Tuscaloosa Johnny's blog

The tide continues: Firepay announces no more gambling transfers

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 06:29:03 +0000

FirePay announced today that U.S. customers will no longer be able to use the service to fund online gambling accounts after President Bush signs the Unlawful Online Gambling Enforcement Act into law.

Ten days after Bush signs on the dotted line, all transactions from online gambling sites into the FirePay accounts of U.S. customers will be declined.

FirePay can continue to be used for other non-gambling purposes by U.S. customers.

The news is another blow for American players hoping the changes would be gradual, but with the inevitable pullout of Party Poker and the elimination of one of the major online poker site funding sources it appears the dominoes are falling quickly.

Et tu, Neteller?

The Online Poker Status Report

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 10:52:22 +0000

Most of the larger online poker sites have issued statements saying whether or not they will remain open for business for U.S. customers following the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act late last Friday, while customers of other sites wait to hear the news. Some sites are hedging their bets, waiting to see how the law shakes down in the nine months given for financial institutions and internet service providers to seek clarification in the enforcement of the law. Here’s a status report on many of the online poker sites, cobbled together from press releases, statements to the media and other sources.

The Web site EyeOnGambling.com listed a comment from an Absolute Poker official who said, "We want to assure you that Absolute Poker games are still available and that you can continue to enjoy the site as you always have. The new law does not change the legality of playing online games nor will make us close any US customer accounts."

Bodog appears ready to stay at least temporarily while the whole mess is sorted out, but a comment from founder Calvin Ayre to Gambling911.com indicated he’s ready to find other sources of revenue if need be.

"Bodog is a broad based digital entertainment company that has long ago ceased to be dependent on any one revenue channel,” Ayre said. “Bodog will continue to monitor things as they unfold but is not expected to make any changes until our study is completed."

Firepay's New Fee: Let the Profiteering Begin

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 01:32:46 +0000

I was among those doing quite a bit of cashing out of online poker accounts this week from sites ending business with us U.S. customers, such as Party Poker. I discovered a nasty surprise, however, when I went to cash those funds out of Firepay and saw a new $10 withdrawal fee for all cashouts.

This fee was apparently added just today. Could Firepay be taking advantage of the hundreds of thousansds or millions of U.S. customers rushing to funnel their money away from online poker sites? I'll let you read what you want into that, but I will share this nugget with you. I emailed customer service tonight and got this response:

Unfortunately this fee must be charged to defray the processing costs associated with withdrawal transactions.

Funny how those processing costs suddenly went through the roof, isn't it?

Some British brevity in these trying times of online poker

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:20:31 +0000

British royal Prince Charles was left red-faced Monday night after actor Stephen Fry joked about enjoying a game of strip poker with him.

Fry addressed a packed cinema audience at the London premiere of new movie The History Boys, where the Prince had asked him to introduce a short advertisement for his charity The Prince's Trust. But a reluctant Fry revealed:

"There were only two of us who could have spoken tonight. We decided on a game to decide who - the winner got to sit and enjoy the film without a speech. "He (Charles) suggested polo. In the end we settled on strip poker. He saw my low pair and for the first time I understood what a royal flush was."

Motley Fool defends online poker

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 21:09:22 +0000

The Motley Fool, a popular financial investing Web site, published an article today in defense of online poker, likening it to buying stocks and arguing it should have been exempted in this new legislation.

"Frankly, I just find it sickening that such a controversial issue as online gambling was handled with little, if any, debate," author Jeff Hwang wrote.

He also adds this nugget:

"In my opinion, the regulation of online gaming seems to makes a heck of a lot more sense than an attempted ban. It's just not clear to me who this bit of legislation truly benefits, except perhaps a number of politicians up for election in November."

Check out the article here.

PPA releases roll call list for Online Gambling Prohibition Act

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:28:28 +0000

You can see which members of the House of Representatives voted for or against the bill that banned online poker and those who sponsored a bill that would have studied the issue further here.

More comments from online poker sites...

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 19:03:15 +0000

Bodog.com Founder Calvin Ayre issued a statement to Gambling911.com late Sunday night:

"Bodog is a broad based digital entertainment company that has long ago ceased to be dependent on any one revenue channel. Bodog will continue to monitor things as they unfold but is not expected to make any changes until our study is completed."

Similarly, the smaller company Empire Online plc, owner of Empire Poker stated:

"In light of the new legislation passed by the US Congress last Friday, Empire Online has immediately commenced a review of the likely impact on the company's current business activities. Presently it is difficult to assess the exact effect of this legislation, which could have a material impact on future earnings. The Board of Empire Online will continue to take counsel from its advisors on this matter and will update shareholders accordingly."

Most others remain tight lipped for now.

Rating the Tunica poker rooms

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 00:38:12 +0000

I'm not in Tunica these days, but since I've spent plenty of time in the metropolis, I can report on it by proxy. Here's a report card on the poker rooms of the area. Note that almost all of them feature daily or weekly tournaments so I won't note that feature in these brief reviews.

Gold Strike -- Home of the World Poker Open, formerly of the Jack Binion variety, the Gold Strike poker room is up the escalators from the rest of the casino action, opposite the casino's showroom. The room features close to 20 tables, fit a bit snugly in the available space. $1-$2 and $2-$5 NL games dominate the room, which offers free food service from the tables. The staff is friendly and the games are good. A-

Grand -- The Grand now features a renovated and enlarged tournament area for the WSOP Circuit events, but the general room remains largely unchanged. In addition to the usual no limit and low limit hold'em games, the Grand also offers $10-$20 limit and low limit Omaha games. The action generally isn't as great as it is at Poker Central (i.e. the Gold Strike and Horseshoe) Comps are freely given out, a common occurrence here among the cotton and soybean fields. B

Hollywood -- A favorite of geologists, the low limit games here are filled with elderly rocks. The room even uses the jumbo faced cards for its hard of seeing clientele. At least the room offers sit n gos. D+

Horseshoe -- This used to be the undisputed leader in Tunica poker action, but the distance has narrowed with the improvements across the street at GS and at the Grand. The Horseshoe recently opened a new room in the back of the casino with more space and better facilities though I miss the mural on the wall of the old room. There's plenty of action here and the biggest limit, NL and Omaha games and the free food is best here. A

Sam's Town -- Middle of the road in Tunica poker action, there are decent games here -- better than Hollywood but nothing compared to the top tier rooms. C-

Stardust to close in a month

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 04:28:23 +0000

If you've never darkened the doors of the Stardust poker room, you've got only a month left to play some cards there. Officials with Boyd Gaming recently announced that the Stardust, in business since 1958, will close permanently on Nov. 1.

The hotel will be torn down in 2007 to make way for the new $4 billion Echelon Place, a collection of major and boutique hotels, a casino and entertainment, dining and retail outlets. It's been known for at least a year that the Stardust, former home to the likes of the Rat Pack and Wayne Newton, would be torn down, but the date of closure was only recently revealed.

The announcement of the closure has brought out Stardust fans, and apparently the hotel is sold out for its last month in operation.

The casino has a relatively small poker room, but has 10 a.m. tournaments several times a week. If nothing else, go to soak in the history. Earl, one of the dealers there, dealt at the World Series of Poker back in the 1970s and 1980s and shared a treasure trove of stories the last time I played there.

Echelon Place is scheduled to open in 2010.

Can aces burn rubber?

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:22:07 +0000

Robby Gordon's No. 7 car on NASCAR's Nextel Cup Circuit recently got a new look, with the World Series of Poker logo splashed all over the Chevy.

The new paint scheme is promoting the 2006 World Series of Poker telecasts airing Tuesday nights on ESPN. The redesigned look was unveiled at the Sony HD 500 in California earlier this month.

The new design will prominently display the World Series of Poker and ESPN logos on the hood of the car and will feature an additional World Series of Poker logo on a poker chip just above the rear wheels. The rear half of the car is painted green to simulate the color of the table felt.

Harrah's will also display the World Series of Poker scheme at the Banquet 400 (Oct. 1 at Kansas Speedway) and the UAW-Ford 500 (Oct. 8 at Talladega Superspeedway).

"NASCAR fans are the most brand-loyal fans in the world," said WSOP chief Jeffrey Pollack. "There's no doubt that running this paint scheme with Robby Gordon will increase our profile around the world and help drive exposure for our telecasts on ESPN."

You may recall that Pollack (pictured here with Gordon) previously worked for NASCAR, as managing director for entertainment and new media for the sport's digital entertainment division, before becoming commish of the WSOP. Shall we anticipate $7 cheeseburgers and $3 soft drinks at the 2007 WSOP to pay for these advertisements? Only time will tell.

...A different viewpoint from a progressive state

Sun, 17 Sep 2006 15:04:00 +0000

North Dakota State Rep. Jim Kasper says his fellow Republicans "just don't get it" when it comes to Internet gambling.

Kasper calls the proposal "ridiculous" by Rep. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) that Frist wants to tack onto a defense bill to ban online gambling to pass in the waning days of the 109th Congress.

"The people of our nation want to do what they want to do in the privacy of their living rooms," Kasper told internetnews.com.

Contrary to the intent of his national party leaders, North Dakota will become a safe harbor for Internet poker players worldwide if Kasper has his way.

Kasper plans to introduce bills in the next session of the North Dakota legislature legalizing Internet poker for online casinos that will bring their software, hardware and employees to North Dakota.

That move has been tried before in the state and passed the House, while being trumped in the Senate. Of course, even if that were to become law in the frozen tundra of North Dakota it doesn't do the rest of us online poker playing Americans any good unless we wanted to move there. Any takers?

Pocket Fives calls Congressional "phone march" a success

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 17:10:37 +0000

The Phone March on Washington, a grassroots campaign designed to combat the current internet gambling legislation in Congress and sponsored by the Poker Players Alliance and PocketFives.com, generated thousands of calls by people from all over the country who defended their right to play online poker.

“We’re very excited that so many online poker players and internet gamblers came out in support of the Phone March on Washington,” said PocketFives.com President Cal Spears. “The threat to online poker is real. We hope our Senators heard our message loud and clear today: Do not ban online poker in the United States.”

The bill in question, H.R. 4411, passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming margin, 317-93, in July. The Senate then went on recess and resumed session just after Labor Day.

“Calling elected officials’ offices shows a great amount of courage and passion for our cause,” said Spears.

The effort caught the attention of several Congressional offices, according to Pocket Fives. A representative from Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) office claimed that the staff had been receiving calls “once every few minutes.” The same was true at Senator Edward Kennedy’s (D-MA) headquarters: “We have received a steady stream of calls all day today.” At Senator Charles Schumer’s (D-NY) office, a spokesperson said they had received “a significant number of calls on the issue.”

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) position on the issue echoed that of the callers today: “The Senator is not in favor of a ban. She favors regulation in order to prevent children from gambling,” said a representative.

“I think we sent a message today,” said Spears. “Once again thank you to everyone who made the Phone March on Washington a success."

Poker 101 -- Learn the basics of the game in college

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 16:23:19 +0000

Now college students in Virginia can get pointers on hold'em in class before taking the money of their fellow undergrads in apartment and frat house games.

The University of Richmond is now offering a course called "Poker Mania," a non-credited class being offered over three Wednesday nights in October for a $69 fee. The course, offered initially last year, is taught by Scott Redmond, a chartered financial analyst with a deep interest in poker.

The three class focus on the basics of poker, such as the math behind probabilities and odds with discussion on starting hand selections and common drawing hands, poker psychology including learning tells, and formulating strategies based on the lessons taught in the previous two classes. No real money is exchanged in the classes. The course description calls for Monopoly money to be put in play.

Given the options offered by the University of Richmond School of Continuing Studies -- Ice Skating and Intermediate Golf among them -- I think I'll take the Poker Mania course please (as well as all of the Monopoly money of the fish who dare take me on.)

The WPT heads East...Far East

Wed, 06 Sep 2006 01:27:06 +0000

WPT Enterprises Inc. has secured a pair of broadcasting deals to bring the World Poker Tour television shows to southeast Asia.

The World Poker Tour's first season will be aired on Macau Cable in Macau and feature the second season on MediaCorp, the largest broadcaster in Singapore.

The deal in Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, is important due to its status as a large gambling center.

"With the long history of gaming in Macau and the recent licenses issued to a number of international gaming giants who will build or run major new casinos, this area is only going to get hotter," Gary MacKinney, WPTE executive director of international distribution, said in a statement.

Texas Hold'em game sets Xbox 360 record (for suckiness)

Sun, 03 Sep 2006 19:00:20 +0000

From Microsoft:

"Texas Hold'em" set a one day record as the fastest downloaded item ever on the Xbox Live Marketplace, with over 100 downloads per minute in the first 24 hours of the title's release. For the first time ever, Microsoft offered a free full-version Xbox Live Arcade game to all Xbox Live members during the first 48 hours following launch.

Xbox Live is the online mechanism for the Xbox 360 in which players can download content and updates for their systems and compete against other players.

I've tried this hold'em game and let me tell you folks, it ain't pretty. You can play single player against seven computer opponents, either in a cash game or one-table tournament format. Like most poker video games the computer's artificial intelligence is quite lacking and your opponents are prone to boneheaded maneuvers. One key to the game is building a bankroll so you can play in bigger tournaments, but you can play smaller games without risking your bankroll as the game buys you in for free. The strategy here is simple: go all in every hand. If you lose, you rebuy. If you win, you cash out. Does this sound fun to you?

The online game is worse, as most human players just play like maniacs since there's nothing at stake. There's no real poker to be played here.