poker, Online Poker, Poker Hands, Poker Players, Poker Strategies, Poker Strategy, Poker Tips, Tom Dwan, poker theory No Comments »
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.
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:
July 9th, 2009 Topper Posted in Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Online Poker, Poker Accessories, Poker Gifts, Poker Players, poker chip sets, poker clothing, poker shirts, poker supplies, pokers sets No Comments »
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.
| Honor Those Who Have Served |
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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.
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$59.95
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$59.95
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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″
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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!
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$4.95
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$19.99 each
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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.
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| Corral Those Poker Winnings in Style |
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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 poker. And they don’t even have to have been to the WSOP to use it!
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$89.95 |
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