PokerRoom Sends Shocks As It Returns to the Market

by James Guill

Many online poker players where shocked as they learned that PokerRoom was reentering the online poker market. PokerRoom reopened their doors recently after closing down just two short years ago.  Today’s marketplace is competitive, so many wonder if the online poker site can survive, but after viewing the new PokerRoom, the answer is simple – yes, they can.

The interface on the site is extremely easy to follow and is considered one of the most user-friendly interfaces in the online poker industry. Unlike other poker sites, PokerRoom is laid out in a way that it is easy to find a game, so there’s no need to spend countless hours viewing instructions on how to locate a game. Many other poker sites use extended filters, which only complicate the playing game experience, but PokerRoom’s games are labeled correctly and with just a couple of clicks, avid poker players are playing in minutes.

PokerRoom is known for offering a spread of cash poker games, not just the traditional games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. Such games include Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven Card Stud, Stud 8 or better and Five Card Draw. For users who like to play a variety of games to advance their poker skills, then PokerRoom is a great place to go to.

The tournaments that are made available on PokerRoom are now improved with expanded offerings and are still considered the best games to attend online. Some of the expanded offerings include: turbo tournaments, deep stack events, heads-up tournaments and six-handed events. PokerRoom still offers the traditional Sit and Go tournaments as well, but be on the look out for even more fun tournament games as the online poker site continues to evolve and grow to offer more than other sites.

One of the concerns for PokerRoom reentering the market was the amount of traffic and the ability to support the vast amount of games. During the day, as many as 4,500 cash game players and 35,000 players in tournaments are on the PokerRoom network, so it is safe to say that the site is still one of the largest poker networks on the Internet. Whatever time you decide to play, you will most likely find a game to play in.

One thing that hasn’t changed was the amazing support that PokerRoom became famous for. Users can contact the staff through chat, email or through telephone and it doesn’t matter what time of the day or night it is as PokerRoom’s support staff is readily available 24/7. Plus, the PokerRoom Community is still alive, but it never really left. Many poker topics are available that span several years and those include articles and hand discussions.

PokerRoom was the leader in cash poker games for over 10 years and now they have returned after a two year absence. The site is better than ever and it’s easy to become a member. The registration process is easy and free, so sign-up today with one of the oldest players in the poker industry. 

Over Almost Before it Began

It wasn't long ago that I posted about becoming the new co-host on the Internet radio show Keep Flopping Aces.  I was looking forward to putting my stamp on the show and adding something to an already terrific show.  In my brief time on the show, I brought on a friend, fellow poker writer James "compncards" Guill and had the chance to interview PPA executive director John Pappas and WSOP media director Nolan Dalla.  Tonight's guest is Martin "short-stacked shamus" Harris, who I knew from my days at Poker News.  I thought this was the beginning of an exciting ride combining meeting new people and catching up with people I've worked with in the past.

But, alas, the Department of Justice has its own plan that has changed the lives of many of us in the poker industry.

Turns out that Rounders Radio, which carried our show, received its money as an affiliate of one of the indicted big three poker sites.  When that money dried up, they had to quickly change gears.  Their new business model is not to originate live programming, but to offer links to poker podcasts.  So the days of live internet radio are over for Keep Flopping Aces.

Here's the article that Lou and I published today at http://www.pokerplayernewspaper.com/, as we added ourselves to the ever-growing list of victims of Black Friday:

We’ve been bringing you all the news about Black Friday and its effect on various segments of the poker world since the event first occurred only two short weeks ago. We’ve even brought you a segment on “Winners and Losers,” in which we listed those poker elements and institutions that were harmed by the Department of Justice’s declaration of war on online poker, as well as a much shorter listing of those who appear to have benefited—it’s a much shorter list, indeed—from Black Friday’s unintended consequences.

And we were able to do this objectively, since we were among a precious few left unscathed by these events … or so we thought.

Until two days ago, we had a weekly radio show called Keep Flopping Aces that aired every Thursday night at 9 p.m. Eastern Time (6 p.m. Pacific) on www.roundersradio.com. We discussed poker strategy, interviewed poker players, poker writers, people involved in the politics of poker … you name it; we covered it.

But no more. Rounders Radio took a big hit with the disappearance of the Big Three online rooms from the US market. And with that big financial hit, came a hard decision. The station could no longer afford to produce live shows, and we became a victim.

So tonight, April 28, 2011 marks our last live broadcast. In its place, Rounders Radio will become essentially a podcast library and repository. Their newly redesigned web site says, “We are here to bring to the best directory of poker podcasts from around the net! Please have a look around and enjoy all the great poker content. You will find poker shows that cover the news, teach poker, pro interviews and everything else.”

We will try to keep our show alive by doing podcasts on a weekly basis, but it’s probably not going to be the same as live radio. We’ll miss the interaction with a listening audience, and the fun of doing a live show—complete with bloopers, silly comments, questions and insightful comments from our regular listeners around the globe, and everything else that goes with it.

Still, if we can contribute to the poker community by podcasting what otherwise would have been a live show, we’re happy to do it. Many of our listeners may not even recognize a difference at all. Most Rounders Radio shows had more listeners who downloaded them as podcasts after they were broadcast live than listened to it in real time, and ours was no exception.

But it won’t feel the same. And until things change, you can add our names to the list of those who lost out as a result of Black Friday’s terribly misguided efforts. ::sigh::

Sigh, indeed.

Find me at Poker Player Newspaper

I write a column at Poker Player Newspaper -- one of those things your parents told you about, it's printed on paper, you can pick it up, feel it, turn the pages.  It was in a way a career-highlight since, while not new and shiny, PPN rightly calls itself the players voice and it is an honor to be in it and in casinos around the country.

But we are in the 21st century, after all, so it was great to see PPN move into the digital age with a really cool launch of its new website.  I am so excited about this that I have promised myself that I will submit new content to the site every day.  I'm now two days into that promise and I'm ready for a nap.

In the event I manage to keep this up, I will link to the articles here, and offer a short teaser paragraph.  Please head on over to the PPN website for not only the rest of my small contributions but also for the many great articles you can find there every day.

Here are the first two new ones I've written:

Twitter to the Rescue at WSOP-C Western Regional Championship

Today was Day 1 of the $10,000 WSOP Circuit Western Regional Championship at Harrah’s Rincon in Valley Center, California. It was already noteworthy for being the third nationally televised event of its kind, the last being the WSOP-C Championship in New Orleans this May, which will send players to the $1 million national championship at Caesars later this year. But tonight, as I was following the tweets from players at the event, I saw something quite unusual.

Wynn and PokerStars Announce Alliance

Last Thursday it was announced that PokerStars and Wynn Resorts were forming a strategic alliance joining the power of the brick and mortar casino with the largest online poker site in the world. One of the first goals of his merger is to seek passage of federal legislation that will regulate Internet gambling

Gavin Smith Wins First WSOP Bracelet

I'll admit it. I have a bit of a crush on Gavin Smith. Others can drool over Patrik Antonius, but not me. I'll take the mischievous, twinkle in the portly poker player's eyes over the chiseled good looks of the Greek god. But then, this could be practicality speaking. As a middle-aged mother of two, at least with Gavin I have a shot. My husband promises he wouldn't stand in the way. But, as usual, I digress.

I had Gavin as my pick going into this World Series of Poker to take down his first bracelet. When I mentioned that in the ESPN chat room, let's just say no one was jumping on the Gavin band wagon. Of the list of "best who hasn't won" Gavin, they said, was not holding down the top spot. Andy Bloch -- he of the MIT and Harvard Law pedigree -- he was the next to get his first. Or Tom "Durrrr" Dwan, the online phenom who already had a pretty good run. But Gavin? Sure, he may have been WPT player of the year in the past -- but that's not the WSOP.

What people forgot is that Gavin is a savant when it comes to limit hold'em and he's not too shabby in the no limit either. The FullTilt pro knows what he's doing at the table. Like many great players, he has sabotaged himself at times or lost the killer instinct when it counted. But the ability has always been there.

As he said after the win, "I seem to be pretty good at screwing things up. In the past, I sometimes went out and got drunk or hung out. But this year, I decided to come in and try to play my best the whole time." There's never been a question about his raw talent. When Gavin is on, he's on.

He's aggressive, yet so affable that he can easily knock down his opponent's defenses. I remember one of my favorite Gavin moments when, during a WSOP Circuit event, he famously remarked, “I’m sorry for the bad beat that I’m about to give you.” He is disarming in every sense of the word.

So Event #44, $2,500 mixed hold'em, was right up his alley. Of course, not only did he have the smarts and skill to win, but his attitude was good. "The last three days everything just clicked. I played well and things went well and everything clicked at the right time."

Aided by the support of his many friends and fans, and with a determination to not let this opportunity slip away, Gavin took and kept control of the final table. But how could he lose, he had me in his corner. Well, not literally in his corner, I was railing from up above the final table, hanging over the balcony. I told everyone in earshot he'd win and then, risking jinxing it, I shook his hand during one of the breaks, told him I had predicted he'd win a week earlier. He promised to make me look smart.

And he did. The Canadian with the ready smile, who seems to enjoy life just a little bit more than the rest of us, has reason to smile even bigger. He now has his first WSOP bracelet. Congrats Gavin!

Pennsylvania Judge Rules Poker Game of Skill

Last week a Columbia County judge dismissed gambling charges against the operators of a garage poker room finding that Texas Hold’em was a "game of skill."
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Prosecutors in the case had charged the poker room operators with unlawfully soliciting and allowing "persons to collect and assemble for the purpose of gambling." But Judge Thomas A. James examined four issues in determining whether "gambling" had taken place: whether each player had enough data to make an informed choice; whether each player had the skill or opportunity to exercise skill in the game; whether skill sufficiently governs the outcome; and that the standard of skill is known to all players.

James wrote is his opinion “Simply, if chance predominates, Texas Hold’em is gambling. If skill predominates, it is not gambling.” James examined the extensive body of poker books which describe various winning strategies to play the game. James quoted several books on the matter including Mike Caro’s “Secrets of Winning Poker.” And he referenced various academic studies including a study by Swedish researchers that found that "Hold'em is a very sophisticated game requiring mastery of many different skills." After evaluating all the factors involved, the judge agreed with the poker experts that "in the long run, good players willw in money and bad players will lose money."

While it seems obvious that skill, not luck, predominates in poker, it is still significant for a judge to come to that decision after considering all the evidence. This is especially true in light of another recent contrary ruling, in Kentucky, where a lower court judge claimed that poker was a game of luck because whoever has the best hand wins (showing a complete ignorance of how few hands go to showdown and how much more is involved than hand rankings).

The more that poker is properly considered a game a skill, the better chance to have it accepted. Let's hope more jurisdictions follow Judge James' lead.