Poker Player/Literary Agent/Author Sheree Bykofsky and College Poker Champ Ryan Rogers on HoldemRadio this Thursday Night

Author and literary agent Sheree Bykofsky and College Poker Champion Ryan Rogers will appear on HoldemRadio.com this Thursday evening at 9:00 EST (6:00 PM PDT). They will appear with Amy Calistri and me on Keep Flopping Aces.

Canadian college student Ryan Rogers is the 3rd Annual College Poker Championship. Flood outplayed more than 30,000 students worldwide for the title and a $50,000 academic scholarship. A donation to the charity of his choice will also be made in his name.

According to Rogers, "The CPC is enjoyable, competitive, and an excellent way for students to earn scholarship money."

The College Poker Championship is a not-for-profit organization that provides scholarship money for college students. There's never a cost to play and any college, university, or graduate student anywehre in the world is eligible to play. More information is available at www.collegepoker.com


Sheree Bykofsky, pictured with me at a recent poker authors' tournament, has finished first or second in hundreds of poker tournaments, both in casinos and online. Last December Sheree finished in first place in the World Series of Poker Ladies Circuit Event at the Showboat in Atlantic City.

She is also a literary agent and the author of more than twenty books, as well as countless articles on a variety of subjects that have appeared in major magazines and newspapers.

Sheree and I coauthored Secrets the Pros Won't tell You About Winning Hold'em Poker, and she has represented many of the biggest nhames in poker. If you're an aspiring writer (poker or otherwise) and you always wanted to hear it straight from the mouth of a very successful literary agent, you owe it to yourself to tune in to "Keep Flopping Aces" this Thursday night at www.holdemradio.com.

PokerStars: 5 Billion Hands in Five Years Shows Online Poker's Amazing Growth

PokerStars dealt out its five billionth poker hand last week and along with it, a $57,500 cash prize awarded to a 30-year-old grocery store manager from Germany.
Manuela, pictured here, was playing at PokerStars late one evening when the landmark hand took place. At the time, more than 100,000 poker players were logged in from all over the world. Manuela (known at PokerStars as “Marajade”) was playing in a friendly five and ten cent no-limit hold’ em game and was ecstatic to learn she had won the key five billionth hand.

“When I heard about the promotion at PokerStars, I just had to log on and play,” Manuela said afterward. “I had not calculated on actually winning the prize. I just wanted to be part of the fun. Some of the other players were playing at multiple tables to increase their chances of winning. But, I just played at the one table, and I got lucky and won it!”

For the winner, the prize money came at an ideal time and will be used for a special purpose. “I was born with an eye disease (that could cause me) to eventually go blind,” Manuela said. “I need to have an expensive eye surgery. Thanks to PokerStars, I can now have the surgery without worrying about the cost.”

This is a nice human interest story and the winner is clearly deserving. But what's more amazing is how these numbers demonstrate the growth of online poker over a relatively short period of time. PokerStars.com dealt out its very first hand in September, 2001 and reached the amazing number of 5 billion in only five years. To equal that number of hands, a casino poker dealer would have to deal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for over 16,000 years!

Little Antigua Still Wields Big Club in Online Gaming Trade War

Just prior to the weekend, Antigua’s Minister of Finance and the Economy, Dr. Errol Cort, indicated that the United States and Antigua have jointly submitted a “sequencing agreement” to the World Trade Organization’s Dispute Settlement Body to determine if the United States has implemented the recommendations and rulings of the DSB. (See previous posts for background information on the dispute between the USA and Antigua, regarding online gaming.)

Dr. Cort also expressed his government’s concern with pending legislation before the House Judiciary Committee of the US Congress, and was specifically referring to legislation introduced into the United States Congress on February 16, 2006 entitled the “Internet Gambling Prohibition Act” (the “Goodlatte Bill”), and H.R. 4411, cited as the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2005” introduced on November 18, 2005 (the “Leach Bill”).

Antigua’s position is that these bills are contrary to the rulings and recommendations of the DSB. As these bills are pushed through Congress by their sponsors, expect Antigua to continue to press their issue — already validated by the World Trade organization — to force the US to accommodate Antigua’s right to offer internet gaming opportunities to American customers.

Because Antigua, a country with only 70,000 residents, can’t pose much of a trade threat to the USA by boycotting American goods if the US does not comply with the WTO’s decision, their next step may involve abrogating copyright laws in Antigua, thus allowing software pirates to produce bootleg CDs and DVDs just a few miles off our border. This would really hurt some of the bigger firms, such as Time Warner and Microsoft, and would raise this little trade dispute to something a lot more all-encompassing than just the small issue of access to online gaming customers.

Ryan Rogers Wins 2006 College Poker Championship

Congratulations to Ryan Rogers, of Kenata, Ontario Canada for winning the third annual College Poker Championship.

This event, which is played as a series of preliminary events leading up to an online final, and taking most of the academic year to complete, culminated in Ryan, with Ks-Ts calling an all-in bet by his opponent who held K-7. Although a big favorite before the flop, Ryan was the underdog when the flop was 3d-Kc-7d, giving his opponent two pair. But a ten fell on the turn giving Rogers two bigger pair, and the final trey on the river changed nothing.

Ryan Rogers wins $50,000 in scholarship money, a donation to the charity of his choice, and the distinction of overcoming some 30,000 other entrants from thousands of colleges and universities worldwide.

Participants in the College Poker Championship must be enrolled as a student in any accredited college community or online college for any period during the academic year. Any student qualifies, whether they are full time or part time, graduate or under graduate, at a 1-year, 2-year, 4-year or graduate school. Students must be at least 18 years of age to participate and compete for more than $200,000 in scholarship money. Entry into the tournament is entirely free, and no purchase is ever required.

An Open Challenge to Rep. Goodlatte

Yesterday I argued that Rep. Goodlatte’s (R-VA) opposition to online poker was anticapitalistic at best, and at worst it represents governmental intrusion into our lives and freedom of choice. I also chortled when Mr. Goodlatte said that although he admits to having played poker in the past, he maintains he never played for money.

Today I’ll take things one step further. Although Rep. Goodlatte’s bill successfully cleared the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee on Thursday morning, I believe it will not be enacted into law this year, and I’m challenging Mr. Goodlatte to put his money where his mouth is.

Here’s my proposition: If the bill fails to become law, you agree never to introduce it again. After all, you’ve tried a number of times now and have struck out on each occasion. If your bill is enacted into law, I’ll agree to publicly support it. I realize I’m offering you a wager, Mr. Goodlatte, but since no money is involved, I don’t think my proposition rises to the level of gambling. Are you willing to take me up on this?

Or, we could gamble for a good cause. I’m willing to wager $1,000, to be donated to the charity of your choice, against nothing more costly to you than your honor. If I win, you agree never to introduce this or similar legislation again. Will you take me up on this wager, Mr. Goodlatte?

I have another proposition you might be interested in too. Since you are quoted as saying poker is “absolutely a game of chance,” why don’t we each put up $1,000 to go to the charity of the winner’s choice, and play a freeze-out poker game? Or we can play a series of freeze-outs where the best two out of three determines the winner.

I’m eager to test your theory in a public crucible, where a deserving charity can benefit from our actions. In case you’re not as sure as your statements about the skill-versus-luck factor, I’m even willing to send you an autographed copy of any one of my books, which you can access at http://www.loukrieger.com/, so you study up and increase your luck factor — or the skill factor, as the case may be.

I’m here. And I’m waiting. If you’re interested, just let me know.

"I didn't Inhale." Right!

Poker should be excluded from Rep Bob Goodlatte's (R-VA) proposed ban because it is a game of skill, not chance. According to Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, "Poker is a skill game. You can influence events. The original cards are random, but you can influence your success or failure throughout the hand."

Rep Goodlatte, who said he played poker as a young man but never for money, disagreed. Poker is "absolutely a game of chance," he said. Just as an aside, doesn’t this sound reminiscent of President Clinton saying that he didn’t inhale? It’s just as ludicrous too. Without money, poker is a child’s game; one devoid of strategy and subtlety that amounts to simply showing down the best hand.

By way of a compromise approach to this issue, three Congressional representatives from Nevada — Jon Porter (R), Shelley Berkley (D) and Jim Gibbons (R) — introduced legislation calling for an 18-month study to determine whether online gambling and could be regulated and taxed, as it is in Britain.

Rep Goodlatte said such regulation could not exist here because gambling is regulated at the state, not federal, level. But his statement is disingenuous at best because his own bill carves out exemptions for horse racing and fantasy sports, and if these wagering opportunities can be regulated, why not poker?

The Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents 5,000 small banks, stands opposed to Rep. Goodlatte's bill because of its enormous unfunded mandate. His bill requires banks to assume much of the burden of analyzing customer payments, but provides no resources to pay for this. Stephen J. Verdier, senior vice president for congressional affairs for this group, said that banks, “. . . are in the business of making customer payments as quickly and accurately as possible, not trying to decide if you're a good person or a bad person."

While all of this is going on, officials with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association are negotiating with the Department of Justice over language in the bill relevant to horse racing. They are seeking language that provides an exemption for betting authorized by the 1978 Interstate Horseracing Act. This act was amended in 2000 to permit Internet wagering on horse racing.

Taking Candy From A Stranger

It's been a while since I posted an irreverent picture of the week, but this one just caught my eye and I couldn't resist!

I've no idea where the picture was taken, or when. It's just one of the most bizarre pictures I've seen in quite some time. 

Poker Pro Europe Distribution Deal Announced

Poker Pro Magazine announced a deal for distribution of Poker Pro Europe magazine in airports and on major airlines across Europe. Managing Director Will Jordan stated, “The initial response to the announcement of the launching of Poker Pro Europe was so enthusiastic that we had to raise the stakes and bump up circulation.

"We will not only give advertisers the highest circulation, but a measured and verifiable one," said Jordan. "In addition, placement in lounges and at gates provides direct access to the highest level of AB passengers within the aviation industry."

Poker Pro Europe plans to hit the market with the largest initial circulation out of all the poker magazines available at this time in the UK. What's even more surprising is the penetration of poker content into airports and on major airlines -- a market that's heretofore been out of reach where poker content is concerned.

Congressional Study on Online Gaming Urged

The American Gaming Association (AGA) issued a white paper on current U.S. policies about online gaming, suggesting that a Congressional study commission address the issue in the United States.

The author, David O. Stewart, noted that the current policy of prohibition drives Internet gambling business to foreign entities while, "the current regime also ensures that no jobs are created for American workers, no returns are earned by American companies, and no tax revenues are paid to American governments."

"A study commission approach,” according to Stewart, “could develop an effective, comprehensive legislative approach that would address the complex and often conflicting policies now in place, as well as the general confusion about the legal issues surrounding Internet gambling."

On the heels AGA’s call for a congressional committee to study online gambling, brick-and-mortar casinos are increasingly considering entering the online gambling business.According to the big land-based casino brands, the best way to control the $12 billion Internet betting business is through a program of legalization, regulation, and taxation.”If it is being done offshore, why not bring it in to the U.S. so it can be regulated? It doesn't look like you can ban it,” says Sen. John Ensign, (R-NV).

That's what U.S. casinos are seeking with their proposal for a federal study. Frank Fahrenkopf, a former Republican national chairman who heads AGA, says the study's purpose would be to determine if legalization, regulation and taxation of online gambling would reduce the risk of fraud and abuse and increase government revenue.

Trojan Horse Threat Hits Poker Networks

This must be the virus season. Earlier we reported about a rootkit used to secure remote access to poker players’ accounts who used a rakeback calculator inadvertently distributed by Checkraised.com and designed for use on PartyPoker and other large sites.

Now it seems that a possible virus could have infected hundreds of machines. A Ladbrokes Poker employee is alleged to have stolen $30,000,000 from player accounts. Players received a message from Ladbrokes telling them of the theft, but stating that their accounts are OK.

Betfair players were recently advised to visit the BBC website via pop-up message in regards to an employee fraud. It was not the BBC's website they reached, but an unwanted virus.

Betfair responded by saying, "An internet hoax directing internet users to a bogus BBC site, purporting to be a story about a Betfair scam contained links to a virus. While the story was malicious and entirely untrue, some links downloaded a “Trojan Horse,” a program potentially enabling a hacker to access a victim’s computer.”

Once again, we advise all readers to take all precautions online and only opening links from trustworthy sources. With the incredible growth of online gaming, the proliferation of scams and scammers is likely to get worse before it gets better.

For any readers who might have used the rakeback calculator distributed by Checkraised.com, F-Secure advises checking your systems for possible infection. A free scan is available from F-Secure’s Online Scanner Next Generation Beta, which has rootkit detection capabilities through the F-Secure BlackLight engine.
Checkraised.com (http://www.checkraised.com/site/apps/rbcalc/rbcalc.php) has set up a page to explain their view of the situation. The page also contains step-by-step instructions for manually removing the malware.
To view the full statement issued by Checkraised.com, go to: http://www.checkraised.com/site/apps/rbcalc/rbcalc.php

For a technical description and for a screenshot of the malicious RBCalc
application: http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/small_la.shtml

For F-Secure Internet Security 2006 with with Blacklight technology:
http://www.f-secure.com/estore/

Interview With Nolan Dalla

Nolan Dalla, the author of the acclaimed and compelling biography of Stu Ungar, entitled One of a Kind, will be our guest on the "Keep Flopping Aces" radio show this Thursday night at 9:00 PM EDT.

In addition to his compelling and edgy biography of Ungar -- James McManus of the New York Times and author of Positvely Fifth Street referred to it as "an acetylene torch of a book" -- Nolan has written for Gambling times, Card Player, Poker Digest, Poker Pages, and The Intelligent Gambler. He is also a noted football handicapper, and has served as head of public relations for Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas and media director for the World Series of Poker as well as for PokerStars.

Nolan is one of the most astute observers of poker and gaming inside of Las Vegas and online gaming too. He is the consummate industry insider who has always managed to retain a dispassionate journalist's eye along with the posture of an outsider who's looking in and is unafraid to ask hard questions. Nolan's interview will be compelling, fascinating, opinionated, and spot on.

"Keep Flopping Aces," with hosts Amy Calistri and Lou Krieger, can be heard by pointing your browser to www.holdemradio.com at 9:00 PM EDT this Thursday, May 25. It can also be heard in archive, as well as in podcast format.

RBCalc Revisited: Keeping the Trojan Horse From Your Door

In the short period of time between last night's discussion on my radio show, Keep Flopping Aces on www.holdemradio.com, where we discussed a story about RBCalc.exe, new developments have come to light. RBCalc.exe, a rakeback calculator, was actually malware used to steal players' login details at Partypoker, Empirepoker, Eurobetpoker and Pokernow, we've found out some more information about this issue.

Trojan.Checkraise, as this has come to be known, is now neutralized by Symantic as well as by F-Secure, the Finnish firm that uncovered this with their Blacklight rootkit detection technology. Trojan.Checkraise, is a Trojan horse that steals passwords for popular online poker Web sites. It also opens a back door on the compromised computer, logs keystrokes, and sends confidential information to a remote attacker.

Here is some data from Symantic's web site.

Type:
Trojan Horse
Systems Affected:
Windows 2000, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows Server 2003, Windows XP

Virus Definitions (LiveUpdate™ Plus)
May 16, 2006
Virus Definitions (LiveUpdate™ Daily)
May 16, 2006
Virus Definitions (LiveUpdate™ Weekly)
May 17, 2006
Virus Definitions (Intelligent Updater)
May 16, 2006

Wild
Number of infections: 0 - 49
Number of sites: 0 - 2
Geographical distribution: Low
Threat containment: Easy
Removal: Moderate

It seems like this was caught and neutralized in time to prevent wholesale issues with player accounts and security at the affected sites, and in a sense, other than those hurt by this scam, we all got off lucky.

There's also a lesson to learn here: While the big poker operators such as PartyGaming, PokerStars, Prima, UB, and the like are quite careful about their own development efforts, you can't be sure about the due diligence exercised by the little guys providing after-market devices such as rake back calculators.

Use them at your own risk. The risk might far outweigh the reward.

Poker Players' Login Details Stolen at Online Websites

A rakeback calculator, RBCalc.exe, was actually malware used to steal players' login details at online poker websites that included Partypoker, Empirepoker, Eurobetpoker and Pokernow.

It was discovered on the Poker tips web site Checkraised.com. A series of executable files were secretly dropped into a user’s computer but concealed through the use of a rootkit driver that enabled the operation to take place out of sight of the user.

The scam was uncovered byF-Secure's Blacklight rootkit detection technology. Once discovered, Checkraised.com issued an apology, removed the file and issued instructions for manually removing the malware.

F-Secure's Kimmo Kasslin said, “Following the exponential rise of interest in online poker, it is inevitable that malware authors would follow suit with programs to separate players from their money. What is significant is the fact that this particular scam was hosted, albeit unwittingly on a legitimate site and used rootkit technology to cloak itself. Without our unique Blacklight technology to detect it, many online gamblers could have become victims of this exploit.”

Kasslin added, “Having standard data security software from the bigger vendors would not have protected you against this rootkit exploit. F-Secure's software does.”Whether this last statement is accurate or just a sales message is open for debate, but it is worrisome nevertheless.

More detailed information about this scam is available in a post by Haley Hintze on KickAss Poker and by Wil Wheaton at Card Squad.

Andy Bloch to Guest on "Keep Flopping Aces"

Andy Bloch will make a guest appearance on "Keep Flopping Aces," the weekly radio show that Amy Calistri and I host every Thursday night at 9:00 EDT on www.holdemradio.com.

Bloch has grossed over $1 million playing poker tournaments. He's had multiple WSOP and WPT final table finishes and won the Ultimate Poker Challenge in 2005.

Andy has multiple engineering degrees from MIT and a law degree from Harvard. Although Andy played recreational poker in his early years, his professional gambling interests were fostered by his participation in the now famous MIT blackjack team.

One of the things we'll discuss on the show is his newly released blackjack DVD.But poker was a constant for Andy. He was an active and early member of RGP, inspired by the mathematically inclined bent and thoughtful exchange of ideas the Usenet group became famous for.

Andy also co-wrote the "The Idiot's Guide to Poker Tells." One of the things we'll discuss is how he integrates his mathematical/game theoretic approach with the more psychological aspects of this game.

Amy Calistri and I will also discuss the WPT waiver situation with Andy. Although you have probably heard various spins about this, we'll dig into the specific underlying issues that affect the players.It's all on "Keep Flopping Aces," this Thursday night at 9:00 PM EDT and 6:00 PM PDT, at www.holdemradio.com. The show will also be archived for those of you who are unable to listen to the show as it airs.

# # #

Does Britain Hold All the Cards in the Battle For Online Gaming?

Is Britain becoming the new Las Vegas? New legislation enacted by Parliament will permit online poker and table games — games now offered by companies based primarily in developing nations or tax havens. Britain will be the first developed nation to legalize online gambling. They hope to lure online gaming providers to British soil along with the jobs and tax revenue they bring with them.

It's a different story here in the States. Although Americans bet $145 billion over the Internet in 2005 — nearly half the total wagered worldwide — there is no online gaming business presence or tax revenue in the United States.
As Congress debates two new bills designed to close the door on American online gaming, firms located elsewhere and knocking on the door, hoping to gain entrance. Britain’s Sportingbet even ran ads in major U.S. newspapers asking the question, "Please, sir, can we pay tax?" Nigel Payne, Sportingbet’s CEO, estimates that online gaming in the U.S. would generate more than $1 billion in tax revenues. "If the U.S. regulates this industry,” Payne said, “we will set up there and gladly pay tax."

Voluntary regulation is attractive to many online gaming providers, even when they can set up shop elsewhere with less regulation and substantially lower taxation simply because British regulation provides more credibility for investors and customers.

Currently valued at $12 billion, the Internet gaming industry will double in five years, according to Christiansen Capital Advisors. And Britain has lapped the field when it comes to regulating online gambling. Rather than burying their heads in the sand and pretending it can be banned as Congress seems bent on doing here in the States, the British government decided to regulate the industry, protect its citizens, and reap the rewards.

Business analysts and market experts believe that the U.S. will lose any chance of capitalizing on what is becoming one of the world's fastest growing businesses if currently proposed legislation passes.

If this were a poker game, the United States appears to be holding a very weak hand with one card to come, while the Brits have the current nuts!

What's Up With the Duke Lacrosse Case?

Something about the Duke Lacrosse rape case continues to bother me. If the prosecutor thinks he can gain a conviction while the DNA evidence he has points to someone other than a member of the Duke Lacrosse team, he needs to have something mighty powerful in store.

One of the accused players even has receipts from a cab driver, an ATM, and a convenience store, that show he could not have been at the house when the alleged rape took place. The team captain, who was indicted yesterday, said he offered evidence to the prosecutor to establish his innocence but was turned down.

He also said that he passed a polygraph test administered by a former FBI polygrapher. While I know that polygraph tests are not 100 percent accurate, those results when taken together with the lack of DNA evidence and other exculpatory evidence the accused offered to turn over to the prosecutor (which he refused to look at) makes me think something is terribly wrong here.

It appears to be one of those rush-to-judgment events, like the infamous McMartin Pre-School case. (Members of the McMartin family, who operated a preschool is southern California , were charged with sexual abuse of children in their care. After six years of criminal trials, no convictions were obtained, and all charges were dropped in 1990.)

The Duke Lacrosse case seems to have elements of that kind of hysteria playing out. You have a prosecutor eager to cement his reelection so he goes public with his suppositions even before the police could finish an investigation (Are you thinking, “Round up the usual suspects,” here?)

The case is also racially charged because the accuser is Black and the defendants are White, and you have the issues of class along with the status of athletes in a prestigious university layered on top of that. And before the dust settled the Lacrosse coach was eased out the door and the season was cancelled.

Had this case involved the Duke basketball team instead of the lacrosse team, I doubt whether Coach K would have been asked to resign, and I don’t think the team’s season (and the revenue it generates) would have been shut down.

So instead of a simple criminal case, to be tried in a court of law, this has become an event that is now being tried in the press, and has become a sociological witch hunt as much as a criminal case.

I’ve been very careful when thinking about this case. I had to make sure I was able to divorce myself from any biases because I am, and have always been, a huge Lacrosse fan.

My own feeling is that this case will eventually blow away, but not before a greedy prosecutor, who seems to operate in the ready, fire, aim mode, will have sullied the reputation of a school, a team, and a bunch of student athletes who may have been rowdy party goers but who ultimately deserved better. We’ll see.

The Rake Effect, Venetian Off to Slow Start, World's Largest Strip Poker Game Planned

Can the Rake Turn A Winning Player into a Loser

I had a short, sweet, note from a reader, who asked: “How does the rake affect me and can it turn a winning player into a loser?”

I answered succinctly, and told the reader to think of the rake as a cost of doing business. Without the rake, poker would be a purely "zero-sum" game, in which a dollar lost by one player is a dollar one by another.

But the rake, or time charge – depending on the system in use, takes money off the table from all players. In a $10-$20 brick and mortar poker game with a five-dollar per half-hour time charge, each player pays ten dollars per hour to play, or the equivalent of one-half of a big bet.

The best players figure to earn approximately 1.5 BB per hour in the long run, so you have to overcome a rather significant cost to make poker profitable for you. I've read estimates that only about ten to fifteen percent of all players are long-term winners at poker, and the difference between the fifty percent you'd expect to see if the game were truly "zero-sum" and the ten to fifteen percent it actually is, can be attributed to the cost of doing business: the rake.

After I responded to the reader’s question, I did some nosing around and found a terrific post about rakes in A Slave to Variance

This is Andrew Prock’s blog and a great resource about questions like these.

Venetian's Poker Room Off to Slow Start

According to the Las Vegas Gaming Wire,the Venetian's new poker room is off to a very slow start. With the third-largest poker room — only Caesars Palace and the Bellagio are larger — the Venetian has only the ninth-largest share of the poker market since it opened.

By way of comparison, the Bellagio has a 20 percent share of the poker market. The Venetian’s share is running about four percent since their opening a few weeks ago.
The Venetian will be the world's biggest hotel with 7,500 rooms when it completes its Palazzo expansion and I’d expect its poker room to get more and more play as people discover it.

World's Largest Strip Poker Game

An April Fool's joke generated so much interest that Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power is considering organizing the world’s largest strip poker party in hopes of finding their way into the Guinness Book of Records.

Power hopes to hold the event in August or September. Maybe they can interest Paris Hilton in hosting it. After all, she’s confessed to catching the poker bug, and has stated for the record that she seldom loses. Of course there’s that little matter of the $200,000 Bentley she lost in a poker game a few weeks ago, but where Paris is concerned, a little hyperbole is OK, isn’t it?

Borders Book Signing; Gavin Smith Named WPT Player of the Year

Yesterday, before the book signing, a friend asked me for two numbers. The first was to be a number that would cause me to say, “Wow, I really thought more people would show up;” the other was a number that would make me say, “Wow, I never thought this many people would be here.”

My numbers were 10 and 70. I knew I’d be very disappointed if there were fewer than ten attendees, and I’d be overjoyed if as many as 70 people were in the audience. The signing and poker lecture was slated to be held right in the midst of the sales floor at Borders, so it had a lot of walk-by traffic. In addition, four rows of chairs were placed in front of a table and display rack that contained all my books, and announcements about the poker lecture and book signing were made by the store manager every 30 minutes for a few hours prior to the event.

I set my laptop up right on that table so I could face the audience while running the PowerPoint slides used during the seminar. Once the seminar was over, I used that same table to sign books.

This particular store, located at an outdoor movie, dining, and boutique filled mall called “The River” is usually busy, and on Friday night it is always busy. Parking was difficult – it usually is at that hour -- and we drove around for about ten minutes before we found a spot.

I marked the attendee count at about 50 people, not including those who were too young to play poker. In addition to its upscale restaurants and art galleries that cater to the country club set from Palm Springs all the way to La Quinta, The River is also the place where teenagers cluster every weekend, and the bookstore, with its café, and large music section, is a favorite spot for them to hang out. Lots of teens were either standing, walking by, or sitting while I talked about poker, but I won’t count them because they’re too young to gamble.

Borders did a good job handling the logistics. There were posters, announcements, and I had a good location inside the store and a local radio interview the Monday preceding the signing drew some customers in to see me.
For some reason, I love these sorts of events. The opportunity to talk about poker in locations outside of cardrooms and casinos is something I really enjoy, so I’ll look for more opportunities in the future.

# # #

On another topic entirely, kudos to Gavin Smith for capping an incredibly successful year of play on the World Poker Tour by being named their "Season IV Player of the Year."

Smith reached the final table in three separate $10,000 buy-in World Poker Tour events during the past year, and took first-place at the 2005 Mirage Poker Showdown.

I first met Gavin at ESCARGOT (a southern California spinoff of BARGE). Gavin increases the fun factor of any event he plays in by at least twenty percent, so having him around is always terrific.

I’m happy for his successes and wish him more of the same.

Last Night's Radio Show With Michael Craig; Book Signing Tonight in Rancho Mirage

The radio show I'm hosting with Amy Calistri at holdemradio.com continues to become more and more enjoyable for me. Last night's show was the fourth one we've done, and we're getting much better at it. We neither suffered the ills of dead air time nor did we step on each other's toes.

It's not that easy to avoid, since Amy is broadcasting from the show's studio in Austin, TX and I'm in California, but we seem to be getting better at it.

Last evening's guest was Michael Craig, author of The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King, the book that tells the story of Andy Beal's high stakesm heads-up matches with Ted Forrest, Jennifer Harman, Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein, and some other Las Vegas big game players who pooled a bankroll of $10 million to take turns playing against Beal.

Michael is a great guest in the sense that all you have to do is say "Hello, welcome to the show," and he's off and running with stories that range from hi-stakes poker tales to a story about how he wound up in bed with Annie Duke watching a porn video -- it was all quite innocent, but you'll have to listen to his story to believe it -- when her boyfrined walked in on them.

The show is, or soon should be archived at holdemradio.com, so if you weren't able to listen to last night's show in real time, you can hear it at your leisure.

By the way, if any of you live in the Palm Springs area, I'm doing a book signing along with a poker seminar tonight, at 7:00 PM at Borders Books, located at "The River" in Rancho Mirage -- Highway 111 at Bob Hope Drive. Hope you can make it.

AGA's stance against online gaming softened in light of internet gaming's rapid growth

According to a recent study by the American Gaming Association (AGA), an organization that represents casino companies and suppliers, the number of Americans who gamble online doubled to about four percent of the population last year.

Gambling revenue at U.S. casinos also rose five percent last year to a record $30.3 billion. Strong growth among brick and mortar casinos led AGA’s executive director Frank Fahrenkopf to state, "This is proof there is still room for growth."

AGA, which had been opposed to online gaming, recently softened its stance, calling for a U.S. congressional study to evaluate gaming online.

"There are some in our industry who think the technology is there now to provide regulators the comfort that they want," Fahrenkopf said, adding that, “The group has opposed legalization of Internet gambling in the past because regulators were opposed to it, and we're the strongest supporters of tough regulation.

"But the technology has changed greatly, and now Great Britain is legalizing online gambling — and,” according to Fahrenkopf, “we're saying that Congress ought to take a look at it.”

"A lot of the opponents have been saying that the people who gamble on the Internet are the ones who can least afford it," he added. "But look at this survey. It shows they tend to be more educated and have more money than other people."

The survey, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates Inc., showed 41 percent had incomes of more than $75,000 a year, while only 12 percent had incomes of less than $35,000.

The fact that the AGA has softened its stance against online gaming is significant, especially when viewed in light of opposition to Rep Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) proposed legislation by the banking industry, which is wary of an unfunded mandate that would require bankers to provide close scrutiny over customer financial transactions.

It suggests to me that the armies lining up to oppose Rep. Goodlatte’s bill are daunting, and given the constraints of a relatively short legislative session, I believe his bill will fail. Moreover, now that the UK has legalized and is regulating online gaming — while reaping all the benefits that accrue through increased tax revenues, job creation, and capital formation — I think it likely that we’ll see online gaming legalized and regulated in the United States in the future.

Poker on Hi-Definition TV

The “Vegas Open,” slated for June 2, marks the start of the National Poker League’s inaugural season of poker on the INHD Network, one of the most widely distributed HD networks on cable today.

Tournament executives are hoping that smaller buy-ins will lead to a broader player base who will post their blinds in hopes of appearing on national television.

"What we're striving for,” said NPL President Nene Gonzalez, “is to be the poker tournament for players with smaller bankrolls and lots of game. They may even become TV stars in the process."

The series will consist of 10 separate, $1,060 buy-in tournaments, with each winner advancing to the semifinal heads-up round. The five heads-up winners will advance to the final table to play for $100,000 in bonus cash, winner take all, which is added to the prize pool. Each stage of the tournament offers prize money and will be televised.

The new 14,500 sq. ft. poker room at Caesars Palace, one will host the Vegas Open. In addition to the poker action, each episode will also feature player profiles, a Poker Pro "Tip of the Day," a Tournament "Play of the Day," and a Las Vegas segment titled "Las Vegas: High Rolling and High Living Mojo Style."

I wish them well. While poker on television is saturated, to say the least, perhaps the fact that it will appear in high-definition will be enough of a competitive advantage to help it find its own market niche.

How Rep. Bob Goodlatte Can Become Part of the Solution Instead of the Source of the Problem

"Virtual betting parlors have attempted to avoid the application of United States law by locating themselves offshore and out of our jurisdictional reach," says Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). "These offshore, fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States."

So who’s the problem and who’s the solution. To read much of Goodlatte’s statements these days, you’d think that the problem of money draining away from the USA’s economy is beyond his legislative reach.

But it's not. All Rep Goodlatte has to do is recognize that he is now part of the problem instead of the solution. Rather than working to enact legislation that's guaranteed to send online bettors to sites located outside the United States, all he has to do is follow the English model. They’ve recognized the legality of online gaming and are regulating it. This has attracted large firms and a substantial amount of capital to their shores while creating jobs and investment opportunities in the process.

If the United States were to give its blessings to online poker and gaming, most of the online gaming firms would locate here, where the majority of their customer base resides. These firms would probably trade on the NY Stock Exchange instead of London. That would retain capital in the United States, along with numerous jobs these firms would generate. Moreover, our laws would regulate online gaming and we would derive tax revenue from it.

Internet gambling is now a $12 billion industry, half of which comes from U.S. gamblers. It’s also a business that studies show to be growing rapidly. Even Rep. Goodlatte recognizes it. "Gambling on the Internet has become an extremely lucrative business," he said.

It's time he recognizes that his current legislative efforts will exacerbate the problem. They will not solve it. If he wants to get on the right side of this issue, he should be working on legislation that would make it easier for all of us to sidle up to an online table, and say those magic words: “Deal me in.”

It's Time to Take Action Against the Goodlatte Bill

If you read this blog regularly, or even occasionally, you know that I have taken strong stands against Rep Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) proposed legislation that will make it more difficult to fund offshore gaming accounts — while hypocritically, carving out exemptions for horseracing, fantasy sports, and a few other not-so-sinful forms of gaming.

But now I’m asking you to take action. And it’s easy. All you have to do is click on this link to communicate with your elected representatives and tell them that you are opposed to this and similar legislation. http://capwiz.com/keep_it_legal/issues/alert/?alertid=8637406.

That link is sponsored by Card Player Magazine and the Poker Player’s Alliance. Both organizations are exerting leadership and working hard to fight Goodlatte’s bill. If you want to help in the fight to protect your rights as an online poker player, it's up to you, and me, and to all of us to communicate with our elected representatives and make our position known.

Please, click on the link and take action now.

Goodlatte's Bill Approved by Subcommittee

Rep. Bob Goodlatte’s (R-VA) bill to ban Internet gambling was approved by the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, and now heads to the full committee for consideration.

Although the bill is a long way from becoming law, and is unlikely to be enacted anytime this year — this year’s session will be short because of upcoming congressional elections — news of the bill’s approval at the subcommittee level was enough to send shares of British gaming companies plummeting. Both PartyGaming and 888 Holdings fell approximately five percent on the London Stock Exchange.

According to Rep. Goodlatte, “Virtual betting parlors have attempted to avoid the application of United States law by locating themselves offshore and out of our jurisdictional reach."

If enacted, his bill would prohibit gaming businesses from accepting payment in the form of credit cards, checks, wire and Internet transfers.

But don’t fret just yet. If you believe, as I do, that your money is your own and you ought to be able to place a bet or play poker without any interference from the nanny state, take heart:

• There’s still a long, hard hill to climb before this bill becomes law of the land. It’s bad policy that would lead to bad law. I think Goodlatte’s bill is doomed to failure.
• It’s unenforceable. US law won’t apply to foreign nations, and other than attempting to police the Internet, I don’t see how the government would enforce any prohibition against using the Internet as a medium for playing poker.
• While this bill can prevent your local, US-based bank from sending money to your favorite cyber poker casino, there are, and will always be, a sufficient number of financial intermediaries located offshore to handle transfers for you.

What Goodlatte’s bill does do, however, is give certain members of Congress a chance to show that they are opposed to the expansion of gambling in this country, and this, presumably, will endear them to their constituents. Supporting Rep. Goodlatte’s bill then becomes a tool to help them win reelection in November.

Once that’s done, here’s hoping they can come back to the halls of Congress, concentrate on real issues, and stop trying to show everyone that nanny knows best.

Connecting the Dots: Pamela Anderson, "Murder, She Wrote," eBay, and PayPal

Former Baywatch gal Pamela Anderson, who is getting a bit long in the tooth for an A-List sex symbol, just signed on to represent an online poker site. That led me to speculate that poker sites might just become the new dumping ground for washed-up stars, never were wannabees, and other Hollywood C-listers looking for one, last, fleeting fifteen minutes of fame.

Do you remember Murder, She Wrote? Every week they had a guest star whose best days had come and gone. It was a veritable “What ever happened to” where fading — and faded — personalities could be seen once again, before fading into complete oblivion.

I wonder if that’s what’s happening to Pamela Anderson. Personally, I hope online poker is NOT her last role. Like most guys, I’m still wishing she’ll reprise her best, and probably most watched role: the very low budget home movie filmed in the confines of her bedroom with hubby Tommy Lee.

But nothing Pamela could do is as offensive as the blatant hypocrisy and hubris of eBay and its subsidiary Pay Pal. In a note to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), (Mr. Goodlatte’s proposed legislation has been the subject of numerous posts on this blog), eBay executive Brian Bieron congratulated Rep. Goodlatte on the bill he authored to cripple online poker and gambling

Before its merger with eBay, PayPal was the leading financial intermediary for transacting business with online poker rooms. In 2002 they were investigated by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. It seemed like a shakedown to me at the time, but PayPal caved in like a sinkhole and agreed to pay a $200,000 fine as quid pro quo for Spitzer's office dropping the investigation. Whether as a result of Spitzer’s shakedown or their new relationship with eBay, PayPal stopped processing all online gambling transactions until recently.

While eBay exec Bieron is kissing up to Rep Goodlatte and singing his own anti-gambling rhetoric back to him, PayPal is busily trying to whip up business with European online gaming firms.

Now, if eBay thinks gambling is wrong and they honestly believe Goodlatte’s legislation is the way to attack this “societal issue,” I understand that. But if they do that gambling is an evil that needs to be stamped out, then why is PayPal working as a financial intermediary for UK-based Betfair and Ladbrokes by allowing gamblers and poker players in the UK to deposit and withdraw funds?

C’mon, PayPal and eBay. Riddle me that.

Sometimes a bad run at poker feels just like this!

 

Worst Play -- or Player -- Ever?

I've been posting so much lately on impending legislation about online gaming, that I've neglected real poker content. So here's a poker story that is stunning. It may even be a candidate for the worst play ever.

Yesterday I was playing hold'em at a nearby casino when the following play developed. I wasn't involved in the hand, and had only joined the table about ten minutes earlier, so I was watching closely to get a line of those opponents I didn't know.

It's a kill pot and the stakes are doubled for this hand. Our hero is in the big blind the player posting the kill is two seats to his left. It's raised, then reraised by the two players to the killer's immediate left. There's a cold caller too by the time the action gets back to Our Hero, the big blind. He calls, voluntarily tossing two-and-a-half additonal bets into the pot. The killer calls; the initial raiser then caps, and everyone calls as they take the flop four-handed.

The flop is Q-6-4 of mixed suits -- none of those suits are hearts; just remember this as the hand plays out -- and there's no logical straight draw either. So the players who casually raised, reraised, cold-called, and capped the betting must all have a big pair or big cards -- or at least one would think they do -- in order to justify their participation in the hand. Of course, one of them could have played a smaller pocket pair and flopped a set, I don't know any of this for sure -- and at this point in the hand, neither does Our Hero.

Our Hero checks, the killer comes out betting, the guy to his left raises and it's called around to Our Hero who calls too. The killer reraises and the guy to his left caps it again. No one has folded, and I have no idea what anyone has.

The turn card is 9 of clubs, and now there are two clubs on board and the board is Q-6-4-9. Our Hero checks, the killer checks too, the guy to his left bets and the guy who was cold-calling now raises!

Our Hero calls the double bet, and so does everyone else.

The river card is the 9 of diamonds, and the final board is Q-6-4-9-9 and there's no worries about anyone having a straight or a flush, but plenty of worries about full houses, given the way the hand has played out thus far.

Our Hero and the killer both check, the guy to the killer's left comes out betting. He's called by the guy who was cold-calling, but now Our Hero raises. The killer folds, but the guy to his left calls as does the guy was cold calling.

Our Hero turns over Th-9h and wins the pot with trip nines. A pair of kings was flashed as it was folded and everyone else mucked their hands anonymously.

Our Hero called the flop with no pair, no draw -- not even as little as a back-door flush draw -- and one overcard on board. He withstood raise after raise to catch runner-runner and win the pot.

It was probably as dumb a play as I'd ever seen, but he also won the biggest pot -- by far -- during the seven hours I was in the game. Although he was as bad a player as I ever saw, that huge pot -- it would have been a huge pot under any circumstances but it was a full-fledged, Category 5 monster because it was a kill pot and the stakes doubled for that hand -- was enough to guarantee that Our Hero would still be ahead of the game by the time I left.

But he wasn't all that much ahead, and I had the distinct feeling that if he stayed and played another two or three hours, that he would leave a loser. All I knew then was that judging by the way these guys played, I intended to stay in that game until I absolutley had to leave.