Poker on the Colbert Report

If you get a chance to see a rerun of the Colbert Report from tonight you should check it out. Charles Nesson was the guest and he had about a ten minute interview advocating the promotion and legalization of poker. He is a professor at Harvard and uses poker as a teaching tool for strategic thinking. So check it out.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

WSOP Omaha Event

I'm not even sure when ESPN is broadcasting the WSOP events, but they keep showing up at random times on my DVR so I'm not complaining. I just watched the $5000 Pot Limit Omaha event and I really enjoyed it. These days it seems that 99.9998% of the poker on TV is holdem, and it can get old for even the most enthusiastic poker fan. I'm not very experienced in playing any other game, so I always look forward to broadcasts of non-holdem events. I want think it helps to get a feel for the game to watch other people playing it.

I especially appreciated the fact that they split the final table into two episodes. This way we can actually see some hands develop and they can show interesting hands that don't necessarily result in the elimination of a player.

It would be cool if high stakes poker turned into a mixed game. Or maybe they could play Omaha-8 for a season. Something to mix it up and let people know that there are other games besides holdem.

Another interesting point that Norman Chad kept bringing up is the number of international players that won bracelets this year. I wonder how much of that is a result of the UIGEA and the fact that not as many US players are qualifying online. Or at least not as high of a percentage of players.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Cash Out Now

This morning I got the email from Neteller that I've been waiting for for over 6 months. They are finally releasing the funds they've had locked up since their founders got arrested those many months ago.

Check out their site for more details, but they are allowing a one time cash out of your entire remaining balance. I don't necessarily want to start a bank rush, but if I were you and I still had money in Neteller I'd cash out ASAP before they either run out of funds or some other government agency claims it.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Fantasy Sports Sit-N-Goes

One of the problems with Fantasy Sports, especially baseball is that through the course of a full season you tend to get bored with it. There's nothing worse than getting off to a horrible start in fantasy baseball and then having to watch your team flounder in last place for three or four months. You probably end up more or less abandoning your team which makes the league less fun and competitive for the remaining players. Even if you are doing well, don't you get tired of checking up on your team daily or weekly, month after month?

Enter Fantasy Sports Live. This brilliant idea, dreamed up by poker blogger Blinders is the short attention span version of traditional fantasy sports. Each contest lasts but one day, so there's none of the hassles of traditional leagues such as maintaining your roster, making sure your players aren't on the DL, checking the waiver wire etc. You just pick your team for the day and go.

Oh, and did I mention the best part? You get to bet on the outcomes. Bet may not be the correct term. You pay an entrance fee for the contest and can win cash prizes. Its very much like a fantasy sports SNG.


From what I understand, this is perfectly legal even in the face of the UIGEA, and they even take deposits from major credit cards and PayPal. Since anti gambling laws have carve outs for horse racing and fantasy sports, sites such as this could be the new craze for people wanting to gamble test their skill online.




Go check it out. Sign up now and get a $10 bonus on your first $100 deposit to try out the site. Use bonus code POKERWORDS and get $10 for a $50 deposit, $20 for $100 or $30 for $300.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Yahoo! Poker

This is somewhat old news, but that doesn't mean I can't still add my two cents.

Yahoo! has recently gotten into the online poker market. They've had a play site, along with tons of other games for years, but just recently started offering real money poker for European players.

While it might be interesting that a big US based media company is getting in the game I didn't think it was all that noteworthy until I read a post on Lou Krieger's blog.

Lou mentions that Y! may be the first ISP to get into the market, they may not be the last as AOL already offers a play money poker game, and Windows includes holdem with the new Vista operating system. Lou speculates that it the UIGEA where repealed those companies and maybe others would offer real money poker to the US market.

I think this bodes well overall for our anti UIGEA/legal online gambling stance. If companies such as Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft want to get in on that action that has to be a good thing. They have money to throw around why wouldn't they be interested in spending a few million dollars here or there to get a slice of the billion dollar online gaming pie?

The more people, and companies, and most importantly companies with money that want gambling legalized, the better chance we have of making it so.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Hope?

Barney Frank has introduced a bill to repeal the AIGIA. His bill called the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act of 2007 (IGREA) will attempt to regulate and license online gaming. There are proposed restrictions based on state and indian tribal jurasdictions, as well as sports betting for sports that don't approve of it. There will also be the expected filter to prevent underage and compulsive gambling. Who know how much of an affect this will have, but it is start. We'll see how far the bill gets.

Further reading:

Lou Krieger

Poket Fives

PPA

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

The Tax Man Cometh

I finally finished my taxes tonight. After factoring in my gambling and gambling related affiliate earnings I think the amount of money I now owe Uncle Sam is what is generally referred to as a crapload. On the one hand that means I had quite a good year last year. On the other hand I don't like writing out checks with that many digits. It makes me rather sad in the pants.

This year, I'll be lucky to earn as much I just paid in taxes for last year which doesn't exactly make me happy. We always complain about how much money the government wastes, someone needs to add up all the potential lost tax revenue that the government will miss next year by clamping down on online poker. Bah.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Exemptions for Skill?

So, I saw this article on Google news and there's one thing in there that really confuses/bothers me.

In the second paragraph they mention how the Poker Player's Alliance thinks it might be able to get poker an exemption from the UIGEA since it is a game of skill. Correct me if I'm wrong, but that isn't what the debate is about. It's not whether its a game of chance or a game of skill, but whether or not you are wagering on it. I'm 99.9% sure that under strict interpretations of the UIGEA you can't wager on Chess or Backgammon either, and I'm fairly certain that most people will tell you there is more skill involved in those than poker. Or at least less luck.

So is it the wagering or the skill vs chance proportion that makes online gambling illegal? I think its the act of placing the bet, which no can deny is a significant aspect of the game of poker.

I don't see a poker exemption coming any time soon. I hope I'm wrong.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

The Sky is Falling (Again)

In case you haven't heard the founders of Neteller were arrested earlier this week on conspiracy to commit money laundering charges. Or something like that.

Here are a few interesting related links and a significant change from Neteller.

2+2 thread

TheAge.com.au


I'm sure you can find more if you half try.

the real important one is this:

Neteller Member News

Basically, Neteller is no longer accepting new accounts from US residents. They are also no longer accepting transfers to or from gambling related sites. You are still free to use your account for non-gambling related sites, and you should still be able to cash out.

So, this could very much kill the online poker/gambling industry. The US is a significant percentage of that market and the most popular methods for them to access it have now been eliminated. Bill Rini has a very good analysis of how this will affect the gaming market even for non-us players.

I wonder if its too late to deposit at Mansion Poker to take advantage of their 100K guaranteed? maybe its a good thing that I haven't deposited ther yet since it seems like cashing out isn't going to be all that easy if I do win.

I really want to go on a rant about how ridiculous our government can be, and how many better uses of our law enforcements time and money there are, but I'm pretty sure its all been said many times before. Maybe I'll have more comments tomorrow after I've had time to filter through all the news reports and other commentary.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Campaign Ads

I was pleasantly with the election results last night. It would have been nice if it had happened two years ago, but better late than never. The best thing about the elections being over is that I won’t have to see any more political ads for about a year.

I have an idea in regards to fixing political ads. Everyone hates them. 9/10 ads are viciously negative and misleading which turns everyone off of the whole political process. We always have to choose between the better of two evils because each candidate repeatedly tries one up the other in showing how evil their opponent is.

While I’d like to see negative prohibited, I don’t know how realistic that is. If your opponent really is a douchebag you should be able to point that out. You should also be able to talk about his record even though he may see that as a negative attack. You should not however be allowed distort things he may have said or done in an effort to make him look like more of a douchebag than he is.

I remember in the last presidential campaign they wanted to paint Kerry as a chronic tax increaser and said that he had voted to increase taxes some 280+ times (Yes I pulled that number out of my ass. I think it’s reasonably accurate but not worth the time to look up. First person to try to correct me and tell me they only said 267 times gets a kick in the balls). Where was I? Right 280 tax increases. That number was technically correct, but incredibly misleading. He had been in the Senate for 18 years and they counted every single line that related to an increase in taxes as voting to increase taxes. If there was a bill to legalize online poker and it among the many lines of pork that got attached to it was a line that instituted a $0.01 tax on all purchases of private jets, that was counted as a vote to increase taxes. It wasn’t. It was a vote to legalize online poker which happened to contain a tax related item. The point is he that while technically he may have voted to increase taxes that many times, he wasn’t specifically trying to raise taxes as the ad implied. I would bet that anyone else who had been in the senate as long as him would have a similarly high count. Both sides do it. I’m not trying to say that only Republican’s do, it’s just the first example I thought of.

My point is that kind of advertising should be stopped. Its destroying the country’s desire to participate in the democratic process.

Here’s my solution. Every ad has to be run by some auditing body such as factcheck.org. They would then rate the ad for accuracy and the ad would have to include a disclaimer. Similar to the “My name is John Doe politician and I approve this message” this would say: “The preceding ad has been rated as 34% accurate by FactCheck.org” or “The following ad has been given 4/10 stars for honesty by CrazyPoliticalClaimAuditors Inc”.

If they had to admit how full of crap their ads were, maybe they’d be less likely to sling mud and more likely to talk about themselves and their plans. If you talk about what you plan to do in the future, you can’t get bad honesty ratings because there’s no way to refute your claims. So not only do we get to stop listening to the vicious verbal assaults, but we might actually get to find out what candidates actually stand for. These rules would also apply to the various party commissions, and PACs that purchase ads on behalf of candidates.

So there’s my idea. Now someone else go do the work and get it implemented. Just make sure you call it the new law the “ZeRat11 guideline for accuracy incampaign advertising” Or something.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Poker Players Against Kyl

I made a donation to Jim Pederson today, and I would encourage you to do the same. Pederson is running against Jon Kyl, who was a one of those pushing hard for the anti gambling ban. I didn't donate much and I don't think the small amount that I did give will make or break anyone's campaign, but that's not the point.

If there's two things that politicians understand, its money and votes. I'm hoping that those in power will see that voting to enforce their misguided morality on others and to take away our freedoms will inspire people not only to vote against them, but to actually give money to their opponents in a retaliatory attempt to oust them.

So donate through the Poker Players Against Kyl page, even if its only $10. Even if we don't manage to vote Kyl out, at least we can make him and others think twice before voting against the will of the people.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

When They Came for the Poker Players

Saw this Article through Bill Rini's Poker Filter. Seems like a workthwhile cause given the current situation.

WHEN THEY CAME FOR THE POKER PLAYERS

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

"When they came for the online poker players I did nothing, because I wasn't an online poker player."

Some may take that attitude. We, at DownsizeDC.org, do not.

Congress harmed American businesses that run online gaming sites by outlawing money transfers to those sites. We stand with those harmed and against Congress.

Congress harmed American taxpayers who used to enjoy playing Texas Holdem on PartyPoker, and using Fireplay to enter the game and collect their winnings, but who can no longer do so because of Congress. We stand with those Americans and against Congress.

Some may take the attitude that this new law will help those with gambling problems, but a junkie can always find his fix. Perhaps now he will simply do so with a non-American online gaming site. Besides, Texas Holdem is more a game of skill than luck.

Some may like the "values" this new law symbolizes. They can sit and wait for William Bennett's next "virtue" book (though given recent news about Mr. Bennett, we now suspect will probably include a chapter titled, "The Virtue of Gambling"). But we prefer to act for the virtues of small government, self-determination, and free enterprise.

Some may prefer to buy a government sponsored lottery ticket, go play bingo at a church charity, or go to one of the Indian casinos from which Ralph Reed (of Christian Coalition fame) has earned so much money (via Jack Abramoff). We prefer to make Congress pay for its sins.

We must be prepared to defend others if we expect them to help us when we need defending. We want to make common cause with the online Texas Holdem players . . .

* We will ask Congress to repeal the anti-gaming law they passed before they adjourned. http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=57
* We want to ask online poker players to help us pass the "Read the Bills Act."

Here's what online gamers need to know: If the "Read the Bills Act" was already law, then Senator Frist couldn't have hidden the anti-gaming law in a Port Security Bill at the last minute. Please do the following . . .

* Send Congress a message asking them to repeal the online gaming law. Do so here. http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=57
* Forward this message to friend, and ask them to do the same
* Send a second note to Congress, and to your friends, about the "Read the Bills Act." Start here.
http://action.downsizedc.org/wyc.php?cid=27

But don't stop there:
* Help us grow by making a contribution here.
http://www.downsizedc.org/contribute.shtml
We only need another $1,996 to pay our October bills.

Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.

Jim Babka
President of the Downsize DC Foundation and DownsizeDC.org, Inc
Former President of RealCampaignReform.org, Inc.

2006-Oct-04
Save our ports from online poker sites!

Congress passed a bill prohibiting money transfers to online betting sites. This law hurts American businesses and American poker players.

This is a dishonest law passed in a dishonest way.

The Internet betting prohibition was added to a Port Security bill at the last minute, just before Congress adjourned. Putting this bill into the Port Security legislation guaranteed it would pass without examination or debate. This couldn't have happened if DownsizeDC.org's "Read the Bills Act" was the law of the land.

Senator Bill Frist is responsible for this travesty. He wants to be President. Passing this law helps him demonstrate to the GOP base that he's a "values candidate." Never mind that the benefit to him comes at the expense of others. So much for "values."

Congress must reconsider this bill, as a stand alone measure, and repeal it. If Congress wants to pass this law they should do so in the full light of day, without the cover of something like Port Security.

DownsizeDC.org was motivated to take up this cause for several reasons.

* We object to government sponsored restraint of trade.


* We think it highlights the need for the "Read the Bills Act."


* This law hurts honest Americans.

Please take action now by sending a message to your Representative and your Senators asking them to repeal this provision.

TALKING POINTS

* Congress shouldn't pretend they are our parents.


* Congress shouldn't be able to combine unrelated bills at the last minute.


* There should be a waiting period before a bill can be passed.


* Congress should have to read every word of every bill.


* And no bill passed in violation of these requirements should have the force of law.

Originally posted at blog.pokerwords.com

Port Security Bill

So there I was early Saturday, enjoying my morning cup of coffee catching up my blog reading when I came across this post by Biggestron.   I was expecting something along the lines of details for the next WPBT circuit event, but instead I’m blindsided by news that they tacked the anti gambling bill onto the Port Security bill.  

I thought we had survived this congressional term unscathed as they had failed to pass the bill on its own, and similarly failed to attach it to the Defense Budget.  Instead Bill Frist (R. TN, and all around asshat) managed to sneak it into the Port Security bill. You know the bill they have been working on since 9/11 to help secure our country.   They couldn’t be bothered to include necessary items like securing our railroads, but securing us from the horrors that is online gaming, they had time for that.  Which is a good thing, because we all know how effective prohibition can be.  When’s the last time you heard of someone drinking in this country?  Oh wait, that’s right, it didn’t work out so well.  

WTF is Frist’s problem?  What an asshole.  I’m not apolitical or legal expert so I’m not going to comment any further just yet, but you should definitely check out the following posts for some interesting insight.

• Biggestron Writes Poker


• PokerBlog.com:  Morning After, Legislation Update, Future of Fascism


• UpForPoker:  Internet Gambling Bill, Fight is Over


• Sound of a Suckout


• Bill’s Blog