Just because some of us got busy covering an actual tournament a freeroll doesn’t mean we slacked on our duties as the top parking lot correspondent in poker.

This import (from Illinois) has gotta belong to a poker player, right?

Seen in the Palms parking lot (up close to the door, suggesting an early morning arrival) during the Zynga Pokercon tourney:

Either that or maybe it’s just commentary on the fact that someone sold this guy a yellow car.

Laurence Toney didn’t make the Bluff Power 20 even though he runs the largest online poker site in the world. (38 million active players, they say, 7.5 million a day!) I know I know … I didn’t vote for him either … but spoiler alert: probably will next year.

Lo, as he’s known, Zynga Poker’s General Manager, aka @lo_toney, is quite the new mystery man in poker. He doesn’t come from a poker background, he comes from YoVille … one of the original Zynga games (and before that art.com, and before that eBay-Collectibles). While YoVille in and of itself is rather fascinating — seriously, they actually have a YoVille media, and do real-life biz with companies the WSOP could only dream about some day seeing on its felts — what that understanding of true social gaming brings to poker remains to be seen.

Check out the RawVegas interview with Lo …

… via Wicked Chops

One thing that is very different here compared to other tournaments seen around Vegas has been the LACK of patched up players in the field. Surely it’s gotta be a matter of politeness from Full Tilt and Stars, right — not wanting to crash this online+live poker newcomer’s coming out party? Saw Doyle Brunson with a Doyle’s Room patch yesterday … but hey, he’s Doyle … and @Pokerati, we have no couth, obv.

So big-good luck to Team Pokerati’s lone representative in the inaugural Zynga Pokercon, Stacey Nutini, aka Stacey Lynn, aka @LasVegasPokers. She just took her seat as alternate #23.

Pokerati Mincast: Team Pokerati @ZyngaPoker

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I wanted to sit down and pull together some thoughts on H.R. 1174 (The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act). This bill was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. John Campbell (R-CA) this past Thursday, has two Democrats and one Republican as co-sponsors, and has been referred to three House committees: Financial Services (on which Rep. Campbell and the co-sponsors all sit), Judiciary, and Energy and Commerce.

There’s not a great deal that I can say about the substantive provisions of H.R. 1174 that has not already been said. I have read one version of the proposed new bill. As pointed out in the Financial Services Committee’s press release, it’s the same version as Rep. Barney Frank’s (D-MA) H.R. 2267, as amended by that Committee last summer. Scarlet Robinson, Chris Krafcik, and Kevin Mathers, among others, have offered what I think are some very helpful opening comments on this measure. Chris has shrewdly pointed out that none of us should get too excited about H.R. 1174 because it has a long way to travel before becoming law if, indeed, it ever does become law in its current form (which I think is highly doubtful). This is a short post setting out some of the reasons for my thinking and setting up the Reid Bill from late last year as a comparison, where appropriate.

1. Federal Oversight – H.R. 1174 revives the concept of the Internet Gambling Licensing Program, which is to be overseen by the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary may both license and regulate applicants under the program and may, among other things, “revoke, at any time and for any reason, the qualification of any State or tribal regulatory body to certify or to conduct any other regulatory or enforcement activity to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.” The states, the various Native American tribes, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) will resist this intrusion into the authority of the state and tribal gaming regulators. There is provision for powers to be “delegated to qualified State and tribal regulatory bodies” under H.R. 1174, but this won’t be nearly strong enough for any number of constituencies given the authority vested in the Secretary, especially since the Secretary has the power to determine whether state and tribal regulators are “qualfied” to regulate Internet gaming in the first place. The Reid Bill suffered from the same conceptual defect on this score. In the Reid Bill, the Secretary of Commerce was supposed to exercise oversight over what were called “Qualified Bodies” and had the power to punish them if they weren’t up to scratch – including, in principle, revoking a body’s designation as a Qualified Body. Nevada (as only one, but probably the best, example) will abhor this kind of federal oversight of its Gaming Commission.

2. Opting Out - The Campbell Bill goes back to the opt-out principle, i.e., each state and Native American tribe that wants to opt out of the application of the measure needs to take affirmative steps to do so by giving notice to the Treasury Secretary. An opt-out provision is much less palatable to a number of the constituencies jockeying for position on regulated Internet gaming in the US than an opt-in provision, i.e., wherein each state or tribe affirmatively decides to put itself under the federal legislative umbrella on i-gaming. The Reid Bill took a more nuanced and practical approach by employing a combination opt-in/opt-out structure depending on the state. Many states, tribes, and commercial interests will not go for a blanket opt-out (as to the tribes, regardless of any “meaningful consultation with Indian tribes regarding all aspects of this subchapter”).

3. No Blackout - H.R. 1174 does not contain a so-called blackout period during which applicants (whether foreign Internet operators or otherwise) cannot be licensed. Remember that the Reid Bill had two blackout periods. The first blackout prohibited any licensure for 15 months post-enactment; that period applied to everyone. The second blackout was for at least two years post-issuance of the first licence. That second blackout period addressed the requirement under the Reid Bill that licensees had to be land-based casinos, racetracks, and equipment manufacturers; it was an open question whether the Secretary of Commerce was ever going to determine that any actors outside of that applicant class were “appropriate” for licensure. This provision in the Reid Bill received a lot of pushback from US players, who were justifiably concerned that they were going to be without a licensable online poker option for at least 15 months post-enactment. However, I don’t think the American Gaming Association will stand for anything less than some kind of mandatory blackout period post-enactment of a federal measure. They will want time to get their offerings in order and to prohibit competition that could subsequently be licensed in the US. (I was also reliably informed last year that 15 months was as low as the land-based caisno interests were prepared to go on the blackout.) I understand US players’ complaints and I agree with them in large measure, but a blackout period is a sine qua non of federal legislation. Interestingly, a lack of a mandated blackout – as under H.R. 1174 – may actually make it longer before anyone gets licensed. If there’s no hard date specified in the legislation, the Secretary may face less pressure to get anyone licensed in short order.

4. Off-Shore Operators - The Campbell Bill goes back to putting up stiff barriers to current foreign operators entering a licensed US market. The bill provides that licence applicants “may not be determined to be suitable for licensing within the meaning of this subchapter” if they, among other things, knowingly participated in “illegal Internet gambling activit[ies]” post-UIGEA enactment or were owned, operated, or managed by a person who knowingly participated in such activities. This prohibition extends to a licence applicant that has purchased or “otherwise obtained” an entity that has accepted US bets or wagers in violation of US law (or a customer list or any part of the equipment or operations of such an entity). This reaches further than the Reid Bill, which appeared to allow for non-US operators to partner with approved entities that could themselves become licensed in the US. That is, provided that the foreign operators shut off the US market during the blackout, paid out their players, and satsified their tax liabilities, the Reid Bill provided a path to allow those operators to be acquired (in whole or in part) by US land-based gaming interests that could be licensed. Such a path doesn’t appear to be available in H.R. 1174. If nothing else, it seems to me that the AGA will want at least the possibility to go into business with strong US-facing partners (provided they are suitably ‘cleansed’). I don’t see these particularly high barriers to entry surviving any final push to federal regulation, although barriers of some kind will remain. (As with the Reid Bill, this point might be moot. Will a regulator – whether the NGC or the Treasury Secretary or someone else – actually license an entity that contains assets or corporations that currently conduct US-facing business? The answer remains to be seen.)

5. Poker v. Casino - H.R. 1174 goes back to a regime where more than just Internet poker would be legalized; other casino games (for example), but not sports betting, are allowed. The Reid Bill allowed for poker only. I’m not clear that Sen. Reid or his constituents are ready for anything beyond Internet poker; I sense that facilitating contests between poker players with a rake and excluding house-banked games is as far as they are prepared to go right now.

Much more will be said and written about this bill, its prospects, its sponsors, and its detractors in the coming months. But no-one should expect a final law as passed by Congress – if anything is passed – to not have significant changes from the current draft of H.R. 1174; comparatively few actors in this drama want to go back to what came out of the Financial Services Committee last summer.

Stuart Hoegner is a gaming attorney and accountant in Toronto, Canada. He’s a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law but would almost prefer the appellation ”International Gaming Law Maven.” He tweets under the handle @GamingCounsel.

As the first ever live event for the world’s biggest online poker site (Stars wanna challenge the assertion?) gets underway … we are seeing the super-hyper-turbo nature of free poker play translated to a two-flight weekend at Zynga PokerCon.

There were 45 players left (from the first flight of 250) with blinds at 1,000/2,000. They started with 2,000 chips each, so that translates to … bear with me, doing math here … 18 percent of the field left, 5.5 big blinds for the average stack.

UPDATE (12 minutes later): Blinds just went up. Average stack is now 2.75 BB.
UPDATE (3 minutes later): We are in the money. 27 players remain.
UPDATE (1 minute later): Blinds are up to 3,000/6,000. 3.2 BB for the average.

Though I can hear Matt Savage and Allen Kessler cringing on the inside from wherever they are, the one guarantee with such a faster-than-charity structure is lots of exciting all-in hands. So in some ways reminds me of a WPT broadcast from a few years ago.

CORRECTION: See what happens when you assume? Turns out Matt Savage created this blind structure!

Click the image above to enlarge the blind and payout structures … they play each flight down to 3 … and then sit four others who qualified for ITM seats on Zynga Poker.

Seen here, playing slots outside the poker room at the Palms: Annie Shea (right) and her not-quite ready for Zynga Poker friend Rene Knapp — passing time while waiting to attend the afternoon Annie Duke poker school. Ms. Shea is one of 500 Zynga players who got into this event, which sold out days ago.

(I almost don’t get it … don’t they know about the new trend for late registration!?!)

Shea comes into this event with 7.5 million play-money chips in her bankroll.

Pokerati Mincast: Montana Zynga People

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The Poker Edge:

The guys from The Poker Edge are back this week with Daniel Negreanu in tow. First on topic is Erik Seidel’s recent run to the top of the all time money list and how the super high roller events are altering how he looks at the list. The discussion shortly turns to the SuperStar Showdown where Negreanu discusses his game plan against Isildur1. Negreanu also discusses the recent notNAPT event that was held at the Bike and PokerStars moving into poker regulation. You can listen to the entire podcast on ESPN.com, or download it directly via iTunes.

Poker Road Radio:

Are you looking for on the road radio with stops at most of the major tournament stops then you should be listening to Poker Road Radio. These guys have been at the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star tournament the past week and have had guest such as Dwyte Pilgrim, The Royal Flush Girls, and final table player Mike Sexton. The highlight of the week was the show from March 15th where Joe Sebok discusses the recent Friedman/Haxton issues that have come to the forefront on Cerus network. Check out the show on the Poker Road Radio site or subscribe via iTunes.

Jess And BJ Show:

This show speaks for itself, Jessica Welman and BJ Nemeth from the award winning The Poker Beat join forces at all the US World Poker Tour events to record the Jess and BJ show. If you do not watch these shows you definitely should.

The Zynga Pokercon is underway at the Palms. Right now some 500 people are packed in to an upstairs ballroom attending “Zynga U” — a mini poker boot camp for Zynga players — with Annie Duke as the lead professor. I think they’re at the part where she teaches them why Q4 is a bad starting hand against a raise and a re-raise in early position.

Perfect time for me to “work the hallways” … also perfect time to kick off my experimental “Pokerati Mincast” — a super-short audio and/or video taste of what this weekend is all about.

Sure enough, I found this lovely lady (I thought she was selling cigarettes) who was kind enough to explain to me one of the “games” they have here for players this weekend.

Dig’em.

Is it wrong to care more about the results of this matchup than Daniel Negreanu vs. Isildur1?

The House Committee on Financial Services released an official statement this evening which announced the awaited introduction of a new federal internet gambling bill by Rep. John Campbell (R-CA).  The new <shall-we-say> #campbellbill is, at the moment, identical to the last amended HR2267, whose most recent version can be found-> here.

From the press release:

WASHINGTON – The Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act was introduced in the House today by Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) with Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) as a leading sponsor. Congressmen Ed Perlmutter (D-CO) and Peter King (R-NY) are also leading co-sponsors.   The bill is identical to H.R. 2267 that was passed out of the House Financial Services Committee on July 28, 2010 with bi-partisan support.  The bill would establish a federal regulatory and enforcement framework under which Internet gambling operators could obtain licenses authorizing them to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the United States. The legislation comes in response to the enactment of Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which restricted the use of the payments system for Americans who gamble online.

As a recap, HR2267 passed through the Financial Service Committee last July.  It never took further steps in Congress last year, despite a significant sweat.  Harry Reid floated a draft of an internet gambling bill in December, known lovingly as #reidbill in Twitter, which also never made further official progress on Capitol Hill.  HR2267 contained no mention of the now dreaded “blackout” period that was the most infamous part of the #reidbill draft.

You can read the full statement by PPA, giving Campbell/Frank a virtual pat on the back-> here.

The PPA flew cross country from DC->Olympia earlier this week so they could rendezvous today with Andy Bloch+Linda Johnson+Jan Fisher and 20 online poker players.

No, it’s not part of the plot line to a poker-politico version of “Almost Famous”.

Unlike the lobbyist-types communing in various state capitals for the purposes of *passing* online gaming legislation, this party is roadtripping to *repeal* the online gambling ban in Washington State.

Read about it via the following presser from PPA (but lol at the word “draconian”):

Poker Players Alliance Members Meet with Washington Lawmakers
Hope to Gain Support for Overturning State Ban on Online Poker

Olympia, WA (March 17, 2011) – Members of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) from across the state of Washington are spending the day in Olympia today to ask their state lawmakers to overturn the draconian state law that makes Washingtonians felons for enjoying a hand of poker on their home computers. The PPA, the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide and more than 20,000 in Washington State, has been leading the efforts in the state to protect players from potential criminalization and provide them with a safe, regulated, national environment in which to play online poker.

“Washington is the only state that makes it not only a crime, but a felony on par with child pornography, for its own citizens to play poker at their home computer. Surely, lawmakers in the state can recognize that penalizing their constituents for opting to enjoy a hand of poker on the computer versus at the casino down the street is not only illogical but ineffective,” said John Pappas, executive director of the PPA. “Our goal with this lobby day is to raise awareness of the incongruity of this law and identify alternatives for legislators to support that will remove this criminalization while providing a safe and regulated online poker market.”

Joining more than 20 Washingtonians in Olympia are three renowned professional poker players – Andy Bloch, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher. The group of players will meet with at least 45 state legislators to discuss the impact of the state ban and how overturning the ban and supporting federal and perhaps even state regulation of online poker would result in consumer protections for players and millions of dollars in much needed state revenue.

The state law, passed in 2006 and recently upheld by the State Supreme Court, makes it a class “C” felony for an individual to play poker online from their home computer punishable by a $10,000 fine and/or five years in prison. A 2010 poll of Washington State voters found that an overwhelming 80 percent of them disagree with this law, and over half believe online poker should be licensed, regulated and taxed.

“We have the support of the public for overturning this ban. We have the support of the players. We hope that after today, we will have the support of state lawmakers as well and can begin the process of removing the criminalization of the individual players and establishing a safe, regulated online poker market in Washington State,” continued Pappas.

As a follow-up to my post on February 14th on proposed single event sports betting changes in Canada, today I did a podcast with Sarah Kaphake Cords from Casino Enterprise Management. In the podcast, Sarah and I discuss the proposed changes the Criminal Code, the challenges facing the provincial monopolies in Canada, and some thoughts on where the debate over sports betting in Canada and the US might be headed.

You can listen to the podcast here:

(In case you can’t get the above link to work, another off-site link to the podcast is here.) Enjoy!

First off, I would like to take the time to thank those who commented on last week’s post. It was no surprise to me that I got a couple of details wrong, as that’s something that happens more often than not, but it was good to find out that there are actually people taking time to read this weekly piece, which can grow pretty long on a given week.

It was a slightly less crazy week on the tournament trail, but there was still plenty of poker played throughout the world. Two different $1,500 events attracted strong crowds in Atlantic City, while a couple of prominent tournaments that were in no way whatsoever affiliated with PokerStars went down in LA, and that wasn’t all.

Victor Ramdin Does Not Pass Sugar, Does Collect $500k at The Big Event
The Bicycle Casino, Bell Gardens, California
The Not-NAPT tournament at the Bike last week still managed to mysteriously draw in numerous amounts of qualifiers and Team PokerStars players, with over 400 players ponying up $5,000 for a $2 million prize pool and a half-million dollar first prize. N-NAPT LA was nearly canceled by state gaming officials over its ties to the online poker site, who withdrew its sponsorship and left the tournament to simply be called “The Big Event”.

While a number of Team PokerStars pros populated the field, only two of them made the final table. To the delight of poker fans, Victor Ramdin and Joe Hachem were also the last two players left standing. On the final hand, Ramdin got it in as a big dog with ace-jack to Hachem’s ace-king, but a jack sealed the title for Ramdin, who went over $3 million in lifetime earnings with the $500K win.

Later in the week, the Bike hosted a $10,000 Bounty Shootout that will air later this year on ESPN. Once again Victor Ramdin found himself at the final table, winning one of nine first-round tables. He was joined by Main Event champion Jonathan Duhamel, 2010 NAPT LA champion Joe Tehan, new Team PokerStars Online addition Shane Schleger and Michael J. Fox Alex P. Keating, amongst others. Pat Walsh triumphed over them all, and took home $241,700 for his efforts.

Ali Triumphs in “Thrilla on the Riva” Over Frazier (and others)
Caesers, Atlantic City, NJ
In a sport where names like Moneymaker and Fish seem more apropos, the WSOPC stop at Caesers Atlantic City had names that fit better with boxing’s golden age. Jeff Frazier stood in the way of Brian Ali, as did defending WSOPC champion Rolan Israelashvili. But Ali was a bad, bad man on this day, utilizing his poker skills and a few chance cards to thoroughly dominate the final table. It took less than four hours for Ali to be crowned “the greatest” and his purse was $139,284, a golden ring, and a valuable seat in the million dollar final.

Every Tom, Mateusz, and Harry Won a Tournament This Week
Casino at Portomaso, Malta & UKIPT Manchester, England

293 players put up €1,650 to play poker on the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta. The Unibet Open stop there drew players from all over Europe, but for the second consecutive time dating back to its London stop, a Dutchman took home the crown. Mateusz Moolhuizen of Holland was crowned the champion of this event, taking home €117,000.

Another Mateusz, Mateusz Warowiec of Poland, is the chip leader heads-up at the UKIPT Manchester stop. He currently holds a nearly 2.5-1 chip lead at dinner break, and stands to be both the second Mateusz to win a title in a week and the second person I’ve ever heard of by the name of Mateusz.

DeepStacks U Instructor Wade Wins DeepStacks Challenge; No Money Back Guarantee
Grand Sierra Resort, Reno, NV
Training site DeepStacks University sponsored a series of tournaments in Reno, including a $2,500 Main Event in which several of its instructors, including Michael Mizrachi, Mike Matusow and Tristan “cre8ive” Wade took part. Instead of teaching them proper strategy, Wade took advantage of a field filled mostly with his students and won the tournament outright for $57,288. I am, of course, kidding, but I do imagine a funny pre-tournament training session in which he suggests giving off specific “fake” tells and riding that onto the easy victory, but that’s just me.

Borgata $500,000 Guaranteed Deep Stack
Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ
The WSOPC was not the only show in town this week in Atlantic City, as the Borgata hosted a $1,500 event with a $500K guaranteed prize pool. Vegas native and worldwide tournament grinder Chris Tryba was the big winner in that one, taking home $131,257 for the win. Other interesting notes on this field include Will “the thrill” Failla cashing and WSOPC champion Brian Ali cashing just days before his own win.

The Hardcore Poker Show:

The guys are joined this week by Greg Meuller to discuss his recent appearance on Poker After Dark and the crazy straddling that was happening. After the short interview with Meuller, the hottest player at the moment joins the show for another short brief interview. Seidel discusses his recent hot streak and answers the normal questions about Rounders before giving way for the crew to discuss the newer UB Scandal information. You can listen weekly on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 98 every Wednesday from 8-9pm ET or you can download it via iTunes.

Poker Static – The Gary Wise Interviews:

Gary Wise, formerly of The Poker Beat, has joined forces with Poker Static to bring periodic interviews from the poker community. This week he has Mike Matusow on to discuss things such as the NBC Heads-up draw party and cheating online. He also discusses the John Racener and Sorel Mizzi cheating scandal and outrageous prop bets. Check out the interview on PokerStatic.com or download it on iTunes.

The Micros:

Finally, the guys that create The Micros have put together a short message from Erik Seidel, sit back and enjoy this brief skit.

Nevada has not just one, but three bills related to “interactive gaming” that now  have been referred for hearing in the state Senate Judiciary committee.  There are two bills related to internet gaming in Nevada being heard today 8AM PST in Senate Judiciary in Carson City labeled  SB103/SB218.  They are not specific to poker.

1) SB103 allows for Nevada Gaming Commission to establish licensing requirements/fees for “interactive gaming service providers” to act on behalf of licenses Nevada “establishments.”

2) SB218 authorizes the Nevada Gaming Control Board to setup and regulation of “hosting centers” as well as the authorization of “service providers” as amendments to NRS 463.750, with the assistance and advisement of the Nevada Gaming Commission

SB103 text at-> SB103 bill contents
SB218 text at-> SB218 bill contents

Live feed for the NV Senate Judiciary committee hearing for SB103/SB218 on 3/11/2011 in Carson City will be available here-> View (low speed) || View (high speed).

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These two Nevada bills are *different bills* than the one read in the Assembly yesterday.  That bill was named AB258 that is specific to iPoker, allows for potential interstate gambling, and opened to doors for prior bad-actors-of-sorts.  This bill was referred, but not scheduled for hearing in the Senate Judiciary.

AB258 text at-> AB258 bill contents

Press links for AB258
Gambling Compliance article (by @CKrafcik) -> “Nevada Rejoins Internet Poker Race”
Las Vegas Sun article (by @RalstonFlash) -> ‘As feds grapple with issue, Legislature will consider legalizing Internet gaming”
ABC News article (by Michelle Rindels, AP, @oskargarcia contributes) ->‘Nev. Bill Would Set Regulations for Internet Poker’

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Thanks to Chris Krafcik (twitter: @CKrafcik) and Susan Rhodes (twitter: @sdrhodes) for assistance in research and analysis.

Follow me @scarlet_lv today for live-tweet of the feed from the Nevada State Legislature.