Is Bodog a New Dog?

Bodog is now operating under a new URL, http://www.newbodog.com/, the result of a dispute that involved their old domain name, http://www.bodog.com/. A lawsuit filed by 1st Technology, Inc. claimed that Bodog infringed on their patents, and a default judgment was issued, ordering Bodog to pay damages of $49 millionwhen Bodog failed to appear in court.

If you try navigating to the old Bodog domain name, you won’t get anywhere. But if you go to http://www.newbodog.com/, you’ll find their new web site, which they claim to be a temporary loocation. A message from Calvin Ayre (pictured right) says, “This is the result of a legal dispute over the ownership of the Bodog.com domain name. We are fighting this dispute. We are confident that we will win, but until all is settled, I do not want our battle to interrupt your play.”

Ayre added, “We are working to resolve any remaining issues on the temporary site as soon as possible, and fully expect to have our original site back up shortly.”

Gaming Lobbies Spend $1.3 million in first half of 2007

Casino Gambling Web reported that gaming firms spent more than $1.3 million in the first six months of this year to lobby politicians in Washington D.C.

Public records reveal these expendirures: PartyGaming PLC $140,000, Harrah's $100,000, World Poker Tour $20,000, Station Casinos Inc. $60,000, and the American Gaming Association—the lobbying organization that represents the major brick-and-mortar casinos—spent $900,000 in lobbying thus far in 2007. While that may seem like a good chunk of change, it probably pales by comparison to expenditures by some of the major lobbies in this country, such as the gun lobby, the pharmaceutical lobby, teacher lobbies and others.

Nevertheless, I contend that if this much money were spent before the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was enacted, its passage could have been prevented and we wouldn’t be in this awful fix.

Millions of dollars in lost stock valuations, significant business realignments, losses of jobs, and the heavy-handed imposition of governmental policy on how we choose to spend our time and our money in the privacy of our own homes, could have been prevented. It should have been prevented too. Freedom, as they say, is not free. And a couple of million dollars well spent could have insured that the feds and the fundamentalists who claim to know what’s right for all of us could have been turned around and sent packing.

If we’re ever able to lobby and legislate our way back to where we were prior to UIGEA’s enactment, we ought to remember that this did not come easily or inexpensively, and that to keep those rights, we’ll have to keep our guard up and our wallets open.

Direct Deposits to Poker stars From US Bank Accounts

A few days ago I opened up Poker Stars and to my surprise I saw a note saying that selected US players may now make deposits directly into their Poker Stars accounts from their US bank accounts with echecks. This was news to me. In fact, since Neteller vanished from the US scene a few months ago, making a deposit has been difficult at best, or required using a service like Western Union, which has extremely high fees.

I imagine Poker Stars made this service available to customers who have been with them for a while, and haven't given them any grief. Poker Stars says they plan to roll out this service to a broader audience in the near future.

The payment processing service is provided by a company called DUN Finance, though they offer scant details about themselves or their services on their website.

How well does all this work? I’ve no idea. I haven’t had to make a deposit and don’t plan to unless my game runs straight downhill and depositing becomes a necessity. But if you’re reading this and you’ve used this new service, I’d love to have your impressions about how well this works. Just send your comments to me, and I’ll publish them here.

Big Changes in Poker Players Alliance

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), which has been headquartered in San Francisco, is moving to Washington D.C., putting the organization closer to the action in its fight for the rights of online poker players.

They’re changing leaders too. Michael Bolcerek has stepped down as president of the PPA and John Pappas was named executive director. Before being named to his current post,
Pappas managed the PPA’s lobbying efforts, grassroots outreach, and media strategy, where he worked to educate members of Congress about online poker.

As PPA executive director, he will be responsible for overall operations management, strategic initiatives, membership communication/engagement and recruitment.

Former New York Senator Al D’Amato continues to serve as the PPA’s chairman.

“The PPA has become an influential force fighting for the rights of poker players to enjoy this game of skill,” said D’Amato. “There is wide support and momentum in the U.S. Congress to enact sensible legislation to regulate online poker and provide the necessary safeguards to all players. It is vital that the PPA centralize its efforts in D.C. so we can best serve the interests of our 660,000 plus members,” he added. These announcements were made in a news release posted on the PPA website, www.pokerplayersalliance.org.

UIGEA: Got Regs? Online Poker Sites: Got Balls?

We’re now 300 some odd days past the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and more than a month beyond the deadline included in the law for the Department of Justice to develop enforcement procedures. That in itself is not unusual. Enacting laws that include provisions for regulations and administrative procedures to be drawn up by civil servants is commonplace. So is slipping the deadline. Often rules are more than a year late, and sometimes even longer.

What is unusual is that the Department of Justice has been going after online poker by pressuring sites and individuals that are only peripherally related to poker. Since UIGEA did not render online poker illegal, nor did it create any new class of crimes related to gambling, a predicate offence is required to go after someone under that law.

Since the status of poker is cloudy at best in much of the United States, the DoJ has been hammering organizations and people who have been involved in other forms of gaming, such as sports betting, which is clearly illegal under the Wire Act.

When DoJ arrested Neteller founders Lawrence and Lefebvre, the arrests were not related to online poker, but to prior activities related to transferring funds to sports betting sites.

So were other recent arrests. In fact, since UIGEA was enacted, no arrests were made that involved online poker as a predicate offense. But the DoJ, which has its own issues and ought to be a toothless tiger with little or no credibility in the halls of government by now, has successfully pressured Neteller into backing away from US soil, and forced many of the online poker sites to look for other, more friendly shores to seek players for their games.

While many of us continue to rail against the government for their heavy handed approach to a non-problem, much of the problem can be laid at the feet of the online sites too. While no one wants to incur the costs of going through a long and bitter court fight, many of the online sites have yet to display a gambler’s pair of balls and take on the government in a fight most of us suspect they would win in court.

After all, they are going up against a law that itself is a paragon of hypocrisy with its cut-outs for horseracing and fantasy sports. They are doing so in a nation that embraces legal gambling in most states. In fact, most state governments actually promote gambling by getting in on the action in the form of lotteries. The court of world opinion as well as a treaty involving the World Trade Organization stand in support of legalized online poker in the United States. Even the game of poker itself, which is played by millions in the United States, is closely associated with presidents from both parties, including Richard Nixon and Harry Truman, among the more publicly acknowledged poker players.

While myriad bills have been introduced in congress, it doesn’t seem like anything of substance will happen until after the next presidential election. The issue of online poker is not going to win or lose a presidential election as long as other, bigger, broader issues are foremost in the public consciousness.

The best we can hope for is a new congress and a new president in 2009 that take office with a desire to sweep out a law that few people really give a damn about, and that all of the poker-playing public would like to see swept aside as part of the detritus of a dysfunctional administration and discredited Department of Justice. Absent that, someone is going to have to display the brass balls required to step up and slug it out toe-to-toe with the feds.

Murder-by-Snake: Too Weird for Words

Charged with conspiracy to commit murder are Herbert Paul Beck, 56, and Christopher Lee Steelman, 34, after the two Colorado men allegedly tried to collect a debt by using rattlesnakes as weapons.

Matthew Sowash, owner of Amateur Poker Tour, was their intended victim. According to Jim Shires of the Jefferson County sheriff's office, Sowash owed Beck and Steelman $60,000. Sowash, whose company runs poker games in Denver area bars, was to have his legs placed into a specially constructed wooden box that held the snakes. The box was built so his legs could be inserted but not removed.

After receiving threatening e-mails, Sowash contacted authorities, which led to the arrest of Beck and Steelman. The pair was also charged with kidnapping and extortion as well as attempted murder, since part of the plot involved snatching Sowash’s children and using them as leverage to collect the $60,000 they claim Sowash owed.

Bizarre--but unsubstantiated--allegations surface involving Phil Laak, a hitman, and heroin smuggling

Just when the poker world seems to be settling into the summer doldrums that follow the World Series of Poker, amazing allegations of Phil Laak’s involvement in a contract hitman effort have been making the rounds of poker blogs, forums, and web sites. None of it, of course, is substantiated.

A guy named Tom Grant, who lives in Thailand, claims to have met Laak in 2000. Tom and Phil decide to start an import/export business in New York specializing in Thai antiques. But it was not just antiques Grant and Laak were planning to export from Thailand; allegations of heroin smuggling are part of this story too.

Phil gave Grant $15,000 to start the business up. Grant buys items for export only to discover that a $10,000 tax is required because the items are all of a religious nature. Phil, according to Grant, goes ballistic, screaming “rip off.” Grant hangs up on Laak and does not hear from him again.

A month later Grant gets a phone call from a friend who tells him that Laak paid $15,000 to have Grant and his wife shot, and will pay an additional $15,000 when he receives proof that the job is done.

Grant then allegedly phones Laak to ask about these allegations. According to Grant, Laak apologizes and promises to compensate the Grants for their troubles. Grant claims he never heard from Phil Laak again.

According to a post on Bill Rini’s web site, http://www.billrini.com/, Grant—in response to an email from Rini asking how this affair was so suddenly concluded—said that his goal was to ruin Laak’s reputation as payback for the alleged hit ordered on him, and that money was not part of his desire for satisfaction.

But Grant subsequently said that Laak compensated him, and “That is all that needs to be said.”

This is one of the strangest stories I’ve come across in a long time. Is there any truth to this? Why is there no evidence in support of Tom Grant’s story? Can a desire for payback be resolved with money, especially after asserting that money was not a driving force in this sordid mess? How long has all of this been going on? Was Tom Grant extorting money from Phil Laak over an extended period of time, and how much has Laak paid him?

The questions just go on and on, but answers—provable facts, not just allegations and unsubstantiated charges—don’t seem to be surfacing at all.

Is Poker a Metaphor For Teaching Life Skills?

Organizing poker strategic thinking societies at universities and secondary schools is an idea that Harvard Law School professor Charles Nesson believes in as an educational too. He sees poker as a skill that can be used to teach everything from basic life skills to war games at military colleges.

Nesson plans to announce a Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society (GPSTS) at an international conference called State of Play on August 19 in Singapore. GPSTS chapters will then be formed at universities on several continents, beginning Harvard.

GPSTS will offer poker strategic thinking workshops to secondary schools and community centers, sponsor team poker matches between law, business, and other graduate-level programs, and explore poker as a means to teach strategic thinking and related public policy issues.

According to Nesson, "Poker is one of the best metaphors for teaching life skills across a variety of disciplines."

Nesson hopes that poker societies will reach the point where they have an NCAA-style championship in team poker for American universities. Nesson also envisions an open online curriculum centered on poker that will draw the brightest minds together to promote open education and Internet democracy.

Will the Sandstrom Petition Create a California Owned and Operated Online Poker Site?

San Diegan Tony Sandstrom, is circulating a statewide initiative to create a California owned and operated internet poker site. The profits from this site would go to the State of California as well as to, counties, cities, and towns for to repair highways, roads, and streets. Some profits would also be earmarked for to the California Gambling Addition Fund to treat those with gambling problems. “The politicians will not be permitted to divert these funds,” said Sandstrom.

A California owned online poker site, according to Sandstrom, would be safe and generates revenues to benefit all Californians. “Net revenues could be $75 million or more,” according to the initiative’s author. Sandstrom believes that a California based internet poker site would solve perceived security issues with offshore sites and expand the player base. “The site would open to all domestic and international players. However, it must be legal in the state or the country the player resides in.”

Sandstrom, an online player himself, was inspired to write the initiative when the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was rammed through Congress as a rider attached to the must pass Port Security Act.

Sandstrom is linking his success to online efforts. While volunteers might collect signatures, he expects most petitions to come from the web. The complete initiative can be viewed at www.fixpotholes.org, where petitions can be downloaded.

Reaction to the initiative is mixed. The California Teachers Association opposes the measure, fearing a decrease in funds from lottery. Because few lottery play poker, Sandstrom believes the impact on lottery revenues would be insignificant.

Indian tribes are taking a wait and see approach. This initiative gives the right to the State and federally recognized Indian tribes to reach a mutually satisfactory arrangement regarding online poker sites.

The petition is strictly a grass roots effort, and it’s a long road from drafting a petition to getting it on the ballot and getting it passed. All persons signing the petition must be registered voters.

Please mail all petitions to:
Tony Sandstrom
P.O, Box 503932
San Diego, Ca. 92150-3932
858-748-8773
t_sandstrom@sbcglobal.net

BARGE 2007: all good, as usual

Five days is a long time without posting, but I was at BARGE where five days means a lot of overindulgence, not a lot of sleep, and in my case I had to edit the upcoming issue of Poker Player Newspaper in my spare time.

Thursday night Amy Calistri and I—she was in Austin, not at BARGE, although she committed on the air to attend next year—interviewed Barry Tanenbaum on our web cast radio show, Keep Flopping Aces that broadcasts every Thursday night at 6 p.m. Pacific Time on HoldemRadio.com. We’ve had Barry on the air before. He’s a terrific guest and a guy who’s able to convey complex hold’em strategy in a way that’s easily understood by beginners as well as experienced players. This time we had him on to discuss his soon-to-be released book, Advanced Mid-limit Hold’em Strategy.

Barry’s book is well organized, well written, and should be a boon to anyone wanting to improve his or her game. It’s not aimed at those who have never played before, so if you don’t know whether a flush beats as straight, this is not the book for you. Barry’s book is predicated on the reader having some experience playing hold’em, although it need not be a lot. If this describes you, and you want to become a far better player than you are now, this is a book you should read. I read an advance copy. You should be able to get hold of this book in September, at all the usual locations, and if you want to raise your game, you should read it, and read it again.

My other discovery during BARGE—and I should preface this by saying I like downtown Las Vegas though I never ventured over to this place—was something I’ve known about for years. It’s the 99-cent shrimp cocktail at the Golden Gate, the oldest hotel and casino in Las Vegas now in its 101 year. It’s always on Anthony Curtis’ list of best bargains in Las Vegas. I knew about it, but I’d never eaten there before.

Wade Andrews from Hold’em Radio and I ventured over. We opted for the $2.99 shrimp cocktail, which has big shrimp instead of the small, bay shrimp in the 99-cent special. Even with that splurge, we had four portions each, a couple of soft drinks, and our bill still totaled less than $27. The Golden Gate is really a terrific place. It’s very Art Deco in design, and in the back of the casino, where you sit and eat your shrimp cocktail, there’s a live pianist. The music is good and the ambiance is too. It reminds me of one of those places in New Orleans where you wander in when it starts raining, thinking you’ll sit there for 30 minutes until the rain lets up, but it’s so unexpectedly good in all ways that you don’t wander out for about six hours.

The Golden Gate is worth a trip to Glitter Gulch for the food and the vibe.

Aside from the eating BARGE was all good, as usual: a chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones, as well as play in some fairly competitive tournaments that had a variety of players, from raw beginners to Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Andy Bloch, and Gavin Smith.

I monied in one of the events. That’s it. But the fun factor—as it does every year during the first week in August–—made it all worthwhile and then some.