It’s been way too long since I’ve done an Instapoker. Please bear with me as I delete emails and close down a random assortment of open tabs in my browser:

An interesting site about high-stakes online play.

IGGY is back posting at Guinness and Poker. Good for him … that’s where he belongs. Of course he should know that no one will believe word of his “retirement” ever again.

Another site that previously disappeared has since transmogrified … WPBT headquarters. (World Poker Blogger Tour, for those who don’t know.) Not sure who’s behind the new WIKI or where they’re going with it, but we’ll be clicking every once in a while to see what’s going on. (Go DOT-INFO!)

NETELLER is now pulling out of CANADA (where they are based) and TURKEY (which has arguably the toughest INTERNET POLICE FORCE out there.

Gambling 911 reports that there’s no record of Neteller funds seized by the United States. Disconcerting if true. A Neteller Customer Coalition has formed to, er, do something about it and/or at least have a place to bitch.

CHRIS FERGUSON’s boring table demeanor:

It supposedly SNOWED in LAS VEGAS yesterday.

And that comes just two weeks after the purchase of a DISNEYLAND-size swath of land on the SOUTH STRIP to become the site of a monstrous pee-recycling environmentally friendly indoor water park and “snow dome”. Via some presumably stoked BRITISH SNOWBOARDERS.

American poker money is getting more expensive. ULTIMATE BET has altered its affiliate agreements for US players, subtracting for “overhead.” UB was kind enough to let inform its AFFILIATES three weeks after the policy went into effect:

March 13, 2007

Attention Affiliates… Regarding US Traffic Only!
Effective: Thursday, February 22, 2007

UltimateBet is still holding a strong position in the U.S. market providing poker players from around the world with the very best online poker experience. We are 100% committed to staying in the U.S. and provide your players with the easiest, fastest, secure deposit and cashout options. However, in light of Neteller and other popular ewallets leaving the U.S., our processing fees have increased upwards of 5 times. These costs are higher due to the new and only deposit options available to U.S. customers, some of these deposit options also require UltimateBet to cash guarantee all funds - please note we keep a cash reserve to cover all of our player balances.

Due to this increase in costs, UltimateBet has amended its terms and conditions so we can stay in business to enable you and Ultimate Bet to keep making money and not be forced to leave the US market.

Calculation of Net Revenue has been amended to reflect the following:

All Affiliates are paid on net revenue. Net revenue is calulated by taking the gross revenue an affiliate’s player generates and subtracting any processing fees which can include:
Merchant processing fees;
Charge backs;
Processor default;
Tourney deductions;
Any other agreed upon deductions.
The amount of these deductions will be taken off of Gross Revenue. At that point the remaining number is considered the Net Revenue. You, the affiliate, will be paid based on this net revenue number.

Please see the example below:

Gross Revenue generated by the affiliate’s U.S. players.
Minus Processing Fees.
Minus tourney deductions and any other agreed upon deductions.
= Net Revenue.
You, the affiliate, are then paid their RevShare on this net revenue.

Last, we will combine your U.S . commission with your Non-U.S. commission for your total payment.
UltimateBet has the most competitive merchant processing in the industry - i.e. your customers will be able to deposit and cashout better with UltimateBet than any of our competitors - this means higher customer lifetime values and bigger checks for you that will continue!

By staying in the U.S., UltimateBet is making the commitment to allow you to continue to make money!

Your non-U.S. traffic will not be included in these changes. This is only for U.S. traffic.

Effective: Thursday, February 22nd!

Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us!

The UltimateBet Team

Speaking of ULTIMATE BET, I think this is the kind of questionable appropriation of the WSOP LOGO that HARRAH’S says it will frown upon vigorously be trying to stop:

(Note: No offense to MEAN GENE, who is just doing his job.)

Speaking of jobs, PAULY, OTIS, and the SHRINK are kickin’ it in MONTE CARLO.

And Pauly has an awesome interview with the hip-hoppinest PROFESSIONAL KENO PLAYER, who happens to be from TEXAS.

There’s more stuff going on, of course … but I think that’s good for now.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it … especially since the WSOP Commish (who was on a teleconference with about 30 other people, some of them posing as journalists) just promised that if anyone writes an inaccurate hedline similar to the above, they will be receiving a personal call from him, presumably so he can rough them up for a retraction.

Awesome. Jeffrey, my number is 214-729-1811. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

After problems last year with dents en masse and recurring scuffage, the WSOP has switched brands of playing cards … from Copag to Kem. Sure, they cost a little more, but really, when it comes down to it, is Harrah’s ever one to cut corners, or even bend them?

This year, the U.S. Playing Card Co. has been chosen as an official WSOP sponsor, and with that, they will be bringing (not sure on how many thousands of decks it actually is) the “revolutionary” new “PokerPeek” variety of Kem cards to the table. Click below to read the full press release:

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Kinda big news being discussed over at 2+2. That’s about all I know right now.

Could be good news for the likes of “No Americans!” sites such as PartyPoker (which had a reportedly two-year $20 million deal in place last year) if the 2007 WSOP does indeed turn out to be the Year of the Europeans.

NOTE: Party’s stock has been up big over the past week. And Pokerati’s secret robots tell us that they have made some adjustments to their corporate blog in recent weeks.

This play-it-ultra-safe decision from Harrah’s should have a big impact on the Gaming Life Expo as well. Oh yeah.

Dorkin’ out with the cushy headphones on … just came across an interesting interview over at Poker Podcast World. (via Shamus.)

Click here to hear Max Shapiro breakin’ down with WSOP tourney director Jack Effel.

Max Shapiro = the Diane Rehm of poker?

In this episode, Jack talks about the efforts the WSOP is going through to unionize? ensure a highest standard of dealer and floor personnel. Apparently last year’s complaints were heard loud and clear. He also reveals that a new WSOP Europe could see cards in the air as soon as September 2007. Harrah’s has other plans in the works, Effel says, for spreading the WSOP brand to the Middle East and Asia as well … coming soon: WSOP-Macau.

Oh, he also makes his “prediction” for the size of the 2007 main event field. It will certainly “grow,” says Effel, or maybe “decline a little bit.” He puts the over/under at somewhere between 7,000 and 11,000, and specifically pshaws the number set by Pokerati.

An American poker bizzer who would prefer to remain anonymous writes in with an update on some of Harrah’s struggles to fill the 55,000 square feet of pavilion space dedicated to the Gaming Life Expo at the 2007 WSOP:

I’ve been in contact with the GLE folks again and I’m starting to sense an air of desperation from them. There are clearly a good number of booths that have not been deposited and it seems that they will _not_ be having the online poker sites back at the GLE, although they won’t come out and say that. But in response to my question yesterday about whether the .net’s that are still taking US customers will be there (Bodog, Full Tilt, Doyle’s Room, PokerStars — the big sites that all were at the 2006 show), she replied by naming many of the smaller non-poker site booth operators that will be back and noted that they are trying to land a large auto company or Harley-Davidson presence at the show.

Given that neither Harley nor any auto company had any corporate presence at the 2006 show, to me this looks like they are desperately trying to sell space, and it causes me to wonder if the show won’t go down in flames before it even starts this year. Just think about the massive amount of space that the poker sites took up in the hall last year. I would guess that the poker sites were 40+% of all the rented space. And Harrah’s has added probably another 25% of floor space over last year by getting rid of the underused food court area and the two rooms that they had walled off inside the Pavillion area.

Interesting perspective. Certainly seems plausible. But hey, aren’t they still claiming 10,000 anticipated players? Either way, it seems poker vendors might be able to sell more wares/get a better return by putting their money into advertising campaigns on various poker blogs!

There’s been a lot of talk about how big — or small — the next World Series main event field will be. Pokerati ran a poll a couple weeks ago to set the over/under at 4,001. And over at PokerBlog, the Shrink reports on a European betting line that anticipates a similar number. Harrah’s, however, is being a bit more optimistic … telling potential vendors at the Gaming Expo (which runs in an adjacent ballroom during the first days of the main event) to expect another record year, with “nearly 10,000″ buy-ins. (See page 7.)

Pat the Tablemaker (have a click — he makes great ones), however, isn’t quite buyin’ it. He suspects they are more likely trying to justify nearly doubling the price of booth space — which may or may not be an attempt to compensate for a reduced presence from major online poker sites. Regardless, the questionable numbers have at least some of the “mom and pop” poker bizzers wondering if the 2007 WSOP will be worth their while:

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I just got an email from Harrah’s (by proxy) asking my opinions on how they handled the media at the WSOP. I’ve long contended that despite the difficulties this year, the real test of Jeffrey Pollack and his cronies will come in 2007 — in seeing how they handle the issues that became clearly apparent.

Over at PB I’ve raised the question of whether or not this email is an indication that the World Series has hired a new PR firm. But regardless, the fact that they are seeking my opinion is scary suggests they are taking steps in the right direction. The survey asked us about everything from bathroom convenience to food quality … and even inquired about the credentialing process and rules within the tournament area. Click below to see my answers to the follow-up questions on items I rated “poor” or worse:

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Just got my official form letter from Jeffrey Pollack — telling me the 2007 WSOP will begin June 1 … and with the main event starting on July 17, we’re looking at a Pokerpalooza* that could last a full two months.

I also just read this AP article, about how that new law we all love to hate may hurt the WSOP. The issue, of course, is not just the absence of thousands of players previously sent by the likes of PartyPoker, but moreso that Harrah’s — in an attempt to prove compliance with the UIGEA? — has said they will not take third-party entrants this year. Hence the predicted decline in the biggest historical indicator of poker growth … total entrants into the main event of the WSOP.

(Speaking of … check out the new poll on your righthand side. What do you think we’re lookin’ at?)

OK, anyhow, so the most peculiar thing I found in this article was from WSOP media honcho Gary Thompson:

Tournament spokesman Gary Thompson said since 2005, organizers have not accepted third-party registrations for the $10,000 buy-in main event from online gambling companies with U.S. operations, and that hasn’t stopped it from attracting record fields.

Uhh, no third-party registrations since last year? I think about 6,000 competitors in the main event this year might disagree. (Can anybody get confirmation of this? I seem to remember hearing that about 2,600 players paid the $10k straight up … but can’t find a good blog-fact on it.)

While we love to give the suits at Harrah’s lots of hard times, some of which are occasionally deserved, Thompson is actually a pretty good egg … not one to feed you just the corporate line, and generally open to semi-constructive criticism. So he’s not one you’d expect to purposely spread disinformation. Reading on …

“In 2005 and 2006 we had record fields each year. We’re confident again that 2007 will be the best one ever,” he said.

Thompson suggested that a loophole that allowed players who qualified online to pay their own entry fees directly, after being given the fees by online poker companies, would continue to pass muster with regulators.

Ahh, OK, so now it makes sense … Harrah’s is speaking semi-vaguely, hedging bets, not overly committing to anything. And/or are finding a way to back away from previous insinuations that online players were not longer going to be part of the WSOP game.

* I’ve got dibs on that phrase.

Trying to get my head around the new Internet Gambling law. Read an interesting piece on page 2 of today’s Business section in the Dallas Morning News (sadly, the website does not have the article). In it, the writer suggests that Internet sites might resort to setting up their own banks dealing in gold and silver vs. dollars and cents. It also mentions that the WTO, of which the United States is a member, may have something to say about it. Also saw this article in the Las Vegas Sun which interestingly suggests that the two biggest Casino congolemates (Harrah’s and MGM) stood far more to lose than the other Casinos, who offered little more than passive opposition. It would seem that Harrah’s, with a pending $15 Billion offer, is perhaps even more inclined to seek a poker exemption by clarification or carve-out.
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From our crack rumor-ati department …

A disgruntled dealer reports new buzz that Harrah’s is looking to buy the World Poker Tour. (Scroll down to third comment.)

Developing …