Fully legal online gambling is coming to the United States … like this year, if not pretty much right now … regardless of whatever happened with the Reid Bill whereby one of the most powerful men in the world was not able to deliver to his strongest backers a relatively inconsequential bill that came with money and jobs for his own state (on a piece of legislation that was two years in the making) despite his party’s having control of the Senate, the House, and the Executive Branch.

But we’ll have to save that discussion for a later date … Last night the New Jersey Assembly (the Garden State’s version of the House) approved a package of five bills to recharge their battered Atlantic City-based gaming industry, one of which allows their casinos to offer online gambling (not just poker, but casino games, too) within NJ borders. Their Senate had already given the measures an official “like”, so now all that remains is needing a signature from Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican who has given no indications of wanting to veto.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Those bills’ final passage marks the first real change in more than three decades to how business is conducted in the nation’s second-largest gaming market, which is reeling from the weak economy and regional competition. The resulting structure mirrors that of Nevada.

More…

The Las Vegas Sun has been following the antics actions of their favorite senator quite closely this December, particularly with respect to online poker legislation (see timeline below.)

But today, just a little more than a day after the second lameduck session of 111th Congress ended, the Sun chose to say nothing at all about #reidbill in this story published at 2am entitled “For Harry Reid, it’s been the best of times, worst of times.”

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LV Sun Articles: Timeline

NOTE: Dec 2nd -> #reidbill announced to public via Wall Street Journal article

Dec 3rd -> “Harry Reid pushes bill to allow for online gambling”
Dec 7th -> “Harry Reid rushes effort to legalize Internet poker”
Dec 9th a.k.a. zombie-bill-day -> Is it dead? -or- Is it alive?
Dec 10th -> “Casino trade group supports Internet poker bill”
Dec 15th -> “Letter: Legalizing online poker of no help to average Nevadans”
Dec 15th -> “Reid, Republicans in spat over Christmas session”
Dec 17th -> “All bets off: Online poker bill dealt possible death blow”
Dec 19th -> “Senate passes food safety bill, again – Sunday, Dec. 19″
Dec 22nd -> “9/11 health care bill still on Reid’s agenda”

NOTE: Dec 22 -> 2nd session of lame duck adjourned “sine die” (adjourned for an indefinite period)

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More…

I’ll be talking a little #reidbillthatshallnolongerbenamed *iGambling* tonight on Sirius 98 – Hardcore Poker Show tonight at 6:25p EDT/3:25p PT for a ten-minute segment.

Listen to it here -> The Hardcore Poker Show

Download podcast later this week -> iTunes

If we believe that 50 years from now, poker and online poker will be part of our world, then what went down in December 2010 will be little more than a footnote in an effort that took maybe 5, maybe 10 years to get to the beginning stages of however the 2060 WSOP is run.

In fact, makes me wanna give an assignment to Las Vegas 1st graders and/or 2+2 — crayon drawings of how they see the 2060 WSOP.

Anyhow, though I still think we (as in “poker”) technically may have one out left, all interested parties seem to be resigned to the notion that 2010 — for all the heartfelt ups and downs we experienced — is not the year for change poker players can believe in. Right now I think our best bet, with all the major-world issues being fought over in DC, would be for a staffer to trip while bringing a bill to Obama and letting a few sheets of paper slip in unnoticed for an accidental signing.

We’ll have to leave it to the mainstream pundits to determine why on earth this shoulda even been a problem when we ultimately brought $60 billion via decent policy to the table — and the people theoretically supporting it controlled all branches of government … one of them being one of the most powerful people in Washington DC. Something doesn’t seem to add up, and I suspect Harry Reid will have a lot of questions to answer but not really as a guy who secured his gig for 6 years. But in the meantime, the PPA, in just its fourth year of existence, has put out the statement below surrendering this round while assessing how to build off a year where they made more progress for poker than ever before seen on a federal level … bringing us closer to those kindergarten dreams of what 2060 could look like:

More…

This broadcast is rescheduled from yesterday, when it was bumped for a big story on insider trading.

PPA’s Executive Director John Pappas will be on Bloomberg TV today to “discuss licensing and regulating online poker” @ approximately 11:45am EDT/8:45am PST -> http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/

Will he give details on iPoker’s status on the Hill?

The panel breaks down PokerStars most recent signing and handicaps the Bluff Magazine Readers Choice Award Nominations

The Poker Beat: December 15, 2010

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/download/the-poker-beat:91]

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• Antonio Esfandiari wins WTP Five Diamond.
• Reid Bill AGAIN…
• Pokerstars signs isildur1.
• Bluff Magazine Reader Choice Awards Votes?

Vote vigorously and/or repeatedly for The Poker Beat
for Favorite Web-based Show in Bluff magazine’s 2010 Reader’s Choice Awards.

PPA’s Executive Director John Pappas will be on Bloomberg TV this morning to “discuss licensing and regulating online poker” per @ppapoker morning tweet.

Will he give details on iPoker’s status on the Hill, or confirm/deny @ESPN_Poker‘s recent assertion that #reidbill is dead?

Watch it LIVE here @ 11:45am ET/8:45am LV -> http://www.bloomberg.com/tv/

For the final show of the year, Chops is joined by Attorney and poker writer, Dave ‘F Train’ Behr and Dan Michalski of Pokerati.com as they discuss and analyze the latest on the Reid bill and poker legalization in America. Jess Wellman provides the poker headlines where one thing is dominating the poker world. Tune in for the latest poker news, debate and the occasional Duhamel. For more information, show notes and an upcoming schedule, go to http://thisweekin.com

Released Dec 15, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC – Harry Reid went on record about the lame duck session schedule, telling The Hill, “we need to stay here until we finish.”

Whether or not “finishing” includes passing the online poker bill remains to be seen. What is clear is that the Reid bill is still on the table and continues to be revised, albeit quietly, as the Senate engages in a multitrillion-dollar left-vs-right holiday battle royale. But so far the only thing the bill has attached itself to is what is becoming, as NPR explains, a contentious race against the clock.

The Constitutional deadline for this session of Congress to close its business is noon on January 3rd, 2011.

More…

It’s 172 pages and looks rather official, but beyond that there’s no date on it, nor any verification of the original source … but it does come from a presumably vetted Chris Krafcik … a reporter for Gambling Compliance in … er … St. Louis?

Have a look for yourself at #ReidBill v 3.0. Personally I’m resigned to thinking this bill is like that proverbial box of chocolates at this point … and I get the sense that the lack of info being fed to media is with a purpose, and thus suspect any info put out now could likely be misinformation.

BTW, be sure to tune in this afternoon at 4pm PT to This Week in Poker … where I’ll be joining the Wicked Chops crew and F-train to break something down.

But before you do that, be sure to vote for Pokerati and The Poker Beat here.

Pokerati’s DC correspondent, Scarlet Robinson, makes her podcast debut on the Bernard Lee Poker Show today to discuss the Reid bill.  The show airs online on Money Matters Radio, 1120AM in Boston, 830AM in Worcester, or 970AM on Cape Cod at 6p EST/3p PT.  The episode will also be available for download on iTunes | Rounders Radio later this week.

You can tell the conversation made Lee smarter by the time he got to ESPN studios in Connecticut for this week’s Inside Deal, where he and Andrew Feldman break down the Reid Bill and what it means for poker players whether or not it passes out of the Senate. Check out the latest episode of Inside Deal on ESPN.

For a good portion of last week, it seemed likely that the #reidbill was going to be attached to the tax cut bill making it’s way through Congress. On Friday morning, Politico reported that the tax cut bill had no such pokery verbage, but that attachment to that piece of legislation was “still possible” if Reid made “additional modifications” before the tax bill is voted on sometime in the coming days.

Other outs? The House approved a mammoth $1.1 trillion dollar continuing resolution (CR) bill H.R.3028 just last Thursday. The Hill discussed how the CR could be amended into an omnibus:

A CR is needed because Congress failed to pass any of the 12 regular appropriations bills for 2011, in addition to failing to pass a budget resolution at all for the first time since 1974.

Democrats plan to amend the CR in the Senate into an omnibus appropriations bill that has been crafted by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

That Senate bill, which is also being worked on by minority staff in an effort to garner enough Republican votes to overcome a filibuster, would provide about $19 billion more in funding than the House CR and would contain congressional earmarks.

The Washington Post featured the internet poker legislation on the front-page of their website on Saturday, and had this to say about the possibility that #reidbill might be included, in the omnibus -or- in other legislation:

Reid initially toyed with adding the proposal to the tax-cut compromise between Republicans and President Obama but decided against it amid concerns that it would further complicate that bill’s chances for getting passed, according to lobbyists and aides. The measure could be added to an omnibus spending bill or other must-pass legislation in coming days.

ABC News also talked about the timeframe for passing the CR in a report on Saturday:

For all the talk about taxes lately, the Senate’s only must-do issue in the lame-duck session is extending government funding into next year, a fight that appears set to take place late next week. Senators are up against a clear deadline: the latest continuing resolution to keep the government running ends at 12:01am on Sunday Dec. 19^th.

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The Senate is set to have its first procedural vote on the tax bill next Monday, so it is likely that the chamber will not take up the omnibus until Wednesday at the earliest. That would mean that both the Senate and the House would have to pass it by the end of Saturday if lawmakers are to avert a government shutdown.

The urgency of this continued resolution to the operation of our government is clear.  Whether the fate of internet poker legislation rests with the same piece of legislation is yet to be seen.

Foxwoods Poker Room resident media guy, and fellow churros lover, Jay “WhoJedi” Newnum took time during Day 1 of the Foxwoods Mega Stack Main Event to ask James “jcamby33” Campbell from Marlborough, MA just how he felt about the possibility of a #reidbill-induced blackout.

See what someone representing that elite minority of online players making the *serious moolah* has to say on the subject.

Soundbite->

@WhoJedi: “Are you going to Canada for those fifteen months? What are you gonna do?”

jcamby33: “I talked to the wife about this the other night… we might have to rent a house in Aruba, or someplace tropical.”

Other notable east-coast interviews from Jay are with James Wood and with WSOP 2010 run-deep guy Ronnie Bardah.

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Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker

MASHANTUCKET, CT: Day 2 of the Mega Stack Challenge XVIII $1000+$100 Main Event begins started 11a EST/8a LV at the Foxwoods Casino here in Connecticut.  I’ve been (living) here at the casino’s Great Cedar hotel since last Friday, after Amtraking my way from DC->CT in the wee hours of the morning, just hours after WSJ announced the existence of #reidbill, whose fate is still yet to be decided in DC.

I’ve split my time mostly between watching the action from the media desk, and railing iPoker from afar via CSPAN2.  It’s occurred to me during my time here, that if #reidbill lives on to become law (or possibly if it does not and the DOJ decides to force the issue anyhow), this casino is exactly the type of entity best positioned to provide once work-a-day online players a comfortable home to grind out a living in New England.

In the event the blackout takes hold in a month or two, say around the beginning of February, iPoker players will need to find local places to play to make a living in live play for at least 15 months, according to the stipulations of the current bill.  Used to making their own schedules, working in their underwear the comfort of their homes, and getting a trillion hands per hour – the #reidbill refugees will be hungry for daily tournaments under -say- $300, satellites into bigger live events such as WSOP 2011, and cash action. Perhaps this even will spell the re-emergence of some sit-n-gos here.

What makes me say that Foxwoods would stand to benefit, in particular?  The tourney room.

Foxwoods WPT World Poker Room
(photo courtesy of @WhoJedi, WJMedia.net)

Foxwoods has a big|bad ~70 table WPT World Poker Room dedicated to tournament play. Cash games were in here once, and then it was home to some slot machines, before being revamped in September 1st of this year.

The tourney room just kinda a *nice place* to exist in. The ceilings are super high, with a lot of natural light coming into the room during the day, and groovy curvy illuminated panels above.  They don’t have table service for food, but there is a deli right behind near the sports book. There’s lots of room to walk between the poker tables, and plenty of displays used both for the clock and TV display.  Suggestion for improvement: get some throne-like chairs akin those used at the Golden Nugget poker room.

The location works well too -> after players bust out of the tournaments, they are be faced with these options.

1) Donk off a bunch of chips at the ~90 table cash room downstairs and hope to hit the huge big bad beat jackpot (quad 8s beaten)

2) Donk off a bunch of chips on the way out of the casino at SHAKE-BO! -> a craps-like table where people take turns activating a Trouble Bubble on ‘roids with pushbutton activators

At least the players would be able to do some of their work at home from their laptops.  The Foxwoods Poker Room uses the ptseats.com reservation system, allowing the players to lock up their seats online.

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Foxwoods Mega Stack Challenge XVIII -> Day 2 Update
Starts at 11a EST/8a LV
$1000+$100 (2-day) Main Event
69 of 265 entrants remain [30 will cash]

Prize Pool: $257,050 (guarantee was $100k)
1st: $61,692
2nd: $36,244
3rd: $23,392

POI (Person-O-Interest):
Busted: Darvin Moon, Bernard Lee, James Woods (with interview)
In it: Spiros Mitrokostas, WSOP 2006 PLO final tabler – with 205k – midfield
Played other events: Ronnie Bardah, WSOP 2010 Main Event (24th)

Chip counts/seat assignments can be found here.

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Streamit NOW-> justin.tv/foxwoodspoker
Checkit-> foxwoodslive.com
Follow -> @FoxwoodsPoker

I’m surprised to see poker people still speculating on the #ReidBill’s chances for bringing the poker industry a Christmas present or leaving us a lump of coal … as if any of us could be more than donkeys in a game where that word alone means something totally different.

The guys at Wicked Chops are saying “two outer” as if they have the same level of expertise as Pokerati. Dudes, we’ve done more than just take a tour of the White House … we ponied up the extra $9 for an audio guide!

(OK, you’re right, I can’t prove that … but if I had a receipt it would be an easier tax deduction for us than you! And true fact: I did ride paddle boats outside the Jefferson Memorial more times during the Carter administration than I saw Star Wars at a drive-in, so …)

Though just semi-experienced at best, I have been down this special-interest road before … where you’ve got a bill on the table but are running up against a semi-arbitrary not-clearly defined session clock — go Texas poker ’09! Which is why Pokerati is setting its line for #Reidbill passage firmly at somewhere between 8 and 88 percent.

Book it. We should know for sure by Tuesday or Monday or Wednesday-ish.

Though no one in the so-called “poker industry” has much if any political experience prior to Harry Reid’s current term … some poker-biz donkey-pols have learned a thing or two along the way to get us here. For a little perspective, here’s “the Professor” Howard Lederer learnin’ us some Political Science 101 last year at a high-society charity tourney in Washington DC, providing an overview of the game at hand … particularly for small-time players hoping to satellite into a bigger Beltway event: