WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack Appears on "Keep Flopping Aces" This Thursday at 6 p.m., Pacific Time

Commissioner of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack, will be my guest this Thursday on Keep Flopping Aces, which is webcast on http://www.roundersradio.com/ at 6 p.m. Pacific Time (9 p.m. Eastern Time).

The show can be heard live, worldwide, in real time, as well as in repeat on Friday afternoon. It is also downloadable as a podcast a few days after airing live.

Pollack worked hard to grow the WSOP to its current size during his relatively short tenure with Harrah’s. I want to ask him about what’s new for this year’s WSOP, plans for the future of the event, and check out some of the rumors that have been swirling about—particularly those concerning plans to bring the final nine players back in November to play the final table, which can then be televised in near real time.

This rumor seems to have a life of its own, and is just one of the things I want to chat about with Jeffrey Pollack.

Next year will be the 40th anniversary of the WSOP, and I’m also interested in learning what special plans are afoot to celebrate that.

This should be a terrific show, and you can call in and ask Jeffrey Pollock your own questions. I’ll give out the call-in numbers at the top of the show and again after we return from our commercial break at about 6:30 p.m.

Hope you can all tune in and listen.

Poker Players Alliance Reaches One Million Members

More than one million poker enthusiasts have joined the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group. The organization announced this significant milestone today as it launched a voter registration program and its political action committee (PAC).

“Reaching one million members puts the PPA on par with such political powerhouses as AARP and the National Association of Realtors, and will allow us to advocate even more effectively on behalf of our members,” said PPA Chairman former senator Alfonse D’Amato (pictured right).

As part of PPA’s ongoing advocacy efforts, and to fully leverage its growing membership, the organization launched a comprehensive voter registration campaign this week to underscore the growing political activism among the poker community. With a goal of registering 100,000 poker players as new voters, the If You Play, Have a Say campaign will reach out to PPA members who are not currently registered to vote and raise awareness as to why being active in the political process is important to the future of poker.

PPA members can go online to http://www.poker2008.org/ to complete a simple online form in order to register to vote in their state. In addition to the online voter registration and a direct mail program, the If You Play, Have a Say campaign will include onsite voter registration drives in key battleground states as well as during the 2008 World Series of Poker beginning May 30.

The PPA also launched PokerPAC, its political action committee. PokerPAC, open to dues paying members of PPA as well as PPA Board Members and employees, will further strengthen the group’s efforts on Capitol Hill. PPA Chairman D’Amato will serve as the PAC chairman, with former Congressman Toby Moffett as vice chairman and poker pro Annie Duke as an honorary PokerPAC board member.

You can learn more about the PPA and the If You Play, Have a Say campaign, at http://www.poker2008.org/ or http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/.

Billionaire Founder Calvin Ayre Retires From Bodog

Bodog Loses it's "Face"

International billionaire playboy founder of Bodog, Calvin Ayre, will retire from his largely ceremonial role as the face of Bodog, and will no longer be involved in Bodog’s operations.

You Could See This One Coming

The handwriting’s been on the wall for a while. In mid 2007 he successfully transferred ownership of the Bodog brand in North America to the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, and then put a European executive team that is already managing Bodog Europe and Africa, and plans to further expand to Latin America.

The Morris Mohawk Gaming Group, led by Olympic Gold medalist, Order of Canada recipient and First Nations' leader Alwyn Morris, is located in the Kahnawake territory, just outside Montreal, and is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission to offer gaming services from Kahnawake to users worldwide.

Calvin Will be Dipping His Feet in Antigua's Warm Waters

Ayre will be taking some time to himself in his home in Antigua and will continue to support charitable opportunities through the Calvin Ayre Foundation.

Ayre noted that, “While it has been great fun to live my life in front of the world’s cameras and online though my blog, I am looking forward to a more private and meaningful period of giving back and working to support the Calvin Ayre Foundation.”

Players Settle Dispute With World Poker Tour

Five of the original seven players—Chris Ferguson (pictured right), Andrew Bloch, Annie Duke, Phil Gordon, and Howard Lederer—who brought suit against World Poker Tour Enterprises, operators of the World Poker Tour—announced that the suit was settled. Greg Raymer and Joe Hachem, who were originally parties to the suit, dropped their involvement before the settlement.

Players claimed that the WPTE player release forced them to violate endorsement agreements and rights to images that these players and their sponsors contracted for, and because of that, the players had to forego taking part in WPT events. The action, an antitrust case, alleged that WPTE conspired to eliminate competition and violate the intellectual property rights of these players. WPTE denied that their player release was in “… in violation of antitrust or other laws."

According to Chris Ferguson, the settlement was fair for all poker players: "We are happy to have come to an agreement that is fair to all players, and to have put in place a new release that clears up ambiguities in how players' images may be used. We are especially happy that this new release will apply to all poker players who wish to participate in WPT tournaments and events. WPTE has created some of the best poker events in the world, and we are excited to participate in them once again."

In their statement WPTE said that while it did not constitute any admission of wrongdoing, the company “… continues to deny any liability or wrongdoing, but wants to settle its differences with the players so that the tour can focus on its continued growth rather than litigation."

WPTE founder and CEO Steve Lipscomb said, "We are glad to put this dispute behind us, and we look forward to working with all players to grow the sport of poker."

I’m glad to see this unfortunate lawsuit concluded, but I’m still left to wonder about whether this is too little, too late. With the (over) saturation of poker on television, I don’t know how the World Poker Tour will carve out its slice of the economic pie in future years.

The World Series of Poker has history and tradition on its side. In addition, Harrah’s creates revenue streams from room sales, restaurant, souvenir sales, and player entry fees, as well as producing programming for ESPN.

The World Poker Tour is a guest at the sites that host their tournaments, and cannot monetize collateral streams of income as well as Harrah’s can with its WSOP. They are essentially in the business of producing TV programming—initially for the Travel Channel and now for the lower-rated Game Show Network. As they continue to compete with poker on networks that have higher ratings, such as ESPN, and even compete against themselves because it’s sometimes tough for viewers to tell whether the WPT show they’ve tuned in is new or a re-run, they run the risk of losing shelf space.

They’ve made it through six seasons. Time will tell whether there’ll be a seventh season, and if it will be a success going forward.

Another Idiotic Poker Bust

Here’s another in a series of stupid poker busts that made the news. The Fort Mill Times, a Rock Hill, South Carolina newspaper reported on poker arrests in Alaska … as if that’s of national concern, or of any interest at all to South Carolinians living 3,000 miles away.

Anyway, the gist of the story was that Samuel Henry, the last of eight people accused in this case, was sentenced for operating an illegal poker room in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. He received a two-year suspended sentence—just like the others in the case—and ordered to perform 40 hours of community service.

Henry ran an illegal poker room for James McDowell, a former Chugiak High School vice principal. McDowell got a two-year suspended sentence and a $5,000 fine.

They busted the poker room a year ago, finding more than $9,000 in cash, 14 poker tables and 11 players.
It’s just another imbecilic waste of police power, time, manpower, and effort. With 14 tables and only 11 players, they could have allowed the place to fail on its own. I don’t know what time of day they conducted the raid, but with only 11 players in a 14-table room, business wasn’t exactly booming.

Isn’t Alaska supposed to be the last of the live-and-let-live states, were people go to reinvent themselves, and don’t much care about what their neighbors do unless it impinges on them? Live and learn, I suppose. The bureaucratic vibe certainly seems to have taken hold there—at least as far as protecting the unsuspecting public from the gambling habits of 11 poker players who are now presumably going to be spending a month’s worth of weekends picking up trash from the side of the road.

New Agua Caliente Opens this Saturday

I’ve been watching them build the brand new Agua Caliente Hotel, complete with a substantial spa, new restaurants, and other destination resort amenities for a while now. After all, I’m a regular in the poker room, where we had to live with construction noise and the disappearance of a couple of the old restaurants while the new ones were under construction.
The hotel also lies on one of my regular bike ride routes, a climb up the hill on Bob Hope Drive that fronts the new hotel, where I would bend my neck and watch the construction as I pedaled and pondered whether it would all be worth the effort.

Yesterday I went on a media preview tour to find out. The short answer is that it was well worth the effort. We toured the new hotel’s public areas, the spa, conference center, and outdoor areas, as well as the rooms—which ranged from a “standard” room to the executive suites, and presidential suites too.

It is all tres cool, and the amenities in the standard rooms are on a par with those in the bigger suites. Size and location are the main differences. The suites are significantly larger, 1,650 square feet for the presidential suites compared to 550 square feet for deluxe guest rooms, and from their position atop the 175 foot tall hotel, the views are more expansive. Oh yes, there’s the little matter of thread count. The sheets in the presidential suites are 400 thread count. Guests in the other suites have to make do with a 300 thread count—not that I could ever tell the difference.

The décor has a modern feel, in keeping with the architectural vibe in the Palm Springs area, but it is not the cold look of what’s called “mid-century modern.” It’s a lot warmer than that, with more texture, and a warmer color palate.

The new hotel has 340 rooms with 9-foot high windows, flat screen TVs, internet access, and if you don’t like recycled hotel air, each room has fresh air ducted directly inside. From April 20 – June 15, you can book a room for $89, Sunday through Thursday.

The property, which also features a small conference center and a new showroom that’s scheduled to open in the fall, now features five restaurants. The Grand Palms Buffet has been remodeled. The old Steakhouse has been completely redesigned and moved to a new location. New are the Wet Bar, Java Caliente, and the Waters Café. The old deli is now the new Poker Deli, located adjacent to the poker room.

The poker room has a few new amenities, but is still an 11-table room that gets the bulk of the poker action in the Coachella Valley. It’s always very busy “in season,” though it slows down a bit in the summer, when many of the snowbirds depart for their summer homes. That’s beginning to change, however, as the area continues to attract many more year-round residents than it had in years past. Most of the time you'll find fixed-limit games ranging from $3-$6 to $20-$40, and no-limit games at $1-$2 and $2-$5. There’s also a $6-$12 Omaha/8 game every day.

So there’s something for the majority of players’ budgets, and while some us have clamored for $30-$60 or $40-$80, we all manage to enjoy the roster of available games.

The public grand opening is this Saturday, April 19. If you’re in the area, come by and enjoy it. Or make a weekend of it. After all, Agua Caliente casino is now a destination resort with 11 poker tables and a gaggle of brand new restaurants waiting for you.

Burt Reynolds Poker Pic "Deal" to See Limited Release

Deal, the poker movie starring Burt Reynolds and Shannon Elizabeth, will see a limited release beginning April 25. The movie was finished two years ago and has been languishing on the shelves all this time. A limited release sounds like the last chance for this film to find an audience and see the light of day in general release if it happens to draw crowds.

The recent history of poker movies is that they are not blockbusters—not by any stretch of the imagination—and not even the Matt Damon film, Rounders, can really be called a hit. While it’s achieved iconic status within the poker community, it was never considered a big hit at the box office.

My guess is that Deal will see limited release, and in case you blink and miss it, you’ll probably find it somewhere late at night on a cable channel sometime this summer.

Another Mindless Poker Bust--to What Purpose?

According to reporter Tara Lynn of Charleston, South Carolina’s News 2, “Poker tables, cards, chips and tens of thousands of dollars. This is what investigators confiscated from several homes where dozens of people met each week to play poker.”

Sheriff Al Canon was quoted as saying, “this is a violation of the law," a law the sheriff admits is out of date but one that he has to enforce.

But, according to Lynn’s story, “the owner of the home investigators raided Friday night, Orlando Reyes, hopes to change the law by fighting his charges of unlawful betting.” Lynn quotes Reyes a saying, "This was money we earned and we wanted to spend it among friends I didn't think it was a big deal. Was it a law? Yes it was a law, but I didn't think it was that big of a deal."

I picked this story up on line, and there’s nothing really remarkable about it. It probably happens dozens of times each month somewhere in the United States. Yet when you stop to think about it, isn’t this an incredible waste of public safety resources, taxpayers’ dollars, never mind the time and expense to push this case through the criminal justice system?

And when all is said and done, what exactly, will have been said, and what will have been done? Are we safer? Has crime been contained? Have dangerous outlaws been brought to justice? Was the cost to pursue this sort of thing been worth the cost? So what if it is a law? There are loads of outdated laws still on the books that are never enforced.

Justice and police power has to be tempered by common sense, and busting card games that pose no threat to the public’s safety, and serve no public purpose is bureaucracy run amok. Sheriff Al Canon needs to apply a bit of common sense to his public priorities.

And while poker player Orlando Reyes seems to share my philosophical take on this example of public stupidity, he probably won’t wind up winning his case. The saving grace is that at the end of the day, Reyes figures to only get his wrist slapped, pay a fine, and go about his business.

And no matter which side you’re on, can you tell me what will have been accomplished?

Can Representatives Barney Frank and Ron Paul Prevent Implementation of UIGEA?

A bill introduced in congress a few days ago by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA, pictured right) and Ron Paul (R-TX) would prohibit the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System from proposing, prescribing, or implementing any regulations related to the current ban on Internet gambling, as required by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA).

Testimony before Congress last week offered proof that financial services institutions face serious regulatory burdens in attempting to enforce UIGEA and related regulations, which is unlikely to stop millions of Americans from gambling online.

Representatives from the Credit Union National Association, Financial Services Roundtable, American Bankers Association and Wells Fargo & Co. testified about the burden they would unnecessarily face before the House Committee on Financial Service’s Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology on April 2. The current UIGEA law is ambiguous and allows for multiple interpretations of what may or may not be illegal activities.

Their comments reflect the concerns echoed in the more than 200 comments submitted to the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System.

According to the Safe and Secure Internet Gaming Initiative’s Jeff Sandman, “The Frank-Paul bill would stop the U.S. government from taking any further steps on regulations that would require all of the country’s financial institutions to block Internet Gambling payments.

“It’s a bold move,” added Sandman, “but a necessary one, in light of the warnings from the Treasury and Federal Reserve that they did not know how to write regulations to solve the problems created by UIGEA. Further, witnesses representing a broad spectrum of the financial services community unanimously stated that the current ban on Internet gambling is dangerous to the payments system and ineffective in stopping people from using the Internet to play poker, make bets on horses, or engage in other types of wagering.”

Frank also introduced legislation last year, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046), to regulate Internet gambling. Frank’s bill would require licensed Internet gambling operators to put in place safeguards to protect against underage and compulsive gambling and ensure the integrity of financial transactions.

A companion piece of legislation to the Frank bill introduced by Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA), the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 (H.R. 5523), would ensure the collection of taxes on regulated Internet gambling activities.

According to a tax revenue analysis prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, taxation of regulated Internet gambling is expected to generate between $8.7 billion to $42.8 billion in federal revenues over its first 10 years.

Against the Wind (no poker content)

“Are we having fun yet?” That’s what another rider asked me about 10 miles into the Stagecoach Century, and out-and-back course in the middle of nowhere that began and returned to Ocotillo, an isolated desert enclave about an hour or so east of San Diego, and about 20 miles from El Centro.

“Not until the winds die down,” I said as I took a swig from my water bottle and continued to peddle on, uphill into a 20 to 30 mile per hour wind that was blowing straight at me, though sometimes when the road turned it came at an angle from north-northwest.

I signed up for this ride because it sounded like a great day of riding on isolated roads with only two stop sign for the entire course, and I had aspirations of doing the entire century ride—50 miles out and 50 back, for a total of 100 miles, or at least 60 to 70 miles, depending on how I felt and how the weather was.

The temperature was in the upper 60s early in the morning, so that was not a problem at all. But the wind was another story, and I can’t recall ever riding into that sustained combination of high wind while going uphill. There was no way I was going to ride 100 miles that day. None.

The online promotional material described the Stagecoach Century as a “challenging course,” with the out-bound leg up hill and into a breeze, but the return promised the wind at my back the entire way. To tell you the truth, I’d have preferred having the wind at my back on the way out, to push me up the hills, while allowing gravity to pull me back to Ocotillo on the return leg.

I stayed at the host hotel the night before the ride, so I picked up up my rider number and bag of goodies there. They told me I could start anytime I got to Ocotillo, and that the majority of riders would begin at about 7:30 a.m.

I got out to the course early, just as the sun was coming up. My thought was to get started before the desert winds kicked up. “The wind was blowing all night,” one of the volunteers told me.

But I was there, and there was no reason not to begin riding as early as possible, so I pedaled off into the desert along with a few other early birds, heading north by northwest. Ocotillo is just at the base of mountain passes that separate San Diego from Imperial County, and wind speeds are accelerated as they are sucked through the relatively narrow pass.

You don’t need to know much about physics to realize that it was a windy spot, and the sustained winds abated only occasionally. In any event, they were more than offset by gusts that tore through at a lot higher than 30 mph.

I’m used to windy weather. I live in the Coachella Valley, where we have strong winds too. But if I were home, I would not ride in that sort of gale. I’d have bagged it until later in the day, or like a wuss, skipped riding entirely.

The first rest stop was at the 10 or 12 mile mark, and I briefly stopped there. The porta-potties were weighted down with sand bags to keep them from blowing over—what a story that would have been if they did manage to blow over with someone inside it—but standing inside one, you could feel it shake and rattle in the wind and I was happy to get in and out of there in a hurry.

I found my peddling rhythm on the hills, which weren’t all that steep except for some short sections, but the wind continued to blow, and thay were the story of the day. By the time I reached the second rest stop, at the 25 mile mark, I needed to refill my water bottle, feast on orange slices, peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches, a Cliff Bar, and I came to the irrevocable realization I wasn’t going one more mile into that wind.

I turned my bike around and headed back to Ocotillo. Now the wind was at my back. I wasn’t eating sand any longer, though I could still feel grit in my teeth. I literally flew back to the starting point, and I’m sure that my return trip marked the fastest 25-miles I’ve ever ridden—though I surely paid the price on the outbound portion of the ride.

Cycling is all about suffering, or so cyclists are fond of saying. I suffered on this ride, and so did everyone else who rode it with me. Despite the winds, the better riders still did 100 miles and probably averaged more than 20-23 miles per hour all told. It took me about four hours to go 50 miles, including time at the rest stops. That’s not really a meaningful average though, because it seemed to take me all morning to traverse the first 25 miles and no time at all on the return leg.

I’ll try to post a picture later in the week. Will I do it again next year? Yeah, Probably. But I'll get in an early request for calm winds.

Prohibition on Internet Gambling a Failure

U.S. Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Financial Service Companies Call Proposed Rules Unworkable

(Washington, D.C. – April 2, 2008) Expert testimony to Congress today offered further evidence that the ban on Internet gambling won’t work. Witnesses unanimously agreed that U.S. financial service companies would face serious regulatory burdens in attempting to enforce the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), a law that is not likely to stop millions of Americans from gambling online.

Representatives of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System acknowledged the challenges U.S. financial institutions will face in attempting to comply with UIGEA. Since most payment systems are not well designed to comply with this law, “it will be very difficult to shut off payment systems for use of Internet gambling transactions,” said Ms. Louise Roseman, Director, Division of Federal Reserve Bank Operations and Payment Systems, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. "The implementing statute will not be iron clad at all."

Representatives from the American Bankers Association, Financial Services Roundtable, Wells Fargo & Co. and Credit Union National Association unanimously opposed regulations proposed to implement UIGEA in testimony to the House Committee on Financial Service’s Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade, and Technology. They all questioned the fundamental approach taken by Congress in enacting legislation to force financial institutions to police online gambling.

“The UIGEA and the Proposed Rule do not provide a rational path towards halting unlawful Internet gambling,” said Wayne Abernathy, American Bankers Association’s executive vice president of financial institutions policy and regulatory affairs. “The path leads to an increased cost and administrative burden to the banks and an erosion in the performance of the payments system, but it will not result in stopping illegal Internet gambling transactions. Imposing this enormous unfunded law enforcement mandate on banks in place of the government’s law enforcement agencies is not likely to be a successful public policy.”

In his testimony, Leigh Williams, president of the technology division of the Financial Services Roundtable stated concerns that enforcement of the proposed rules “... could impose significant compliance burdens on financial institutions by increasing their role in policing illegal activities, determining whether a transaction is illegal, or by imposing ambiguous compliance requirements that could be subject to wide variations in interpretation by regulators and law enforcement agencies. We believe these functions are more appropriate for law enforcement agencies.”

The testimony supports over 200 comments submitted to the Department of the Treasury and Federal Reserve System on the burden and ambiguity in the proposed rules to implement UIGEA.

Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA) introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2046) last year, which establishes a regulatory and enforcement framework for licensed gambling operators to accept bets and wagers from individuals in the U.S. It would include a number of built-in consumer protections, including safeguards against compulsive and underage gambling, money laundering, fraud and identity theft. States would also have the right to control what, if any, level of Internet gambling is permissible within their borders and could apply additional taxes and restrictions.

A companion piece of legislation to the Frank bill introduced by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA), the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act of 2008 (H.R. 5523), would ensure the collection of taxes on regulated Internet gambling activities. According to a tax revenue analysis prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers, taxation of regulated Internet gambling is expected to generate between $8.7 billion to $42.8 billion in federal revenues over its first 10 years.

“Testimony from the federal regulators and representatives of the financial services community made clear today that the prohibition on Internet gambling isn’t working now and will not work in the future,” said Jeffrey Sandman, spokesman for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative. “U.S. banks and credit card companies, along with every other type of U.S. company involved in payment systems, would be forced spend substantial resources to force compliance with a ban on Internet gambling that can be easily circumvented by anyone in the U.S. that wants to continue to gamble online.

“Rather than trying to implement a ban that is unclear, burdensome and doomed to fail, Congress should instead look to regulate Internet gambling in order to protect consumers and collect billions of dollars that is being lost to offshore Internet gambling operators,” added Sandman.

Testimony provided at the hearing can be found at http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/financialsvcs_dem/hr040208.shtml.

Al D'Amato Statement at House Financial Services Committee Hearing

Former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), issued the following statement on yesterday’s hearing before the House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

“I commend the House Financial Services Committee for holding today’s hearing to better understand the burdens UIGEA places on the banking industry. As many banks have commented, UIGEA is completely unworkable and puts undue strain on the financial industry’s relationship with its customers.

"Banks should not be deputized by the federal government to enforce unclear laws that prevent their customers from enjoying lawful Internet poker. Even the Federal Reserve in its testimony agrees that the myriad of gambling laws are ‘not well-settled and can be subject to varying interpretations.’ If the regulators don’t know what an ‘unlawful internet gambling’ transaction is how can the banks be expected to know?

“The proposed UIGEA regulations are troublesome but the trouble started with the statute. It is not practical, nor is it sound federal policy to try to prohibit adults from engaging in games of skill on the Internet. We urge members of Congress to reconsider this legislation and move towards regulation of online poker that will protect children and problem gamblers, fight fraud and abuse and collect billions in federal and state tax revenue.

“We look forward to working with Chairman Barney Frank, the Financial Services Committee and all Members of Congress to address Internet gambling in a reasonable and responsible fashion.”