Death of Online Poker: Day Zero

With the indictments today of the Big Three online Poker providers in the US today, there is a virtual blackout of online play.  I am sure you can still feed your urges at some of the smaller sites, but I would not encourage it.  This is the reason I have played very little with real money since UIGEA was passed by congress.

For details on what is happening, I suggest you got to Pokerati.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness (just not online for the time being)!

What A Great Day!

This afternoon I went to make a withdrawl from my FTP account.  I have done this often enough that it almost seems like clockwork.  I make a withdrawl request for a check to be sent to me.  It gets approved.  And in less than 3 weeks, I have a shiny new check to deposit.

Well, this afternoon that changed.  Apparently FTP is having some kind of issue with check withdrawls and will "contact" me by email when it is fixed.  Huh?  I hope this isn't some kind of UIGEA related problem.

Being unemployed, the meager funds I have at FTP are very helpful.  If anyone knows what is going on, please let me know.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Half of Take 2 = Take1?

I am five days into the 10 day Take 2 promotion at FTP.  So far I have met the requirements for the first level.  That means $5.00 will go into my account on Monday.  If I meet the requirements for four of the five next days they will add another $20.

At this point is seems like taking candy from babies.  I have been playing on the micro-limit Rush Poker tables.  (I had a little cash in my FTP account.)  Who knows, this could be the start of my online bankroll without having to run afoul of any UIGEA regulations.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

Checking out the Poker

Sometime in the next two weeks I will be headed over to the "Hollywood Casino" (formerly Charles Town Races and Slots) to check out the poker action.  No, I will not be playing.  Unfortunately I am still unemployed and have no bankroll.  But I hope to report on how the poker is there.  This is really killing me.  I have been trying to get poker here in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia for some time.  And now that we have it, I can't play it.

Probably just as well though.  I have only played online poker, and for play chips only since congress passed UIGEA.  I would probably lose my bankroll in an hour.

If I don't get a report on Hollywood Casino up by September 14th, please remind me.

Until then, Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

We Need the Money

Isn't it amazing how when Congress needs money, ideology goes out the window.  Congress is now considering legalizing online Poker and non-sports betting.  What a change from four years ago when they snuck legislation through and justified it by saying that they were protecting us. 

Will greed win out over political ideology? Who knows. It is interesting that there is an Opt Out clause in the current legislation for states with Native American casinos.




"Some adults will spend their money foolishly, but it is not the purpose of the federal government to prevent them legally from doing it."

REPRESENTATIVE BARNEY FRANK, on a proposal in Congress to tax internet gambling.


See the whole article here at the New York Times.



Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

 

Getting Better

I had time for some play money SnG action this week on FTP.  I played 4 multitables and made the final table 4 times.  I was in the (play) money twice and even won once.  I was making good reads and getting my chips in at the right places throughout.  The two where I did not make it to the money, I was not patient enough.  I'm getting better.  Hopefully the trend will continue.

As you may or may not remember, I have not played with real money online since the US Congress passed the most dastardly, cowardly act I can remember.  I think it would be better if they regulated and taxed online poker than try to ban it.  It does not stop those who truly wish to play.  They can get their money to the online site.  With any luck, congress will wake up after the election and deal with this.  But I doubt they will.  At this point it is not a major issue and the atmosphere is too polarized for them to agree to anything. 

Yes it has been Four Years.

Yes this blog has been around for 4 years. And considering the content, it is kind of a dubious distinction. There are many poker blogs which have fallen by the wayside in that time. Blogs which were better written. Blogs which had more content. Blogs which posting was done on a more regular basis. Yet here I am.

If you had asked me four years ago where I would be in my poker journey, I would have told you I would be at the WSOP and cashing big. I would have said I had plans to attend most of the WPBT get-togethers. Those things and a lot more should have happened.

What did happen?

Work - and lots of it. I had a very good, well paying tech job, but the commute and the price of gas forced me to leave it. I now make less than half that in a retail environment. (Any jobs out there?)

UIGEA - Those bastards in Congress ruined the Party!! Forcing Neteller, Party Poker, and others to drop US players out of fear of lawsuits and more.

The fine voters of Jefferson County, West Virginia - These people did not see the merit in table gaming at the local race track. Although the voters in the counties of the other 3 racetracks in West Virginia voted for table gaming. Jefferson County Schools, who would have been the benificiary of the Table Gaming revenue, missed out on an estimate 2.5 million dollars the first year and an estimated 4.5 million dollars in each subsequent year. Hopefully they will vote FOR table gaming the next time it comes up. It would be nice to have a poker room twenty minutes from home!

Online poker - I have been playing play money since UIGEA. I know I could play real money at some sites, but it is the principle. Until Congress gets off their butts and acts...

So what little poker skills I have will languish. What little sense of poker blogging community I once felt will stand idle. I will wait. I have patience. Eventually circumstances will change, they always do. And I will pursue my poker journey with renewed vigor. Until then I will be playing for play chips, reading poker blogs, and wishing there were more poker players in Congress.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

UIGEA Hearing

On April Second, the Financial Services Committee of the US House of Representatives held a hearing on UIGEA. I will deal with the substance a little later. Right now I want to deal with the subtext, or as I like to call it, the pretext of the hearing.



The UIGEA was passed in 2006. Today it is 2008. Both of these years are election years. Senator Bill Frist snuck the UIGEA into the Safe Ports Act because he knew that no one would vote against safe ports, especially in an election year. And he was right. It passed and President Bush signed it.



UIGEA is not before the Committee because Congress is serious about either changing or repealing it. It is before the Committee because politician want other politicians to be on the record. This way they can use the record to bash their opponents over the head with it in the elections this fall. I don't think that Congress will do anything about UIGEA (if they do anything at all) before the Fall of 2009.



With that said, on to the "substance": UIGEA overburdens banks with regulations. It is vaguely worded, and therefore hard to interpret. The cost to financial companies to comply would be "prohibitive", but hard to calculate the exact amount because of UIGEA's vague wording. It is limited in how it can combat "illegal internet gambling" and does not define exactly what "illegal internet gambling" is.

My take: Could UIGEA be used to stop purchases of goods and services via the internet? According to my mother-in-law it could. She views purchasing anything over the internet as a gamble.

Until they sort all this out sometime in 2009 or 2010,

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!

UIGEA is Bad, Conservatively Speaking

A recent article in PokerNews says a conservative thinktank has come out with a White Paper against UIGEA.

Go read, enjoy, then let your Representatives in Congress know how you feel about UIGEA.

Enjoy the Pokery Goodness!