Poker players (who tend to bitch the most?) love to hate on the Poker Players Alliance, the most vocal of DC advocacy groups for poker-related matters, and, obv disclosure, an advertiser of ours here at Pokerati. Discern for yourself my own possible bias, but they are merely a small player in the DC poli-poker game. The AGA, for example, also wants to see legalized online poker (and other casino games) … but they are not voicing any protest.

Strategic decisions notwithstanding, the PPA sees the federal indictment of close associates to some of their board members as an attack on poker, and are positioning themselves as a rebel poker alliance.

That’s my take, not theirs, on the video statement put out by their Executive Director John Pappas. And below is additional statement from the PPA that many players have been clamoring for.

More…

**Intro**
I’m not someone that makes their income from online poker (ok, I dreamed someday I could get out of the micro-grind), which may seem odd given how much time I have devoted to covering the topic of poker legislation in the past year. But I love the game of poker, and believe that people have the right to derive income off their skills in the United States, and have the ability to work in a regulated and protected marketplace.

Yesterday I was approached by press asking me what online players were feeling about the operational shutdown of the three major poker brands, and I did not feel at all qualified to answer, except to maybe related aspect of the conversations I have had with those that do. Still I thought the perspectives of real people that have had their careers taken away was one that is one worth telling, and one that might help drive the successful legislation of poker by federal and/or state governments, similar to what has been done recently in the District of Columbia.

I am also concerned that the federal government will do nothing to help people recoup their funds that are offshore, should payout be impeded. Even the bill draft floated around Congress by Harry Reid contained a specific plan, in the event the government passed the bill, and sites were shut down for “blackout”.

I tweeted asking for input, and I received an email from a Minnesotan online poker professional, Danielle Andersen, and am attaching her thoughts below.

If anyone else wants to relate about how this impacts their lives, as a player, media member, poker coach, or anyone in the poker industry, please email me at scar@scarletlv.com. I won’t share anything unless you give me permission to do so.

Scarlet Robinson
@scarlet_lv

My name is Danielle Andersen and prior to yesterday, when the DOJ swooped in and essentially cut access to internet poker sites for American players, I played poker for a living. I started playing poker in college, for fun with friends. When it became apparent I had a natural talent, I deposited exactly $50.00 online. That was in 2005 and to this day, I haven’t deposited more than that initial $50.00

I played no-limit cash games online under the screen name “dmoongirl.” The income I made playing online poker allowed me to pay my way through nursing school. I graduated in May, 2010 as a registered nurse. My job as a poker professional also allowed my husband to complete his schooling. He will finish his teaching licensure in physical education this spring and was set to return to graduate school this fall to obtain his masters degree in health, but now I doubt we can afford it.

Right now I’m in shock and I’m not sure what my plan is. I will probably start applying for nursing jobs but the market is tough in the Southern Minnesota area I live in, and with no experience I’m not sure I’ll find anything right away. I could move to Vegas and play live poker, but I can’t bear the thought of taking my three year old away from the extended family whom he adores and leaving him is not an option. Right now some of my money is tied up in the poker sites and I’m not sure when or even if, I will ever get it back. I’m scared for my families future and I can’t help but feel very betrayed by my own government.

For more detail on the situation and how I’m feeling about the future you can check out my blog -> http://www.cardrunners.com/blog/dmoongirl

Not their funniest effort, but expresses the insta-change in the poker world well. Some things are just made for cartooning:

We drop everything and do a 6-hour breaking-news type show as the huge story develops regarding the 11-count indictment by the US Department of Justice against Full Tilt, Pokerstars, and Absolute Poker.  Brandon Adams and Eric Morris (CEO of Bluff Magazine) our are special guests, and we take a ton of listener phone calls.  Druff breaks down what everything means for the present and future of online poker.  We will return to our regular schedule of shows on Wednesday, April 20th.

Wynn has severed ties to PokerStars.
Read the full article -> Steve Wynn Cuts Ties With Embattled Online Poker Site, PokerStars

A snippet from the Wynn presser is here:

LAS VEGAS, April 15, 2011—Wynn Resorts, Limited announced today that it terminated its alliance with PokerStars, the online poker company. The decision was reached as a result of the indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

@Kevmath posted this screenshot from PokerStars on the suspension of money play in the US -> here

– PStars suspended money play due to “legal developments there” in US
– “player balances are safe”
– website has been “moved to pokerstars.eu”

Full Tilt Poker issued a formal statement on “the sitch” – txt thanks to @CKrafcik.  They are saying they will shut down access for U.S. players but give no time frame.

<note: I’m chasing my last FTP rungood right now though – it’s not closed yet!>

Full text (emphasis added):

Full Tilt Poker Supports Poker Players And Its Chief Executive

Dublin Ireland (April 15, 2011) -  Full Tilt Poker is saddened by today’s charges against its CEO Raymond Bitar and offers its full support to Mr. Bitar and Nelson Burtnick. Online poker is a game of skill enjoyed by tens of millions of people in the United States and across the world. And, Full Tilt Poker remains as committed as ever to preserving the rights of those players to play the game they love online. Mr. Bitar and Full Tilt Poker believe online poker is legal – a position also taken by some of the best legal minds in the United States.

Full Tilt Poker is, and has always been committed to preserving the integrity of the game and abidingby the law. “I am surprised and disappointed by the government’s decision to bring these charges. I look forward to Mr. Burtnick’s and my exoneration,” said Mr. Bitar.

Unfortunately, as a result of this action, Full Tilt Poker has decided that it must suspend “real money” play in the United States until this case is resolved. However, Full Tilt Poker will continue to provide peer-to-peer online poker services outside of the United States.

I’ve been receiving a number of calls, emails, and tweets about this situation with the “shutdown” of the top three American poker brands. Rather than write a traditional “post”, I wanted to present a FAQ tonight for poker players.

Poker 4/15: An FAQ
by Scarlet Robinson, WASHINGTON DC

Can you please give me the cliffs of what happened today?
Indictment
Eleven defendants including the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker were charged by the U.S. government with “bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses.”

This is the press statement released by the Department of Justice today -> here
This is a copy of the full indictment -> here

Those indicted:
Isai Sheinberg, Paul Tate -> PokerStars -> status: not in States
Raymond Bitar, Nelson Burtnick -> Full Tilt Poker -> status: not in States
Scott Tom, Brent Beckley -> Absolute Poker -> status: not in States
Ryan Lang, Ira Rubin ->”payment processor” -> status: not in States
Bradley Franzen -> “payment processor” -> expected for arraignment
Chad Elie  ->”payment processor” -> arrested in Las Vegas
John Campos-> SunFirst Bank -> arrested in Utah

Domain Seizure
Five poker domains were seized by the government, and these are in the process being redirected to the following graphic -> here

Not everyone in all of the states are receiving this graphic yet because it can take up to 24 hrs for the DNS entries to update depending on location.

Domains seized:  pokerstars.com, fulltiltpoker.com, ub.com. ultimatebet.com, absolutepoker.com.

Civil Suit
The United States also filed a civil suit against the poker companies, their assets, and the assets of several of their payment processors.

Civil suit -> here

Restraining Orders Against Accounts
Restraining orders were issued against more than 75 bank accounts utilized by the Poker Companies and their payment processors.

Ok…. what does this mean *right now* to me as a poker player?
Well, those domains for PStars, FTP, and UB are slowly being redirected state-to-state so you won’t be able to access the websites, or download software from the sites.  I’m still able to see the original sites, but in a day or so I will also see the “DOJ graphic.”  So assuming you have your poker software *installed*, you can still at this point log in to these sites.

PokerStars as a company seems to has down all of their play for money, perhaps on their own accord, but free money is accessible (if anyone cares about this today), and their are rumors that this shutdown is not going to be limited to the United States.

Reports seem to indicate to Full Tilt Poker and UB for money play is still available.

Smaller sites Bodog, etc. directly unaffected at present, I wonder if they share payment processors with the big three?

What about my money on the site?
I don’t know.  Would guess a good number of players will try to remove money off these sites in a panic such as this.  It’s unclear yet if there are any more issues than normal in getting money off these three sites.  Considering 75 bank accounts for the poker sites have been served with restraining orders, obviously their cashflow to pay with has been limited, and one might wonder how motivated they will be to pay given the current state of affairs.  A civil suit is against payment processors has also been issued which is bound to interfere with payouts.

It’s really unclear how these companies will choose to respond in the interim, and what happens if the companies go belly-up.

PokerStars is closed for money play. Will the sites shut down when I use my software for Full Tilt and UB?
I don’t know.  FTP and UB may choose to limit to free money play the way PStars has today.  Or they may ignore the whole situation until the issue is forced.  The civil suit has filed against their assets so they might seize the hardware offshore perhaps.  As to the domains, new ones might be created by these sites (i.e. fulltiltpokererz.com or something) to get their websites back up.

Chris Krafcik, @CKrafcik, editor from Gambling Compliance, tweeted that the Full Tilt Poker has decided that it “must suspend ‘real money’ play in the United States until this case is resolved.”  To time of this press – I can still play and am burning my measly bankroll on FTP.

Um…. but this is serious, right?
Yep. These international companies are being compromised from the inside out, top to bottom.  The government is effectively trying to dismantle the whole system.  The completely compromises the brand, internationally not just in the U.S., by reputation, as well as operation and money flow. Their founders have been charged along with those that are accused of aiding in payment.

Why did this happen now? Seems awfully sudden?
No, the DOJ and government have been building these cases for years.

I heard some rumblings that someone gave up the goods on these sites.. Tzvetkoff?
Read this -> Poker Indictments: Daniel Tzvetkoff May Have Given Up The Online Poker Industry To The Feds

What about PokerStars-Wynn and Full Tilt-Station alliances?
Sources from WSJ/media have said that Wynn and Station are going to find their way out of both of these compacts.

Steve Wynn (last week): “What difference does it make what PokerStars or the Justice Department says?”

I thought we were pushing for federal and state level legislation.  Things seemed to be going well in the states like Nevada, DC, Jersey, and progressing in others, and a federal bill was presented.  Is that not going to happen now?
In my opinion, this really isn’t resulting from the push for legislation nor does it mean that chances for federal or state level legislation to pass are less likely, but anything that happens within a system, politic or poker, will have effects.  I am actually more hopeful that federal legislation will come to pass in due time after today’s events.  Now we are entering into a time of quasi-blackout.

The arrest warrant in rem in the parallel civil forfeiture case (11 Civ. 2564) involving PokerStars, FullTilt, and UB is out. This is the instrumentality through which the domain names were redirected by the FBI to the notices up on the sites. The only sites affected by this are: www.pokerstars.com, www.fulltiltpoker.com, www.ub.com, www.ultimatebet.com, and www.absolutepoker.com.

The warrant directs the .com registrar (VeriSign) to direct the name servers to the addresses specified in the warrant or such other name servers or IP addresses as directed by the FBI.

These domains have been locked by the registry (and by the registrar in the case of www.ultimatebet.com – this domain remains with GoDaddy pending a final disposition of the domain seizure case in Kentucky) and now cannot be moved without a court order or the consent of the Department of Justice. I understand that the rest of the domains (save and except for www.ultimatebet.com) are registered with foreign registrars.

Here’s the actual indictment, in the case of DOJ vs. Scheinberg et al.

UPDATE: Sorry for the bad link … have put it in a more easily accessible place via Scribd:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/53107543/Indictment-DOJ-vs-Scheinberg-Bitar-Tom-et-al

UPDATE: Going live on Donkdown Radio to try to help online poker degens make sense of it all. http://donkdown.com/radio

April 15th. Its already a day that most Americans dread because their taxes are due, but now there is a whole new reason for US poker players to not like the date. The US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment charging eleven executives, including prominent Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker employees, of various illegal gambling and money laundering violations. While people like Ray Bitar and Isai Scheinberg have not been arrested as of right now, the DoJ has stated it is going to work with Interpol and foreign law enforcement to arrest those they have not been able to catch at the moment. In addition to the charges, they have seized the domains of UB, Absolute Poker, Full Tilt, and Pokerstars, approximately 75 bank accounts connected to the sites and their payment processors, and have made a couple of arrests so far against those defendants currently in the US.

As always, the defendants are innocent until proven guilty, the Southern District of New York division of the Department of Justice is known for building rock-solid cases, so if there is an indictment from them its reasonable to assume they have done their homework. There is some speculation that this indictment stems from a similar case involving Daniel Tzvetkoff which broke through last year.  None of this can currently be confirmed, but the odd nature regarding his sudden granting of bail and meetings with prosecutors does suggest he may have had something to do with the final pieces of the puzzle to get the big fish.

The media, both within the poker realm and outside of it, have ran stories on the subject. While they are currently all operating on the same information, more details are slowly emerging as some analysis of the indictment is done. The endgame if the feds get everything they want? A $3 billion forfeiture of funds from the three sites, and while a specific breakdown of who pays what is not given, it sends a pretty clear signal, the DoJ views these businesses as illegal operations and they want to make the sites pay for what they’ve done.

At the moment, none of the sites have released any statements, but some have taken action. Pokerstars has restricted both deposits and cash game play for US-based players, currently without any explanation. Meanwhile, cash on Full Tilt and UB is still available. The PPA has, however released a statement, which we have in an accompanying article here on this site.

The situation is very fluid, given the reactions and the DoJ notices take time to propagate on the internet, but its safe to say this is the biggest thing to happen to online poker in a very long time, and at least in the short term it looks like one of the worst.

PPA Comments on Federal Action Against Online Poker Companies
WASHINGTON, DC. (April 15, 2011) – Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, Chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide, issued the comment below on today’s announcement on federal action taken against online poker companies.

“On behalf of the millions of poker players across the country, we are shocked at the action taken by the U.S. Department of Justice today against online poker companies and will continue to fight for Americans’ right to participate in the game they enjoy. Online poker is not a crime and should not be treated as such. We are currently gathering all of the information around today’s announcement and will offer detailed analysis when the full facts become available.”

Rabbit Hunt:

The Rabbit Hunt crew return after taking a week off to catch everyone up on the latest poker news. After discussing the recent legislation passed in Washington D.C. and Zynga Poker the host move on to discuss the WSOP rematch concept. Matt goes rants about how he does not like the concept, saying he would rather see a boxing match between Phil Helmuth and Eskimo Clark than the Helmuth vs. Johnny Chan rematch. To close out the show Matt continues on his rant party, this time he rants about the World Poker Tour and why it should not be considered a major along side the World Series of Poker. Take a listen to the show on either the Cardrunners site or download it directly from iTunes to listen to this interview.

Two Plus Two Pokercast:

Also coming off a week hiatus the Two Plus Two Pokercast returns this week with Scott “URnotINdangr” Palmer coming on to discuss his recent supersized SuperStar Showdown match. Starting off the show with a discussion on the recent big sporting events the guys confess their love for this time of the year, Hockey Playoff eh? Brandon Adams joins the show this week to discuss his trip to Augusta for The Masters before talking a little poker. At the 1 hour 54 minute mark Palmer joins in the discussing to give some commentary of his match against Blom to close out the show. You can listen to the show at the Two Plus Two Pokercast site or download it on iTunes.

Poker Static:

If you are looking for interviews, interviews, and more interviews then you need to be listening to the Poker Static guys. Kagome Kagome, formerly known as IHateJuice on Full Tilt Poker joins the crew this week to discuss the meanings behind his names and the discussion he had with Full Tilt when they wanted him to change his username. You can either download the show from iTunes or watch the video below.

Fans of low-stakes PLO in Las Vegas rejoice. The Pokerati Game looks to get back into regular action, kicking off tomorrow, Thursday, 7pm, at The Palms poker room.

We had a good run at the Hard Rock … convincing a Vegas casino that a time-charge isn’t necessary to make running-it-twice work in low-stakes games … and culminating with an NLH/PLO tourney in Matt Savage’s (short-lived?) Detox Poker Series. Good things were happening, but I guess when your CEO offs himself (after dropping $850mil days before worldwide financial collapse) and security escorts your poker director’s corporate big-boss off-premises with Gaming enforcement officials watching … well, it doesn’t matter how many turns and rivers you get to see to recognize it’s time to move on.

In the off-time you’ve probably been jonesing for the action Pokerati provides, and I’ve read seven pages of a new PLO book … also finally figured out how to condense the rules into something less than a page, so we’re back, or at least will be soon — starting with the relaunch prelaunch Thursday eve.

Click here to see how we play it … become a fan of 1/2 NLH/PLO round of each on Facebook for regular updates, and add @PalmsPokerRm to your Twitter follows for, um, I’m not sure yet. I do know @PokerGuyJoeV is the new poker room manager there — charged with reinvigorating an architecturally challenged room with 3/6 limit games that don’t quite jibe with the made-for-MTV vibe felt elsewhere in the casino.

We were just telling you how well La Sengphet was playing … when boyfriend David Clark gave me a buzz to let me know, yo dude, don’t hate on the short bus! But lest he start thinking he could keep up with his better half … yesterday she took down her second WSOP-circuit ring of the season — winning the last event of WSOP-St. Louis, a $345 NLH.

Not sure on the number of players or payout yet … we’ll of course let you know. And pretty sure that’s another 50 circuit championship points, too, which would put her 4th in the pool of 34 potential non-automatic qualifiers. And depending on the other deep runners in her event and the main … it looks like she may well have won the crown for Harrah’s St. Louis “casino champion” … which would guarantee her a seat in the WSOP’s million-dollar circuit freeroll in late May.

Meanwhile, they are celebrating La’s victory all across Laos … though we did just learn they aren’t doing this all for La … it also happens to be Laotian New Year all week.