08 7th, 2010
In the 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale, Jr.(played by Leonardo DiCaprio) is a con man and counterfeiter on the run from the FBI. He is charismatic, and while entertainment value could be found in many of his exploits, he is a criminal, plain and simple. Even though he should have been put away for a long, long time after he got caught, he only spent a relatively short time in prison because FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) offered him a deal: work for the FBI uncovering fraud and counterfeiting schemes and become a free man. The bad guy used his criminal skills to make himself a legitimate success.
Recently, events in the poker world have loosely mirrored those in the film. Three major problems were discovered at online poker rooms over the last few months: significant encryption flaws on both the Cereus and Cake networks and a bot ring at . The interesting thing about them is that they may have gone on unchecked were it not for a controversial player in the industry: PokerTableRatings.com (PTR).
Before I go on, let me clarify that I am not drawing a direct parallel between the folks at PTR and federal criminals. That would not be fair. But there is a similarity in what happened in Catch Me If You Can and what has been going on with PTR lately. PTR is poker hand aggregating site. It datamines at several different poker rooms and transforms that data into detailed information about every player at every one of those sites. Want to know how aggressive that guy in seat two normally is on the turn? PTR can tell you. Want to know if he’s a big winner or loser in that specific game? Check out PTR. The site has all sorts of tools that allow players to know everything about their opponents before ever laying eyes on them at the virtual felts. Some information can be had in limited quantities for free, but the good stuff is available only via a paid subscription. On top of that, players can actually purchase hand histories (PTR boasts that it has tracked over 8.7 billion hands) to download into their personal poker tracking software, such as PokerTracker or Hold’em Manager. For example, if I want hand histories for $.5/$1 short-handed No-Limit Hold’em games, I can buy 5 million of them for $195.
PTR’s services are not looked upon kindly by many players. The prevailing opinion seems to be that the availability of this information is bad for the game for several reasons, but three stand out. First, PTR’s services (note: there are other similar sites, as well) are almost exclusively used by strong “regulars,” giving them even more of an advantage than they already had over casual players. Casual players, or “fish,” as people like to call the lesser skilled ones, are good for the poker economy because they are the ones who reload and inject more money into the sites. The faster they have their money sapped, the faster they are likely to just give up on poker. Second, there are inevitably regulars who get mad about a suckout and then berate the “fish” who won the hand, announcing to everybody how much money PTR says that player has lost. Players don’t like to be embarrassed or feel unwelcome, so they are more likely to leave the site if it happens. Third, data aggregators like PTR just make the games worse, as their customers will scour the poker rooms looking for juicy games (PTR has a tool that can find you the best games), only willing to sit down when they find some fish to abuse. This is most noticeable in the heads-up lobbies, as regulars often refuse to play against anyone who PTR reveals is a good player, making it hard to find a game.
Oh, and on top of all that, it is against the terms and conditions of pretty much every poker rooms to buy, sell, or share hand histories of hands in which you were not involved. Thus, PTR blatantly breaks the rules in offering its services.
But now things have gotten interesting. The site that so many considered to be the “bad guy” has now helped the industry and poker players immensely. It found security problems on two major networks, potentially saving players and the poker rooms thousands, or even millions, of dollars. And if PTR hadn’t existed, it would have been much, much harder for the PokerStars bots to have been found, as there likely would not have been such large amounts of data on those bots all in one place. Players may have had their suspicions, but without all the information that PTR had, there is no guarantee that the bots would have been caught.
So, PTR and similar sites can be valuable assets to the industry. Where the poker rooms fall short in their security, the hand tracking sites can fill in the gaps. But are the benefits worth the problems they pose? I’m not so sure, but at the same time, putting all that information in the hands of a knowledgeable third party, not to mention all the poker players who pay for it, can really help clean up online poker. Fewer bots, colluders, and even possible superusers will attempt to cheat players because they know people have the tools to catch them. And those that do still try to make their money in a dirty way will be easier to stop.
It’s an interesting debate. I’ve always been squarely in the “PTR is bad” camp, but I do see the value the site can offer and have most definitely appreciated the site’s efforts in weeding out poker’s issues lately. Is there some sort of middle ground? I don’t know. The debate will rage on.
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08 6th, 2010
No, it’s not a slang term for a night out at Chippendales. The Endowment Effect is a very real force currently twisting your mind and affecting your ability to play rational poker. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look at two scenarios with our hypothetical hero, Bob.
SCENARIO #1
Bob is in a Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em match against a tight, straightforward player.
Blinds: $0.50 / $1
Villain: ($100) Dealer
BOB: ($100) Big Blind
Dealt to BOB: 
Pre-Flop (Pot: $1.50)
Villain RAISE to $3
BOB RAISE to $12
Villain CALL
Flop (Pot: $24)
“Damn,” thinks Bob. Why is there always an ace on the flop? He fumes for a second, but realizes that there’s no guarantee his opponent has an ace, so his kings might still be good.
BOB BET $22
Villain ALL-IN $88
A stream of profanities pours from Bob, but his inner monologue goes something like this: “The villain has an ace here, right? Maybe, but I’ve got kings! It’s a monster! He could be shoving with 9-9 through Q-Q or a wheel draw or even on a stone cold bluff, right? Sure, he’s been playing tight, but everyone bluffs at least 10% of the time – I think I read that in a book somewhere. Screw this guy, there’s no way he’s making me throw my cowboys away!”
Getting about 2 to 1 on his money, Bob angrily makes the call… and loses to his opponent’s A-J.
SCENARIO #2
Bob is in a Heads-Up No Limit Hold’em match against a tight, straightforward player.
Blinds: $0.50 / $1
Villain: ($100) Dealer
BOB: ($100) Big Blind
Dealt to BOB: 
Bob hasn’t been very active recently, so he decides to try to pick up this pot pre-flop with a bluff against his tight opponent.
Pre-Flop (Pot: $1.50)
Villain RAISE to $3
BOB RAISE to $12
Villain CALL
Flop (Pot: $24)
Well, the 3bet failed miserably, but since there’s no guarantee his opponent has an ace, Bob tries to win with a continuation bet.
BOB BET $22
Villain ALL-IN $88
“Oops,” Bob thinks, chuckling. But, just as he goes to click the fold button, a genie appears in a puff of smoke and makes him this proposition: “Bob, if you make this call, I have the power to magically transform your 7-2 into pocket kings! Whaddaya say?”
Bob thinks about it, but quickly realizes that he’d really be no better off with kings than 7-2. Since it’s overwhelmingly likely that his tight opponent indeed has an ace, Bob would be drawing to only two outs even with K-K. The 2 to 1 pot odds aren’t nearly enough to warrant that gamble, so Bob politely refuses the genie’s offer and instead folds the hand.
Notice anything about the two scenarios? That’s right, they’re effectively identical. In both cases, the action, pot size, bet size, board texture, and opponent’s likely holdings are exactly the same. And Bob is being asked to risk the same amount to show down pocket kings in both hands. So why was he willing to call off his stack in the first situation, but fold in the second? Shouldn’t his decision be the same in both scenarios?
If Bob were a computer, then it would be. But, Bob isn’t – he’s a human being. And human beings are flawed, wonderfully irrational creatures. Tucked away in Bob’s mind are hidden cognitive biases that are skewing his perception and affecting his decision-making.
One of the forces at work here is the Endowment Effect. It’s a fancy psychological term, but what it boils down to is that people tend to value items that they own higher than identical items that they don’t own. For instance, subjects in an experiment were willing to pay, on average, $6 for a travel coffee mug presented to them. Then, they were given the mugs for free and an hour later asked how much they would be willing to sell those same mugs for. In just one hour of ownership, the average price for the mugs had risen from $6 to $9! Once the mugs became personal property, the subjects became attached to and emotionally invested in them and the mugs’ perceived value increased.
And now our Bob examples start to make a little more sense. In Scenario #1, Bob already owned the kings. They were his, by God, and he’d invested money and emotional energy in them. He’d be damned if he was going to throw them away for just one more bet. The Endowment Effect distorted his valuation of their relative strength, so much so that he was willing to pay a premium to avoid having to throw them away. But in Scenario #2, Bob had no such claim to ownership and so it was much easier for him to look at the situation objectively and make a rational decision.
Maybe you wouldn’t make Bob’s mistake, but many players do every day. And you probably make similar mistakes you aren’t even aware of. How often have you mocked an opponent for playing a hand like J-7o only to find yourself playing the same hand later? Logically speaking, J-7o is J-7o, but the perceived value shifts when it’s your J-7o, doesn’t it?
When you break down the game, poker is all about estimating value. Under a certain set of circumstances, what is X hand worth? Is it worth a call? A bet? A raise? If so, how much? And how does that value shift now that we’ve seen what our opponent has done? We’re constantly calculating the value of our property (our hands) and we do it multiple times every pot, hundreds of times an hour, and thousands of times a session.
It’s crucial that we are aware of any psychological force that might distort the perceived value of our hands and the Endowment Effect does just that. If we let it, the Endowment Effect can exert an invisible pull on each and every hand of poker we play, inflating the perceived strength of our own hands just because they’re ours. This helps explain why new players are such calling stations: every hand looks more valuable than it really is and by God, no one’s going to make them throw it away.
So, next time you’re put in a tough spot, try thinking about your hand in terms of how much you’d be willing to pay to buy it. Distance yourself from that feeling of ownership and you just might muffle the Endowment Effect enough to allow you to make a more objective and rational decision.
John “JimmyLegs” Wray is an instructor at and authors the popular “Brain Fail” series.
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08 6th, 2010
On Thursday, , the flagship site of the Cake Poker Network, mended its security issues by adding SSL encryption to its old client and new beta software. PokerTableRatings.com, which first reported the security vulnerability back on July 26th, has confirmed that it has not been able to crack the new encryption.
Lee Jones, Card Room Manager for Cake Poker, told Poker News Daily on Friday, “Player security is of the utmost importance to us. Our software team has been working overtime to add the SSL layer to our server-client communication and it is now in place on both our regular client and the new Client 2 beta version.” The security issue that plagued the Cake Poker Network was nearly the same as the one that occurred on the CEREUS Network in May. There, and were affected.
The Cake Poker Network used a custom-based XOR encryption that PokerTableRatings.com programmers were able to crack. In fact, the site suggested that any person could simply launch their Windows calculator, switch it to Scientific mode, and start decoding the Cake Poker Network’s XOR. Consequently, players who hit the virtual felts on an unsecured wireless network were in danger of having their hole cards and account information compromised.
Text found on PokerTableRatings.com explained, “This encoding leaves players’ accounts as well as hole cards vulnerable to being stolen by any third party who is in between the player and Cake’s servers, as well as anyone who can snoop on their traffic.” On August 4th, Cake Poker rolled out SSL for the old client, but ran into issues on Thursday and removed SSL entirely. PokerTableRatings.com staff speculated, “We believe this is due to serious stability problems they’ve had since implementing SSL support.”
By the end of the day Thursday, according to Jones, all Cake Poker Network skins and the network’s flagship site had SSL encryption. In response, PokerTableRatings.com admitted, “We have been unable to reproduce any of the vulnerabilities we detected previously.” If players were unsure as to whether they had SSL on their Cake Poker Network clients, they were advised to head to their C Drive, Program Files, and then navigate to the folder containing the name of their skin.
Once there, players were asked to look for the icon labeled ssleay32.dll. If the dll file is not present, then the software has not yet received the update. If it is present, then it is safe to play on the Cake Poker Network.
On TwoPlusTwo, a maelstrom of controversy erupted in a thread entitled “Possibly Superusers on Cake – Lee Jones/Cake Refusing to Respond.” The thread asserted in part, “Cake does not allow datamining [and] does allow name changes, making it pretty much impossible for the community to check for superusers ourselves.”
Meanwhile, traffic on the Cake Poker Network has dipped slightly as a result of the encryption issues. On July 31st and August 1st, the peak cash game traffic dove about 15% weekend over weekend according to PokerScout.com. On July 31st, the Cake Poker Network clocked in at 1,060 peak real money players, while on August 1st, that number rose to 1,097. It marked the first time in the last two months that the Network had turned in back-to-back days of peak ring game numbers below 1,100.
Besides Cake Poker, other rooms on the USA-friendly Network include , Intertops, , Red Star Poker, and ’s Unabomber Poker. Cake Poker allows players to change their user names once every seven days.
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08 6th, 2010
Topics: London, ESPN Inside Deal and Michael Jackson Online Casino
On today’s edition of the Daily Deal, the debuts in London, ESPN’s Inside Deal has and as guests, and Michael Jackson stirs controversy from the grave – into the online gaming world.
Hello, I’m Sean Gibson and welcome to the Daily Deal by Poker News Daily.
The World Poker Tour will make its first ever stop in London later this month. players have several opportunities to win a seat to the inaugural event. Satellites will be running over the coming weekend, ranging from freerolls to a $600 multi-table tournament that will take place on Sunday. Those who qualify for WPT London will receive a twelve-thousand dollar prize package including the buy-in, some spending money, and seven nights’ accommodation in one of Europe’s most expensive – and exciting – cities. The WPT London Poker Classic will take place from August 30th to September fifth at the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair. Players who confirmed their assistance include Tony G, , and . In another first for the WPT, will be joined in the floor by Jesse May to provide live commenting for the game.
On this week’s edition of the ESPN.com poker news program “Inside Deal,” two thousand and eight November Niner Dennis Phillips joined in for the entire episode. The hot topic of the week was the passage of HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, by the House Financial Services Committee. The crew also debated whether the final table of the Player’s Championship should have been only No Limit Hold’em. David Baker joined the program via phone to discuss why he held out on an endorsement deal while driving to a 17th place finish:
“I just knew that most of the money was deep in the tournament itself plus the endorsements. You had a lot more leverage later on. Obviously, poker is very volatile, so they don’t want to pay for too much early, but if they know you’re going to get a lot of camera time, they’re willing to pay a little bit more.”
“Inside Deal” is released every Tuesday on ESPN.com.
The king of pop may have passed away over a year ago, but the controversy is alive and well. According to a report on Monday by TMZ.com, someone started an online casino called MichaelJacksonCasino.com and the King of Pop’s estate is none too pleased about it. The website, which was taken down within the last couple days, featured an image of the poster for Jackson’s film Moonwalker, and the text, “The King of Pop is proud to bring you the most exciting Vegas style online casino betting experience on the Net!” According to Jackson’s estate, the casino did not have permission to use Jackson’s likeness or any other trademarks.
Thanks for joining me on The Daily Deal. Don’t forget to visit PokerNewsDaily.com and be sure to follow us at Twitter.com/PokerNewsDaily for the latest in poker news. This is Sean Gibson, good luck on the flop!
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08 5th, 2010
While having the finest year of her young poker career, has officially left the Team UB stable, making her a highly prized free agent for other online poker rooms.
Back on July 8th, Poker News Daily first reported during coverage of the () Main Event that Boeree was not wearing any UB branding while playing in the $10,000 buy-in tournament. Additionally, official press releases from representatives did not have her on their list of players. At that time, Poker News Daily was able to confirm that there were negotiations in place for the online room and Boeree to remain partners, leading to speculation that a deal was forthcoming and she would remain a member of Team UB. Further investigation has revealed that those talks have broken down.
At UB.com, any mention of Boeree on the site has been removed, including photos, blogs, and her place on the Team UB roster. The extent of the site cleaning house has gone to the point of “tags” (aids to find certain subject matter) on the blog section of UB.com not listing Boeree’s name, her EPT San Remo victory, or any of her activities of late. Attempts to contact UB.com officials were not answered at press time.
If Boeree has truly left the UB fold, several appealing options present themselves. There is a great likelihood that she could end up with one of the two major players in the online poker industry, or Poker, helping to advance her career through their U.S.-friendly practices and deep pockets. It is also possible that Boeree – who calls London, the United Kingdom, home – could sign with a European-friendly poker room, much like ’s or BetClic’s . The opportunities are endless for a lady who has broken out of the shadows in 2010.
At the start of the year, Boeree was known more for her electric approach to life than her achievements on the poker table. Her passion for hard rock – including most things metal – and her passionate pursuit of a breakneck lifestyle seemed to keep her from hitting her full stride in the poker world. That ended back in April, however, when Boeree achieved her breakthrough poker moment in winning the championship of the European Poker Tour’s San Remo stop. The first place prize in the largest event ever held in Europe, €1,250,000 (slightly over $1.8 million at the time), demonstrated her skills in the game and marked her as one of the potential stars for 2010 and the future.
On another UB.com front, the is shaping up to be quite a battle. There is one question that many in the online world have hotly discussed since the final table of the Main Event was determined over two weeks ago. With the new rules by Harrah’s and WSOP officials that an online site can only have three representatives at the final table, who will PokerStars and Full Tilt pick and what place will UB.com have in the race to patch up players?
When the WSOP Main Event stopped for the November Nine on July 18th, seven of the nine players at the table were adorned with the colors. Because of the rule, however, Full Tilt is going to have to cut four of them (or make other arrangements) to abide by the guideline. PokerStars has two of the players at the November Nine final table, chip leader and short stacked , leaving the site with one slot to fill by the time chips fly in November.
Where this leaves UB.com is up in the air. With no players wearing their colors at the final table, there is some speculation that they might swoop in to pick up three sponsorships. It is also possible, however, that other online rooms could pick up the slack and take the three remaining players. Attempts to discuss the sponsorship situation with UB.com went unanswered.
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08 2nd, 2010
The following article was written by Ann-Margaret Johnston for Poker News Daily. Visit for more information.
I am often asked about what poker players need to know to stay out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This is quite a loaded question. Without a knowledgeable person to guide you, it’s easy to slip up. Here are a few things that you should be doing if you want to play poker and stay out of the way of tax trouble.
Keep Up with What You are Doing
It is so important to keep up with wins and losses. First of all, if you plan to be any good, you’ll want to do this anyway to gauge how your game is going. The most important reason to do this is that you need to list your wins and losses on your tax return. This is not as important if you are filing as a pro player. If you are filing poker as a hobby, you have to separate them out.
Expenses are another biggie. If you absolutely, positively are not going to file as a pro, you don’t need to worry about this. As a pro, you need to keep really good records so you can offset your profits. Such expenses for online players include internet, your desk, chair, monitors, laptop, air card, etc. Live players would include hotels, taxis, entertainment and business meals (per diem if you are working out of town), cell phone, airfare, and mileage to/from the airport for gambling trips.
Other things to consider would be subscriptions to online sites for training, magazines and books that are poker-related, videos, and software that you need for poker (such as training). As a pro player, you are able to deduct 100% of your health insurance if you have a profit. This can be huge! You can also deduct 100% of what you pay a tax professional for advice and tax preparation.
Know if You Owe
So many people never know if they are supposed to pay money to the IRS with estimated taxes, or “quarterlies.” This is a bit tricky, so I will try to break it down.
Let’s say you lived at home with your parents in 2009, graduated college, dabbled in poker, and at tax time, you figured out that you do not have to file a tax return. In 2010, after your parents give you the “what are you going to do with your life” speech, you decide to go to a tournament to see how you play live. Next thing you know, you just cashed for $1,250,000 in January 2010, and, luckily, you didn’t have any backers when you won! Now, do you owe the government any of this? When do you pay it? How much do you owe? What if you lose it all by the end of the year?
Here is the rule: always look at your prior year’s tax return to see what you need to do. What you need to pay to avoid penalties is based on what your tax was in the prior year. In this case, since you didn’t file a tax return for 2009, you really don’t have to pay anything to the IRS until April 15, 2011, which is when your 2010 tax return is due. Now, you may owe a ton of money, but you can keep it all year and not give it to the IRS until April 15, 2011. But, if you are the kind of person that would blow it all, you might want to send it in – the rule is that you do not have to.
Now, in this case, you come to me and we do your taxes by April 15, 2011 based on your wins, losses, and expenses for 2010. Let’s say you end up owing $375,000 to the IRS. Well, we need to start planning for your 2011 taxes, and, like before, you look at the tax on the prior year’s return. With income this high, the rule is that you have to pay 110% of your prior year’s tax or 90% of the current year’s tax. What does this mean? If you make as much or more in 2011, you need to make quarterly estimate payments of $93,750 each.
Now, what if 2011 is a horrible year and at the time we do your taxes on April 15, you are in the hole? In this case, you don’t have to pay anything in. This would be a point where we would need to look at your situation quarterly and try to do part two of that rule, which is to pay in 90% of what we think your current year’s tax is.
Sounds confusing and it is, unfortunately. This is why, no matter who you choose, you have to have a CPA that knows what they are doing and especially understands the world of poker.
Backing Your Buddy
So, you think Johnnie is a good player and you want to stake him in a tournament. Lucky for you, Johnnie wins a huge tournament for $480,000. You get 50% of this win once Johnnie gets his cash. So, the guys come out and ask Johnnie for his Social Security Number and address. Johnnie starts to worry because he knows that he is going to fork over $240,000 to you. He tells the casino that he only wants them to give him a Form W2G for his half. They look and chuckle with a “sorry dude” and write the W2G out to Johnnie for the full amount. Now what?
This is crucial! Johnnie has to give you a Form 1099-MISC at the end of the year for any money he pays you, which means he needs your address and Social. This is the only way he can get out of paying taxes on the full amount. Remember, it’s Johnnie’s responsibility to do this form. Even if he doesn’t give it to you, you still need to claim the money as income on your return. It only hurts Johnnie if he is audited later and didn’t do the form.
Foreign Bank Account and Reporting (FBAR)
I have tried for years to get the word out on this. This is the form that you have to do if you have an online poker account, which is considered to be a foreign bank account. You are supposed to find out the highest balance on each poker site at any time during the year and then report it on the form. You are not taxed on this; it’s just the government being nosey. This form has to be sent in each year by June 15 for the previous year’s balances. You don’t have to do this form if your total across all the sites falls short of $10,000.
What if you don’t want to file this? Well, it’s a requirement and if they find out you didn’t do it and you should have, the penalties are bad. Non-willful violations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 per account and if they feel it’s a willful violation, the fee is a minimum of $100,000 per account.
Now What?
Well, these are the biggies on what a player should be doing or considering when talking taxes. Again, make sure whoever helps you knows their stuff or you will be the one that is on the hook.
Ann-Margaret Johnston is a practicing CPA in North Georgia. She is the author of the book “How to Turn Your Poker Playing Into A Business.” Her website is , where you get information and e-mail her directly.
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Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment (HIE) has entered into an agreement with social game developer Playdom to release a new () game for Facebook, MySpace, and other networking sites. The game, which launched on Facebook earlier this week, will re-brand Playdom’s Poker Palace and serve millions of poker fans worldwide.
“We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social gaming space with Playdom,” said WSOP Vice President Craig Abrahams. “We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a Facebook-friendly endeavor.”
Poker enthusiasts will be able to choose from a variety of games and formats at WSOP on Facebook including single-table play money, virtual cash games, and single-table tournaments featuring full ring and short-handed play. Unlike sites like , , and , all games on the WSOP’s Facebook site will be “play money” only, but players can win WSOP branded virtual goods and receive chances to enter contests awarding prizes that include trips to Las Vegas and seats at WSOP events.
The initial response from players about the new WSOP game has been mixed, but as Abrahams expressed, HIE and Playdom will be working together to improve the product by adding regular updates and enhancements. The game will soon have a feature that allows players to find their friends and several table upgrades will be added in the near future. In addition, a variety of other social gaming platforms will be offered to play the game globally.
“There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker,” said Sean Phinney, Vice President of Business Development for Playdom. “We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience.”
Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment and the WSOP already feature one of the most popular mobile games in the marketplace, the World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend game created by Glu Mobile. The game is among the top selling paid apps available in the iTunes Store and is also available on Android and other carrier stores.
Users can build their bankrolls and win WSOP bracelets by playing events at several real Harrah’s properties, including Caesars Palace and the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the home of the WSOP. There is also a heads-up feature available where users can play against their friends via Bluetooth.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for continued WSOP headlines.
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07 30th, 2010
With Barney Frank’s Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act finally passing in the House Financial Services Committee this week, dreams of fully legal and regulated online poker have been revived in the poker community. Sure, there are some people who would prefer the status quo (and these people are mistaken, but that’s a whole other discussion), but most look at the 41-22 vote, despite the bill’s flaws, as a very positive step in the right direction. There is a long way to go in the legislative process, but if we eventually do see the United States market open up for legal online poker, what will things look like? What follows is my little brainstorm on what we might be able to expect and not expect from a potential Poker Boom II.
Fish Population
Most people expect that if the flood gates open to the U.S., millions upon millions of American fish will flood the poker waterways. We will return to the Golden Age of poker, circa 2004-2005, when it seemed like everyone was terrible at the game and profits could flow in for solid players as easily as water comes out of the tap.
I don’t really see this happening. To an extent, yes, but not as much as some like to fantasize. Naturally, if poker becomes completely legal in the U.S., there will be a significant initial injection of casual players who were afraid to play when it was “illegal.” They will also be encouraged to play since getting money to and from the sites will be easier. So, yes, games will likely become softer, at least for a while. But we won’t see pre- fish levels. Why? Mainly because even the fish are more skilled today than they were six or seven years ago. Keep in mind that before the poker renaissance, Fixed-Limit Hold’em was much more popular than No-Limit Hold’em. Much of the poker population was new to No-Limit, so as No-Limit became the game of choice, the average skill level was fairly low. Obviously, there will be plenty of new and poor poker players in Poker Boom II, but on average, the skill level of the population will be higher than it was back in the day because of all of the educational tools we now have at our disposal.
Poker Room Competition
I have no doubt that, unless the costs are insanely prohibitive, that all of the poker rooms and networks that have stayed out of the U.S. market will jump right back in should poker become 100 percent legal. And I think we all know that the U.S.-based brick and mortar gambling firms will be the first in line for licenses. There is some question right now as to whether the big players like and will be allowed to stay in the game, but my guess is that they will be major players one way or another. So, there should be a lot of competition, at least in the early going.
I predict, though (and I have no evidence to support this), that some of the smaller existing rooms/networks and, maybe even some of the bigger ones, will join up with the land-based American casino giants. It might just be a partnership, with the online poker room providing its technology and customers and the American company providing the U.S.-base of operations, “respected” name, and fast-track to a license. It could also be in the form of an American firm buying one of the online rooms as a quick way to get up and running.
In the long run, therefore, competition may narrow a bit (understanding that other new poker rooms will likely sprout up, too). And that’s not a bad thing. Competition is great. It is a catalyst for creativity, innovation, and progress, and gives customers choices. But in all honesty, I don’t know if I want too much competition in online poker, as it has the potential to split up the player base. One nice thing about online poker is that we can play on more than one site simultaneously, but with players so beholden to nowadays, it seems that more people stick to just one or two rooms so they can build up rakeback and rewards, rather than playing at whichever rooms have the best games or promos at any given time. I’d rather have a handful of large rooms competing hard against each other than scads of smaller rooms trying to eke out an existence.
Bonuses
Remember when the likes of and the Prima (now Microgaming) rooms routinely offered sweet deposit and reload bonuses several years ago? Those easy-to-earn, high value bonuses were my ticket to a growing bankroll. I do think that when the U.S. market opens up and the poker rooms roll in, there will be a lot of big bonuses offered as they all try to fight for our funds, but the days of the half-hour, $200 bonus are over. The poker rooms wised up a while back, realizing that they could offer high dollar amount bonuses and attract customers, but make them fairly difficult to earn, especially for low stakes players. I don’t think this will change. We might see some player-friendly bonuses early on, but I don’t think they will last.
Rake
One of the biggest fears poker players have about legalized and regulated internet poker is the taxes that will be imposed on the poker rooms will be passed through to the players in the form of higher rake. I don’t believe this will happen, and if it does, it will be very minor. I admittedly don’t have any numbers in front of me to back this up, but it makes sense to me that the poker rooms will save enough money from the reduced expenses of funds processing to make up for the potentially higher costs from taxes. Right now, online poker money processing is messy; poker rooms have to constantly look for new processors to skirt U.S. regulations and these processors likely aren’t as cheap as they once were. The poker rooms would probably be more than willing to pay a gaming tax if it meant slashing payment processing costs.
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07 30th, 2010
In November, the 25-year-old from Saint Louis Park, Mineasotta, will enter the final table with 7.7 million chips and try to parlay his 15 big blinds into the $8.9 million first place prize.
“I’m absolutely exhausted but I’m so excited I don’t even know if I could sleep,” Senti said right after making the final table.
Known as PBJaxx online, Senti is actually one of the most dangerous players at the final table. Currently an instructor with Phil Galfond’s Bluefire Poker, Senti has been known to crush online cash games anywhere from $5/$10 to $50/$100 stakes.
Originally from Grand Forks, Dakota, Senti attended the University of North Dakota where he acquired a degree in engineering.
After graduating Senti was able to secure a high paying job as an electrical engineer but became interested in the game of poker after seeing it on TV.
“I decided to give it a shot and deposited a few bucks online,” he said.
Unlike many players, Senti found immediate success. He humbly attributes much of it to variance now but after winning several tournaments Senti’s bankroll was booming.
From there Senti moved on to cash games and within a few months he had gone from playing $.05/$.10 to beating $1/$2 .
His meteoric rise in the online poker world didn’t stop there. In less than a year he was beating $10/$20 and then $25/$50.
Somewhere along the way Senti realized he was making more playing online poker in the evenings than at his high paying engineering position. Eventually Senti made the decision to start full-time.
“I was definitely fortunate with the amount of time it took me to move up and make a good living,” he said.
Senti will never claim he’s the best player in the world but there were several factors he believes helped accelerate his poker development.
“I have a pretty strong math background and I understand psychology reasonably well,” he said.
After several years of successfully earning a living playing poker, Senti garnered the attention of celebrated high stakes cash game player Phil Galfond.
Galfond wanted Senti to make videos for his training Bluefire Poker. Senti had a huge amount of respect for Galfond and happy to become an instructor for the site.
“Apart from it just being a good situation for me, I like teaching,” he said. “I like explaining things, whether it’s poker or not, and doing my best to help people.”
Unfortunately for Senti, his role as an instructor on the site also means that his opponents at the 2010 WSOP Main Event will know more about his game than anyone else.
Senti downplayed the significance of the videos and reaffirmed that as the short stack he’s not going to have a lot of room to play around.
“To start the table I’m going to be pretty short-stacked so I’m going to put a lot of work into that,” said Senti. “I’m going to make sure I really understand good ranges in those situations.”
Over the next four months Senti plans on playing a few tournaments, strategizing and of course enjoying the fact he’s made it to the final table of the biggest poker tournament in the world.
“It’s been a surreal experience,” he said. “It’s already been a lot different than I would have expected.
The 2010 WSOP Main Event final table begins Nov. 6, with a winner crowned on Nov. 8.
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07 30th, 2010
Harrah’s Interactive Entertainment entered into an agreement with Playdom this week to re-launch its existing Poker Palace poker game on the popular social networking site with WSOP branding.
“We are very excited to bring the thrill and excitement of the World Series of Poker to the social gaming space with Playdom,” said WSOP Vice President Craig Abrahams.
“We will immediately start to work on enhancing the game, bringing unique WSOP promotions and sweepstakes into the offering and ensuring that the battle for WSOP virtual championship bracelets can become a Facebook-friendly endeavor.”
The WSOP-branded poker game launches globally this week and can be found initially by visiting .
Players will be able to choose from a variety of different play-money poker offerings at WSOP on Facebook, including cash games and single-table tournaments.
The WSOP is also promising a battle for virtual bracelets, opportunities to enter sweepstakes for trips to Las Vegas and seats to live events in the near future.
Playdom, a California-based social games company, currently boasts more than 46 million active monthly users across their network of games.
“There is only one brand in poker that stands out and that is the World Series of Poker,” said Sean Phinney, Vice President of Business Development for Playdom.
“We think big brands will win on social networks and we are excited to start working together to create a unique and fun social gaming experience.”
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