Party Poker Blog

"After spending years making my money playing poker, I can say definitively that the best way to make money for a medium stakes player (anybody playing less than 100-200 limit) is multi-tabling the limit games online. There are hundreds of online players making six-figure a year incomes and a handful of players making seven. I personally have come to the conclusion that limit holdem games is the way to go... sit-n-gos, tournaments, nl games, non-holdem games... they are all beatable. But they aren't beatable for as much as the boring but trusty limit holdem game."
Dutch Boyd

Wow, I agree with Dutch. And check out his latest post - it's actually pretty interesting although he's again back on the rakefree horse. We'll have to wait and see if this portends anything.

(EDIT - I'm on blog tilt right now. Haven't been able to post for over two days now. Just had an awful 10 hour session at the boat only to arrive home and find the blog GONE. Yikes. But now it's thankfully back so here's yesterdays post to hold you over. Of course blogger only allowing me to publish intermittently so hopefully I'll be back ASAP)

So anyway, this post is an urgent reminder to sign up for the damn WSOP satellite tourney THIS SUNDAY! For $30 you get a shot at a WSOP seat playing in the poker bloggers honour. For the love of God, if we can't get 55 players, I'll be seriously bummed. And right now, we're way behind.

But we have some surprises playing. Some serious poker bloggers are participating - Dr. Pauly, HDouble and Otis to name just a few. Oh yeah, my favorite of all time, Linda over at Table Tango emailed me to say she wants to play as well! That's a first for us lucky kids. Woohooo!!

Sign up damnit.

WPBT WSOP Satellite Tournament
March 19th - Sunday
9pm EST
Paradise Poker
$30 NL
password: email me (address is down blogroll on right)

Winner wins a seat in the 2006 WSOP $1500 event of their choice.

My humble apologies for the dearth of posts this week but playing tons of poker has taken up most of my time. I'm just starting to catch up on my reading and will be back Destroying Workplace Productivity in no time.

Earlier today, the congressional bill that seeks to ban online poker made a small step forward, clearing by voice vote in the House Financial Services Committee. The legislation carves out some exceptions, including wagering on horse races, governed under another U.S. law, and fantasy sports. The bill now moves to the House floor for consideration.

I'm still not very worried this has a chance in hell of passing, especially with fall elections looming. But again, in today's political climate, who knows?

Lou Kreiger posted on RGP an email from Joshua Gardner, who works for Edelman Public Relations in Washington DC. Joshua wrote to Lou in response to one of his recent blog posts about Goodlatte's bill. Here's what was said by Joshua:

I wanted to fill you in on some new information about the recent Internet Gambling Prohibition Acts that are kicking around in Congress. Republican U.S. Representatives Bob Goodlatte and Jim Leach have introduced bills to essentially make online gambling, even poker, illegal for American Citizens.

More than 70 million Americans play poker, some 23 million online.

Here is a recap of why the legislation is the wrong way to go.

The bill deputizes private-sector entities, most notably banks, to monitor
our transactions.

The Leach bill directs the Treasury Department to ensure banks do not process payment for Internet gambling transactions. With respect to credit cards, this is simple enough, as credit card transactions are coded. However, with respect to Automated Clearing House transactions and electronic funds transfers, those are not coded, but the Leach bill will force banks to go to great lengths to investigate what is and isn't an Internet gambling transaction. This will take "Know Your Customer" to a new
level.

The Goodlatte bill accomplishes the same thing, but in a different way. It creates authority for the Department of Justice to go to court and seek injunctions to make financial institutions and others block such transactions, but the practical effect will be the same.

Goodlatte prohibits hyper-linking to certain web sites. Under Goodlatte, if a particular site is found to be hyper-linking to an Internet gambling site, the ISP hosting that site is subject to notice-and-takedown requirements, presumably even if the link came through an ad server.

Goodlatte would take resources away from more important law enforcement missions such as stopping pornography and fighting terrorism and focus them on breaking up poker games.

Goodlatte wants to spend $10 million to enforce his bill's provisions, but neglects to offer a way to get the money. There are limited funds available to Justice Department crime fighters. Do we really want to spend those resources on breaking up poker games?

Goodlatte bill's is hypocritical in that it legalizes bets that DOJ considers illegal today under the patina of Internet gambling prohibition. Goodlatte legalizes Interstate Internet horse bets that DOJ considers illegal today; the horse industry has consistently supported Goodlatte's bills and have given generously to his campaign. The bill also affirmatively legalizes intra-state Internet wagers for commercial casinos, and other state-licensed entities. The bill isn't really an Internet gambling prohibition act; it's an Internet gambling industrial policy act.

And here's the view from the other side of the Pond. From Friday's Guardian Unlimited: Threat of American crackdown on online gaming hits shares
US politicans want to curb the industry but legal fog and lobbyists may save it

Here's two interesting paragraphs from the above piece:

-
The US political system may also work in the online industry's favour. Mid-term elections are due in October and it is highly unlikely that the Leach bill, or a proposal by the Republican Senator Bob Goodlatte, could become law by then.

Mr Goodlatte's bill attempts to ban all online gambling on games of chance and would reawaken one of the oldest debates of all: whether poker is a game of skill or chance.
-


Aw hell, the poker tables are calling. If you're a blogger, sign up for the damn tournament NOW. Quit stalling.

A faithful reader sent me this photo of BadBlood's tattoos.