Online Poker in Jeopardy
As those that hang out in #concatenative know I've been playing online poker recently. After a slow start and a bit of book study I started winning some multi table tournaments and doing fairly well. I made more in poker in the last two weeks than I do at my job which is pretty neat. Actually that says more about how much I'm paid at work than my poker skills but never mind :-)
So, as luck would have it, just as I find something I can enjoy doing and get the odd win from, disaster strikes. The US government has passed a bill that bans funding of online gaming via credit cards and bank accounts. It looked for awhile like this bill wasn't going to go ahead but it was tacked onto another 'must pass' bill, which had nothing to do with online gaming, and got through. Slashdot recently covered this.
Most online poker sites are not based in the US but many of the players are. There are a lot of professional poker players that make a living playing on various sites. Their income just got destroyed from the looks of things. Recently, the Wold Championship for Online Poker was held. The winner got $600,000 US. See the results here. The top two placegetters in that list are from the US - they are now legally unable to play it seems, when George Bush signs the bill into law.
This innocent seeming bill has also sent a number of companies into a tailspin on the UK stock exchange. Neteller, a company similar to PayPal, handles much of the online gaming monetary transactions for deposits and withdrawals. Their stock has plummeted with the news. Hopefully they'll recover since that's where my winnings are currently!
I know that things like online access to gambling are quite a thorny issue. Personally I think such issues should be up to the individual and those that have trouble dealing with addiction issues should be helped - but not by punishing those without the problems.
It may seem that the law change is to help those with gambling addictions in the US - so they can't immediately gamble all their credit card money online. But the bill apparently excludes state sponsered gambling. State lotteries, Horse Racing, etc are all still allowed. This points to the real reason for the ban in my opinion - the fact that no taxes are obtained by the US from people playing online games for money through overseas companies.
There is much discussion on the issue in Two Plus Two's Poker Legislation Forum, from the perspective of the players, and in rec.gambling.poker.
Categories: poker
So, as luck would have it, just as I find something I can enjoy doing and get the odd win from, disaster strikes. The US government has passed a bill that bans funding of online gaming via credit cards and bank accounts. It looked for awhile like this bill wasn't going to go ahead but it was tacked onto another 'must pass' bill, which had nothing to do with online gaming, and got through. Slashdot recently covered this.
Most online poker sites are not based in the US but many of the players are. There are a lot of professional poker players that make a living playing on various sites. Their income just got destroyed from the looks of things. Recently, the Wold Championship for Online Poker was held. The winner got $600,000 US. See the results here. The top two placegetters in that list are from the US - they are now legally unable to play it seems, when George Bush signs the bill into law.
This innocent seeming bill has also sent a number of companies into a tailspin on the UK stock exchange. Neteller, a company similar to PayPal, handles much of the online gaming monetary transactions for deposits and withdrawals. Their stock has plummeted with the news. Hopefully they'll recover since that's where my winnings are currently!
I know that things like online access to gambling are quite a thorny issue. Personally I think such issues should be up to the individual and those that have trouble dealing with addiction issues should be helped - but not by punishing those without the problems.
It may seem that the law change is to help those with gambling addictions in the US - so they can't immediately gamble all their credit card money online. But the bill apparently excludes state sponsered gambling. State lotteries, Horse Racing, etc are all still allowed. This points to the real reason for the ban in my opinion - the fact that no taxes are obtained by the US from people playing online games for money through overseas companies.
There is much discussion on the issue in Two Plus Two's Poker Legislation Forum, from the perspective of the players, and in rec.gambling.poker.
Categories: poker
posted by Chris Double at 1:37 AM
3 Comments:
One concern I have is that since it's easy to play poker on the Internet for high stakes, most people who have a computer don't go out to find games in shady places.
With the ban on online poker, the "old days" of poker when a player would go to a game in a backroom, win the game and be held at gunpoint outside to give back his winnings is not unforseeable.
The Bush Administration--
Also, I am looking to try online poker, what books did you read and what poker site do you go to? Thanks!
I started at Hollywood Poker, and it's where I tend to play the most. I don't know much about the others since I haven't really played much elsewhere.
For books I originally got Ed Millers "Small Stakes Hold'em" but it was too advanced for me at the time. I read a lot from Poker Tips and bought Gary Carsons book "The complete book of Holdem". Playing with this for a month or so and then I revisited Ed Millers book and it was a lot clearer.
This was all for limit holdem, ring games, by the way. After I started making money at that, winning back my original losses, I dabbled with No Limit tournaments - both sit and goes and multi tables.
For those I read Harringtons books on Holdem, and strategies on the web and rec.gambling.poker. I formed my own strategy for MTT's based on these that suits my playing style and it's been profitable so far in the low low low buyin games. I'm no brilliant player and I'm sure I'd suck badly in the higher limits. But it's fun and low risk for me.
Remember that the poker world has changed over the last few days, ensure that you're aware of the legalities of playing in your area (especially if you are from the US).
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