Instapoker

It cracks me up when people in the poker \”business\” call me up, ask me how\’s it goin\’, and have no clue that anything with poker has really changed. Ha ha, ha ha, idiot friends. Oh well, very politicky these days:

From the Dept. of: \”Wish I Could Be There\” … members of ZZ TOP, PANTERA, ANTHRAX, and KISS will be pokering it up for VH-1 in LAS VEGAS today.

And click here to read about some POSSIBLE COLLUSION at the FESTA AL LAGO main event.

The \”big\” tourney going on right now is the WSOP CIRCUIT @ CAESAR\’S INDIANA. You can follow the action via SPACEMAN\’S coverage for Bluff.

A couple days ago, in the competing WPT event, CANADIAN SOREN TURKEWITSCH won the NORTH AMERICAN POKER CHAMPIONSHIP. (Prediction for the 2007 WSOP: Year of the Foreigners.)

Londoner ROLAND DE WOLFE won more than €550,000 in the EPT-DUBLIN tourney.

But CANADA may not be full-on poker-friendly, as the ONTARIO province is pushing a bill to BAN ONLINE GAMING ADVERTISING.

But ask the online pokerers here in AMERICA … according to the AP, any online gambling ban won\’t work.

So maybe Ontario is already changing its mind. At least a few CANUCK OFFICIALS say so … they just want to regulate, not prohibit.

Because in an unreguated environment, apparently HACKERS are shaking down online gambling sites for RANSOM.

That probably has something to do with why GREAT BRITAIN is spearheading an effort for INTERNATIONAL REGULATION of online gambling.

The UK is hosting an ONLINE GAMBLING SUMMIT this week. 32 COUNTRIES will be there, none of which are the UNITED STATES.

The BRITISH CULTURE SECRETARY recently spoke vehemently against America\’s passage of the UIGEA, likening it to booze Prohibition. (Go Redcoats!)

Their MANTRA TO WOO gaming companies: \”We won\’t put you in prison.\”

Perhaps surprisingly, CHINA seems to agree that the UIGEA is a bad idea. (Good essay, originally from the LA Times. Must Really-should click.)

I mean MY GOD! Even the METHODIST CHURCH is supporting REGULATED online gambling.

The main concern, of course, is keeping the KIDS from getting ADDICTED. So what are we gonna do about the latest poker game for the XBOX 360 LIVE?

Here\’s one more pro-poker editorial from the LA TIMES.

Yet over at CBS NEWS, their poker corresepondent is just now publishing his WSOP main event trip report. Like seriously, I don\’t get it. (Note: He didn\’t win.)

If you want to keep up with all the latest PARTYPOKER News that\’s fit to print (complete with PARTYGAMING stock info) you can follow my INSTAPARTY coverage over at PokerBlog. The latest: Party is discussing a merger with 888, parent company of PACIFIC POKER.


THE NON-POKER BUZZ (that may or may not matter to intelligent Pokeratizens:)

ZAC CRAIN is gonna be the next DALLAS MAYOR, because, you know, the internet says so. It should be noted that he is DISTINCTLY PRO-POKER (he told me so) so he\’s gonna get my vote. More here.

While Zac knows how to use the internet, MAINSTREAM MEDIA (surprise!) does not. This should mean more jobs for professional bloggers, but the fact that we developed our HIGHLY SPECIALIZED SKILLS because we don\’t like to work could cause a problem.

Meanwhile, MARK CUBAN has commissioned the UTA physics department to study the new NBA balls.

Last, be sure to click here, because as AUSTIN PETE points out, SWEET TEXAS JIMMY and I are lovers friends again, and his new website(s) could use a little surge in traffic. But note to Jimmy, this makes us even for that Natural Light you gave me in 1989.