Recapping the Friday afternoon action…

Vallo Valuable in $50k HORSE

As the players return from the dinner break, Martin Vallo is the unofficial chip leader (245,000) in the $50k HORSE event with all 95 players who registered remaining. The players are now on level four, with three more levels of play scheduled before play ends for the day. Among the early leaders, Daniel Negreanu (200,000), Jeff Lisandro, (188,000), Patrik Antonius (175,000) and Todd Brunson (168,000).

Letting Ylon’s Be Bygones

Ylon Schwartz is the current chip leader (2,000,000) with three players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they return from their dinner break. John McGuiness (1,200,000) and Bahador Ahmadi (750,000) round out the field. Barry Greenstein finished in 5th before heading off to join the $50k HORSE field.

Cantu Crushing PLO8

With 36 players remaining in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, Brandon Cantu (525,000) is the dominant chip leader, with Tommy Vedes (225,000) a distant second. Other notables remaining: Lee Watkinson (70,000), Noah Boeken (62,000), Phil Hellmuth (58,000), and Randy Holland (46,000).

Limited Field in Limit Holdem Shootout

The late afternoon tournament, $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of nearly 600, seated at 64 tables. The round one winners play at eight eight-handed tables, and those winners will return on Sunday to determine the winner. No table winners have been determined yet, but expect some notable winners included in the morning update.

Catch up with all the updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Team Pokerati during the evening.

Are you one of the 24,000 online poker players missing their cash outs? Well the US Government has your money, and they’re laughing all the way to the bank! Get the scoop on this story, plus the state of Minnesota comes to a decision in their fight to ban internet gambling within it’s borders.

As of today … you can forget about BodogLife.com … after some courtroom wrangles, the Costa Rican bad boys of online poker are back at the original Bodog.com.

Their news arm — Bodog Beat — still hasn’t repopulated yet at the new old domain. But hey, as Calvin Ayre and friends now know … the internet is hard.

First Gambling 911 and Pokerati … then the Associated Press, and now MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times are following aware of the $33 million of online poker winnings that has been frozen at the behest of an Assistant US Attorney in New York’s Southern District, the court that has historically created the most headaches for all things online poker.

ALT HED: Neteller 2?

The banks are deflecting blame and criticism, saying they’re simply complying with a federal court’s direction. Not surprising, of course, considering they aren’t really in a position to defy their new dot-gov overseers. The non-poker media probably doesn’t even give a shit about poker players — they just care right now about the relationship between government and banks … but hey, good to know … because just like government officials found a villain in the form of online gamblers to justify fingering its way into the bigger world of cross-border internet commerce, now online poker has a potential villain in bad, old-school governmenting (relying on nearly 50-year-old laws) to justify its immediate need to revise the laws that affect our multimillion-UScitizen industry.

To understand the brass tacks of what just happened and is happening, be sure to read the NYT story here:

Web’s Poker Winners Face Delay in Collecting
(Thanks, Lana, for the link!)

In it we learn:

• Four American banks were hit with court papers — Wells Fargo, Citibank, Alliance Bank of Arizona, and one other — telling them to freeze the funds.
• In part because of the secretive nature of grand juries, it’s not yet clear whether all are court orders or just friendly requests. (Ha.) Wells Fargo’s was an order.
• Four online sites affected — Full Tilt, PokerStars, and two others.
• Southern District prosecutors told at least one bank the funds in question “constitute property involved in money laundering transactions and illegal gambling offenses.”
• The accounts frozen belong to Allied Systems and Account Services, two payment processors (at least one of which seems to be based in Canada).

More…

Not a big deal at all, I’m sure … just a little report about a new company coming to Canada — Harrah’s. The new CEO of Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment, Mitch Garber, will be setting up shop in his old hometown of Montreal … which, of course, is kinda like a suburb of the Kahnawake (Online Poker) Nation.

Furthermore, it seems to be less and less of a secret that the WSOP, which retakes control of its own website later this year and not too long ago successfully fought a court battle for control of WSOP.com, has plans to take its brand of poker tables online.

From the Montreal Gazette:

Harrah’s agreed that he could manage the World Series of Poker teams already in Las Vegas and England out of a Montreal office and still focus on growing the 40-year-old Vegas-based competition.

“There is a hunger for World Series of Poker events, like PGA golf, with events taking place everywhere, whether it is Moscow, Montreal, Rome. Our intent is to deal with government and licensing authorities in every jurisdiction to grow the World Series of Poker,” he said yesterday.

Garber already has a Montreal office in the core of the city and about 10 people, mostly business-development types, working there. Should all go according to plan, the office will expand to “hundreds” of people, mostly customer-service employees and a scattering of Web designers.

The business plan has two main goals, said Garber, who has invested “substantially” in the privately held Harrah’s.

The first is “to offer online gaming in the U.K. and potentially elsewhere in Europe where it is legal and government-licensed.”

Here’s an argument against Barney Frank’s efforts to legitimize American online poker that I certainly didn’t see coming:

Lifting the Online Poker Ban Could Cause a CO2 Emissions Boom

Playing poker online is a time consuming venture—playing tournaments can take hours, and the programs make it extremely easy to play in multiple rooms while surfing the web between hands in different windows. In other words, it encourages parking yourself and sitting in front of the computer for hours.

As Pablo pointed out in his piece on the impact of internet use, computers generate between 40-80 grams of greenhouse gas emissions simply by being on (given the user gets his electricity from a coal-fired power plant, as most Americans do)—now imagine some 10 million more computers on for hours longer than before. It would add up to hundreds of thousands more tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

Thanks, Brian, for the link — despite all the trees you plausibly killed in the process!

The Delaware legislature passed a bill allowing sports gambling to return to the state on Tuesday. Governor, Jack Markell will be signing the legislation later this week. Delaware is one of 4 states (Oregon, Nevada and Montana being the others) that were exempt from a 1992 federal law that banned gambling on sports.

The NFL, unsurprisingly, filed a brief with the Delaware Supreme Court against the bill. Their reasoning for blocking the bill is surprising; because they state that sports betting is a game of skill, while Delaware state law states that only games of chance are allowed. Could they be unknowingly opening the door to allow all sorts of gambling on games of skill, such as poker?

Been gathering a few gems over the past week…

Lawsuits are so easy and fun. Well, ask Clonie and she might deliver a different response, but that hasn’t stopped the lawyers in other cases from filing some very poker-centric lawsuits.

Gambling Times Inc. has filed suit against Scott Lazar, executive producer of Deal, the almost-embarrassing poker movie that flopped (pun inevitable) in movie theaters in 2008. According to super reputable tabloid TMZ, Gambling Times Inc. was promised prominent product placement in the film, and for the lack of it is suing Lazar for $1 million, about ten times more than what the movie garnered in revenue.

More…

Here’s an interesting little new poker device that just might not suck! The poker controller is a vid-game-inspired joypad designed with specific online poker moves and multitabling in mind. Supposedly works with Full Tilt, PokerStars, PartyPoker, and Ladbrokes. The bet wheel seems pretty cool, and the tilt switch … well just go ahead and embed that in me now:

Each Poker Controller comes fully integrated with a pinpoint Raise-O-Meter (bet wheel), Custom Bet Buttons, Lightning Fast Table Switches, Mouse Touchpad, Fast-play Buttons to Bet, Check/Call & Fold, Table Settings & More. All designed to enable quick play at the touch of a button!

The Wireless Poker Controller can help even the most seasoned player to increase their bet speed & bet accuracy, avoid errors & play more efficiently. The Poker Controller even features an emergency ‘TILT’ switch, which can be programmed to shut you out for a cool-off period when tilt takes the better of you. Save losing $$$ from emotional and irrational play!

[via Thrillist]

Kudos to Rep. Barney Frank for introducing the much-anticipated legislation this morning. The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act of 2009 has no H.R. number attached yet, but the process has begun. The name of the bill doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue or make for a nice abbreviation - IGRCPEA? - but might just be referred to as “The Bill” going forward. (Catchy?)

The 48-page bill provides for licensing, enforcement, and consumer protections regarding legal internet gambling, as detailed on the House Financial Services Committee website.

SUMMARY
The Internet Gambling Regulation Consumer Protection & Enforcement Act 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 U.S., on the condition that they maintain effective protections against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering and fraud, and enforce prohibitions or restrictions on types of gambling prohibited by states, and Indian Tribes.

At the same time, Frank introduced a piece of companion legislation calling for the postponement of UIGEA regulations from this year’s compliance date of December 1, 2009 to one year later. Pushing it to 2010 gives “The Bill” time to progress as it may.

So, it’s on! According to Bloomberg, Harrah’s Entertainment and Youbet.com are already on board and ready to lobby on behalf of this bill. More to come in the weeks ahead, no doubt.

(Note: KevMath beat me to it again! Duplicate posts on this can be forgiven, eh?)

Rep. Barney Frank is set to introduce his pro-online gaming legislation tomorrow, complete with 10am ET press conference. With any luck, this will get some mainstream news coverage, but we can be assured of at least some C-SPAN live feed.

Someone at Bluff wrote a little ditty about it here, and the official press release from Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative below:

More…

That’s the unconfirmed word on the street … despite what seemed like a semi-big win for Team Aced/Gold at Dream Team Poker … Dream Team can probably go ahead and retire that jersey set, because the new online poker site and former WSOP main event champion supposedly have broken up.

No details yet … just third-hand information over here. But I’m hearing that either Gold said hey, time to pay up and they didn’t have the cash, or Aced said, yo, Jamie, where are all those players you promised us?

Either way … assuming that some element of the above is true, is it shocking that this didn’t last?

I’m still trying to figure out what it all means … who the plaintiffs are, and what they’re seeking. The best I can tell on first skim is that an LA attorney is representing himself, and seeking injunctive relief in an attempt to prevent Californians from gambling across state lines — i.e. James B. Hicks wants the site shut down.

This may or may not be connected to proposed legislation in California to allow players to gamble online within state lines.

Developing, obviously.

Click here to download and read the lawsuit.

UPDATE: Looks like this likely is a nuisance shakedowny kinda case … though personally I’m still suspicious that the proposed California intrastate online gambling bill might have something to do with it. From the Pokerati legal advisory team’s Cali branch:

This is really an attorney driven case under a California law called the “Unfair Competition Law” (UCL) that basically says, in part, that if any party is committing an act that is “unlawful” (i.e., violates a statute), that party can be enjoined from those unlawful acts and…..must pay the plaintiff’s attorneys fees. In other words, there probably is no harm to the plaintiff, but that may be irrelevant. This is really just a vehicle to get some attorneys fees paid.

It’s becoming less and less of a secret that I get excited about most things soccer-y … and since moving to Nevada from Texas I really miss Mexicans. (We have Latinos here in Las Vegas, but the food, the music, the lawn care … not the same.) So you can imagine I was quite delighted to see PokerStars getting in bed with Mexican Futbol’s Primera Division.

This development actually probably has more to do with recent WPT World Championship-casher Boris Becker and “sports” in general than it does poker-and-soccer specifically, but still … here’s a sample of the ads they’re running on Mexican TV, this one featuring CD Chivas’ Luis Michel:

More at 2+2.

Fans of the National Football League probably didn’t start off on the right foot anyway, since football is done for awhile and they’re forced to see baseball games/references everywhere. But there is another source of annoyance for NFL’ers, and that is the knowledge that the biggest opponent of online gaming in the United States is their very own football organization.

The NFL has promised to fight any effort by Rep. Barney Frank to push legislation that legalizes online gaming. With a lobbyist, an office in D.C., and a PAC donation committee in place, the NFL is ready to fight online gaming with the help of the Christian Coalition and Rep. Harry Reid of Nevada. Wait…What? Reid on the same side of this fight as Bob Goodlatte? Yessirreee.

Well, one NFL fan in particular sees the ridiculousness of it all. Dan Boone, of Bleacher Report:

The NFL, always a bright beacon of morals in a blighted land, has decided to self-righteously step into the public morals debate. The NFL does not want a bill allowing online gambling, that is a current bill legalizing poker, to pass.

The NFL behemoth is so against people playing online poker that they have hired a high priced Washington Lobbyist, opened a DC office, and set up a PAC Donation committee to help its noble cause.

So that’s where ticket increase money goes. That’s why the stadium beers are nine bucks and the exhibition games are full priced flops. Perhaps that explains the PSL’s. The league needs just craves some spare change to pay some politicos for favors.

Read the rest of “NFL Declares War on Poker” here.

Another one bites the dust. It was in late March that Bugsy’s Club closed and sent its players to PokerStars, but another shut its online poker operations yesterday. PokerRoom.com posted a message on its site, including a note suggesting that players are switching to bwin, where special bonuses await the fleeing players. Here is the note from PokerRoom:

End of an Era
Apr 14, 2009

Well folks, after almost ten years of fun and games, it is with a heavy heart and a tear in my eye that I have to announce that this is it; as of 11:00 CET today, Tuesday the 14th of April 2009, PokerRoom.com will no longer be open for online poker.

More…

This week I come to you from Holland! Topics include the European Union, as they prove you don’t have to be an American to be a hypocrite! Plus, Harvard Medical takes a look at online gambling addiction.

When poker and non-poker entities collide, it can produce interesting results. Case and point, Jennifer Tilly and Phil Laak - an odd but somehow perfect match.

Doyle Brunson proved he (or his people) had connections when he first recruited Pamela Anderson to rep for Doyles Room. That was before Doyles Room left the U.S. market and came back complete with Doyles Casino. Since the return, there have been numerous C-list and B-list celebrities lined up for his celebrity bounty tournaments, like Nicky Hilton and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. But this week, the Godfather of Poker has outdone himself. Not only does he have Eve (rapper, sometime-actress, and big deal for hip-hop fans like me) set up as one of his bounties, but he has Mickey Rourke. That Mickey Rourke who just won a Golden Globe for best actor in The Wrestler and was nominated for the Oscar. They will all be participating in this Thursday’s $25K Celebrity Bounty Tournament at Doyles Room.

Doyle wrote about his friendship with Rourke in his blog:

Twelve years ago, through a mutual friend, I met the talented actor Mickey Rourke. His life story should be made into a film because nobody has ever had more ups and downs than Mickey over the past 20 years.

Mickey was one of the hot new movie stars after his hit 9 1/2 weeks with Kim Basinger. Then, because of some personal problems, he walked away from acting to pursue a boxing career.

He boxed from 1991-1995, proving he was indeed a rebel who marched to the beat of his own drummer. Mickey then returned to his first love, acting, and with the completion of his new 2008 film, The Wrestler, he got rave reviews and won every award except the Academy Award. Mickey, who is genuinely a nice guy, decided to try poker. He remembered me, gave me a call and agreed to be one of the bounties in DoylesRoom’s weekly bounty tournament. So come play with Mickey this Thursday at 9:30 eastern in Doyle’s Bounty tournament.

On the other hand, poker doesn’t always mix well with “celebrity,” as Jose Canseco’s accountant can attest to. According to the Los Angeles Times, he dissed the Golden League in 2006 and the subsequent marketing contract he had with them in order to play poker in Reno and attend a party at the Playboy Mansion. Whoops. And for reneging on that contract, he now has to pay $258,750 for his addictions ego choices.

Funny … have The Simpsons on in the background, and they just opened the show with a bit where Rev. Lovejoy had to explain to his religious superior why the church’s credit card was declined … he came up with a dismissive explanation of a security hold put on it by the bank after his wife joined an offshore poker club.

(The subtextual punchline being that they were talking about fireplace pokers.)

That Sam Simon … so nice of him to embed a joke just for us.

Ha-ha-ish.

We have so many convos about online poker — from the play to the business to the laws — and more specifically of late, how it’s seen by the non-poker masses. I got a little anecdotal reminder of these “normal people” perceptions of the game when a Facebook friend (who happens to be a third-year-law student who used to work for Congress in DC … so, you know, educated, pop-culture-and-politics-savvy … ) IM’d me looking for a quick synopsis of everything related to the multibillion-dollar international industry that 10s of millions of people are in some way connected to:

4:53pmKristiné
may i ask a poker related question

4:53pmDan
sure

4:54pmKristiné
what can you tell me about online poker - ala full tilt or something like that?

(i’m not going to do it, just curious)

4:54pmDan
um, there’s a lot. i blog about it every day.

4:54pmKristiné
really?

More…

Virginia Heffernan, a tech writer for the New York Times, has an article about online poker appearing in this Sunday’s The Times Magazine. Heffernan seems to have been hanging around some poker forums and found the self-pity of the “bad beat” story to be worth writing about. (She also refers to 2+2 as a “funny poker site.”)

An excerpt: 

Whether or not poker interests you, the bad-beat story is a form to study; everyone needs to know how to tell one. It’s an especially useful genre during a recession. With its combination of numbers, magic, hunches and statistics, the bad-beat story furnishes a nice range of narrative devices to frame a lament about losing, while making it crystal clear that the loss wasn’t your fault.

The article is much more thorough than it appears at first, going from the start of online poker in the late ’90s to Chris Moneymaker to the recent scandals at Absolute and UltimateBet. It gives the Times Magazine readers a nice overview of online poker, with one big, notable exception — Heffernan never once mentions the UIGEA (or the fallout). The overall tone of the piece is that online poker is a normal, legal activity. 

While there’s no new information for Pokerati readers, it’s a well-written article worth reading just to see how the NY Times is presenting online poker to the masses this week. One more time, here’s the link:

“Flop,” by Virginia Heffernan, The Times Magazine

Generally found money is great money, right? I just got an email from UB telling me I have $219 in my VIP account. I haven’t played there since I went bust for all but $8 one day a couple years ago … took that $8 over to the blackjack table and turned it in to $1,000 in 20 minutes and got away with still $800 … then proceeded back to a couple 2/4 NL tables and lost it all in a couple hours.

Anyhow, a little curious to figure out where that money came from — I don’t remember playing Russ Hamilton, but ya never know — but will feel dirty installing the software on a new machine.

UPDATE: Installing UB for Mac apparently isn’t one-click easy. For now I’ll take it as a sign not to mingle with the site.

With banking matters all over the place these days, the IRS reportedly investigating Russ Hamilton, and Barney Frank putting together a bill that would simply strike down the UIGEA as if it never happened, I gotta think, well … I really don’t know what to think. Though it seems major shifts are happening, global-economic finance is admittedly a little beyond my ken. But I’m trying to figure it out, and so far I’ve concluded that banks are clearly important, and anyone who handles the transfer of billions of imaginary dollars has major issues to attend to.

Brilliant, I know.

And actually, not even billions … just $10,000 or more. Apparently a new IRS rule has gone into effect that requires online poker players to treat their online accounts — PokerStars, Full Tilt, et al. — as offshore foreign bank accounts.

Yeow, that’s different. Sources who were winning players online tell me nothing more than a WG-2 was necessary before. Again, I’m not really sure what that means (or what enforcement mechanisms are in place) but do I know this change theoretically affects lots and lots of people and probably at least a few billion dollars. If I’m reading this tax expert right, basically, if all your money in all your accounts added up to $10,000 or more at any point in 2008, you have to file a special form (TD F 90-22.1, which goes to the Dept. of the Treasury, not the IRS) for these accounts, and the fine for not doing so is either $100,000 or half your bankroll, whichever is greater.

That sounds pretty tough. But maybe this is just what comes with the territory as G-men set up a framework for how these online piggy banks, er, poker sites have to work in the future? No word yet on whether or not you’ll ever be able to pay your taxes in PokerStars W$/T$ or Lindens.

You may recall a couple recent polls we’ve run inquiring who were the most influential people in poker for 2008, working either alone or as a group, for better or for worse. Bluff Magazine did something similar, and their “Poker Power 20″ is on newsstands now. Their results are listed below, but for comparison’s sake, here’re our collective results, as determined by you, the best damn websurfers in poker:

The Pokerati Team - 44
Jeffrey Pollack - 39
Russ Hamilton - 30
PokerStars - 29
WSOP/Harrah’s - 26
Daniel Negreanu - 23
The Batfaces - 21
Bloggers (Pauly, Wicked Chops, Nat Arem, et al.) - 16
American Government (DOJ, Congress, Kentucky, etc.) - 13
Barney Frank - 11
The PPA - 9
Phil Hellmuth - 9
TV Networks (ESPN, GSN, NBC, et al.) - 7
Forums (2+2, Neverwin, et al.) - 7
shronk - 7
AP/UB/Cereus - 6
The Kahnawake - 5
Russian Mob - 5
PokerNews - 4
Brian Balsbaugh (Poker Royalty) - 4
John Pappas (PPA) - 3
Howard Lederer - 3
Non-Poker Media (60 Min, Post, NYT, etc.) - 2
Bluff Media - 1

And here’s Bluff’s list, in reverse order:

20. Wicked Chops Poker
19. “The Backers”
18. Poker Players Alliance
17. CardRunners
16. Ivan Demidov
15. WSOP Players Advisory Council
14. Doyle Brunson
13. 2+2
12. PokerNews.com
11. World Poker Tour
10. Professional Poker Players
9. Bluff Media
8. Poker PROductions
7. Daniel Negreanu
6. Barney Frank
5. Poker Royalty
4. Full Tilt Poker
3. ESPN
2. PokerStars
1. World Series of Poker

Where in the world is Jamie Gold these days? Maybe he’s looking for the plethora of jobs that aren’t available in Hollywood. Could be that he’s trying to develop “America’s Unemployed Hot Chicks.” But in the world of poker, he does have a gig. Bankroll Boost is reporting that Gold has signed on as a sponsored player at Aced Poker.

Say what?

Good for Gold in finding a gig in these tough times. Honestly, kudos to anyone who is securing work instead of being on the unfortunate end of losing it right now. Maybe we’ll hear more about Aced Poker in the near future, if the site decides to promote him (which they have yet to do - Aced has no mention of him on the pages of its site thus far). And come to think of it, Betfair wasn’t big until it signed Annette Obrestad and Sorel Mizzi, and Cake Poker still hasn’t signed any players to a roster but continues to gain popularity. Aced Poker is clearly trying to work its way into the upper echelon of sites in the American market by signing a recognizable name to promote it. Keep your eyes open for “Aced is Gold” and other oh-so-clever promotions.

This is really interesting stuff. As I alluded to in an earlier comment with respect to this case, the rubber will meet the road for FT when they have to testify with respect to the operation of the various companies and the contractual arrangements with other members of the FT Team. Looks like that will happen with the court-ordered depos of Bitar and, most interestingly, Ferguson. As I have said before, I cannot imagine that anyone with FT wants to talk about their dealings with Full Tilt Poker in such a forum, under oath, as it would seem to be tantamount to providing a knife to the butcher wanting to kill the goose who’s laying golden eggs. Plus, now there may be e-mails out there Clonie references that, at least, reference her deal? Wow, again, no way FT wants to go there.

From Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman:

Short-Stacked Shamus has a good writeup on the clip.

As Dan mentioned during his Poker Beat podcast debut last week, former New York Senator Alfonse D’Amato is on the case of the UIGEA in Washington, D.C. He published a piece in Roll Call, the magazine of Capitol Hill, in which he points to online poker - and the billions of dollars in revenue potential - as a potential source of revenue for the economically-challenged U.S. government. It’s worth reprinting here, not because of the message that went out to the politically-minded last week, but because it shows that the Poker Players Alliance is working behind the scenes in D.C. It might be worth it to be patient with the PPA during this time of relative silence, as they may just have a few aces up their sleeves.

Here is the article in full:

The New Deal: Regulate and Tax iPoker
By Alfonse D’Amato
Special to Roll Call
January 27, 2009, 4:21 p.m.

As the Obama administration and the new Congress evaluate their policy priorities, they cannot ignore the significant challenge to fund these programs given our nation’s financial situation. Our new leaders have been dealt a struggling economy, and even President Barack Obama can agree that tax increases to pay for his agenda won’t reveal the winning hand, politically or practically. A possible solution, however, is not out of reach. Our new president needs only to look at his favored form of skillful avocation: poker.

Yes, I said poker. While business leaders and politicians debate how much, or how little, we should regulate the business community, the online poker industry and the millions of Americans who play on the Internet have been crying out for regulation and taxation. The absence of government regulation, and in fact the quixotic efforts to ban Internet poker, has left U.S. consumers vulnerable and left billions in potential tax revenue on the virtual poker table.

More…

As many of you probably know, one of President Barack Obama’s first acts even before assuming office was creating a National Suggestion Box. And though I am concerned that they’ve already forgotten about it (they haven’t yet changed the header at Change.gov from “President-Elect” to “President”), an issue that’s jumped way up to the top of the list is repeal of the UIGEA. Though I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, the only folks who seem more motivated are the pot smokers.

Anyhow, you can see all the poker related posts at Change.gov via an on-site search for poker or UIGEA. Or just click “most popular” — where they’ve assigned a point system to all the ideas in America and poker has cracked the top 10. The list of issues attracting the squeakiest wheels, in order (with the number of comments in parentheses):

1. Ending Marijuana Prohibition (3,550)
2. Commit to becoming the “Greenest” country in the world (199)
3. Stop using federal resources to undermine states’ medicinal marijuana laws (17)
4. An end to the government sponsored abstinence education to be replaced by an introduction of age appropriate sex education. (158)
5. Bullet Trains & Light Rail (434)
6. The permanent closure of all Torture facilities. (Facilities such as: Guantanamo, and Abu Ghraib) (119)
7. Revoke the George W. Bush tax cuts for the top 1 % (119)
8. Get the Insurance Companies out the Health Care (362)
9. Revoke the Tax Exempt Status of the Church of Scientology (545)
10. Bring Back the Constitution! (243)
11. Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker (1,713)

UPDATE: We dropped off the front page, from #9 to #11, in the course of my writing this post. I’d say “damn Constitution!”, but that probably wouldn’t help our cause. You can still vote — here’s a link to page 2 of the list, though hopefully it will become an irrelevant link by Monday morn.

PokerStars won the battle of patch warfare by signing up 6 of the November Nine (and booking the win via Peter Eastgate, giving them four of the past six WSOP main event champs) … and now, apparently the fight grows, as word has it that PokerStars is forbidding its players from appearing on Poker After Dark — making the show that much closer to a full-on Full Tilt infomercial.

Personally, I’m having a hard time thinking of PokerStars players who’ve appeared on the show. But regardless, I think that means fewer special episodes — like there will definitely be no “Recent WSOP Main Event Champs Week”.

A three judge Kentucky Court of Appeals panel ruled today in a 2-1 decision that the state’s attempt to seize 141 internet gambling domain names could not take place. More details can be found at Poker News Daily and the full decision on the Poker Players Alliance website. It’s expected for the state of Kentucky to file an appeal, which would move the matter to the Kentucky Supreme Court, in the very near future. More news as it becomes available.

UPDATE: Never mind. Typo. Oops. But apparently these results ARE lies. Not accurate, I swear!

Maybe this is old news to most active online players … but I’ve been playing on Full Tilt a healthy unhealthy amount of late, and have been running pretty good. So I decided to SharkScope myself to see if there was any change in my public stats. Change indeed … Did a search for “dantana72″ on Full Tilt, and got the following results:

Their question makes me laugh. Because in a way, that’s what’s apparently at issue … in the future, regardless of the legal frontier, people will be choosing their game, er, network based on whether or not they want their data publicly available, er, mine-able. My stats are available for RiverDan72 on PokerStars, btw. Clearly it is nothing but a bunch of lies … down a thousand my ass!

Choose your game:

PokerStars (viewable by SharkScope)
Full Tilt Poker (not viewable by SharkScope)

Call it a rally cry or a jump on the bandwagon, but with the UIGEA hitting poker so hard over the past year, it is high time we see some hope on the horizon. That hope comes in the form of a new president taking office on Tuesday and the old one (and his sneaky midnight regulations) getting the boot.

President-elect Obama and his transition team established a website to give the people of America a voice. Change.gov has a section called Citizen’s Briefing Book, wherein with a simple log-in, anyone can sound off about issues that they’d like to see the Obama administration put on its radar. Poker players have stepped up and taken action, not only by posting entries about online poker and the UIGEA, but taking one post in particular and ranking it so high (second at one point) that the Obama administration will have to take a look at it.

The entry called “Boost America’s Economy with Legal Online Poker” didn’t use spell-check isn’t the most detailed, but sometimes short-and-sweet is all that’s necessary. By thousands of people logging in and hitting “vote up” next to the entry, it has become one of the most viewed on the site. It takes a few minutes, and each subsequent vote will push the issue that much closer to Obama’s desk.

Meanwhile, in Congress, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has introduced the Midnight Rule Act in an attempt to negate - or at least call into review - the last three months of regulations put into effect by the lame duck Bush administration. That would include the UIGEA that, despite objections by financial institutions, will go into effect on Monday, January 19th with compliance required by December 1st. If Nadler’s bill passes and gets to Obama’s desk, all of those midnight antics would go through a review, and possible rejection, by the appropriate members of Obama’s cabinet. This is a chance to reverse the enforcement dates of the UIGEA and give us more time to lobby Obama to help us change it.

Get on over to the PPA website, where you can get in touch with your Congressional representative and urge their support of the Midnight Rule Act introduced by Nadler.

First we hear word that Full Tilt has plans to open a sports book, and now, apparently, according to an email from Doyle himself — or at least on from his room, with his face and signature embedded — they’ve got “big changes” in store, and it seems to include references to bona-fide online gambling:

Big Changes Are Just Around the Corner!
We respect the privacy of our members and if you prefer to not receive our communications, please click unsubscribe.


As DoylesRoom readies to launch our all new poker room and casino, we ask that you keep a very close eye on your email box.



Get ready for over $5,000,000 in monthly guarantees, multiple daily and nightly guaranteed tournaments, an all new rewards program and the most active network that we’ve ever called home. It’s more of everything you love about DoylesRoom.

More players, more tables, and more guarantees at the times of the day you want to play poker.

This week, there will be no Bounty tournament as we transition to our incredible new platform. The Bounty will return on January 21st at 9:30pm ET. We will be sending each of our players detailed emails describing the new exciting changes and what needs to be done to smoothly transition to our new network.

May the Flop Be With You, I’ll see you in The Bounty on the 21st.

I’m not really sure what’s behind this sudden switch to pre-UIGEA standards. But these apparent moves by the likes of Doyle’s Room and Full Tilt almost certainly aren’t being made cavalierly without thought to the current, 2009 political sitch. And January 21, of course, is a significant date in non-poker America.

Click here to check out what’s up at Doyle’s Room.

Photo courtesy of World Poker Tour

When Tom “durrrr” Dwan wanted to play poker with stakes higher than you can find in your average poker room, he simply issued a challenge to players everywhere. The magic of the big ol’ internet allowed him to get the word out, and he found some takers for his $1.5 million wager. Of course he did. In this economy where people are losing their jobs and houses, cutting back on expenses, and crunching numbers to make sure the basic bills are paid, people like Phil Ivey, David Benyamine, and Patrik Antonius have the ability to play poker for millions of dollars.

Bluff Magazine originally reported that Dwan was ready for some high stakes action, except against friend and fellow online pro Phil “OMGClayAiken” Galfond. He wanted to play 50,000 hands of $200/$400 PLO or NLHE on four tables. (Multi-tabling must mean this challenge pertains to online poker only, I assume.)

In addition to money won, if the player who has the cajones and bankroll to take up the challenge is even $1 up after rake, he wins $1.5m. If durrrr is up after the 50k hands, he wins $500k. For those who aren’t mathematically inclined, that means Dwan is offering 3-1 odds to any player in the world.

Well, he’s got takers, most vocally Phil Ivey, who announced on his “Tuesdays With Ivey” show on PokerRoad that he accepted the challenge. No word, however, on when the heads-up matches will begin, as those details are likely being worked out.

Others who have expressed an interest in Dwan’s challenge are David Benyamine and Patrik Antonius.

That’s the word just in … remaining runners will pick up where they left off chip-wise and play the tournament online (at PokerStars, natch) down to a final table, which will be held live in Chile. $50k new overlay, too. According to Jessie in Pokerstarzistan:

Hi Dan,

We just wanted to provide you with an official update from PokerStars on LAPT Mexico.

The Latin American Poker Tour (LAPT) confirms that it is cancelling the poker tournament in Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, due to an indefinite suspension served on one of its local partners.

The LAPT states it has cooperated fully and in good faith with the requirements outlined by the Mexican government. The LAPT respects and abides by local regulations in each market.

LAPT’s partner in Mexico obtained a formal ruling from the Mexican Ministry of the Interior (SEGOB) allowing the event to take place. As the LAPT complied with every rule stipulated by the Code of the Mexican Federal Law of Games and Raffles, the reasons for suspension are beingreviewed by lawyers of all parties.

All the best,
Jessie

POKERSTARS.NET LAPT MEXICO SUSPENDED

Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico – December 9, 2009 — PokerStars.net today announced that they will be offering a free roll on their site to all remaining players in the suspended LAPT Mexico event. The players will start with the same number of chips they had when the tournament was suspended and they will play down to the final table. The final nine will then be flown to the LAPT Vina del Mar in Chile, where they will finish the tournament live on a televised table.

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This tournament just will not go away, but that’s probably a good thing for the 89 players who felt a little left out in the cold warmth. No shot at a televised final table or a piece of Latin American fame or more money than $5500.

So, PokerStars is offering a freeroll tournament online - time and date to be determined by the availability of the players - for the 89 finalists, who will start with the number of chips they had at the time of the suspension. The nine who reach the final table will be flown down to Vina del Mar, Chile, the site of the next LAPT stop in January, to play for the win…and for television.

“We know that many of our remaining players really wanted the opportunity to finish this tournament and earn their shot at an LAPT title” says Sarne Lightman, Director of Marketing for PokerStars Latin America. “Although the tournament was suspended and the prize money distributed, PokerStars still wants to offer their players this extra opportunity. PokerStars will also be adding $50,000 in prize money to the final table. “

As we’ve talked about before … success for poker in Congress will require more than just being on the right side of the law … it means convincing senators and representatives that we even belong on their radar … and ultimately are worth risking some political capital for on poker’s behalf. We already have tons of Congresspeople on our side. And tons clearly against. Now it’s a matter of not just swaying the uncommitted middle our way, but also convincing them these issues even matter.

click to enlarge

To this extent, as Congressfolk come back to session this week, the PPA is taking out full-page ads (above) in the three most relevant rags to DC insiders — The Hill, Roll Call, and Politico — parlaying the exposure of cheating scandals in the online poker industry into an important message about the need to effectively protect US citizens.

Good stuff, I gotta think.

Missed the first week due to a PokerStars blog commitment and blew my second chance last weekend. Though I wasn’t the first one out of the PokerListings Run-Good Challenge v2 on PokerStars, I didn’t last long, as Liz Lieu took a good number of my chips, and Benjo finished the job. I asked them both to do something positive with those chips, and Benjo went on to win the thing.

Today is my last chance to qualify for the final tournament next weekend. There are three spots open, and I’m going to have to run goooood to make it there. I am donkey, hear me hee-haw. Wish me luck!

UPDATE: Out in 11th place. No finals for me (obv). Pokerati mate Dan put the biggest dent in my stack when he moved in with pocket sixes on a 7-4-3 board, and I called with pocket tens. Of course, the 5 hit on the turn, and I was hurtin’. It wasn’t long before I had to move with K-10 for my last few chips, and Short-Stacked Shamus took me out.

Thanks to the PokerListings guys for a fun challenge!

Tokwiro Enterprises announced that it has chosen to follow the Kentucky court order and block Kentucky residents from accessing Absolute Poker and UltimateBet. In an explanation, COO Paul Leggett said, in so many words, that the purpose it to protect the domain names for the entirety of its customer base.

Being anxious about following the letter of the law when trying to rebuild a reputation is one thing, but could this be jumping the gun a little? The case is currently on hold due to the appeal process, and the deadline for blocking Kentucky residents has been postponed until the appeals court hears the petition, which is scheduled for December 12th. Today is December 2nd. Just sayin’.

The entire press release from Tokwiro is as follows:

TOKWIRO BLOCKS ACCESS BY KENTUCKY RESIDENTS
TO ITS ONLINE POKER SITES

Customers Connecting from IP Addresses in Kentucky Will Be Unable to Play on Absolute Poker and UltimateBet Sites

MONTREAL, CANADA (DECEMBER 2, 2008) — Tokwiro Enterprises ENRG (Tokwiro), the owner of the Absolute Poker (AP) and UltimateBet (UB) poker sites, announced today that, in order to fully comply with the Franklin County (Kentucky) Circuit Court’s recent orders, it is restricting access to Tokwiro’s sites by Kentucky residents.

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A few people have asked me WTF I’m talking about saying that November 2008 will go down as an historical month where everything changes/d. To spell it out, you have:

The November Nine — historic simply as it pertains to the conclusion of a single not-so-little tournament that seems to be the barometer for all things related to the poker industry.

Midnight Rule-push for UIGEA Regs — we’re just one of 100 single-issues affected by the Bush administration’s attempts to party it up like frat boys and trash the joint before checking out … but regardless, it means we have a whole bunch of additional clean-up to do.

60 Minutes/Washington Post Exposés — whether it’s determined to be fair-and-balanced good-for-poker coverage or a damning hatchet job hacked with a double-edged blade of lies … the Thanksgiving weekend stories represent the official exposure of the online poker biz, hairy warts and all, to the non-poker world.

Clonie Gowen vs. Full Tilt Lawsuit — a loyal soldier turns on her poker-biz commanders, with attempts to air grievances in American court threatening to bring the multibillion-dollar operations of a super-private jurisdictionally challenged business into the public domain. While FTP reps actively petition the Feds to let them open these books but only if they can pay extra taxes, the former Full Tilt covergirl arms herself with a taser gun and takes aiming at a Red Pro.

Formation of Cereus — the two most scandal-ridden online poker sites officially join forces to create a recovering cheater supersite, flooding their own tables with “refund” money to keep the action moving.

Plug Pulled on PokerBlog.com — hardly the biggest deal in the bigger picture … but PartyPoker’s apologetic canning of Dr. Tim represents a new fiscal reality facing even the most legitimate of online poker sites and their workers.

Introduction of HB 222 in Texas — Take 2 on trying to bring the game that had everything to do with the creation of an $18 billion industry (subject to all the hubbub above) back home where it belongs.

All this, of course, is going on in the midst of a major lawsuit related to internet authority in Kentucky — where unprecedented government action has shaken up/down the online poker industry, forcing noticeable shifts in business ops and resource allocation. Clearly:

The Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, another lobbying organization on the side of internet poker players, released a statement first thing this morning regarding the recent 60 Minutes broadcast and corresponding Washington Post articles. SSIGI really doesn’t mince words, starting with wording that calls government prohibition of internet gambling being “a failure and a mistake.” More about legislation that would regulate the industry in the following statement:

“60 Minutes” and Washington Post Coverage Highlight Why Congress Should Regulate Internet Gambling and Protect Consumers

Current prohibition leaves Americans unprotected

Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, today issued the following statement in regards to recent coverage on CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and in The Washington Post on the dangers Americans face when they gamble online.

“The 60 Minutes and Washington Post stories demonstrate unambiguously that the existing government prohibition on Internet gambling is a failure and a mistake. The millions of Americans who continue to gamble online are vulnerable to being defrauded by offshore operators who exploit U.S. prohibition policies, leaving U.S. consumers without legal protections when they make a bet or play poker online. It is clear that a different approach is necessary to protect consumers, as well as to recapture the billions of tax dollars currently lost to offshore gambling operators and out of the U.S. economy. Now more than ever, Congress should understand why it should step in and regulate the industry to protect the public. We are hopeful that increased attention in the media about the issue will lead to increased movement in Congress.

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Nice statement from the Poker Players Alliance just came across the transom. We’ll see if it leads to more coverage of our issue in the non-poker political press. Regardless, I think historically November ‘08 will be seen as a period where everything changed for the industry (for better or worse is yet to be determined) … probably the most significant period since Sep/Oct ‘06.

Statement by PPA Chairman D’Amato on “60 Minutes” and Washington Post Coverage of the Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet Cheating Scandals

Washington, D.C. – “The recent cheating scandals underscore the need for U.S. licensing and regulation of online poker to help protect consumers. While even the most highly regulated industries are susceptible to fraud and abuse, regulation does provide assurances that when consumers are harmed they have recourse, and that the offenders will be sanctioned. The continued pursuit of poker prohibition, on the other hand, will only drive this industry underground. As the Washington Post pointed out, prohibition represents a widening disconnect between 21st-century technology and 20th-century laws.

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Dan Druff over at Neverwin breaks down the Paul Leggett memo in a way that might make some think the AP/UB scandal is still going on, or at least a cover-up is:

* Tokwiro agreed not to prosecute the perpetrator in the Absolute Poker cheating, and to protect that individual’s identity, because this was the only way to ensure that the ability to cheat was fully discovered and disabled. Because of this decision, AP could continue operating and begin to reimburse affected players as quickly as possible.

Pretty sweet deal for the guy, huh? Wouldn’t you like to work for a company that will agree not to prosecute you for stealing millions from them, provided that you just show them how you did it, if caught? There is zero chance that this is true. It would have been easy for them to deconstruct this after-the-fact without this asshole’s help. Obviously they are protecting him either due to continued association/affiliation (likely), fear that he will spill the beans on everyone and everything else there (also likely), or both (most likely).

Must-read for anyone who wants to understand what all the hubbub is about.

Nat Arem sure has sources. He recently received a forward of an inter-company memo from Tokwiro Enterprises COO Paul Leggett regarding the upcoming 60 Minutes story. Leggett has reason to believe that there will be a bias against Tokwiro and its companies, going further to say that online poker will emerge with a bad reputation. Thus, they did not appear on camera for interviews. (A little like saying that the jury has a bias, the judge is going to declare me guilty, so why defend myself?)

Leggett wrote:

“We have every reason to believe that the 60 Minutes producers are intent on portraying the online poker industry and our companies in a negative light, and we do not expect that the program will be either fair or balanced.

Because of 60 Minutes’ apparent bias against Tokwiro and online poker, we have decided not to appear on camera. We have, however, had many conversations with the program’s producers. We provided them with extensive background materials and documents, and we answered questions on-the-record, but off-camera. Despite all this, it is not likely that our views will be properly represented. Therefore, it is important that all of our staff know the following facts about our company:”

The remainder of the memo states some facts about Tokwiro Enterprises and the cheating scandals, most of which were released to the public in UltimateBet, Absolute Poker, or Kahnawake Gaming Commission press releases or statements.

The tone of the memo and words chosen by Leggett indicate that the 60 Minutes piece could portray online poker in a bad light. In fact, what Leggett fears is that Tokwiro and its online poker entities will look bad. Well, that is entirely possible because the way in which the scandals were handled was bad, and if that comes out in the reporting, who is really at fault, especially when the company in question refuses to go on camera with a statement and show otherwise? And in truth, what is said about AP, UB, and Tokwiro really doesn’t reflect on the entire online poker world, and there still remains some hope that the reporters for 60 Minutes and the Washington Post will make that clear distinction.

The day that UB and AP finally merge to create the Cereus Poker Network, comes this from the 60 Minutes section of CBSnews.com:

THE CHEATERS - 60 MINUTES and The Washington Post reveal how online poker players suspecting cheating were forced to successfully ferret out the cheaters themselves. That’s because managers of the mostly-unregulated $18 billion Internet gambling industry failed to respond to their complaints. Steve Kroft and The Washington Post’s Gilbert Gaul report. Ira Rosen is the producer.

It’ll be the first story on this coming Sunday’s 60 Minutes broadcast, and should be available online by Monday morning.

Reminded via a Tiffany Michelle MySpace status update — “Excited about the Cereus launch this week!”:

The player pools, tables, tourneys, etc. from Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet magically merge today.

Trying to keep an open mind … because theoretically it is possible that the combination of two sites caught in the biggest cheating scandals in the nascent history of the online poker industry — having learned painful lessons firsthand — could become a paragon of integrity and security, a model for fully legal American online poker in the future.

But I just can’t help to think back to the Dallas underground … when a saturated market had rooms and games beginning to merge, two shady operators joining forces seldom led to anything good (save for some pretty juicy opening-weekend tourneys).

That’s my bias, I suppose … but with that in the back of my mind, I can’t help but think of how one of these sites seemed rotten at the core (with the exception of Mark Seif, I’ve yet to hear any former employee say anything good about Absolute), and the other … well, sure, they’ve changed management and have plenty of good peeps working for them (Annie Duke, Phil Hellmuth, Mean Gene, et al.) … but the top of the pyramid hasn’t really changed as far as we can tell. And with all due respect to those who are just trying to throw good poker times … the mysterious, closely-guarded nature of Tokwiro+Kahnawake+UB+Chief Joe operating on the protected lands of the Mohawk Nation (with offices in Costa Rica) … that’s the definition of shady! Sorry, it just is.

Still, with $22 million in refunds, the action’s gotta be good.

We love the guys at PokerListings more and more … not only do they bowl well and generally produce quality poker content, but also, they get it: They can buy a blogger’s affection by throwing freerolls with quality cash prizes at stake. Brilliant, as the British would say.

In the first go-round of the Run Good Challenge, the guys hosting the event dominated. Oops, not very hospitable. But they rolled the money over and then the ladies started winning, including Change100’s victory in the Grand Final. But in event #1 of Run Good Challenge 2: Electric Boogaloo, the one only semi-employed male in the field with firsthand memories of Bobby Riggs losing to Billie Jean King took it down — kudos to Dr. Tim for making a stand on behalf of chubby white bald men who, frankly, needed the inspiration to know, Yes We Can!

The Shrink won $600 for his Sunday-morning skills, fending off attacks from his writing partner Amy Calistri ($300) and longtime Pokerati fave Michele Lewis ($100).

California Jen, Liz Lieu, and Lacey Jones apparently missed the starting bell, but yours truly woke up to his PokerStars alarm this time — seriously, you get a rousing beep on the first hand if you register for the tourney pre-sleep and leave Stars running overnight — but couldn’t get his head fully in the game before pushing all-in with his Q3o vs. the eventual winner’s Q8s (on a flop of Q-8-x) … damn, finished 11th out of 14, which seems about right for how I played almost into Level 2.

It seems that David Benyamine is no longer a “red” pro at Full Tilt. According to several sites, Benyamine is still playing on FTP but no longer a paid pro. And in return, they’re possibly working on a deal with Tom Dwan. According to not-so-reliable reports the forums, FTP is clearing the way for Dwan, better known online as “drrrr,” by asking someone else who just happens to be of the same name to relinquish his online name.

Nothing wrong with wanting Dwan on the list of pros, but dropping Benyamine doesn’t exactly make sense, especially when glancing at the looooooong list of pros and finding more than a handful of unrecognizable names. For instance, take this guy.

Recognize him? Evidently, he’s Greg Mascio, plays mixed games, and has a sponsorship deal with FTP.

Just not sure who’s running this Full Tilt show. First, they call Clonie’s bluff and get slapped with a $40 million lawsuit, and no matter their thoughts on winning-this-thing odds, is any publicity really good publicity? Second, their list of pros just doesn’t make sense. Sure, their Team Full Tilt kids are top-of-the-line in most respects, but it seems strange that an in-charge someone wouldn’t look at that list of a kazillion Full Tilt Pros and scratch a few to trim it up all nice and perty. But I’m not making millions and running a successful online poker site, so what do I know? Would love to see something positive come from FTP in the coming months.

For those of you who love parsing legal documents, and perhaps want a little one-sided insight into the inner workings of Full Tilt, here is the official 20-page lawsuit filed by Clonie Gowen against her former partners? employer? friends? online poker site cronies:

Gowen v Tiltware.pdf