Saturday, April 30, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
D-day for online poker has arrived
http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/scheinbergetalindictmentpr.pdf
In a word, WOW. This is huge. We knew this day would come and I for one thought it would be much earlier than today. I'll have to see if I can login tonight on the poker sites. Not sure if those domains were the ones seized. This is such a joke. On-line poker is no different than the stock market which many more people partake in and much more money is "gambled" every second than what is gambled in on-line poker. This government needs to regulate and tax this instead of indicting people. Even the companies and players want this. When was the last time a industry was begging to be regulated and taxed.
EDIT:
From Pokerati.com
12:20 PM - Pokerstars is starting to block US players from their cash games, and its hard to think the others won’t follow suit.
12:00 PM - News orgs both in and out of poker are starting to come together with their releases. Pokernews is the first (and so far only) poker news site to release something on the subject, whereas the WSJ, Fox Business, and Forbes all have releases as well. At this point I’ll refrain from posting a story unless it reveals any new information, as now the story is gaining traction, but needless to say here is where we stand:
The download IPs to Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars, and the Cereus Network are reported to have been seized by the US Government.
The charges are widely varied and include bank fraud, illegal gambling, money laundering, and UIGEA violations.
The owners of the three sites have been targets, but so far none of them have been apprehended. Some other defendants related to the banking end of the accusations have been arrested and are due for arraignment in the coming days.
About 75 bank accounts in 14 countries have been seized or are in the process of being seized by the US Gov’t in connection with the indictment
As of 12:05 PM PST, UB.com is still seized by the DoJ. fulltiltpoker.com and pokerstars.com are still up and running. All three clients are reported to be up as well.
11:45 AM - Gary Wise (of former Poker Beat and current Pokerstatic & ESPN fame) posted a short blog on the subject. I agree with both things he has said. The sites are in trouble, the DoJ did this for a reason, but poker will go on….it may be much more live-based than online-based after this, but it will go on.
11:30 AM - Just after taking a quick glance at the DoJ’s statement, this is definitely the real deal and likely the result of years of investigation. In other words, they aren’t messing around. The fact that SDNY is asking for $3 BILLION dollars in damages certainly suggests they plan on bankrupting the companies involved and shut them down. Of course in any civil case you generally don’t get as much money as you ask for….but the repercussions for online poker in the US now that the Department of Justice has definitively said “what these sites do is ILLEGAL” could be massive.
11:20 AM – Marketwatch has the first story on this. The indictment is against the founders of the three sites and includes the seizure of 75 bank accounts used by the sites and payment processors. The DoJ has also released the necessary information about the indictment on their website. Looks like its definitely serious.
11:06 AM – This is a fast moving story, so its worth just getting something up now and elaborating later, but it appears that the three biggest US-facing poker rooms, Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and the Cereus Network, have all been hit with illegal gambling charges. Right now UB.com is the only page that I can see that has the “official DOJ notice” of a site seizure, but FTP and Stars are currently still up. If this is true this could mean a world of hurt for US poker players, depending on how things go down.
Wow on-line poker in America will never be the same. Pokerstars already blocking players. Once FTP follows suit, no more on-line poker in America.
Gary Wise with screenshots of the home pages.
This is just the beginning of indictments also. I'm sure Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson will get snapped up also with their association with Full Tilt Poker. I hope not but wouldn't be surprised.
In a word, WOW. This is huge. We knew this day would come and I for one thought it would be much earlier than today. I'll have to see if I can login tonight on the poker sites. Not sure if those domains were the ones seized. This is such a joke. On-line poker is no different than the stock market which many more people partake in and much more money is "gambled" every second than what is gambled in on-line poker. This government needs to regulate and tax this instead of indicting people. Even the companies and players want this. When was the last time a industry was begging to be regulated and taxed.
EDIT:
From Pokerati.com
12:20 PM - Pokerstars is starting to block US players from their cash games, and its hard to think the others won’t follow suit.
12:00 PM - News orgs both in and out of poker are starting to come together with their releases. Pokernews is the first (and so far only) poker news site to release something on the subject, whereas the WSJ, Fox Business, and Forbes all have releases as well. At this point I’ll refrain from posting a story unless it reveals any new information, as now the story is gaining traction, but needless to say here is where we stand:
The download IPs to Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars, and the Cereus Network are reported to have been seized by the US Government.
The charges are widely varied and include bank fraud, illegal gambling, money laundering, and UIGEA violations.
The owners of the three sites have been targets, but so far none of them have been apprehended. Some other defendants related to the banking end of the accusations have been arrested and are due for arraignment in the coming days.
About 75 bank accounts in 14 countries have been seized or are in the process of being seized by the US Gov’t in connection with the indictment
As of 12:05 PM PST, UB.com is still seized by the DoJ. fulltiltpoker.com and pokerstars.com are still up and running. All three clients are reported to be up as well.
11:45 AM - Gary Wise (of former Poker Beat and current Pokerstatic & ESPN fame) posted a short blog on the subject. I agree with both things he has said. The sites are in trouble, the DoJ did this for a reason, but poker will go on….it may be much more live-based than online-based after this, but it will go on.
11:30 AM - Just after taking a quick glance at the DoJ’s statement, this is definitely the real deal and likely the result of years of investigation. In other words, they aren’t messing around. The fact that SDNY is asking for $3 BILLION dollars in damages certainly suggests they plan on bankrupting the companies involved and shut them down. Of course in any civil case you generally don’t get as much money as you ask for….but the repercussions for online poker in the US now that the Department of Justice has definitively said “what these sites do is ILLEGAL” could be massive.
11:20 AM – Marketwatch has the first story on this. The indictment is against the founders of the three sites and includes the seizure of 75 bank accounts used by the sites and payment processors. The DoJ has also released the necessary information about the indictment on their website. Looks like its definitely serious.
11:06 AM – This is a fast moving story, so its worth just getting something up now and elaborating later, but it appears that the three biggest US-facing poker rooms, Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and the Cereus Network, have all been hit with illegal gambling charges. Right now UB.com is the only page that I can see that has the “official DOJ notice” of a site seizure, but FTP and Stars are currently still up. If this is true this could mean a world of hurt for US poker players, depending on how things go down.
Wow on-line poker in America will never be the same. Pokerstars already blocking players. Once FTP follows suit, no more on-line poker in America.
Gary Wise with screenshots of the home pages.
This is just the beginning of indictments also. I'm sure Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson will get snapped up also with their association with Full Tilt Poker. I hope not but wouldn't be surprised.
Thursday, April 07, 2011
Pokerstars shares the wealth
Average slaary at stars is $113,000...pretty sick.
http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/2011/04/07/how-casino-mogul-steve-wynn-went-all-in-on-online-poker-and-pokerstars/?partner=yahootix
Now that Wyn is on board, we might finally get some regulation in the next few years.
http://blogs.forbes.com/nathanvardi/2011/04/07/how-casino-mogul-steve-wynn-went-all-in-on-online-poker-and-pokerstars/?partner=yahootix
Now that Wyn is on board, we might finally get some regulation in the next few years.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Rincon 2011 Poker Trip Report
So got back Monday from my yearly weekend trip to hang out with BigHeeb and play some Rincon tourney's and cash games at Pechanga. The trip started out ok as I scored a marginal cash game win at Pechanga playing 4/8 limit holdem. While winning $45 is nothing great, it was nice to book a win at Pechanga which is a rare thing for me.
We played the $340 tourney on Friday and it got 331 runners. Ship the over/under bet on field size to Stewman. I played for about 5.5 hours and was playing pretty good but not my best. Missed value bets on 3 hands that probably cost me about $5000 in chips because I'm sure guy calls everyone. Nonetheless I was CL at my table for most of the time till I lost half my stacks with 1010 to 88 when guy flopped a set after calling my preflop reraise. I folded on a K8x flop after he check raised me. He showed me 88. After that I raised again with 88 and folded to a guy who put me all in. I'm confident I was beat there. Then my final hand a few hands later was against same guy with 88. Folded to him again and once again he raised. I looked down at 66 and pushed all-in for a 4.5x raise and he calls with AA and I'm out. BigHeeb had better luck and after doubling up with A9 of hearts against KJ on a Jxx two hearts board, he was rolling and eventually made the money till maybe the sickest hand of his poker life came up.
Heeb had about $120k in chips and raised UTG with AA. 2nd position player moves all-in and then fold, fold, fold and then another all-in and then another all-in (CL of the table and only guy who has Heeb covered). Pot is estimated to be almost $500,000 in chips. They turn the cards over and Heeb is up against 99, QQ, and KK. Flop is JJx, turn is a blank and river is a of course a King and send Heeb packing in 28th place for a $200 profit. Very disappointing but this is Heeb's 3rd straight cash in a tournament. Last March at Rincon, he was part of a deal 12 handed, then he won the nightly tourney at Venetian in November and then this result. On a heater, too bad he can't play more than he does. While I waited for Heeb, I played 1/3NL upstairs in the new poker room. Won exactly $200. After downing a drink to console Heeb, we jammed to IHOP for some late night comfort food.
Saturday was some lunchtime playing at Pechanga again in 4/8. We both lost, with me dropping $100. That night we went to Tilted Kilt with Mrs. Heeb to watch UFC fight's. We saw the soon to be G.O.A.T. Jon Jones dominate the overrated Shogun. Jones has a bright future. After going home and dropping off Mrs. Heeb we headed back to Pechanga and played 8/16 for a few hours. I dropped $210 while I believe BigHeeb won $325. I played decently taking three sick beats on the river to a CAL who had no business even seeing the turn. I kinda went on tilt for a little while after dropping $500 in 2 hours and made some comments disparaging her play to her. Not something I was proud of. I never do that but after the lunch session getting beat on the river in crazy pots that players had no business being in, I was tired of it. I was going to leave but BigHeeb convinced me to stay because the game was juicy and spotted me another $200 and I ended up getting $290 back.
The next morning, BigHeeb gave me a much needed pep talk and some strategy. He broke down some key fundamentals about Limit Holdem, especially at Pechanga. I took those to heart and we went back and played for about 8 hours Sunday. I ended up $110 which doesn't seem like a lot but I played much better and implemented Heeb's advice. Of course his insight was dead on and I feel more confident than ever in limit holdem. I feel like a light bulb went off. Still got some glaring flaws to work on especially the ever key value bet. I miss way too many in every session but working on that. Considering going to play this Friday to try and build a roll for the WSOP.
Overall the trip, I ended down about $300 which is the tournament buy-in. I'll take that compared to my last few trips where I lost everything. It was fun hanging out with Heeb and the family.
For those who don't know BigHeeb 91, he is the best holdem player you have never heard of. The kid has all the fundamentals down pat for both cash and tourneys. He just needs that one big break. Anybody out there who reads this, contact us about a backing gig for BigHeeb at this years WSOP. Guaranteed to make a profit from him.
We played the $340 tourney on Friday and it got 331 runners. Ship the over/under bet on field size to Stewman. I played for about 5.5 hours and was playing pretty good but not my best. Missed value bets on 3 hands that probably cost me about $5000 in chips because I'm sure guy calls everyone. Nonetheless I was CL at my table for most of the time till I lost half my stacks with 1010 to 88 when guy flopped a set after calling my preflop reraise. I folded on a K8x flop after he check raised me. He showed me 88. After that I raised again with 88 and folded to a guy who put me all in. I'm confident I was beat there. Then my final hand a few hands later was against same guy with 88. Folded to him again and once again he raised. I looked down at 66 and pushed all-in for a 4.5x raise and he calls with AA and I'm out. BigHeeb had better luck and after doubling up with A9 of hearts against KJ on a Jxx two hearts board, he was rolling and eventually made the money till maybe the sickest hand of his poker life came up.
Heeb had about $120k in chips and raised UTG with AA. 2nd position player moves all-in and then fold, fold, fold and then another all-in and then another all-in (CL of the table and only guy who has Heeb covered). Pot is estimated to be almost $500,000 in chips. They turn the cards over and Heeb is up against 99, QQ, and KK. Flop is JJx, turn is a blank and river is a of course a King and send Heeb packing in 28th place for a $200 profit. Very disappointing but this is Heeb's 3rd straight cash in a tournament. Last March at Rincon, he was part of a deal 12 handed, then he won the nightly tourney at Venetian in November and then this result. On a heater, too bad he can't play more than he does. While I waited for Heeb, I played 1/3NL upstairs in the new poker room. Won exactly $200. After downing a drink to console Heeb, we jammed to IHOP for some late night comfort food.
Saturday was some lunchtime playing at Pechanga again in 4/8. We both lost, with me dropping $100. That night we went to Tilted Kilt with Mrs. Heeb to watch UFC fight's. We saw the soon to be G.O.A.T. Jon Jones dominate the overrated Shogun. Jones has a bright future. After going home and dropping off Mrs. Heeb we headed back to Pechanga and played 8/16 for a few hours. I dropped $210 while I believe BigHeeb won $325. I played decently taking three sick beats on the river to a CAL who had no business even seeing the turn. I kinda went on tilt for a little while after dropping $500 in 2 hours and made some comments disparaging her play to her. Not something I was proud of. I never do that but after the lunch session getting beat on the river in crazy pots that players had no business being in, I was tired of it. I was going to leave but BigHeeb convinced me to stay because the game was juicy and spotted me another $200 and I ended up getting $290 back.
The next morning, BigHeeb gave me a much needed pep talk and some strategy. He broke down some key fundamentals about Limit Holdem, especially at Pechanga. I took those to heart and we went back and played for about 8 hours Sunday. I ended up $110 which doesn't seem like a lot but I played much better and implemented Heeb's advice. Of course his insight was dead on and I feel more confident than ever in limit holdem. I feel like a light bulb went off. Still got some glaring flaws to work on especially the ever key value bet. I miss way too many in every session but working on that. Considering going to play this Friday to try and build a roll for the WSOP.
Overall the trip, I ended down about $300 which is the tournament buy-in. I'll take that compared to my last few trips where I lost everything. It was fun hanging out with Heeb and the family.
For those who don't know BigHeeb 91, he is the best holdem player you have never heard of. The kid has all the fundamentals down pat for both cash and tourneys. He just needs that one big break. Anybody out there who reads this, contact us about a backing gig for BigHeeb at this years WSOP. Guaranteed to make a profit from him.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
NBC HU results
The tourney is over and Eric Seidel is victorious and so is Stewman. I annihilated BigHeeb91. Not even close this year. I also won the 2nd chance bracket so two meals and one night of drinks on BigHeeb.
Saturday, March 05, 2011
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