Monday, July 31, 2006

Net Neutrality and Online Poker



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Is Tony G Poker Safe?

According to the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta web site, they licence 4 online poker sites (http://cert.lga.org.mt/)

  • gamesgrid.com
  • pokerchamps.com
  • poker4ever.com
  • redstarpoker.com

Of these four, pokerchamps and poker4ever have recently closed U.S. accounts. I spoke with redstar and was told they presently allow U.S accounts but they couldn't assure me that they would not being closing them in the immediate future.

Gamesgrid has not responded to my requests for information but it is my understanding that they and Tony G Poker are both owned and licenced by Skill Games Ltd. so if they enacted a ban it would include Tony G Poker.

With the closing of U.S. accounts at 50% of the LGA licenced poker sites of which tonygpoker.com is part of. Can Tony really assure U.S. players that their money is safe at his site. That they will not be banned in the near future unless further legislation is enacted to clearly make internet poker illegal in the U.S. and if such were to take place they would be giving a reasonable amount of time to withdraw their funds?

From what Tony has told me at his blog he has no administrative control at Tony G Poker which leads me to believe he can't personally make the above guarantees and that any U.S player depositing at his site is taking a huge risk.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Pokerchamps, Betfair Scam

As you have read, last week Pokerchamps, a site owned by Betfair decided to close all U.S. Accounts and gave those customers 24 hours to withdraw their funds.

Needless to say there are a lot of pissed off Americans and rightly so. It's still not know if this was a knee jerk reaction to the recent arrest of BetOnSports CEO David Carruthers, or if it has been in the works by Betfair.(here after referred to as BF as I can't bring my self to type the word "fair" when I refer to them any longer)

BF purchased Pokerchumps back in November of 05 and had a policy in place at that time which excluded American accounts. This was a big concern by all Pokerchump's U.S. affiliates that had been working diligently to bring new players to the site since it's inception 2 years earlier. I am one of those in that boat. I spammed Party Poker so fiercely that they added pokerchamps.com to the word filter to deter my actions. Pokerchamps would never have gotten off the ground if it wasn't for the hard work of its affiliates.

It was for this reason that the question was asked many times, "will we Americans be able to continue to play and will affiliate programs be affected by this purchase". We were told by the then CEO of Pokerchumps Tony G (poker pro) that we would be allowed to play and our affiliates programs would not be in jeopardy. This was also confirmed by BF card room manager Ben Fried (sounds like a joke, but that's his name) Tony has since come out and said he is sorry for what has happened. I assume this means he was not party to this and that BF had not planned to exclude U.S. accounts all along as they said in their account closing explanation.

During the 24 hour time period given for us to get our money out, pokerchamps.com was conveniently not functioning properly and most players were not even able to access the cashier portion of the site to withdraw their money. Also many are now complaining that they can't even get a response to there e-mails in regards to this matter.

Put your boots on because the shit gets even deeper. Many have suggested that players having problems cashing out should contact the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta which licences and supposedly regulates casinos under its jurisdiction such as Pokerchamps. Come to find out tho, Kevin Mikkelsen, who is calling the shots at Pokerchamps since Tony G left, is also on the board of directors of the Lotteries and Gaming Authority of Malta. (read more) Tell me this doesn't stink of corruption and fraud. The fox guarding the hen house.

I can only hope that the Justice Department get's wind of this and finds reason to put BF, Pokerchamps and the Malta Gaming executives on it's list of scumbags to prosecute.

To any Europeans planning on playing at BF Poker be advised BF is also licenced by the lotteries and Gamming Authority of Malta. (read more)

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Monday, July 24, 2006

Internet Gambling News

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Thursday, July 20, 2006

Pokerchamps Closes U.S. Accounts

Wow, I haven't been screwed like this is a long, long time. Here is the e-mail I received from Pokerchamps today:

Dear ,

As part of the recent upgrade, PokerChamps has performed a system change that begins the process of moving to a new platform. We have also incorporated geo-location software which enables us to implement a long standing and consistent Group Company policy of not permitting access to individuals in the United States. Affected individuals have until tomorrow 21st July 2006 at 12pm EST/5pm BST to withdraw funds after which time accounts will be locked and funds returned by arrangement with our customer service team. Please contact SUPPORT@POKERCHAMPS.COM with any queries.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your contributions to the PokerChamps community, and we wish you all the very best in your poker playing future.

Yours Sincerely,

PokerChamps Management Team


What a crock of shit this is. When Betfair bought Pokerchamps back in November of 05 support was peppered with e-mail questions regarding American players being able to play on the site and if we will be able to keep are affiliates and the response to both was yes.yes no problem. Guess what? they screwed us royally. David Yu, CEO of Betfair has proved himself to to a thief in no less than 6 months at the helm and Tony G you were the one that assured us all that our affiliate programs were not in jeopardy. Did you really have no advance notice that this was coming. If you were getting screwed by Betfair why didn't you let us know before they stuck it to us. Is this the kind of loyality we can expect if we promote your new site?

If your a non-American presently playing poker or sports betting at Betfair look at the ethical standards of the company your dealing with. If they well do it to us, they will do it to you. Many, Many people have been working very hard to promote and support Pokerchamps and the thanks they get is instant account closure, deletion of affiliate compensation and even inability to remove all the funds presently in there accounts.

David Yu joins the likes of Ken Lay and Enron and if there is any justice he will follow in his foot steps and drop dead. He needs to hope I never happen across his sorry ass.

The executives at Betfair have given you a very clear picture of what you can expect in dealings with them and if you continue to support Pokerchamps or Betfair you are a fool.


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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

CEO of BetOnSports Arrested in USA

Apparently the US Attorney General and the FBI are not going to wait for Congress to reform the Wire Act. They are going try and enforce this antiquated law as it stands. They also seem to think its a good idea to apply this law to foreign businessmen operating on foreign soil. I'm sure glad the US Government is looking out for my interests by protecting me from these British terrorists. Lord knows I'm to retarded to make competent decisions on how to spend my own money.
U.S. cracking down on offshore betting industry

By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY

When the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill cracking down on Internet gambling last week, David Carruthers, CEO of online gaming company Bet On Sports, was one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed law. The 49-year-old British executive has more immediate problems to worry about. Federal agents arrested Carruthers on Sunday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he made his way from the company's offices in London to Costa Rica.

As part of a wide-ranging probe of what the American Gaming Association says is a $12 billion online gambling industry, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway unsealed a 22-count indictment charging racketeering, conspiracy and fraud against Carruthers, 10 others and four companies Monday. A warrant was sworn out for the arrest of 47-year-old company founder Gary Kaplan. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry also approved the government's request to bar Bet On Sports from accepting bets from this country and forcing it to refund money to U.S. account holders. The FBI has ordered four phone companies to shut off service to the company.

The arrest of Carruthers, a longtime British racing industry executive who joined Bet On Sports in 2000, is setting off alarm bells in Europe and the Caribbean, where the offshore casino industry is based. Bet On Sports asked for its stock to be suspended on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Shares of British gaming stocks, such as industry leader Party Gaming, fell Tuesday in heavy trading, wiping out more than $1 billion in value.

"The No. 1 topic at every board meeting today is 'Am I next?' " says Internet gambling attorney Lawrence Walters. "There's a high degree of concern now that the government has made it clear they think they can prosecute foreign citizens at foreign corporations."

The House bill is the first shot in an attack by the federal government on a foreign industry that considers itself beyond the reach of U.S. law — while generating most of its revenue from U.S. customers. An estimated 23 million Americans play casino games such as poker and blackjack online, according to the Poker Players Alliance.

The Justice Department says online gambling is illegal under the Federal Wire Act of 1961. While authorities have not pursued individual bettors playing poker on their home or office PC, they have gone after some gaming executives.

Despite generating half or more of their revenue from U.S. customers, online gaming companies maintain U.S. laws don't apply to them because they're located in places where online gaming is legal, such as England, Costa Rica and Gibraltar.

U.S. Attorney Hanaway promised the indictments are "but one step in a series of actions designed to punish and seize the profits of individuals who disregard federal and state laws" during a news conference Monday. That means top casino executives will have to worry about personal exposure if they try to catch a connecting flight in the USA, as did Carruthers, says Walters.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act passed by the House on July 11 would strengthen the 1961 law by barring banks and credit card companies from collecting for Internet casinos. The bill's main supporter in the Senate, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., issued a statement Tuesday saying the indictment strengthens the need for legislation to ban Internet gambling.

"I am hopeful that legislation I intend on moving through the Senate this year will provide the Justice Department with the tools necessary to continue aggressively pursuing those that wish to circumvent the rules and engage in this sort of illegal activity," the statement said.

A broad coalition of sports leagues, including the NFL and NCAA, and family rights groups supports the bill. Supporters add the proposed law would stop Internet gambling from spreading to cellphones and other new mediums.

"The House properly recognized that betting via the Internet already is illegal in this country," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy says. "This bill reinforces the law and would place significant impediments on the operations of fly-by-night offshore Internet gambling companies."

But critics charge the government would be better off regulating and taxing the online gambling industry. Their biggest complaint: The current bill provides exceptions for state-regulated lotteries such as Powerball and horse racing while cracking down on casino games.

"This bill's advocates proclaim the immorality of online gaming and shout it will destroy our society — unless you're betting on horse races," declared U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on the floor of the House during the bill debate.

Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, adds, "Prohibitions don't work. Poker players will find a way to play. This won't stop anything. It will just drive people underground."
When the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill cracking down on Internet gambling last week, David Carruthers, CEO of online gaming company Bet On Sports, was one of the most outspoken critics of the proposed law. The 49-year-old British executive has more immediate problems to worry about. Federal agents arrested Carruthers on Sunday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as he made his way from the company's offices in London to Costa Rica.

As part of a wide-ranging probe of what the American Gaming Association says is a $12 billion online gambling industry, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway unsealed a 22-count indictment charging racketeering, conspiracy and fraud against Carruthers, 10 others and four companies Monday. A warrant was sworn out for the arrest of 47-year-old company founder Gary Kaplan. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry also approved the government's request to bar Bet On Sports from accepting bets from this country and forcing it to refund money to U.S. account holders. The FBI has ordered four phone companies to shut off service to the company.

The arrest of Carruthers, a longtime British racing industry executive who joined Bet On Sports in 2000, is setting off alarm bells in Europe and the Caribbean, where the offshore casino industry is based. Bet On Sports asked for its stock to be suspended on the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday. Shares of British gaming stocks, such as industry leader Party Gaming, fell Tuesday in heavy trading, wiping out more than $1 billion in value.

"The No. 1 topic at every board meeting today is 'Am I next?' " says Internet gambling attorney Lawrence Walters. "There's a high degree of concern now that the government has made it clear they think they can prosecute foreign citizens at foreign corporations."

The House bill is the first shot in an attack by the federal government on a foreign industry that considers itself beyond the reach of U.S. law — while generating most of its revenue from U.S. customers. An estimated 23 million Americans play casino games such as poker and blackjack online, according to the Poker Players Alliance.

The Justice Department says online gambling is illegal under the Federal Wire Act of 1961. While authorities have not pursued individual bettors playing poker on their home or office PC, they have gone after some gaming executives.

Despite generating half or more of their revenue from U.S. customers, online gaming companies maintain U.S. laws don't apply to them because they're located in places where online gaming is legal, such as England, Costa Rica and Gibraltar.

U.S. Attorney Hanaway promised the indictments are "but one step in a series of actions designed to punish and seize the profits of individuals who disregard federal and state laws" during a news conference Monday. That means top casino executives will have to worry about personal exposure if they try to catch a connecting flight in the USA, as did Carruthers, says Walters.

The Unlawful Internet Gambling Act passed by the House on July 11 would strengthen the 1961 law by barring banks and credit card companies from collecting for Internet casinos. The bill's main supporter in the Senate, Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., issued a statement Tuesday saying the indictment strengthens the need for legislation to ban Internet gambling.

"I am hopeful that legislation I intend on moving through the Senate this year will provide the Justice Department with the tools necessary to continue aggressively pursuing those that wish to circumvent the rules and engage in this sort of illegal activity," the statement said.

A broad coalition of sports leagues, including the NFL and NCAA, and family rights groups supports the bill. Supporters add the proposed law would stop Internet gambling from spreading to cellphones and other new mediums.

"The House properly recognized that betting via the Internet already is illegal in this country," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy says. "This bill reinforces the law and would place significant impediments on the operations of fly-by-night offshore Internet gambling companies."

But critics charge the government would be better off regulating and taxing the online gambling industry. Their biggest complaint: The current bill provides exceptions for state-regulated lotteries such as Powerball and horse racing while cracking down on casino games.

"This bill's advocates proclaim the immorality of online gaming and shout it will destroy our society — unless you're betting on horse races," declared U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., on the floor of the House during the bill debate.

Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, adds, "Prohibitions don't work. Poker players will find a way to play. This won't stop anything. It will just drive people underground."

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Saturday, July 15, 2006

Tony G Poker

Tony G has launched his new site. I would like to review it and see how it stacks up but unless you are running one of the following operating systems you can't access the site. Windows 98se, Windows ME, Windows NT, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. I guess the times are changing and I should bail on Windows 98 but its hard to teach old dogs new tricks. I'm damn sure not going to adjust my operating system just to play on Tony's site.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

One Pissed Off American Citizen

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 4111 yesterday by a vote of 317 to 93.
How much longer "are we the people" going to put up with this bullshit. This bill will restrict 25 million Americans from playing poker online but allows online horse race betting and lottery ticket purchases.

Supporters of this bill say online poker supports drug dealers and terrorists by providing a front for money laundering. That the owners of these sites prey on children and addicted gamblers. Give me a freaking break! Have they lost their minds. Do they really think Party Poker is run by Osama Bin Laden from a cave in Afhganistan. Or is it that "we the people" are just not as important as the good buddy network and its circle of palm greasers. That is until election time rolls around when we are bombarded with posters of snakes in the grass. All disguised as clean cut, well tailored, up standing citizens who want to make a personal sacrifice and represent us in government. Yeah right, I'm not buying it anymore.

I for one am sick and tired of allowing this country to be governed by lawyers and businessmen that are motivated by greed and self interest with no concern for the desires of the people they represent. Such as Rep. Mike the moron McIntyre(D,NC) that voted in favor of this bill on my behalf. Even after I and many others sent e-mails and letters to his office expressing our desire to have online poker regulated for the purpose of generating tax revenues. Does adding billions of dollars to the tax base sound like a good idea. Apparently not to Mikey, but I have to make that assumption as Mikey didn't feel it was important enough to respond to my e-mail with his position on the matter prior to voting on this ridiculous bill.

Mr McIntyre be advised, not only will I not be voting for you in future elections but I will be actively campaigning to see that you are never elected to any office ever again. If this bill happens to pass into law, I will have quite a bit of time on my hands that was previous spent playing online poker. Guess what I'll be doing with it. Be sure to visit my new web site: mikes-a-moron.com (coming soon)

Now I'm going to plaster this post on as many click exchanges as I can. Here is a list of other morons that voted for this bill. See if your Rep. is on it.

Fellow bloggers If you stumble across this post please comment, trackback or link to this post. Thanks very, very much!

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Sunday, July 09, 2006

Bounty Player Freeroll

bounty hunter freeroll Today was the first in a series of bountyplayer.com blogger freerolls. Hosted at CD Poker it was a ton of fun.

All entrants were given a free coupon so they could register to hunt for bounties. Whenever a short stack entered a hand you were really tempted to go after his bounty which increased the excitement as well as adding a new dymnamic to the game. I took down three bounties and ended up finishing 5th.

I really enjoyed the tourney and look forward to the next event which is scheduled for Sept. the 10th. It's not to late to sign-up and play. See this post for more information on bountyplayer.com


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Saturday, July 08, 2006

Friday, July 07, 2006

Tony G at the WSOP

Most of us who play at Pokerchamps know Tony G, one of the bad boys of poker. He was once the topdog at Pokerchamps and called the shots.(CEO) Well he is playing in a bunch of the WSOP events and is updating his progress on his blog. Here is his RSS site feed.




All In Poker
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The Golden Egg

Poker Chaos is less than 5 months old yet there is a tremendous amount of information here. Most of it pertains to poker some of it does not. Just goes to show I have way to much time on my hands.

The amount of time spent writing a post is minimal. Its the research, image creation and collection of links that is the most time consuming. Some of the best information on these pages is not obvious, there are many golden eggs hiding within these pages. For example, most of the pictures on this site are links, some of which might surprise you. If you just pop in from a search engine and don't look around, I assure you, your missing out on some good stuff. Want to find a specific topic, try the search this blog feature at the very top of this page.

PokerChamps
Freerolls 24/7
http://pokerchamps.com

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Latest on HR 4777

I wanted to share with you the latest e-mail from the Poker Players Alliance:
Dear PPA Member:

Thank you for standing with the Poker Players Alliance to protect poker. Our voices are being heard in Washington, D.C. Over the past few weeks more than 15 thousand letters have been sent to Capitol Hill telling Congress to keep poker legal. We believe this has helped to slow the bill down, but the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to vote on the online gambling prohibition as early as July 11th.

This week (July 2 – 9), the U.S. House is on Congressional recess and most Representatives are working from their offices back in your state. Now is a good time to call your Representative’s local office and tell them to oppose, H.R. 4777, the Internet Gaming Prohibition Act.

How do I call my Representative?

Simple. Click here.
Then using your zip code you can find your Representative.

What do I say?

Rep. XXX, should oppose H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.

Regulation of online poker is a more sensible solution than an outright ban.

Rep. XX should become a cosponsor of H.R. 5474. This bill requires Congress to objectively examine how Internet gambling can be regulated and taxed rather than driven underground.

Americans know that prohibitions don’t work. Congress should ensure that I can continue to enjoy poker on the Internet in a safe and regulated environment and not make the same mistake.

Telling American adults how to use their hard-earned money, whether on e-bay or on playing internet poker is not the federal government’s job, and I object to Rep XXX deputizing banks to monitor my debits and credits.

Again, it is essential that you make your voice heard. Please call!

Sincerely,

Michael Bolcerek, president
Poker Players Alliance



PokerStars
provides great online poker action at your choice of buy-ins with opponents from around the world. We offer user-friendly poker software, exceptional service and the best selection of poker tournaments.
http://www.pokerstars.com

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Sunday, July 02, 2006

The Poker Chaos Banner Collection

I find it humorous how all the poker sites are constantly creating new banners and graphics for their affiliates to use in their marketing campaigns. They all seem to include, chips, cash and a couple of aces or big slick. They use lots of flash animation and plenty of bright colors. It's like they are trying to create the feeling of a casino all within a 125 x 125 pixel window.

Big breasted woman seem to be the latest addition ad exec's have chosen to incorporate. As if running your mouse over the voluptuous curves of a showgirl's photo is going to make you scramble to their site to deposit. Even Doyle's latest ad has Pamela Anderson leaning over to give Dolly a kiss on the cheek.

I, like many poker players subsidize my poker bankroll with affiliate promotion and have access to all the promotional materials. I seldom put up a banner ads for poker sites at PokerChaos but that doesn't mean I'm not tempted. When the text ads I put at the bottom of every post don't satisfy my marketing desires, I go to Banner Hell and look at what a circus a bunch of banners would create. Not that there is anything wrong with a circus. If your a clown.

Banner Hell is one of the largest poker banner collection on the net. For that matter It might be the only poker banner collection on the net. That is a collection with nothing but banners and no text to screw it up. It could also qualify as the most useless site on the net if George Bush were to take down http://www.whitehouse.gov.

I'll have to keep adding banners and if you run across a site with more of them, or if you think you got what it takes to be the banner king, let me know.

Doyles Room
Play poker with Pam
http;//doylesroom.com

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Poker.com BPT Winner






Get Flash


The Blogger Poker Tour at poker.com has come to an end. Congratulations EgonOlsen the first ever winner of the tour. Egon won a seat to WSOP main event.

OhioMike took down the 2nd place prize of a 30 inch Dell LCD monitor.

Kdollar00 won the Poker.com Poker Table.

And Lightning36, TheBigSurprise, Skinski, Canoeg, I'mJustHere4TheBeer, PureChaos & Phreux all won themselves a Poker.com iPod Nano.

The tour was fun even tho the best finish I had was eighth, bloggers are a tough crowd. I'm going to remove the BPT logo from the side bar and store it here until next year. To be honest I'm about sick of looking at it.


Poker.com
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