Speedyfold Poker Blog

The poker world certainly took a very big hit from Black Friday and the fallout is only just starting to settle a little. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have had their options for playing drastically reduced, and even the remaining options have an element of fear to them, or at least healthy caution. Some of the poker sites that stayed out of the US market (and thus unaffected by the indictment) have been quick to try to capitalize on the shuffle of players, looking to pick up some of the non-US players who felt more comfortable with their bankrolls at a site not involved in the indictment.

We can probably expect a settlement between at least a couple of the indicted poker sites and the DOJ at some point, but either way the wheels are in motion for some potential major changes in landscape in the world of online poker. The end result for Pokerstars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker is going to have significant bearing on which poker sites are positioned best when (inevitably) online poker starts to be properly regulated in the United States. The likes of Party Poker, Titan Poker, and 888 Poker could all end up doing well.

In the mean time the networks still taking US players (such as Merge and Cake) may boom a little but there is always going to be an element of fear lurking about whether they might be targeted next. None seem likely to get anywhere near the numbers of Pokerstars and Full Tilt despite the lack of competition so to speak. Many Americans are just not quite ready to get involved again quite yet, understandably, and many never will be until regulation happens. Something in the region of 10,000-15,000 players online will be a good achievement for the Merge and Cake sites, but even with these sort of numbers games like Stud and Draw are never really going to get enough players for significant action, but the likes of Texas Holdem and Omaha should have healthly player levels for the Americans happy enough to risk it.

For non-US players many decent, safe, and reputable sites are still out there, and online poker will certainly remain one of the world’s most popular online pastimes.

I guess you could say the shit has hit the fan. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued an indictment against the 3 major poker sites that are operating in the US online poker market (Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and Absolute Poker). Basically online poker for US players looks like it could be over for the time being, with the exception of a few smaller operators.

11 people were indicted, 2 from Stars, 2 from Full Tilt, 2 from Absolute Poker, 4 from payment processors, and 1 from a bank. Early indications suggest they are trying to get the payment processors and bank on money laundering and bank fraud, and the poker sites on running a gaming site that they allege is illegal in the US because of UIGEA.

If there’s enough dirt some of it may stick, and the sites may end up with quite a chunky fine. The bank and payment processors are probably screwed if there is enough evidence.

It’s unlikely that the DOJ would fair that well making a case off the back of the UIGEA legislation mainly because of the words “unlawful” and “gambling”. It could probably be argued by a team of lawyers/experts that poker is a skill game and not gambling. And it could probably be argued that the game of poker wasn’t unlawful in the first place, therefore not covered by UIGEA.

Perhaps a little dirt linking them a bit too close for comfort to the payment processors will be the DOJ’s main weapon of fear. But a gambling man (or a man keen on skill based wagers) would probably bet on a settlement being reached at some point later down the line. Pretty shitty for US players though. Tough break guys.

Bad Beat Jackpots are a great way of attracting players to a poker room. Let’s face it everyone wouldnt mind getting their hands on a big win for little work. I’ve always been slightly curious about live poker rooms that do it as the chance of some regular colluding with the dealer seems high. The only thing I can think in their defence is that several levels of management probably all have to check the CCTV footage to validate the Bad Beat.

Online things are a bit more straightforward I think. Either the RGN is going to shuffle the cards as you would love them, or not. More often than not obviously the latter.

One lucky customer to be lucky enough to be at the table when a Bad Beat Jackpot qualifying hand was dealt was ‘Ruggio’ who pocketed a cool $417,000 as the jackpot was hit on the Merge network (Carbon Poker, Aced Poker, etc). The total jackpot money paid out to the table was around $1.2 million. Quite possibly the biggest online bad beat jackpot ever.

One of the unluckiest people around was definately Pokerbunny69 who had just joined the table but hadn’t actually been dealt into the hand, therefore didnt get any cut of the money…ouch

Below is the chat log from the table:

MrC4shier>SADOMSADSOADMAS
MrC4shier>OMFG
MrC4shier>LOOOOOL
Pokerbunny69>AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
MrC4shier>DO YOU GUYS REALISE WHAT JUST
MrC4shier>OOOOOOOOOOOOLT
MrC4shier>OMG
MrC4shier>INCREDIBLE
MrC4shier>HOLY MOTHER OF shit
Pokerbunny69>i wasnt iin yet
MrC4shier>why is everyone quiet lool

Pokerbunny69>I wasnt dealt in
aelani>WOW
RUGGIO>ya
aelani>ty
aelani>all
aelani>i love you
RUGGIO>what hapopened
RUGGIO>lol
MrC4shier>so sick jesus
RUGGIO>417k in my bank
MrC4shier>how much did the loser get
RUGGIO>what u get?
aelani>200 k in mine

lll11133>let’s party
MrC4shier>lool how sick
aelani>st8 flush
aelani>str8
aelani>lol
MrC4shier>i got 40k

peokunn>wowo

MrC4shier>I’m suprised that no one is typing anything lol
lll11133>move to higher limit

Pokerbunny69>I did
MrC4shier>hm I think I wont yet
name2008>who won the mo

name2008>who won the jack p

MrC4shier>god really unlucky for you pokerbunny69 ..
RUGGIO>bad beat

MrC4shier>I think some people at this table have not realised that there was a bad beat at this table
Pokerbunny69>I DID
MrC4shier>LOL yeah
name2008>you get any m
Pokerbunny69>NOO
RUGGIO>HOW MUCH U GUYS GET?

RUGGIO>417K
Pokerbunny69>NOPE
MrC4shier>sick I would have killed myself lo
RUGGIO>rockon

Pokerbunny69>CAn u imagine…….??
RUGGIO>how do I cash out lol
MrC4shier>wait RUGGIO did you win that BBJ or the guy next to you
Pokerbunny69>was a minute away
RUGGIO>noooooooooo
RUGGIO>YA

RUGGIO>I LOST
MrC4shier>you
name2008>i was in line to get in
MrC4shier>sick lol, u got 417k ?
RUGGIO>87 HEARTS
Pokerbunny69>ME 2

MrC4shier>jesus how do you feel now lol
MrC4shier>after winning 417k
Pokerbunny69>BAF
Pokerbunny69>BADDDDDDDDDD

MrC4shier>and I was about to move to party poker in a week lol

MrC4shier>p a r t y p o k e r
name2008>how about rest of table
Pokerbunny69>I think I gonna get a knife
MrC4shier>lool

name2008>any mo

MrC4shier>so sick this , but I think I deserve it after all those months of running horrible

Pokerbunny69>well congrats anyway

MrC4shier>ty

Pokerbunny69>why dont u go and get drunk??

MrC4shier>I am still shocked I don’t know lol

Pokerbunny69>I would
MrC4shier>feels weird to see 50k in my account

Pokerbunny69>just send me half if u cant handle!!
Pokerbunny69>

=THE END=

Not bad for a couple of hands of poker

Anyone who plays alot of poker, will probably know what it is like to get it in the ear from the Mrs/Girlfriend.   Poker can be very time consuming, particularly tournament play.  And the worst thing about tournaments is that if the Mrs wants to make plans, it is tough to say when exactly you will be free, because you could bust out in 10 mins time, or be playing for another 6 hours and win the damn thing (you lucksack!)

This, combined with things like foul moods following a particular bad beat ridden evening, makes it potentially far from harmonious on the homelife to be a poker junkie.

I think probably the best method to deal with it is to get them involved, in terms of playing a little.  You’ll often find that they find it quite enjoyable to play the occassional tournament.  Ask for them to take over (a cheaper buy-in!) once, and sit back and watch them get hooked ;)   Well, maybe it wont work every time, but you get the drift.

The only other advice I can give is to try play poker in a seperate room if possible (eg an office), and try to keep it seperate from the home life.  At least then the swearing doesnt interfere with their favorite TV program!

Good Luck, and hopefully you wont have to compromise on your playing time that much.  If you do, then only one phrase remains….under the thumb or what!