Party Poker Blog

"Gambling is the future on the internet.
You can only look at so many dirty pictures."
Simon Noble

Howdy all.

Well hell, I'm not even sure how I can uber it up with a straight face but I'm sure gonna try. I have a veritable plethora of poker info for you - everything from rants about the poker ban legislation to conspiracy theories to legal analysis to Oliver Tse's insights about the future of poker. And even a photo of Annie Duke's infamous tattoo on her lower back.

As I mentioned to friends last evening, I truly feel like a homeless person right now. I lost my damn poker home at Party Poker. It's not just the game selection I miss, but the damn anonymity such a large site afforded.

I'm #1 in Google for:
Party Poker ban.

It's not something I'm proud of.

But hey, life goes on. There's far more egregious things going on the world today than an online poker site locking out Americans. And besides, we still have excellent options.

Allow me to start shilling pimping my two new blog sponsors, the two best places to play on the web right now. If you're not playing there right now and want to feast on the awful American players - these are the places to increase your bankroll.

Not to mention their supporting the efforts of this humble poker blog.
And the fact that they are the best two online poker rooms out there right now, hands down.

Download Poker Stars.
Download Full Tilt Poker.

Long-time readers of my blog know I love both these poker rooms, so again, if you aren't playing there, please consider signing up. Also, I might be running some tourneys with some cool schwag, so stay tuned.

So here comes an old school, grass-roots, Guinness-fueled, tangential as hell, blogging my ass off for you Uber Post.
Enjoy.

I don't even know where to begin. I'm trying to hold on to the hope that things may not be as bleak as originally seemed, and that even if Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker ultimately capitulate, that we Americans will still have online poker sites to play at.

I got this email from a reader:
So I'm waiting for your promised new blog: "How to Get Around this Stupid Fucking Law."

I'm sure hoping it's never going to come to that, but time will tell. I can't say what's gonna happen. I have my thoughts but I'm better off keeping them to myself because they are fairly negative. But my little internal IGGY voice keeps reminding me about the idiocy of our government.

That's why I don't like arguing with myself.
True, I never lose. But I never win, either.

The abridged version of things is now it's all up to the lawyers. There's not much for us to do right now but resume gambling. It's not worth getting panicked - who knows where things will be in 6 or even 18 months? The outcomes are potentially many. Some good, some bad, with shades of gray inbetween.



Ever since the bill passed, I stopped playing serious poker. That inner drive to compete and pad my roll just vanished. There's other factors, obviously starting a new job being the major reason, but I'm sure the urge to play meaningful poker will return soon. But for now, when I play, I'm typically goofing around in blogger tourneys. And having a blast.

So let's hop right to it, shall we? While I still have the right to blog about fucking online poker, I'm gonna continue to do so!

Hear my battle cry!! Bonus Code IGGY on Full Tilt Poker, damnit!
And Poker Stars has always had the best poker software and tourney structures, hands down. Damnit, go sign up now!

I know many of my readers have already read Chuck Humphrey's excellent legal analysis of this legislation, but for those who haven't, I'm leading off this uber with his latest essay: Internet Gambling Funding Ban

There were literally thousands of posts to choose from after the legislation passed. I'm only gonna give you the cream of the crop, because that's what I do. Here's the first to whet your appetite, from Howard Beale, one of my long-time favorite RGP posters.

Subject: 'The perfect storm' OR The Online ban has 'everything'!

I don't play online poker anymore but am fascinated by the complexities of the situation the new law creates and the reactions to it. I'm looking forward to seeing how it shakes out. To me it has everything a great, dramatic legal/moral/political battle needs and so I'm tossing in my 2 cents.

Firstly, how many of you folks have had extensive dealings with bureaucrats? I was smothered by them for 20 years. IMO, THEY are the online player's biggest enemies right now. As far as I'm concerned, you can forget the law as passed. It's effect will be what the regulations that the bureaucrats are going to draw up say they will be and they will not be good for online poker. The bureaucrats will take whatever actions they think are necessary to make online gambling impossible to do in the US. That includes leaning on the financial institutions, any money transferring agency, ISP's and what-have-you's. These businesses need the government more than they need your business and are easily intimidated. If you think they will stick up for your rights you've got another thing coming.

Second: The money. There is a ludicrous amount involved. I've a pet saying that goes: 'Try getting in the way of the money and see what happens to you'. There is so much money involved that this pot is going to get stirred 'forever'.

Third: The lawyers. Ahh, the lawyers. Armies of lawyers are about to start marching off to war. It'll be a veritable WWIII of litigation with lawyers from all over the world involved with hundreds of millions of dollars available for their fees. Understand. The lawyers are out there. They can't be bargained with. They can't be reasoned with. They don't feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And they absolutely will not stop, ever, until there is no money left.

Fourth: The WTO: Isn't there a case pending already about this? A nice complication, that.

Fifth: The Moralists v. The Libertarians: This might be my favorite part.

I'm on the side of the Libertarians (surprise) and can't stand the Moralists. Every time one of them gets caught with his/her pants down I choke with delight. Jim Bakker, Bill Bennett (that National Scold), Dr. Laura and all those politicos caught with their fingers in the till or in the pants of their pages and assistants. I'm all for being decent and treating people right but when someone tries to tell me what to do when it doesn't affect them because THEY decide what is 'right', well, then, I'd like to take them and, uh.......never mind.

Sixth: Politicians. Anybody disillusioned yet? Do you still think they care a whit about you? It's all about THEM, folks.

Seventh: The Courts. The litigation will drag on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on..........

Eight: The Techno-Whizzes. This will be a fun part. I've read/heard it claimed that the government can't put the Genie back in the bottle, that there will always be a way to give the people what they want. We'll see.

Ninth: The primal urges. How's it go? First Humans seek food, shelter and clothing. IMO sex comes next but I know plenty of people who'd rather gamble first. Either way, gambling is pretty basic.

Tenth: Opinions. Everybody's got some and they love to share them.
These are mine. If you don't like them I have others.

As I said, that was my 2 cents. I probably left something out but this is likely too long anyway. Best of luck to all of you who want to play online. I'm just going to sit back and enjoy the drama.

Howard Beale

Wow, George Will weighed in at Newsweek, ripping this new legislation.
Prohibition II: Good Grief
When government restricts Americans' choices, ostensibly for their own good, someone is going to profit from the paternalism.



Everyone is placing over/unders on the amount of players in next years WSOP Championship Event. Personally, I think it's far too early to make an educated guess but the latest news is that online satellite winners will 'Most Likely Not' be accepted for the 2007 WSOP.

Not surprising but still I gotta say, Booo!

It will be fascinating to see what poker rooms, poker magazines and poker tv shows will be around in a year from now.

But per the amount of 2007 WSOP entries - I was surprised to read Oliver Tse's perspective on it. He claims we will see little to no difference, but to be fair, he wrote this before Harrah's said they prolly wouldn't accept online qualifiers:

9000+ players. Online poker has exploded in Germany and France, and is about to explode in Italy and Spain in 2007. East Asia will be on deck for 2008.

Harrah's would be incredibly stupid to keep the WSOP in Las Vegas now that it will have operational control of several casinos in the UK via its acquisition of London Clubs International.

It makes much more business sense for Harrah's to hold the 2007 WSOP in London than in Las Vegas.

Every one of you who predict that WSOP attendance will drop is a myopic U.S. based poker player who has little to no understanding of the entertainment industry on a global scale.

The WSOP in Europe? Blasphemy! No offense meant, but I'm a tradionalist, damnit.

Someone asked if the UK even has a casino capable of catering to 9000 players and here was the response:

I've been in several and haven't seen one that looks like it could even come close to holding 9,000 poker players. I played at the Vic in London and if you put 400 players in their "poker room" you'd have to throw out all the tables and chairs and there still wouldn't be enough room to move.

Most UK casinos could fit in the lobby of a Vegas casino.

The Vic has more in common with a large home game than a casino in the US.

As much as I'd like to see the WSOP in the UK, unless they convert the currently unused Millenium dome it's unlikely to happen, it would be far more sensible to have it on mainland Europe if it were to occur.

Plus London is horribly expensive and not the most pleasant of places at the best of times (and I live in the outskirts).

I've played at the Vic, as well, during my trip to Europe last year when I played poker in Ireland, Scotland and London, and I concur with the homegame analogy.

Oliver Tse, one of the best ever sources (perhaps I should say only) for information about poker on RGP, has been active lately. Allow me to recap some of his insights for you. You can thank me later for reading 5000 shitty posts before finding any of his.

Brokers of offshore bank accounts
Oliver Tse

Just as people around the world have gotten around the world by using "brokers" to get "grey market" satellite TV programming subscriptions (i.e. programming that is not licensed to be consumed in the particular country where a person is located), there will be "brokers" who will offer street addresses in countries WITHOUT treaties with the U.S. so that online gamers will continue to be able to fund their online gaming activities with offshore bank accounts.

There are thousands of highly-paid individuals in this world whose only job is finding ways around legislation.

You people need to relax.

Italian and Spanish poker fish will arrive in 2007.

Chinese poker fish will arrive in 2008.

There are no online American or Canadian poker fish anymore, as the Americans and Canadians who still play poker have watched way too much TV and have read too many books.

I am predicting that 1) the first WPT event in China will take place at the MGM Grand Macau in 2008, and 2) Macau will issue explicit online gaming licenses by 2008 or 2009.

Whether an online gaming license issued in Macau will be good for Mainland China is open to debate.

In this vein, here's an interesting snippet from the Independent. Actually, this is interesting enough to post in it's entirety.
Macau on the move


-----

Viva Macau! Asia's gambling capital
Casinos in the former Portuguese enclave are booming thanks to punters from the mainland. And now the big boys are getting in on the game, it could soon rival Las Vegas

The dice are rolling hot on the tables of what was once a sleepy Portuguese colony. With millions of mainland Chinese high rollers arriving every year, developers in Macau are racing to turn the former enclave into Asia's glittering gambling capital.

The stakes are high. At the baccarat table of one casino, a middle-aged Chinese woman shrugs off the loss of £6,000 on a single game, tipping her cigarette ash and restacking her chips. She gets busy again. There is a slight smell of sweat in the air.

Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, is poised to overtake the Las Vegas strip in gambling revenues thanks to a huge influx of cash from the mainland. "Macau over the next few years is going to develop into something unique," says Ciaran Carruthers, the senior vice president of Galaxy Resort, a Hong Kong casino company. He is shouting to be heard over the sound of a band on the gala opening night of the Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino.

The Grand Waldo is a large casino with 168 tables and 334 slot machines, but it also has restaurants, shops, a luxury hotel, spa, nightclubs, a fitness centre, a swimming pool, a children's playground and, inevitably for a casino targeted at the Chinese, karaoke facilities.

There is no question where the punters come from. The discerning ear can pick out the distinctive dialects of Fujian, Beijing and Shanghai - this is a playground for mainland Chinese gamblers.

It feels as if a casino is being built on every bit of land in Macau, making one fear for the elegant ruins of churches built by 16th-century Portuguese missionaries. Where no land is available, it is taken from the sea. The Grand Waldo is merely the first to open on the Cotai strip, a £13bn neon avenue of casinos, hotels and shops on 200 acres of reclaimed land that connects Taipa and Coloane, two small islands off the southern Chinese peninsula.

Elsewhere on the strip, beneath scores of cranes, armies of hard-hatted workers are putting the finishing touches on the Venetian Macau, a 39-storey replica of the Doge's Palace in Venice, with a huge statue of the archangel Gabriel on top and 3,000 suites inside.

The strip will raise Macau's current tally of 12,000 hotel rooms to 54,000 in 10 years. The backers of the scheme, the single biggest tourist investment anywhere, are betting it will steal the gaming jackpot from Vegas.

Macau generated £3bn in casino-gambling revenues, just slightly behind the Las Vegas strip's turnover of £3.2bn. But where Las Vegas beats Macau hands-down is on non-gaming income. In Vegas, visitors stay a lot longer, spend a lot more but gamble a lot less.

Many of the 19 million visitors lured to Macau's balmy precincts are day-trippers, or gamble their way through their visit, or stay in a massage parlour. Nearly three quarters of all money spent in Macau goes on gambling, leaving just £12 per visitor for other activities. In Las Vegas, gaming makes up just 41 per cent of the spend, with the rest, an average of £128, going on hotels, food, shopping and entertainment. Cotai's promoters hope the strip will solve the conundrum of how to make people stay longer. By injecting Vegas-style glitz, they aim to overcome the reputation for seediness and gang warfare that Macau has developed.

In recent years, corrupt officials have gambled away billions in the casinos of Macau, and Beijing is trying to stop this as part of a broader crackdown on graft. It won't be the first. Chinese authorities have fought a long battle against the national obsession with gambling. During the Song dynasty between 960 and 1279, they even cut off gamblers' hands. Yet today, the Chinese still bet on everything from fighting crickets to the Grand National at Aintree.

Casinos officially account for 80 per cent of economic activity in Macau, though the true proportion is probably higher. It became a centre for gambling during the 442 years that it was run by the Portuguese. Returned to China in 1999, it is now a special administrative region, under a regime similar to China's "one country, two systems" policy for Hong Kong. The law requires, for example, that only people from Macau or those with a special permit may work in the casinos, a boost to local employment.

The king of gambling in Macau is the octogenarian tycoon Stanley Ho, whose company, SJM, opened the Casino Lisboa, a 12-storey, circular tower, on 11 June 1970. With it came the 24-hour gaming experience that marked a revolution in gambling in Asia and earned Mr Ho almost mythical status in the city.

A good 80 per cent of gambling revenues in Macau flow through locally owned casinos, most of them run by Mr Ho. The Lisboa is a labyrinthine casino, still smoky and slightly run-down, and not as full as it used to be, but the punters are sweating and spending money. The Lisboa flies VIPs to its high-roller rooms by helicopter, and people can win or lose three or four million pounds in a day. Legend has it that one punter lost £67m in a single game of baccarat.

Walking the malls and circling the restaurants of the Lisboa are scores of legally tolerated prostitutes, many of whom live in the casino's hotel. Everyone gambles in Macau, even the sex workers. They cast lots to see who gets to patrol the prime public areas and who has to wait for clients in their rooms.

Looming over the old Lisboa is the emerging skeleton of the Grand Lisboa, a 44-storey building shaped like a lotus flower, Mr Ho's answer to the foreign pretenders who have challenged his domination of the market. His monopoly ended in 2002, when the government began offering concessions to outside investors.

Two years later, the Sands Macau opened. Its owners claim it is the world's biggest casino - 740 tables on 230,000 square feet on three floors, with more than 1,250 slot machines.The scene on the high-roller floor of the Sands, with 51 rooms for the big spenders, is very different from the Lisboa. Its main gambling hall is open and spacious, while the Lisboa's rooms are clearly built for the no-frills, hard-core gambler. It is so successful that it paid for itself in its first year.

The men who built Las Vegas are looking to Macau to keep the roulette wheels spinning and the former enclave is turning into a battle ground for two of the gaming industry's legends - Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands and gambling mogul Steve Wynn, both of whom have recently built huge casinos in Macau and are driving the development of the Cotai strip.

The verbal sparring matches between them are fun. Mr Adelson says Mr Wynn's new development is a non-event, while Mr Wynn compared the Sands Macau to a Wal-Mart store, somewhere no high-roller would ever go. Although rivals, they quietly need each other to do well; if one loses money, so will the other. This is not poker.

Mr Adelson expects to control 60 per cent of Macau's gaming market by 2010, and predicts that gaming revenues will rise to £7.5bn a year in the same period. Revenues from Sands Macau jumped 53 per cent in the second quarter of this year, accounting for two thirds of the firm's total income.

Jets of fire and water from a large fountain, and a recording of Frank Sinatra singing "Luck Be A Lady", announced the arrival of the Wynn Macau, the latest landmark in central Macau when Mr Wynn opened the £640m hotel and gaming complex earlier this month. It's not just the fireworks that are flash; An original Renoir sits behind the reception desk and Chanel, Prada, Christian Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton line the shopping arcade of the 24-storey Hotel; statues of camels lope through the swimming pools.

The hotel has 210 gaming tables and 380 slot machines, and a room starts at £200 a night, rising to £1,450 for a suite. "This place will go profitable tomorrow, on its first day. It'll take that long," Mr Wynn said at the launch ceremony, wearing a T-shirt proclaiming: "Knowledge destroys Fear".

Mr Wynn's company has a 50-acre plot on Cotai while Las Vegas Sands Corp is building a complex and luring several five-star hotel operators, such as Four Seasons, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Shangri-La. Also under construction is the City of Dreams, which bills itself as the world's first underwater casino.

"In Macau, the invitation has been rather one-dimensional - just gambling," says Mr Wynn, who, as head of Mirage Resorts, transformed Las Vegas before selling the company and starting from scratch with Wynn Resorts. "Now the invitation is being enriched at a pace not seen in any other destination in the world. The speed of development is dizzying."

Mr Carruthers says that even if the developers succeed in getting people to stay a bit longer away from the tables, gambling will always be central to the former colony's appeal.

"The Cotai strip will be uniquely Macau and while retaining its huge allure as a gaming destination, will become more attractive to people in the region seeking non-gaming facilities as well," says Mr Carruthers.

"However, I still feel even those that come here for the hotels, fine dining, retail, conventions etc, will still find the gaming too huge an attraction to ignore," he says.

China is central to the expansion of Macau and companies such as Galaxy Resort have their sights firmly set on the mainland Chinese market. "How Macau changes and develops will be closely linked to the change and development in China," Mr Carruthers says. "Right now, most of our players are from the middle and lower classes in China, and it is the middle class that will drive growth here. This is true for much of the region and as the middle classes become ever more affluent and have the means to travel, Macau will be an obvious and convenient choice for many of them."

But gaming and tourism experts say Macau also needs to attract punters from across Asia, rather than concentrating on the Chinese market. Already there are signs that Japanese, Koreans, and punters from south-east Asia are coming to have a flutter.

The dice are rolling hot on the tables of what was once a sleepy Portuguese colony. With millions of mainland Chinese high rollers arriving every year, developers in Macau are racing to turn the former enclave into Asia's glittering gambling capital.

The stakes are high. At the baccarat table of one casino, a middle-aged Chinese woman shrugs off the loss of £6,000 on a single game, tipping her cigarette ash and restacking her chips. She gets busy again. There is a slight smell of sweat in the air.

Macau, the only place in China where casinos are legal, is poised to overtake the Las Vegas strip in gambling revenues thanks to a huge influx of cash from the mainland. "Macau over the next few years is going to develop into something unique," says Ciaran Carruthers, the senior vice president of Galaxy Resort, a Hong Kong casino company. He is shouting to be heard over the sound of a band on the gala opening night of the Grand Waldo Hotel & Casino.

The Grand Waldo is a large casino with 168 tables and 334 slot machines, but it also has restaurants, shops, a luxury hotel, spa, nightclubs, a fitness centre, a swimming pool, a children's playground and, inevitably for a casino targeted at the Chinese, karaoke facilities.

There is no question where the punters come from. The discerning ear can pick out the distinctive dialects of Fujian, Beijing and Shanghai - this is a playground for mainland Chinese gamblers.

It feels as if a casino is being built on every bit of land in Macau, making one fear for the elegant ruins of churches built by 16th-century Portuguese missionaries. Where no land is available, it is taken from the sea. The Grand Waldo is merely the first to open on the Cotai strip, a £13bn neon avenue of casinos, hotels and shops on 200 acres of reclaimed land that connects Taipa and Coloane, two small islands off the southern Chinese peninsula.

Elsewhere on the strip, beneath scores of cranes, armies of hard-hatted workers are putting the finishing touches on the Venetian Macau, a 39-storey replica of the Doge's Palace in Venice, with a huge statue of the archangel Gabriel on top and 3,000 suites inside.

The strip will raise Macau's current tally of 12,000 hotel rooms to 54,000 in 10 years. The backers of the scheme, the single biggest tourist investment anywhere, are betting it will steal the gaming jackpot from Vegas.

Macau generated £3bn in casino-gambling revenues, just slightly behind the Las Vegas strip's turnover of £3.2bn. But where Las Vegas beats Macau hands-down is on non-gaming income. In Vegas, visitors stay a lot longer, spend a lot more but gamble a lot less.

Many of the 19 million visitors lured to Macau's balmy precincts are day-trippers, or gamble their way through their visit, or stay in a massage parlour. Nearly three quarters of all money spent in Macau goes on gambling, leaving just £12 per visitor for other activities. In Las Vegas, gaming makes up just 41 per cent of the spend, with the rest, an average of £128, going on hotels, food, shopping and entertainment. Cotai's promoters hope the strip will solve the conundrum of how to make people stay longer. By injecting Vegas-style glitz, they aim to overcome the reputation for seediness and gang warfare that Macau has developed.

In recent years, corrupt officials have gambled away billions in the casinos of Macau, and Beijing is trying to stop this as part of a broader crackdown on graft. It won't be the first. Chinese authorities have fought a long battle against the national obsession with gambling. During the Song dynasty between 960 and 1279, they even cut off gamblers' hands. Yet today, the Chinese still bet on everything from fighting crickets to the Grand National at Aintree.

Casinos officially account for 80 per cent of economic activity in Macau, though the true proportion is probably higher. It became a centre for gambling during the 442 years that it was run by the Portuguese. Returned to China in 1999, it is now a special administrative region, under a regime similar to China's "one country, two systems" policy for Hong Kong. The law requires, for example, that only people from Macau or those with a special permit may work in the casinos, a boost to local employment.

The king of gambling in Macau is the octogenarian tycoon Stanley Ho, whose company, SJM, opened the Casino Lisboa, a 12-storey, circular tower, on 11 June 1970. With it came the 24-hour gaming experience that marked a revolution in gambling in Asia and earned Mr Ho almost mythical status in the city.

A good 80 per cent of gambling revenues in Macau flow through locally owned casinos, most of them run by Mr Ho. The Lisboa is a labyrinthine casino, still smoky and slightly run-down, and not as full as it used to be, but the punters are sweating and spending money. The Lisboa flies VIPs to its high-roller rooms by helicopter, and people can win or lose three or four million pounds in a day. Legend has it that one punter lost £67m in a single game of baccarat.

Walking the malls and circling the restaurants of the Lisboa are scores of legally tolerated prostitutes, many of whom live in the casino's hotel. Everyone gambles in Macau, even the sex workers. They cast lots to see who gets to patrol the prime public areas and who has to wait for clients in their rooms.

Looming over the old Lisboa is the emerging skeleton of the Grand Lisboa, a 44-storey building shaped like a lotus flower, Mr Ho's answer to the foreign pretenders who have challenged his domination of the market. His monopoly ended in 2002, when the government began offering concessions to outside investors.

Two years later, the Sands Macau opened. Its owners claim it is the world's biggest casino - 740 tables on 230,000 square feet on three floors, with more than 1,250 slot machines.The scene on the high-roller floor of the Sands, with 51 rooms for the big spenders, is very different from the Lisboa. Its main gambling hall is open and spacious, while the Lisboa's rooms are clearly built for the no-frills, hard-core gambler. It is so successful that it paid for itself in its first year.

The men who built Las Vegas are looking to Macau to keep the roulette wheels spinning and the former enclave is turning into a battle ground for two of the gaming industry's legends - Sheldon Adelson of Las Vegas Sands and gambling mogul Steve Wynn, both of whom have recently built huge casinos in Macau and are driving the development of the Cotai strip.

The verbal sparring matches between them are fun. Mr Adelson says Mr Wynn's new development is a non-event, while Mr Wynn compared the Sands Macau to a Wal-Mart store, somewhere no high-roller would ever go. Although rivals, they quietly need each other to do well; if one loses money, so will the other. This is not poker.

Mr Adelson expects to control 60 per cent of Macau's gaming market by 2010, and predicts that gaming revenues will rise to £7.5bn a year in the same period. Revenues from Sands Macau jumped 53 per cent in the second quarter of this year, accounting for two thirds of the firm's total income.

Jets of fire and water from a large fountain, and a recording of Frank Sinatra singing "Luck Be A Lady", announced the arrival of the Wynn Macau, the latest landmark in central Macau when Mr Wynn opened the £640m hotel and gaming complex earlier this month. It's not just the fireworks that are flash; An original Renoir sits behind the reception desk and Chanel, Prada, Christian Dior, Fendi and Louis Vuitton line the shopping arcade of the 24-storey Hotel; statues of camels lope through the swimming pools.

The hotel has 210 gaming tables and 380 slot machines, and a room starts at £200 a night, rising to £1,450 for a suite. "This place will go profitable tomorrow, on its first day. It'll take that long," Mr Wynn said at the launch ceremony, wearing a T-shirt proclaiming: "Knowledge destroys Fear".

Mr Wynn's company has a 50-acre plot on Cotai while Las Vegas Sands Corp is building a complex and luring several five-star hotel operators, such as Four Seasons, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton and Shangri-La. Also under construction is the City of Dreams, which bills itself as the world's first underwater casino.

"In Macau, the invitation has been rather one-dimensional - just gambling," says Mr Wynn, who, as head of Mirage Resorts, transformed Las Vegas before selling the company and starting from scratch with Wynn Resorts. "Now the invitation is being enriched at a pace not seen in any other destination in the world. The speed of development is dizzying."

Mr Carruthers says that even if the developers succeed in getting people to stay a bit longer away from the tables, gambling will always be central to the former colony's appeal.

"The Cotai strip will be uniquely Macau and while retaining its huge allure as a gaming destination, will become more attractive to people in the region seeking non-gaming facilities as well," says Mr Carruthers.

"However, I still feel even those that come here for the hotels, fine dining, retail, conventions etc, will still find the gaming too huge an attraction to ignore," he says.

China is central to the expansion of Macau and companies such as Galaxy Resort have their sights firmly set on the mainland Chinese market. "How Macau changes and develops will be closely linked to the change and development in China," Mr Carruthers says. "Right now, most of our players are from the middle and lower classes in China, and it is the middle class that will drive growth here. This is true for much of the region and as the middle classes become ever more affluent and have the means to travel, Macau will be an obvious and convenient choice for many of them."

But gaming and tourism experts say Macau also needs to attract punters from across Asia, rather than concentrating on the Chinese market. Already there are signs that Japanese, Koreans, and punters from south-east Asia are coming to have a flutter.

Let's continue on with Oliver snippets, shall we? Just because everything he writes is interesting. To me, at least.

Note that what used to be marketed as "Pacific Poker" is now marketed under the "888" brand, which is a CHINESE brand that was selected by the Israeli founders of Pacific Poker specifically to target gamblers in CHINESE-speaking markets in Asia.

The number "8" in Cantonese rhymes with "getting rich".

888 recently signed a Chinese-speaking 19-year old professional snooker sensation named Ding Junhui to an endorsement contract. Mr. Ding is from Jiangsu Province, which used to include Shanghai before Shanghai was made its own province.

Another online gaming company has recently launched a Chinese brand. Sportingbet PLC, the parent company of ParadisePoker, recently launched the "SB28" brand of online gaming websites, which are presented entirely in Chinese.

The numbers "2 8" rhyme in Cantonese with "getting rich easily".

Oh wait - I found one more. This is about the WPTE and their attitude towards online poker getting banned here in the USA. Here's Oliver's two cents:

WPT Statement Idiotic

You do know that one of the companies that stands to benefit from the online gaming ban in the US is WPTE, which aspires to DOMINATE the online poker business on a global scale, don't you?

The new U.S. law basically "chokes off the air supply" of the likes of PartyGaming, TiltWare, and MANSION and allows WPTE some breathing room before the "ultimate battle" for the #1 gambling market in the world, namely CHINA, starts.

There is no question in my mind that WPTE has bet its entire future on the control of online gaming, including the online poker business, in the CHINA market, which is far far the #1 gambling market in the world, with 4 times as many people as the U.S.

FYI:

Macau, which is China's land-based casino hub, has already surpassed Las Vegas as the #1 gambling destination in the world in terms of the amount of money wagered annually.

You can read Olivers reporting about this situation at his site:
China: Poker's Next Frontier?

Quick segue. I was bestowed one of the most prestigious awards a blogger can get last week. The SnailTrax Blog of the Year 2006 was Guinness & Poker! Gotta love this:

Every four years we "Spotlight" a blog here at SnailTrax. This year it is iggy.

Folks,

The guy is simply amazing.

He cuts.
He pastes.
We laugh.
We cry.

Congrats, iggy. You've finally done it.

Respectfully,
Team SnailTrax

I can't articulate how much I'm going to miss Party Poker. Perhaps this video will allow me to show why.

Tuff_Fish takes quite a long time to figger out he has a straight flush on the river in this NL Party Poker game. We're gonna remember this wistfully as the Golden Age of Poker.

I'd like to put Mr. TuffFish on my iPod. Any ideas, anyone?



That's right. That's why I was able to quit my job.

Sigh.

Now go sign up on Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker, damnit. Help a brother out.

Plus, you better play there while you can.

Let's share my all-time favorite Tuff Fish poker video here:



Let's get back to Oliver Tse and the good stuff, shall we?

I gotta say WOW to this next post:

Why Steve Lipscomb is laughing right now:

You should have figured out by now that it will be WPT Enterprises' distinct business advantage for online gaming to be curtailed in the U.S. so that WPTE will have achieved "Step 1" in its long-shot blue print to achieve its goal of total global domination of the poker industry:

1. Having the U.S. Congress curtail onine gaming in the U.S. so that the likes of TiltWare and PartyGaming will have their "air supply" of U.S.-based online gaming revenue "choked off", preventing them from buying any more TV time in the U.S. to air cheaply-produced TV poker programs, thereby preventing WPTE from getting any CASH from any U.S. TV network for spinoff TV programs such as the PPT.

Step 1 is basically a done deal, as the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Act" now awaits the signature of George W. Bush.

2. WPTE, along with its allies in Macau, namely gaming industry kingpin Stanley Ho and his children, lobby for an EXCLUSIVE online gaming license to operate within the world's largest gambling market: CHINA. All online gaming websites other than WPTOnline.com would then be blocked off to any gambler inside China.

3. WPTE, along with its allies in Macau, lobby the mainland Chinese government, run by the Communist Party, to ban all China-based poker players from traveling to play any other land-based poker tournament besides the WPT Championship.

Net result if all 3 Steps were to take place: WPTE will control over 50% of the poker industry, whether online or land-based televised tournaments, by the year 2015.

There was one huge RGP thread that degenerated into a political screaming match. I did enjoy this one zinger from a Brit per the USA & online gambling ban legislation:

And you guys export democracy...

Nice.

Well hell, I haven't seen the WSOP coverage on ESPN so take this opinion for what its werth.

Opinions on 2006 WSOP players

A few thoughts after watching the latest WSOP TV coverage:

Dmitri Nobles - donked off his big stack and went busted, just like we all knew he would.

Annie Duke - managed to look even skankier than usual.

Joe Hatchem - wanted to win more than any player in the room. Got a glimpse of the temper he struggles to control.

Bryan Micon - irritating little shit you'd like to punch in the face.

Eric Molina - irritating little shit you'd like to shoot in the face.

Jamie Gold - plays better than I expected and knows how to use his huge chip lead.

Johnny Chan - hanging around Jamie Gold like a bell boy waiting for a tip.

Humberto Brenes - nice guy and solid professional who has been ruined by TV. Some one needs to perform emergency surgery to remove that giant ham from his ass.

Dustin Holmes - made one of the best plays of the tournament. Brenes picks up JJ, raises and goes into his whole hambone routine with that stupid fucking shark head. Holmes has AK and calmly says "all in". Brenes looked like some one just threw a bucked of cold water in his face - before he folded.

Prahlad Friedman - aside from owning one of the stupidest names in poker, made a total ass of himself over that ante issue.

Jeff Alessandro - a very solid professional player. Would have liked to see him knock Prahlad on his boney ass.

Over all, the TV coverage has been very good and I'm really enjoying the shows. Watching it, you realize there is just no other poker venue that even comes close to the magic of the WSOP.

Someone named Rusty Trombone posted about poker blogs on RGP. It's funny cause it's true.

The 4 stages of a poker blogger

Stage 1: Here is my blog. I've just learned how to play poker and I'm going to impart my knowledge to you as I learn. "It's so much fun telling everyone how much I know about poker".

Stage 2: This is easy. I'm winning xxbb/100 hands. I'll be quitting my job next week to go "pro". Here's some blogging about how much money I'm pissing away, just because I can. I'm like a trust fund baby only I'm earning my money playing poker.

Stage 3: Man, I've been running bad. I just lost more money this week than I used to make in a year. Oh well, things will turn around. These people I'm losing to are horrible. They just outdraw me on the river everytime. I don't mind losing to idiots cause i know in the long run, i will win.

Stage 4: Most recent post was 6 months ago.

One of the rabid right-wingers posted this to RGP. Was quite the thread - I loved it.
Maybe we can get this topic debated on Tri-Clops?

Where the FUCK is the ACLU?

I've always considered the ACLU to be a bunch of lunatic liberal left, anti-American, pro-terrorist, pro-criminal nut cases out to screw middle class working Americans.

However, the liberals always claim that the ACLU is just there to protect our rights. Well I consider it my right to play online poker games. So where the fuck is the ACLU the one time in my life when I would actually like to see the miserable bastards get involved?

Again, a very funny thread. Things are so fucking polarized on politics now that you can't even have a civil debate with overwise well-meaning people.

But someone smarter than me made this point about the ACLU:

Gambling isn't a civil liberty. It's an economic liberty. Expect the Cato Institute before the ACLU.

Incidentally the "pursuit of happiness" language from the preamble is symbolic and has very little legal weight.

I'm still trying to decide how deeply insane online poker cheater, ZeeJustin, is. How many drugs did the kid have to take before posting his Summary of the Legislation and Related Events on 2+2? Pure comedy.

I love how anybody who has ever played a hand of poker is all of a sudden a legal analyst now. LOL

Next up, Dutch Boyd gives us his expert opinion on the ramifications of the bill, followed by Mike Matusow, Dimitri Nobles, Eric Molina, and Sam Grizzle.

Let's go find someone's opinion who actually finished high school, shall we? Here's the The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, Analyzed by I. Nelson Rose

The other danger lies with search engines. Although California-based Google does not take paid ads, punching in “sports bet” brings ups many links to real-money sites. This new Act expressly allows a federal court to order the removal of “a hypertext link to an online site” that is violating the prohibition on money transfers. But what prosecutor would want to be ridiculed internationally for trying to prevent Google from showing links?

And so, as you can imagine, the trolls have been having much merriment on RGP.
The funny Trolls get fed.

Lots & lots of vitriol in this RGP thread from a stout Republican.

Subject: The necessary legislation of morality
Author: proud-republican@usa.net

I know some people who participate on this group play poker online and are upset that the Republicans have now banned it. Of course it's always possible to work your way around a law if you try hard enough, but the truth is the fish, donkeys, and losers that make the games profitable will be gone.

You don't think so now but this is for your own good. Over 90% of you lose money. Now you won't. Besides, gambling is against the bible.

The Republican Party is slowly but surely restoring morality to America. It's about time. Next we will target Indian casinos and finally all brick and mortar gambling dens. All strip clubs must be closed. Internet pornography and premarital sex needs to be stopped too.

You will all come to realize that we are really better off when government regulates some of our activities in accordance with God's wishes.

Thank the Lord for our wonderful freedom-spreading president George W. Bush and our next president Dr. Bill Frist.

Have a nice day.

A proud Republican

Good times, good times.

There's so many insane posts, it's hard to pick just one. I mean, seriously.

Quite frankly, I thought Irish Mike cut through the muck quite nicely with his perspective after the news hit. I especially like the fact that he's started referencing himself in the first person.

Irish Mike on Anti-Gambling Law

After wading through a ton of inaccurate, conflicting and semi-hysterical posts on this anti-computer game legislation it's clear most RPGers don't have a clue what to do. And, as a result, are attempting to deal with it in their usual cluster fuck fashion. Therefore, I offer my simple seven (7) step action plan.

1st: I admit I don't really know jack shit about this new proposed legislation. 2nd: I figure that puts me even with 99.9% of RGPers. 3rd: I wrote a letter to my Senator telling him that I oppose the legislation and that I think he is a complete ass hole. He sent back a form letter saying he agreed with my first point. 4th: I realize there isn't a fucking thing I can do to change the out come. 5th: I reduced my computer game account balance to a few hundred dollars - just in case. 6th: I kill-filed all posts with anti-gambling in the subject line. 7th: I plan to check back on the issue in early 2007.

Until then, it's poker as usual.

Irish Mike

Amen. In fact, when I recover from my little case of burnout, I'm gonna tackle a new game. PLO8, perhaps?

Reading the last weeks of forum posts was actually more depressing than I anticipated. Every single chucklehead and his brother came out to rant on the poker legislation. It seems that the more uninformed you are, the more you felt compelled to write something. God bless the internet.

I liked this little story that Gary Carson told in response to someone asking about the ease of opening up a non-US bank account.

Opening a foreign bank account.

A couple of times in the past I have sent email inquiries to offshore banks about opening an account (which is perfectly legal btw.) One reason to do this would be to trick Neteller into thinking you are not American.

Anyway the two or three times I have tried this I have always gotten rejected. I always thought that as long as you are not a drug dealer or money launderer the offshore banks don't care.

Are the bankers really so ignorant of online poker that they find it implausible that that is my true source of income? Is there some other reason they reject applications from people who claim they are poker players?

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Gary responds:

Larry L. King, the guy who wrote The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and half a
dozen or so books, applied for a credit card when the play was on Broadway and
he'd just sold movie rights. For occupation he put "freelance writer". His
income that year was over half a million.

They turned him down.

He got his book publisher to write a letter saying he was employed by them as an
assistant editor at $35,000 a year. He reapplied for the credit card.

He was approved.

Gary Carson

I loved this post blasting the speculation about the implications of the poker ban:

More wild, unsubstantiated speculation, please!

Give it a rest, for god's sake.

You guys are really on a tear these last few days with your "I think we can get around it like ___", and "I know why ____ did this. The reason is ___", and "the next site that will go down is probably ___", and "the WSOP will actually be BIGGER next year, because the gnomes from Mars are going to blah blah blah."

This is silly. The situation is totally unpredictable. Stop pretending that you know the hows and whys and whens. Maybe it would be best to just relax and see what happens. This is sudden and horrible bullshit of course, but sitting here huffing cigarettes and stressing out about it and going "maybe... maybe... hmm... what if..." isn't going to help.

Nobody knows.

=--

You just asked a bunch of poker players to stop speculating with partial information. Oh the irony.

Chris from RGP asks:

Who's more upset?

Americans because they won't be able to play online poker or Europeans because they won't be able to make millions playing against the stupid Americans?

All I can say is I'd rather play against Bubba from Texas than Ingmar from Sweden any fucking day of the week.

Just in case you missed David Sklansky writing his quick two cents on the bill's passage, here's the 2+2 thread: Shouldn't We Be Focusing On The Poker Carve Out?

On a side note, I hope that everyone votes this coming November 7th. Nuff said.

Eric Rosenberg put out this plea for help. And took some serious abuse.
This is all too late, in my humble opinion. I personally think (unforeseeing random events) that we are heading back to online poker circa 2001.

The other part of my brain tells me that trying to stop online poker is like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube. We'll see.

Your Help Is Needed: Please Read This Thread

A lot of people and families were impacted by the "all of a sudden" passing of this online gambling prohibition. There were affiliates that have built legitimate web based advertising businesses. There were independent radio shows that accepted ads from the industry. There were magazine publishers, streaming video producers, etc., etc.

These are the stories that are missing in the main stream media. I'm sure that they'd love to hear how a family of five in Iowa lost their house because, without any warning, there entire livelihood went up in smoke.

Instead of whining on affiliate chat forums, these legitimate business people should be putting out press releases that tell there story of the hardship caused by this recent hijacking.

This is one of the topics that the Poker Players Alliance should be tapping into as well.

As far as I can see, the main argument of the PPA has been that poker is a skill game and therefore should be legal. Whether or not poker is a skill game is irrelevant to most of the country. It's a non-issue that the majority of the United States could give a shit less about. What is an issue that might peak the interest of Joe Blow in Idaho is the fact that this past weekend the government passed a law that protects you from yourself. Now this is an issue that may change a lot of votes come
November.

The PPA needs to tap into mainstream America by telling them about the terrible loss of jobs and income that this Act has caused. They need to let main stream America know that they just lost a freedom and it doesn't matter whether it was poker or knitting, the fact is that they lost a freedom to choose whether to participate or not based mainly on the premise that they want to protect you from yourself.

These are the issues that the PPA needs to make known to America. These are the issues that YOU need to make known to America.

In the coming weeks, I will be putting together an expose' on how this Bill has negatively affected the livelihoods of millions of Americans and the freedoms of all Americans. I need your help.

If you or someone you know has been financially impacted by this recent hijacking... I mean Bill... please send me an email with a brief description of your loss and your contact information. I may choose to feature you in this expose. Names will be disguised at your request. Please not that while I do sympathize with the professional poker player that will lost their income, I am not soliciting those types of stories. I already know that impact and your career fields will be duly
represented.

Thanks for your help in this. Please feel free to forward this to someone that may want to participate.

Eric Rosenberg
ebrose21@hotmail.com

Someone called Eric "Galactically Stupid" in that thread. I love that phrase.

I've gotta say, I feel good ubering this up. It's been a while since I've been in a state of mind to pull this off. I've really just disconnected the past few weeks. Trying to process the change of poker versus going to work everyday. It's getting better every day. Really smart young folks and extreme ubercreative types that I can only admire from a universe far, far away.

Plus, we have a pingpong table in the office.
Me likes the pong.

I work in one of the longest buildings in the country, a century-old, converted train depot built when Cincy was the 15th biggest city in the country. It's over a quarter of a mile long but used to be much longer before I-75 was built and much of it was knocked down to make way.

It's sister building is Camden Yards.

Moving away from Boring Shit about Me, here's a fun perspective of online internet poker pro's having to adjust. Again, I'm overjoyed with my job. I have a unique opportunity to do some cool, creative stuff.

Some of you can now experience new things ...

If on line poker goes by the wayside many of you will have the chance to experience new things, such as:

* Taking a shower every day

* Possibly going outside and speaking to an actual girl

* Learn what the "real world" is all about

* Find a job and move out of parents basement

* Play live poker and subsequently get ur ass kicked for talking shit, forgetting that you're just an internet tough guy

Hell, I'm due to link up around the blogosphere.
Off the top of my head:

Did you know that Lord Geznekor is back and blogging at Rhymes with Joker? Turn your comments back on, Lord G!

You should be reading Michael Craig's blog, if you aren't already. There's too many great entries to link to, but for me, I enjoyed his post entitled:
Days of Steve Wynn, Picasso, Beal, Hansen, Forrest … and Me

And this pimpage is WAY overdue. Poker Comics

Felicia had a fine rant up about the end of poker, as we know it
Poker: The End of an Era. Particularly, I nodded at this:

I know that an era has ended. I know that we are seeing the end of the poker boom. I'm not blind. I was there before the boom, and I'm here as it has reached it's peak. It did not end the way I predicted. I figured that it would simply reach a saturation point and peak, slowly creeping back down to something manageable, rather than out of control fadness. Instead, we kind of hit a wake-up call, a brick wall.

The Up for Poker guys have done a stellar job documenting the news as it came out.

As has Mr. Rini. As a poker insider, I listen much more intently when he speaks on these topics. He knows his shit. Lots of posts to pick from, but I gotta pimp this excellent piece entitled: Chuck Humphrey’s Analysis and Some More Thoughts on the UIGEA

I also really enjoyed Peter Birks roasting Party Poker in this post from a weeks back.

I'm also late in linking up the excellent post by Ami Calistri called:
A Hand Poorly Played: Online Poker

I also forgot to mention this little blog survey thingy I was asked to do.
Mapping the Diversity of the Blogosphere: A Bloggasm Case Study
An interesting informal study of the blogosphere.

Here's a screengrab of my most recent global visitors to this here humble poker blog.


It's truly sick how much more poker stuff I have yet to blog. But I'm going to spare you, gentle reader, and save it for later this week. Lucky you.

Again, consider supporting the insanity that is this humble poker blog. I'm doing it all for free but the sponsorships from Poker Stars and Full Tilt are what keep my ubering up.

Download Poker Stars
Download Full Tilt Poker (Bonus Code IGGY, damnit!)

Whoops, I almost forgot the promised photo of Annie Duke's tattoo. It's a strange one and the picture is here.

For anyone in and around the Cincinnati area, I'm posting this press release by way of my Reds front office buddy, Dann. Wanna play poker with Reds players, past and present? Join up - I'll more than likely be there.


----

Redsfest to Feature Celebrity Poker Tournament

Kahn’s Redsfest 2006 at the Duke Energy Center to Host Tournament

CINCINNATI (Oct. 23, 2006) – Kahn’s Redsfest 2006 at the Duke Energy Center returns to Cincinnati on Friday, Dec. 1 and Saturday, Dec. 2 and will feature a poker-tournament fundraiser for the Reds Community Fund.

Fans can play poker with Reds players, coaches and legends in the Reds Community Fund Celebrity Poker Tournament. The Texas Hold ’em event takes place Saturday, Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. Cash games and registration begin at 5 p.m., and the first cards in the tournament will be dealt at 7 p.m.

Current and former Reds, as well as local media personalities, will play in the tournament and serve as table hosts. There will be up to 50 tables with a 10-person maximum for each table, including one celebrity per table.

Cost is a $200 buy-in per person for the tournament (plus one optional $50 add-on and three optional $50 re-buys) paying the top 20 places; the winner receives a $10,000 guaranteed payout based on 500 participants. Each tournament participant receives two beverage tickets, dinner and a Reds commemorative souvenir. Additionally, anyone that pre-registers prior to the close of business on Monday, Nov. 27 will receive complimentary access to all Redsfest events.

Tables are available for $2,000 and include signage during the event plus two beverage tickets, dinner and Reds commemorative souvenirs for nine guests. Each table purchase also includes authentic Reds hats for nine people and one game-used Reds cracked bat.

Spectator tickets are also available for $30. Each spectator receives two beverage tickets and dinner. All participants and spectators must be 21 years of age or older. No cameras or autographs will be allowed.

Kahn’s Redsfest features fan interaction with current and former Reds players, including Ryan Freel, Brandon Phillips and All-Star Bronson Arroyo. Other event highlights include interactive thematic baseball displays, a 30,000-square-foot baseball field with live games and a Wiffle ball tournament, a celebrity home run contest, plus hitting and pitching clinics presented by Champions Baseball Academy. Tickets to the event go on sale Monday, Oct. 30.

The hours of operation for Kahn’s Redsfest are 4-11 p.m. on Friday and 12-8 p.m. on Saturday. For the first time, fans can purchase two-day passes for Redsfest. Two-day passes are $15 for adults and $7 for kids (12 and younger). One-day passes are $10 for adults and $5 for kids. All proceeds from Kahn’s Redsfest benefit the Reds Community Fund, the official nonprofit organization of the Cincinnati Reds.

For more information about Redsfest or the Reds Community Fund Celebrity Poker Tournament, visit www.reds.com or call (513) 765-7019.

-------------

Thanks for reading and I'll be back with even more tasty poker goodness very soon.

Link of the Day:
Attack the Candidate, Not the Ad

10 Zen Monkeys finds the nastiest attack ads in this year's Congressional races, including one in which Missouri Senate candidate Claire McCaskill is portrayed as being anti-methamphetamine in the country and pro-meth in the city.