Check it out all you haters … PC World magazine, a non-poker-biased publication, has included “online poker lobby” among 10 examples of “How the Web Spurs Political Change”. Though online poker liberalisation doesn’t quite reach the level of using Twitter to overthrow the Egyptian president, Poker Players Alliance activism did receive an “effective” rating, the same as:
Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” campaign to stop gay teenagers from killing themselves
Russia’s Wintertime Spring to prevent Vladimir Putin from regaining power
The Occupy (New York) movement spreading worldwide
Though personally I see Occupy ultimately going the route of Woodstock ’99, overall it’s a good crowd for poker to be runnin’ with. And that sorta social climbing didn’t come because of a Guinness World Record, crazy prop bet, or even a celebrity charity tournament; being on the national radar (in the right way at the right time) comes because of consistent and steady efforts to awaken the right people to what really is total government bullshit! political injustice.
Have you seen this new reality show on CNN called “The Republican Tea Party Debate”? LOL, the new season is just getting underway, but already I’m looking forward to seeing who gets voted off the island. The first episode last night was full of groaners and OMGs and gawkable moments … the characters are about as good as any Real World/Survivor crew I’ve ever seen before. You can already tell Michelle Bachman is gonna be the Omarosa and Rick Santorum the Puck.
The poker-player’s candidate, Gary Johnson, apparently didn’t make the cut … but poker did enter into the debate when Mitt Romney challenged Texas Governor Rick Perry’s record on job creation … essentially calling him a luckbox.
Not quite the “licensed and regulated online poker” stuff we mighta hoped for … but hey.
Unfortunately, not only do these two look-a-likes reveal an inherent conservative opposition to “regulation” that the Barton Bill will have to overcome, but also they seem to be talking 5-card draw or maybe 7-stud with the four Aces analogy — as if they’re totally unaware that much of the country is playing Pot-Limit Omaha.
We recorded our first Wicked Chops Podcast yesterday with some friends from across the pond–Ben Fried, who launched Betfair’s poker room–and Kim Lund, who did the same for Poker Room. While some of the content is already dated (a lot of it is speculation about Tilt’s future in light of the AGCC license revocation), still some interesting European perspective on the Tilt situation and their international market perception.
In a bout of Democrat-on-Democrat tongue-lashing, longtime online gambling champion Rep. Barney Frank pointed to the Obama Administration, which oversees the DOJ, for pointless prosecutions and an unsmart use of resources, but came short of defending any indicted online poker defendants.
Frank mocked the seizures as the administration “protecting the public from the scourge of inside straights,” and lamented that the Justice Department is more focused on prosecuting online poker sites than those responsible for the mortgage crisis and financial meltdown.
“Go after the people responsible for empty houses, not full houses,” Frank added.
Doh! Barney was doing so well with that first poker metaphor, but then kinda blew it with the addendum, imho.
Still, you see the venerable liberal Congressman willing to finger the President more so than Bill Frist and the Republicans or Eric Holder and SDNY or Spencer Bachus or anyone else. Why would he direct his balk at Barack like this? Sour grapes, non-partisan principle, or something more he’d like the DC press corp to know about Obama’s role in the timing of these indictments?
Here are a few links to get your mind kickin’ before we get into the throes of poker “news” … to sites that have been on my radar of late for varying reasons. These independently selected, never-for-sale (except at the very top and very bottom) click-worthy internet suggestions are brought to you by the fine folks at:
Tao of Fear — Pauly steps away from poker and Phish to take on the real world, a place that turns out to be filled with (very real) mayhem, foreigners, and death … and that’s just Wall Street pre-Libya! There’s a fine line between current events and conspiracy theory … a few pills and maybe a shot of whiskey, too.
Bill’s Blog and Hardboiled Poker — two of the more thoughtful poker blogs out there … well-informed, and always adding something new to the conversation. I never link to Bill Rini or Shamus enough … but hey, following either of these guys is kinda like a subscription to the New Yorker … so much good stuff, just near-impossible to keep up. I have about eight specific posts from each of them waiting to be written up, but usually about 2/3 through, one of them produces a missive that makes me realize the pedantic flaws in whatever I was originally thinking.
Poro Report 2011 — kinda like Drudge, or actually a lot like Drudge … a well-culled link-dump directing you to the most current and relevant bits of poker news and industry convo harvested from around the internet.
LV Fashion Report — Some new sassy blogger chick’s take on Vegas people and all their outerwear is trying to suggest. (With a few sneak peaks at new Vegas properties, too.) I’m pretty sure “Kate Couture” isn’t her real name, but I think I’ve seen her running around Panorama Towers … so obviously she’s got insight into the most pea-cocky of poker players.
J Gary Wise — my fellow 2x award-winning Poker Beat sparring partner seems to be swimming with craziness these days without TPB to give him a wild-rant fix — (I know the feeling) — and thus the ESPN columnist has been spewing out original, semi-intelligent content rather fierce. Sometimes pokery, sometimes not, but either way, Gary is still Gary, and therefore sure to at some point make you wanna punch him.
A Year of Culinary Curiousity — Former Pokerati contrib Jen Newell has a new non-poker blog … about food and cooking and edible bad beats. In a way, it is kinda like a poker blog, as Jen tries to move up in stakes and hone her kitchen game — skill and luck determining results. Glad she decided against calling the site All You Can Eat, Baby!
Allied Listing:
The Maven Training — If you’re not maximizing your return at the tables, you’re playing suboptimal poker, leaving profits behind. Whether you prefer cash games or tournaments, live or online, be the best at your table by training with accomplished pros. Next boot camp: March 4-6.10% Pokerati discount here.
If this was the message that got out around the Beltway and beyond, you’d think we coulda had the UIGEA Redux done years ago … and would already be gearing up for the relaunch of an American-friendly Sunday Millions in the coming new year. Of course that woulda required legislation that woulda had some 14 interested parties agreeing, “yeah, I can live with that”.
Check it out … read the whole story, but yesterday’s hedline in Slate magazine pretty much says it all, no?
Still learning how the politics game works along with the rest of the poker world here … but maybe “good policy” is a red flag to lawmakers who prefer passing stuff that isn’t?
Check it out, front page of today’s Las Vegas Sun … got a speaking role in the Harry Reid online poker bill debate, playing a professional know-it-all an expert commentator on casinos, politics, and poker. When yammering on to a “mainstream” journalist for some 45 minutes about a plausibly complex subject, you never quite know which few lines will resonate … but here’s how my part played out in full:
Proposed language wouldn’t exclude these offshore companies upfront, as Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s previous attempt at Internet gambling legalization would have done. Instead, any gambling operator can apply for a license in the Reid bill. And yet, proposed language would allow only operators of existing casinos or racetracks to obtain licenses in the two years after regulators issue the first Internet poker license.
This provision, one of the most controversial in the Reid bill, is a reasonable compromise, although it has upset poker players who view it as unfairly benefiting Nevada casino giants over their favored gambling websites, said Dan Michalski, founder and editor of Pokerati.com, a Las Vegas-based poker blog.
Some lawmakers and their constituents view these foreign companies as lawbreakers. And U.S. casino companies probably wouldn’t support an equal playing field for Web casino operators, given that the U.S. companies have waited on the sidelines for more than a decade for the chance to make money online, Michalski said.
“This kind of puts (the online operators) in the penalty box for a while and says, ‘We might let you in but you’re certainly not going to be the first in line.’ I think that was to be expected.â€
As December’s American political dialogue takes shape — lame-duck tax policy, North Korea, Wikileaks, don’t-ask-don’t-tell — online poker (and “poker only”) is registering a few blips on the national radar. It still will take some time before the main-mainstream really takes hold of our issue(s) … but what the big-media talking heads have to say on these matters is taking shape here in Nevada.
Check it out as Andy Bloch appears as the informed, sensible voice of poker — and current efforts to legally mainstream it — on Face to Face with Jon Ralston, a Vegas-based poli-pundit. I think this is like a mainstream media undercard — big match on a medium stage featuring a couple rising media welterweights … or maybe more like a WSOPunditry circuit event?
OK, might-gotta workshop a few mixed metaphors myself … but regardless, Bloch’s appearance begins at about 2:40, where he potentially lays out a starting point for future poker news-talks:
Quick review: well-opened with the suit-and-tie banter, but questionable play with the arrest-talk shove.
UPDATE: There’s a second segment, too. (Click the second little square in the player.) Much better in the second-round subtopics, imho.
Pokerati’s pirate feed is back … and to celebrate, the amazing Joey Stapleton from PokerStars’ The Big Game joins Huff, Sirius XM’s “fantasy guy”, in studio as Gary is off getting married and BJ leaves Jess to work the floor of WPT-Bellagio/Festa (unprotected from knife-wielding bandits!) so he and an angry Wolfman can tell you 2/6ths of everything there is to know about:
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Rush Poker in your pocket – and the perks of Full Tilt’s Black Card
Russian spy Anna Chapman – and the wisdom of a poker dalliance with black ops
Nightline gets into the online gambling fray by taking a deeper look at internet poker players under age 21 — represented by defending WSOP champion Joe Cada and others — tonight on ABC at 11:35pm ET/PT.
Maybe I’m expecting too much from Annie … just watched her on MSNBC’s noon-time news, and I think if I were her opponent in this mini-debate I coulda blown her outta the water — even without believing anything I was saying! Fortunately, the opposition she’s up against here is so weak, she still clearly wins. The best psychology professor Tim Kelly’s got is some report about gambling addiction from 1999. As if anything related to the internet has any perception of validity when it comes from an era that existed before Windows XP … let alone the iPhone, the iPod, the War on Terror, and George W. Bush’s first term.
What I find most fascinating here is the sponsor for this news segment … GFT Forex online currency trading. Risk based on limited, imperfect information … clearly elements of skill with some players guaranteed to win and others guaranteed to lose … exchanging money over international boundaries … come play for free with a practice account? They just don’t have to make you go to a dot-net for that.
Seriously, check out this old ad and ask yourself … how is this high-variance online financial game any different than something you might see on Full Tilt? I think they’ve even got some of the same avatars!
Also from that same June 28 Time magazine article, here’s an interesting video sidebar about poker — and Texas Hold’em specifically — finally coming of age in China / Macau. You’ll notice the big presence of PokerStars there, too … a reminder of their role in building the “poker world” on a truly global scale:
Surely it’s got to be, right? And maybe not just for main events … I wouldn’t be surprised if this represents the youngest final table ever — for any WSOP event in history! One of the youngest five, for sure, I’ll virtually guarantee.
Eight 20somethings and one Gen-Xer (who happens to be the second shortest stack):
FILIPPO CANDIO – 26
JOSEPH CHEONG – 24
JOHN DOLAN – 24
JONATHAN DUHAMEL – 22
MATTHEW JARVIS – 25
MICHAEL MIZRACHI – 29
CUONG “SOI†NGUYEN – 37
JOHN RACENER – 24
JASON SENTI – 25
It seems the most prescient pre-game analysis might have come from a non-poker media source … specifically Time Magazine’s Dan Kadlec, whose article (“World Series of Poker: Attack of the Math Brats“, 28 June 2010) is now up online for those of you who didn’t get to read it in full when it first came out.
The November Nine Class of ’10 includes only two players who were 21 or older when Chris Moneymaker did his thing at age 27.
New article in the Las Vegas Sun, looking at the WSOP and the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s comfort level with online poker sites that do and do not accept American players. No one’s wagging any fingers at the WSOP specifically, but the article does take a closer look at Full Tilt’s and PokerStars’ presence at the Rio (and a little bit UB’s) as well as partnerships these sites have with other casinos.
You get a subtle clue of what the implication might be directly from the article’s URL, as well as quotes from GCB’s chief enforcer of dot-net-dot-com issues:
After the [UIGEA] passed Congress, some sites left the U.S. market, fearing prosecution by federal regulators. Some sites, including PokerStars.com and Full Tilt Poker.com — whose .net logos adorn the clothing of many World Series of Poker players — continue to allow action from Americans, however. Those sites are “purposefully putting that product in the United States in disregard of Department of Justice interpretations of federal law and also Nevada law,†[GCB member Randall] Sayre says.
This closer look stemmed from what would become the rapid rise-and-fall of NAPT-Venetian. The Venetian does confirm in the Sun article, btw, that they have no current or future relationship with PokerStars … you know, despite appearances one might get from PokerStars.net and NAPT logos on 119 felts throughout this summer’s Deep Stack Series.
GCB makes it clear that they don’t like to see its licensees in bed with American friendly online poker sites, but they’re still not being clear on where they draw the lines for what might constitute just messing around. Even the regulators contend they can’t begin to tell people what they can and cannot wear on their bodies.
That, of course, begs the question, then why not just let people wear hats and shirts logo’d up with dot-coms?
Pokerati: @GlobalGamingBiz generally speaking, of course. A reliable source? An imaginary source? The gov's maid's husband's poker buddy's dog sitter? 6 hours ago
JoeOE18: If you have a video game you want funded on Kickstarter, now is probably a good time to get it going. People are in a giving mood. 2 hours ago
