Republicans offered some hope Tuesday to online poker players sidelined by the Obama administration’s “Black Friday” crackdown.

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) is planning to introduce legislation that would legalize and regulate online poker and said he hopes the measure can pass both chambers of Congress this session.

“Poker is a game of skill,” Barton said in defense of the sites during a press conference outside the Capitol.

He suggested those who believe poker to be a game of chance should try playing with their own money against world champion Greg Raymer, who stood behind him at the press conference.

Shockingly, too, most Pokeratizens will probably find this curious:

Barton said he has spoken to the leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.), and hopes to move a bill through the committee in the near future. Barton said the bill is being finalized in consultation with the Poker Players Alliance (PPA).

OK, that’s enough from me — I’m just a morlock, and I’ll probably be locked up for this, but hey…breaking news!

Via genes @ Big Bill Quick’s joint…who’s kind of got his headline wrong, unless I’m so drunk I can’t read the news.

The bad Word-doc-as-GIF is gone from fulltiltpoker.com, and it redirects to fulltiltpoker.co.uk. I was able to download a new client, and install it, and connect. Unfortunately, that got me this pop-up:

...this includes deposits or withdrawals. (sob)

What I have there might be LOL-able, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t use it. There are many Americans with non-LOL amounts who could probably use it worse than me, too.

Over and out…

Should you run into any problems, leave a comment — we’ll find it and fix it.

Over and out…

Item two-o: I just deleted a massive number of registered so-called users who all used what look like spam ids and .ru mail domains. If you’re a real live Russki, who enjoys and contributes to Pokerati, then I highly recommend that you get a real email address on a legitimate server, and register with a name that is recognizable as a nickname and not just a string of random English alphabet characters. Then, leave me a comment here, and I’ll send you a code word that will verify you’re a real human, and I won’t delete your ID again. Because I’m going to be on the lookout for a while and nuking the random jackwagon userids. Please don’t take offense at being called a Russki — I love your smoking hot women, and the AK-47. Oh, and vodka. That DirecTV commercial with the mini-giraffe? That’s how I think all Russkis live…

Item The Last: upgrades will be coming soon, though it shouldn’t affect any of you lovely people.

‘Twasn’t Dan this time…

Thanks to an overnight potential l33t h4x0rz attempt, I’ve added some slight security to our favorite pokering website, so…everybody will have to re-login. Your password will not have changed, if you can remember what it was. If not, just reset it…and if you’ve got problems after that, email Dan.

DEAR SWEET MERCIFUL LORD IN HEAVEN UPDATE: And once more with feeling, folks. And no small dismissive don’t-care attitude from the snot-nosed punk at level 1 support for the “providers” of “hosting” for this here site.

Nerses: well, Scott that is something that you can’t just know, you have to learn the Linux OS
Nerses: you can get some books, like RHCE book is pretty good guide

Cocksucker. His bosses will know pretty quickly on Monday morning that, while I did fall off of a hay wagon, it wasn’t just yesterday.

The butt-lift seems to have gone well.  If you detect any problems with your Pokerati experience, please leave a comment here, and you will have my multitudinous thanks.  And some brisket later today, if you’re in San Antonio.