Some Interesting Newslinks

I didnt have a good run at today's blogger tour event. I did have a very good showing in live league play last nite making the cash. Ill write more about that later. I have some things to do before I hit pokerstars for AcesCracked league game.

The first link is a Daniel Negreanu's blog entry on US Politics.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/blog_entry/142

Secondly by Allyn Jaffrey Shulman of Cardplayer Magazine:

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_news/news_story/1446?class=PokerNews

Short poker day today. I have to get up at the crack of dawn to direct the start line and day of race registration/number pick-up for my running club's fall half marathon which runs in conjunction with the club's fall full marathon (thats 26.2 miles) which I directed for 5 years. One of the few events I get lured out of retirement for each year. I'll get caught up in the excitement of the event and contemplate starting up training again for all of about 2 hours. Ultimately, I'll say Nah... too much work, my feet and back will hurt and it's not +EV.

Pimpin the Poker.com Blogger Poker Tour

Schedule:

Blogger Poker Tour Freeroll Satellites
All Blogger Poker Tour Events can be found in the Tournaments > Scheduled > Special Tab of the Poker.com software. All times are Poker.com server time, which is GMT - 5, or US EST.

Date Time Host Blog
23 September 15:00 Event #1 - Poker.com Poker Blog
7 October 15:00 Event #2 - Royal's Bluff Till You Drop Bender
21 October - Event #3 - TBA
4 November - Event #4 - TBA
18 November - Event #5 - TBA
2 December - Event #6 - TBA
16 December - Event #7 - TBA

Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final
23 December 15:00 Blogger Poker Tour Grand Final!

Yours truly has been asked to host one of the BPT events. Should be the November 4th event as I am currently scheduled to be in Boston on October 21st. I've been in touch with Shane, the BPT commish and decided to shake things up a bit. Be forewarned, I've chosen the game of the day to be Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Time to get you no limit holdem specialists out of your comfort zone. So everyone has one month to get there Omaha Hi/Lo game in good order. I can steer folks to some great books and articles on Omaha8 or O8B if you would like to drop me a PM or email.

Shane has the results up to date and I'm currently sitting in 4th after my 3rd place finish last week. Hosts of BPT events get winners points. Im hoping a few more weeks of solid play and my gig as hostest with the mostest keeps me in the top twenty so I can play for the fabulous prizes. Sure, the Aussie Millions grand prize would be the one I covet the most but any of the top twenty prizes would do. Since Im playing live quite a bit an IPOD nano would be great and the APL could always stand to use another Poker Table.

Today's host is Royal, be sure to visit his blog.

Once Again thanks to Poker.com for sticking by us Yankees. I for one will definitely support a site that supports us. I've even asked El of Poker Analysis to consider moving some of the Buy-in games and Freeroll league games to poker.com.




I play poker at Poker.com

There may be Hope yet.

Online gaming firms consider legal challenge to US ban
· British-based companies could mount WTO case
· Antiguan government says it will work with websites

Hans Kundnani
Friday October 6, 2006

Guardian

British-based online gambling companies could join forces with the Antiguan government to challenge the new US legislation targeting internet gambling that wiped an estimated £4bn from the sector's stockmarket value on Monday.
Antigua, which has already successfully challenged previous US laws on internet gambling, said yesterday it would be willing to work with UK companies such as Sportingbet to challenge what they see as US protectionism.

Following a complaint from Antigua, the World Trade Organisation ruled last year that US laws on online gambling contravened its rules. A WTO panel will decide in November whether the US is now complying with its rules.

Antiguan officials said yesterday that the new legislation, included in the port security bill passed by the Senate last Friday and due to be signed into law by President Bush within two weeks, was "as contrary to the decision of the WTO in our case as can possibly be imagined" and "puts the United States on a direct collision course with the WTO".

"The new legislation just makes our case before the WTO that much stronger," said Mark Mendel, a lawyer who represents Antigua in the WTO.

Complaints to the WTO from European companies are brought by the European commission, which said yesterday it had not yet received any approach from any UK company on the issue. However, several UK companies, including Sportingbet, have indicated they are actively considering a WTO case against the US.

Sportingbet chief executive Nigel Payne has been in Antigua since Tuesday afternoon and is understood to be meeting the Antiguan authorities to discuss the US legislation. Sportingbet has a licence in Antigua, which allows it to operate servers and customer support in Costa Rica for its US customers.

Meanwhile John J Farmer, a former New Jersey attorney general, told a conference in London that the legislation, which makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to receive payments from online gambling sites, would drive the online gaming industry underground and benefit "fly-by-night operators".

There were also the first signs of much-anticipated consolidation in the online gaming industry yesterday as ukbetting said it had received a number of informal approaches to take over the company.

PartyGaming is known to be interested in acquisitions despite its shares falling 60% this week and said it cancelled its dividend to "take advantage of the many attractive opportunities in the sector that will emerge in the coming months".

PartyGaming, which has been forced to renegotiate its loan facility as a result of the US legislation, is also hoping to take over smaller rival Gamesys, which has all its customers in the UK.

However, even in the UK online gambling may now be under threat as a result of the US crackdown. US credit card companies MBNA and Capital One are considering the possibility of blocking the use of their cards for online gambling even from UK customers. Some major credit cards such as American Express already ban such uses.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

Are you Ready to be Unplugged?

-----MORPHEUS TO NEO: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.----- The Matrix

That sums up how I feel about the US government and most of my fellow citizens.

I played no poker Monday and Tuesday nights. Instead I spent most of both nights withdrawing money from sites closing to players from the US. I withdrew the bulk of my bankroll from Titan to limit my exposure. The next morning, I received an email from Titan announcing they were closing to US players. So, I pulled the rest of my roll from there and CD and Noble. BetFred didnt have my Neteller info. They are mailing me a check as is Sun Poker. Still left to go is Fair and Kiwi on the playtech sites. Turmoil not only for me but for all the leagues that were on those sites. Im going to have a hard time going back to sites that turned their backs on us.

Wednesday nite I played the Freeroll League game for Poker Analysis on William Jack Poker. Fortunately short of Purple lounge the primas are still business as usual. I'm keeping an eye on Lou Krieger's site. He is our resident pro on poker analysis and I know will keep El and Syn informed. I finished 5th for a few bucks in the league game. Then it was on to the Mookie. I got a nice early lead going in the Mookie when I raised with AA only to get reraised and over the top I went. My good cards all came early. No matter how many mid and small pockets I was dealt I couldnt hit a set or hit anything later on in the tourney. SIGH. What is more important was the turn-out for the Mookie was fantastic. So much for the ban.

Last night I played my Aces Cracked league game on Full Tilt and bubbled in 4th. I upheld the Adirondack Poker League honor by finishing the highest over Eggman (Mike) and Snake (Ray) who also played the AC game. I think we made up more then 1/3 of the AC members since I think there were just 8. Early momentum again and then I went dead. I then decided to get cute and started pushing with anything that looked decent. Got back into the game and then ran A8 into AK. So I sat down at a $3 cap pot limit Omaha 8 table and ground out some more bonus and earned a few bucks of my buyin back for a little bit.

I'm off today. I have enough time accumulated now and will accumulate more time thru the end of the year, that I can take off nearly every Friday till 12/31/06 and still carry over 40 hours. I only use 4 hours of my time up when I take Fridays off since I only work a half day. We just got an annoucement that we can be considered to go home to work. I havent been a Customer Service Rep for a year yet that will be in December and could certainly work from home easily since my only distraction is Bailey my cat. But the hours they are asking to work are Monday thru Friday 10:30 AM to 7:00 PM EST. I can't and won't work that late on a Friday, so for now its no go. I'll continue to go into work. Yesterday I got pulled from the phones to process claims and do rework (my old job). Currently when I work on Saturdays I do my former position processing claims/reworks or I do claim projects that come out of our network area. It is easy money for 5 hours.

With my Neteller balance looking plush from consolidations I'll probably look to a few new sites to deposit on. I need to reload on Pokerstars. I got an interesting email from Bugsys club about a 25000 chip deep stack tourney tomorrow which looks good. I have the Blogger tour round II on poker.com. I forgot about the forum challenge thing on Absolute and failed to sign up. I also got accepted into that Ultimate BlackJack tour and have to do that tomorrow. I also have a casino offer to spin for an hour free. Last time I did one last Sunday, my head hurt and I didnt win any extra bucks.

I also have a few other live things I can do. JBaldwin and his wife are going to be at Foxwoods in two weeks and I can meet up with JB to play the Thursday nite No limit tourney there. Problem is I have to come back to play the league game Friday nite and then turn around and go to Boston on Saturday for the day with my mom. Carol and Sandy want me to go up to Fallsview Niagara during the WPT event there. Then I briefly considering playing the Ladies event at Foxwoods during the WPT event there. $300 buyin but I remember I told myself after the Orleans event I wont play another Ladies tourney again unless I satellite in or am staked. Ray thinks I'm nuts and should use the inherent donkeyfishness to my advantage. So this idea is still possibly a maybe if I play well live the next few weeks. I may just decide to go up to TROCK (Turning Stone) for a few cheaper events. Ratdog is playing in Utica in early November, and I can always combine a trip to the STONE with seeing Bobby and the boyz, a trip to Dinosaur barbecue and Wegmans supermarket. My BFF Kim would be up for all the above except perhaps the TROCK part.

I'm watching my favorite morning show while blogging: Squawk Box. I'm contemplating some changes in my rollover 401k that I manage myself. In my younger days my goal was to work on Wall Street. I did work on Wall Street but it was in Albany NY as part of a boutique financial planning company that became part of Shearson Lehman Hutton/American Express. My days of doing tax projections and balance sheets and planning executives stock option exercises were fueled by bong hits and Molson Golden Ale. I was too busy wanting to follow the Dead around and didnt grasp the fact that I was making great money for a 24-28 year old in a small city. I quit my job before I probably would have been fired, when I started crashing and burning, my personal finances in a mess. I decided to go back to school to become a chef. I left with a Series 7 license and a good set of knives. Ah yes, the folly of youth. I still have a love for the market and investing and will now get a nice pension from Goldman Sachs as my former unit went private after the whole Barbarian at the Gates drama, and then sold to Goldman Sachs a few years ago. Although my culinary adventures were only for a year too this day I love to cook and baking is a passion.

Live league action tonight. Snake informed me last nite that the forecast for Friday would be cold, so the sleeveless/short sleeve style Tilly tops will be replaced by the long sleeve ones. Im never one to disappoint!!!

Dear Chuck:

Dear Senator Shumer:

I've been a registered Democrat since the day I could first register to vote. I am a member of the DNC. I supported our Party financially in the last election.

I have always believed in the two-party system. I have now lost faith in my party because you have let me down.

A recent back-door move by Bill Frist that attached a bill banning online gambling to a port security measure was hurried thru the Senate on a voice vote the other night. I am sure you are well aware of this issue.

I have watched my company with a major service center in the Capital District send jobs offshore. I can live with that as Ive been able to supplement my income playing poker. Now Congress and the Senate is taking away my ability to earn a livelihood by restricting the means by which I can fund my accounts and play online.

I know this is a Republican sponsered initiative to appease the right wingers and to further Bill Frists 2008 Presidential aspirations, but why did every Democrat in the Senate vote to pass this bill thru?

Did you every consider taking the time to look into legalizing on-line poker and taxing it rather then outlawing it? How about carving out poker? Horse racing and fantasy sports has been spared from this bill. Poker is a game of skill that has been played by Presidents and Kings since it was created.

And please dont send me one of those nice little form letters that I have already received. I think its time to listen to the 70 million Americans that play poker including your own constituents and take a stand. If you do so you will have my support this November.

Sincerely,

Lori Christina

AGITA 10/2/2006-These are times that try our Souls

--There must be some kind of way out of here, said the Joker to the thief. There's too much Confusion. I can't get no relief--
**Bob Dylan - All Along the Watchtower**


I went to bed last night after reading Miami Don's blog. He made a statement about his blog being dead and on-line poker dead. At first I thought he was being a little cynical till I woke up this AM and turned on Squawk Box and saw that overseas gaming shares had crashed faster then JDS Uniphase and other tech stocks back in 2000. I fired up the computer and went first to Poker Analysis where I saw that Pacific and Party were going to stop taking bets from US customers. I have no money on Party currently and only a few bucks on Pacific so that didn't really effect me. When Pokerstars got mentioned I almost felt like calling in sick to work.

Im a very upbeat person, an eternal optimist. One might say PollyAnna-ish. You wont see me down very long. After an 8 year long relationship/engagement ended in 1999 I simply stated.. "If after 8 years you don't know if you want to get married, Then I'm not the girl for you." To me Change=Opportunity. The Chinese say Crisis=Opportunity. 70 million poker playing Americans, myself included are now faced with the stomach upset of the millennium or as we Italian Americans say AGITA. When faced with a crisis sometimes it is better to sit on our hands and do nothing. There are too many Chicken Little's running around right now. Before anyone does anything really stupid take a deep breath and educate yourself on the issue.

For me where this is a will there is away. I am a risk-taker, not risk adverse but a risk taker at heart. To me playing poker is no different then the stock market. It's a Random walk not on Wall Street but on the felt. I've been thinking about ways outside this potential banking issue. I refuse to see it as a poker issue. Montreal is a quick three hour ride up the Northway. Carol, is in Toronto, she trusted me with some of her Vegas bankroll which she sent to me player to player on stars and which I withdrew for her to avoid the exchange difference between US and Canadian dollars that Neteller was going to hit her with. I carried it to Vegas on my person and delivered the money to her and that trust goes two ways. We discussed it last night. It would be very easy for me to set up an account in Canada and use it to fund my Neteller account if needed. Short of the money I withdrew for Vegas this year I still have all my bankroll either in Neteller or on various Poker Rooms. And of course there is always off-shore banking readily available in the Cayman Islands and a host of other Caribbean nations.

Ive always been a champion of the underdog and an advocate for issues I feel strongly about. I was one of those tree-hugging hippie chicks that protested the sale of Coors Beer on the University of Colorado Campus because of Coors membership in the John Birch Society. I flipped off and mooned, Jed Smock the religious zealot who would come to Campus in $600 suits with the chick whose soul he supposedly saved (Cindy) and was probably banging. He'd make statements like fraternity boys are homosexuals and sorority girls are a bunch of whores ( I was a Greek). I'd do a couple of bong hits, grab a few beers and go with some friends to listen at the CU fountain to his nonsensical drivel.

Apathy wants to sink in right now because I am disgusted with the lawmakers. Apathy is so un IG-like. My mom would call be sassy. But I'm feeling world weary, Im getting tired of fighting the good fight. Maybe because I will be 46 in about 11 days Im getting more cynical. I've been a registered voter since I was 18. I have voted in every presidential election since I have been able to vote. The Reagan years are largely a blur because I was following the Dead around in my free time living happy joyous and free. I was happy to live in a fog during those years. I've been a believer in the two-party system and I supported my parties candidate with money last year. Financially, it was the first time I was able to do so.

I can live with my job being Bangelored. I'd make a great Starbucks barista. But to attach a ban to online gaming to a Port Security measure is underhanded and in my opinion unconstitutional. Its an infringement on my right to earn a living and spend my money the way I want to. I've lost faith in the American Way and my party.

George Pataki my Governor who I did not vote for voted to free Sportingbet PLC chairman Peter Dicks. Thank you George. Gaming is alive and well in New York State. The Saratoga Racino in my county is the biggest draw in the Capital District. Its undergoing a mega million expansion. Hopefully at some point in my lifetime table games will get added to the site. Congressman Sweeney isn't getting my vote because I checked out his voting record and he voted for the ban on internet gambling.

Unless your a monk or nun sitting in solitude in isolation somewhere, you've all probably done something that is breaking the law. Maybe even been arrested a time or two. I see this situation as no different. I imagine when most of us take the time to thoroughly digest this we will still be playing online poker.

Sure its fine for Foley to try to bugger little boys and Frist to kill cats (think I should get PETA on his arse) but its not okay for us to play the great american pastime?? I dont think so.

Im a Rebel with a Cause!!


I am asking all visitors to my blog to sign the following petition


http://www.petitiononline.com/LOGNOW/

To my fellow poker players I ask you to check out your Congressmans and Senators Voting Records and vote accordingly this November.. Its time to:

ROCK THE VOTE PEOPLE!!

Now back to Full Tilt to grind out a bonus.

From PokerNews:

News Flash
One Thing To Note About The New Law!
Every legal expert we have found that has analyzed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed last Friday by the US Congress has said one interesting thing about the new law. According to these legal experts, there is nothing in the law that says its illegal for the individual user to play online poker! The new law mostly deals with instruments of banking (debit and credit cards), and how money flows into gambling and poker sites. We will continue to monitor this situation.