Party Poker Blog

"Big Brother has always had his hands around your balls, it's just now he's starting to squeeze."
Jim Hankins

There's so much tectonic shifting in online poker news right now I can't keep up. Hopefully I'll free up some time and drop a Monster Uber poker post on ya'll. Stay tuned.

A quick recap of some poker news after a busy day at work and then attending a David Sedaris reading tonight. Dear God, David is funny as hell.

Random Middle-Earth work anecdotes: I work with a great guy whose name is Pippin Took.
And a hot art director gal named Lorien.

Damn hippy parents.

Anyway, here we go with some poker reading for you. Stop working and go read:
Issues with Ultimate Bet's software provider pulling the plug on poker, the Royal Bank of Scotland telling corporate clients they're not prepared to do business with companies that take online bets from the United States (yikes!), and Paradise Poker blocking players in states that already have laws concerning online poker. Those states are:

Utah
Hawaii
Michigan
Indiana
Oregon
Nevada
Washington
Illinois
Louisiana
South Dakota

The rollercoaster ride continues.
I admit, I'm a little weasy after the last month of this insanity.

On the flip side, rumours are out there that Neteller is gonna try to stick around.

Who is gonna emerge from this clusterfuck? Esteemed poker author, Lou Kreiger, offered his views on potential opportunities here: Has UIGEA created a big marketing opportunity?

In the Toot My Own Horn Department here at Guinness and Poker, I've done three major media interviews in the past week including the Associated Press and Business Week. Also, in the very cool news department, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (Defending Freedom in the Digital World!!) even linked me up this week. Thank you, whoever you are.

A hoist of the Guinness to the EFF.
Most people don't understand how important they are, especially to bloggers.

And finally, from my favorite Washington source, Mr K, comes the latest news of the online poker ban bill being signed tomorrow morning:

10:00am tomorrow, the die will be cast

Sources inside Congress tell me that the SAFE Ports Act, which contains the UIGEA, will be signed at 10:00am tomorrow by the President. I believe CSPAN will be carrying the signing ceremony live -- but I am not sure where the signing will be held. Seems possible they might try a thematic location or backdrop somewhere at a major port.

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We all know poker blogs are gay but did you realize:
God Hates Blogs

Bloggers are going to hell one entry at a time, according to Kevin D. Denee of the Restored Church of God's Ambassador Youth magazine:

Should teenagers and others in the Church express themselves to the world through blogs? Because of the obvious dangers; the clear biblical principles that apply; the fact that it gives one a voice; that it is almost always idle words; that teens often do not think before they do; that it is acting out of boredom; and it is filled with appearances of evil -- blogging is simply not to be done in the Church. It should be clear that it is unnecessary and in fact dangerous on many levels.

Let me emphasize that no one -- including adults -- should have a blog or personal website (unless it is for legitimate business purposes).

Photo sharing is acceptable to the Restored Lord in some circumstances:

Some questions naturally arise: "Can I have a photo gallery?" For example, maybe you visited an exotic country and want to share your photos with close friends. This can be done, but certain guidelines apply. Of course, there should never be any inappropriate pictures (again, be careful of the appearance of evil); it should be private and password protected, and only shown to family and closest friends.

Well, I'll be diddled.

PokerStars is gonna Fight The Power. A ray of sunshine in these past gloomy days of online poker.

It's gonna prove VERY hard to put the toothpaste back in the tube, my friends.

Read the announcement here.