This Should Make it All Clear

Many articles have been written about the Department of Justice indictments against principals of the big three online poker sites and their payment processors and we're all pretty familiar with most of the relevant facts. So along comes onlinepoker.org to create a handy graphic that will show you everything you need to know about Black Friday and its aftermath:

Click to View Larger Image.

Visit OnlinePoker.org to find more information on online poker.

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.

Taking Money out of PokerStars -- Breaking Even Feels Good

With my hopes of ever hitting that big online poker pay day now just a memory, I closed out my PokerStars account today. Since Black Friday the status of US players’ funds held by the big three poker sites has been in question. While no one ever came right out and said the money would be long gone, that was the fear at first. With a 52-page federal indictment and criminal counts seeking up to 30 years in jail, it would not be unrealistic to assume the sites and/or their payment processors had absconded with our money.

But, no, the money is there. At least, that is what Full Tilt and PokerStars has assured its US-based players…or should I say, former players. But efforts to actually obtain a refund were met with various explanations and statements — but no cold, hard cash.

That changed today, at least at PokerStars. When I clicked the “Cashier” button, instead of excuses and promises, I was led to a page where I could actually cash out my account. Now, I have in there about what I deposited, being an ace at break-even poker. And it’s somewhere between $1 (under which PS explicitly will not reimburse you) and number that requires a comma to be written out properly. In other words, it’s not a huge deal.

But the fact that less than two weeks after the indictments — which were the poker world’s equivalent of an 8.0 earthquake in a non-retrofitted house — PokerStars was already able to process payments is a positive development. While it does nothing to resolve the question of why the Justice Department thinks the most important thing on its plate is stopping people from playing poker on their computers, it at least demonstrates that what seemed like the worst day in the history of US poker may not be a complete disaster.

Other positive developments. If you love and miss your old sites, you can go play there again. No longer will the dot com sites for PS or FTP greet you with either an error message or a scary posting from the FBI.  No, you can go there an play just like the old days, with the teensy difference that you can only play for play money. Think of it like having to quit smoking. Instead of going cold turkey, you can at least enjoy a phony, electric cigarette that somewhat resembles your old enjoyable habit.

The fact that the Justice Department was willing, so soon after declaring the poker sites Public Enemies #1-3, to enter into an agreement returning their domain names is possibly a sign that the Justice Department is not as up for the fight as their initial salvo would indicate.

Only time will tell how the federal case will play out. But at least for now, we know that the only potential victims of this otherwise victimless alleged crime — the poker players who were temporarily deprived of their funds — will be compensated. I will update you and let you know how long it takes for the check to come in the mail. Wait, did I say the check is in the mail? Should I worry?

DOJ Brings Indictments against PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker

War was declared on Friday, April 15th, by the United States government against online poker players living in the U.S.  In a nine-count indictment, the Justice Department went after the three biggest online poker companies, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.  It charged the companies' principals with money laundering, bank fraud and "illegal gambling offenses."  Also named in the indictment, a number of payment processors who facilitated payments from US residents to the off short poker sites through various -- according to the government illegal -- means.

The immediate result of these criminal charges was the suspension of all US poker player's ability to play online poker -- or to access their funds -- at these sites.  Deals whose ink had barely dried between land-based casinos and various online sites were canceled.  People whose livelihood is based on online poker were scouring the web for new jobs.  And somewhere Senator and arch opponent of online gambling John Kyl was smiling.

Those defendants currently residing in the US have been arrested; the FBI is working to have those living out of the country extradited.  Their US sites have been seized, their assets frozen, and they are the subject of a forfeiture action.

The gist of the action is that, to deal with the restrictions on money going from US banks to off shore online poker sites, the poker companies tricked "banks and financial institutions to process billions in payments to the companies by having the money disguised as payment to non-existent online merchants and other non-gambling entities.  The defendants utilized third party payment processors who lied to US banks about the nature of the financial transactions they were processing through the creation of phony corporations and websites to disguise payments to the companies."

According to the Feds, the payment processors set up phony companies and websites purporting to sell everything from clothing to jewelry to bicycles to golf equipment and flowers all in an effort to disguise that the payments were going from US residents to online poker companies.  They are seeking billions of dollars from the sites but what they want, more than their money, is to shut them down once and for all.

A cursory look at a tournament on PokerStars hours after the announcement showed a world without US players; it was an eerie sight.  Whether this will be the beginning of the end of online poker is the question, and the likely answer is that this action may actually be what spurs significant changes in the law.  There is no question now that the law needs to be changed.  Not one of us playing poker considered ourselves criminal or thought there was anything illegal about playing poker.  It is not gambling in the true sense of the word as its outcome is not primarily the result of luck.  It is a game of skill that the federal government has no business interfering with.

Now that we've been shaken out of our complacency, we can all take up arms against the battle the Feds have brought against our beloved game of poker.  We must mobilize to get the change in Congress that will silence the objectors and establish the change we need to protect this game we love -- and love to hate.  To see what you can do, please check out theppa.org.

To follow the story, check the Poker Player Newspaper for the latest. 

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

Poker's Most Influential Players

Tonight on Keep Flopping Aces on http://www.roundersradio.com/ at 6:00 PM PDT, Lou Krieger and I will be joined by my friend and former co-worker, poker blogger James Guill, aka Compncards.  I first met James via Skype when I was the shadow editor for Poker News' daily tournament coverage of the World Series of Poker in 2008.  James was one of many bloggers working on site, reporting on the tournaments, and was one of the few who did not mind having an editor or dealing with a woman which made him A-OK in my book.

Since then, James has written for dozens of poker sites on a variety of topics and has kept his finger on the pulse of what's going on in the poker world.  One of his current gigs is writing for Poker Junkie and he has recently started a series on the top 20 most influential people in poker.  It's an intriguing topic and one likely to provide as much disagreement as accord, because everyone has their own idea of who has influenced poker and who is merely famous for being famous.

I mentioned his series to Lou Krieger, my co-host on Keep Flopping Aces and my editor at Poker Player Newspaper, and he agreed that it is an interesting exercise trying to come up with a list of who has had the biggest influence on poker.  Does someone qualify for merely winning the biggest WSOP Main Event ever (Jamie Gold), or is that confusing flash-in-the-pan with actual influence?  And whose influence may have been for the worse (Russ Hamilton?) and not for the better.

Tonight, we will dissect each other's list and hopefully get some input from the listeners and the chat room.  Come join us to weigh in with your own suggestions.   I hope you join us!

New Co-Host on Keep Flopping Aces -- Me!

I’ve been a guest on Lou Krieger’s show Keep Flopping Aces a bunch of times and I know that every time I go on I’ll be wracked with nerves the day before and will have one moment on the show where I forget how to end a sentence. That fear of public speaking is real, even if you can’t see the audience, even if they’re busy playing ten tables while listening to you. Still, I never say no to Lou and not just because he’s my editor at Poker Player Newspaper and can wield the red pen of doom. No, it’s also because I love talking about poker.


So when Lou asked me if I’d like to be a permanent co-host on the show, I think the “Yes!” came out before his sentence was finished. I’ve been infatuated with poker for as long as I can remember. Playing poker is frustrating and exhilarating and tiring and intoxicating. It’s never the same experience twice and even when your flopped set gets you runner-runnered out of a tournament, there’s nothing you want to do but get back in the game.

I started writing about poker three years ago at PokerNews.com, taking the place of Amy Calistri as she was focusing on her job and, later, her book with Mike Matusow. It is interesting that Lou’s last co-host was the same Amy Calistri. Perhaps this means Matusow will be tapping me for the sequel to Check-Raising the Devil – Folding to Bambi. Or am I the only person who worries about his poker playing now that he’s mellow Mike?

My poker writing covered everything except for strategy. I wrote recaps, fluff pieces, interviews, bios, personal interest stories, news and legislation updates. But as someone fairly timid about plunking down large sums of money to play poker, usually sitting with the grandmas and the 2-4 limit games, I didn’t feel I was in any position to give poker advice. About all I was in a position to say was don’t forget to tip the waitress and if you can’t afford to call a limp from the small blind, you probably shouldn’t be playing.

That’s changed. Last year I tried my hand at the Aria $125 buy-in daily tournament. It has an ideal structure for me. You start with a deep stack, and blinds go up slowly and at a steady rate. If you don’t do anything stupid or rash, you can have a decent run. Patience and discipline is rewarded, wild aggression is not as necessary. In other words, it is an ideal set up for a mother of two who lacks the killer ‘shove early and often’ mentality of my much younger, male counterparts.

I won the tournament, an experience I wrote about for Poker Player. For someone with limited tournament experience, my Jerry Yang moment (I was the short stack for much of the time before final table) was a huge achievement. I was as giddy as a Norman Chad watching Patrik Antonius go all in. Then a couple weeks ago, I went back, and over the weekend had one deep run (my opponent’s rivered full house knocking me and my puny ace high flush to the rail), one final table (the aforementioned runner-runner suck out over my set) and a win against the largest field in any of the Aria’s daily tournaments.

So now, of course, I’m a poker expert.

Please come and join me and Lou every Thursday night at 9:00 pm Eastern at Rounder’s Radio. We will talk about everything and anything poker with different guests each week. Come into the chat room or call or DM us your questions at our new Twitter page, KeepFlppingAces. I’ll give you some great tournament advice. Lou may have, literally, written the book on poker – but with my two wins, I’m ready to pen a chapter or two.