Making Online Poker Legal in the US

For many years now, online gambling, particularly online poker; has been banned in the United States.  You will often see online casinos or online poker sites with a disclaimer stating that US players are not accepted in their respective sites.

This limits the market reach of the online casinos; and likewise takes away the privilege of US residents to enjoy their poker games online.  While much has been said about this prohibition; and many debates have already taken place about the pros and cons of online gambling; the fact remains that US residents are restricted from playing online poker — something that not everyone is happy about.

SENATOR MENENDEZ AND HIS BILL ON ONLINE POKER

Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Senator, has taken it upon himself to end the debate over whether online poker should ever be allowed to be played within the United States jurisdiction.  The Senator's Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Protection and Enforcement Act proposes that online poker, among others, be made legal in the United States provided that the stipulations disclosed within the Bill be followed. [Read][more...]

How Some Player Get Entry Help to Some Tournaments.

If a player is looking for entry help in a tournament, there are two ways to get this help.  The player can enter a small entry fee satellite and win it, thereby getting the entry in the tournament.  The other way is to pay the full entry fee straight up and guarantee that you will get to play.   This is the problem if the player cannot come up with the full fee.  Many players can go to their friends and sell percentages of themselves for the tournament.  But what if that does not work out.

The answer could be a website called ChipMeUp and offer to sell a percentage to people who want to invest in a good player for a big tournament.   This is an interesting way to get the fee for a big tournament and not bother your friends.

Many name players have used this fee service to get money for a specific tournament.

If the player does well in the tournament, the investors get their money back with a very decent return.  [Read][more...]

Ace Queen Holdem Mystery

Ace Queen is a mystery starting hand for some players and a starting hand that other player seem to love.  When this author plays this hand the flop seems to come with a king in it and miss both of these cards.  Other players seem to make it work.  The question is why and or how come.  There is no logical reason for this disparity of results that seems to prevail when different players play this hand. Doyle Brunson said this was not one of his favorite starting hands.   Other players on TV like this hand.  They have had very good luck with it in live play or online play.   If you watch enough TV tournaments, you will see players draw to this hand all the time, with some missing it and some making it.  Doyle seems to have had my luck with this starting hand, or he would not nave stated that this hand was not a favorite of his.

From a math standpoint it is a good starting hand, however Ace-King, Kings or Aces is far better. This hand is one of those that a player grits their teeth and plays hoping the Flop will be generous.  Truthfully I would rather draw to a pair of tens than this hand.  However I have seen other players catch both an Ace and a Queen on the flop. [Read][more...]

What Poker Games do online Casinos Offer

A new online poker player may well wonder what games are offered online.

The obvious answer is they all offer Holdem in both limit and no-limit games.

This form of poker is without a doubt the most popular game there is at any online casino.  The game is numerous in cash games and the number of tournaments offered online each week is in outstanding numbers.  One site out of the many online can have well over one hundred or more tournaments.

The next poker version that gets a lot of play is Omaha HiLo.  This two winners in a pot game can have huge pots in small limit games, as the two winners possibility makes players gamble on their hands.  Players who are just learning this game are at a big disadvantage when they play against experienced players.

New players do not know how to value their hand and overplay hands that are really not that good in Omaha.  Holdem players are real pigeons in Omaha, as winning Holdem hands are not of high value in Omaha.  [Read][more...]

Could the US Government use $52 Billion

The big accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers did a study of the result of taxing and regulating Internet gambling.  Their study indicates that over a ten-year period the income from taxing and regulating Internet gambling could be $51.9 Billion.  This study echoes a similar study done one year before.

This new study has added ammunition to Barney Frank's bill that he introduced, in HR2046, The Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act.  This bill would handle licensing and regulation of the Internet gambling industry in the United States.  The licensing and regulations would be scrupulously enforced and would make online gaming toe the line like they do in Europe.  Congressman Franks plans to reintroduce the bill in March of this year.

The UIGEA law has severely crippled this industry in the US and forced all online casinos to operate outside the country and in many cases the operations have very lax oversight.  [Read][more...]

A Round Up of Poker Ferguson Michigan Poker and a Mish Mash

Chris Ferguson held the chip lead in the LA Classic until the end of the day yesterday.  He started the day with 1.7 million in chips and the lead.  He ended the day in sixth place and a chip stack of 1.5 million and the low stack at the final table.  The chip leader, Chris Karagulleyan, begins today with a stack totalling 4.0 million chips.  Ferguson got off to a very bad beat at the beginning of the round and dropped 500,000 in chips in one hand.  His round was a roller coaster ride, which saw him drop as low as just over half a million in chips and then recover to over 2.2 million only to go back down to the ending balance of 1.5 million.  This is his second final table at a WPT event.

Michigan may be going through a tough economic time, but Poker is still alive at the new poker room at the Turtle Creek Casino that just opened in its new location in June 2008.  The poker room has enjoyed a full table experience since it open.  Leslie Vancamp the poker room manager stated that the Poker Room had been booming from day one of its grand opening. [Read][more...]

Poker Playing Activities Remain Strong in Recession

Despite the fact that the economy has been in a bad position for the past year and doesn't show any signs of immediate improvement, and despite all the talk about the need for stimulus packages and government assistance, online poker playing endeavors are not seeing the super decline in gambling endeavors that Vegas gambling sites are witnessing.

A number of casinos have been forced to reduce their rates just to attract clientele and to keep revenue flowing in the online market is seeing a less dramatic impact.  In fact, recent statistics indicate that while online gambling endeavors have slowed down a bit, it still managed to be up as much as fifteen percent each year.  Some concerned establishments believe that this may indicate that even online gamblers will begin to bend to the economic pinch, others are not so sure.

ThinkEquity Quest as well as PokerScout.com, in an effort to find predictive financial answers, surveyed online poker players to determine precisely how they spend their gambling money.  The findings of the study were pleasantly surprising.  [Read][more...]

Is poker a game of skill? A South Carolina judge thinks so

A South Carolina judge by the name of J. L. Duffy stated it so in the middle of the trail of five men arrested for running a weekly game of Holdem.  He was very clear in his surprise statement that Texas Holdem was obviously a game of great skill and he had no doubt about it.  The defendant's attorney was very surprised by the comment and also said that it sounded very good for his clients.

This group of poker players pulled out all of the stops by binging in a real poker player as an expert witness.  Any one that watches the WPT on TV would recognize their expert witness as Mike Sexton who is seen every week commenting on the play during the Weekly WPT tournament.  You may have also seen him playing very well in some live tournaments this last year.

Since this trial is still going on, the verdict is not known yet and both parties state that no matter who wins there will be an appeal to a higher court.  The violation of the law is in dispute as gambling or betting on a chance outcome is illegal.  A game of skill would seem to go in the face of this law, but it is up to the judge how this case will be settled.   Other states, California for example, have used this logic to make poker rooms and the game itself legal using the game of skill logic. [Read][more...]

WTO and Repeal of the AIGEA Will Bring Pressure to Rid This Prohibition

Europe is considering bringing a claim under the WTO against the USA for hurting their online casinos.   The AIGEA passage forced many online casinos to prohibit US players from playing on their sites.  Europe has long threatened to do something about this economic threat to their online casinos.  There is strong sentiment that now is the time to bring such a filing.  This attack was already carried out earlier by some of the Caribbean Islands with online csinos and won by them against the USA.

The Congressman Barney Frank has already stated he will bring a bill to the floor to repeal the AIGEA and the mood with the new Congress and the need for money may make this happen.  The online casino industry has already stated that it is willing to pay billions in taxes to get American players back online.

This poorly designed law that was added in the middle of the night in 2006 is an absolute joke.  Some hidden agendas were really behind the banking law and had nothing to do with protecting the youth of America as stated.  The protection was found to be racing interest, gaming and gaming on Indian land.  The proof is in the sizeable campaign contributions that were reported by the leaders who got the bill passed in the middle of the night. [Read][more...]

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