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A serious thread about online poker

shady?

yahoo news said:
3 online poker houses face fraud charges in NYC


NEW YORK – The multi-billion-dollar business of the three biggest Internet poker companies became a target of federal authorities before an indictment was unsealed Friday, charging 11 people with bank fraud and illegal gambling.

Prosecutors in Manhattan said they've issued restraining orders against more than 75 bank accounts used by the poker companies, interrupting the illegal flow of billions of dollars.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said the defendants "concocted an elaborate criminal fraud scheme, alternately tricking some U.S. banks and effectively bribing others to assure the continued flow of billions in illegal gambling profits."

The companies, all based overseas, were identified as PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. The indictment sought $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the defendants.

The indictment said the companies ran afoul of the law after the U.S. in October 2006 enacted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which makes it a crime for gambling businesses to knowingly accept most forms of payment in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.

Authorities said Absolute Poker responded by saying in a release after the new law was enacted that it would continue its U.S. operations because "the U.S. Congress has no control over" the company's payment transactions.

Efforts to reach the companies for reaction were not immediately successful. Phone calls either went unanswered or messages were not immediately returned. An attempt to look at the website for PokerStars.com was met with a message from the FBI saying the domain name had been seized as part of a criminal probe.
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full item

alasdair
 
The US government is a powerful force indeed. You have to hand it to them for passing an "illegal gambling enforcement act" when the gambling in question is not even illegal.

Of course, the US government allows state lotteries, which constitute gambling with very poor odds on a "game" of complete luck.

Yet, online poker is a problem? It's a problem if people willingly gamble on their own ability to play a game of skill against other willful participants? I would love to hear anyone try to defend this ludicrous position, especially keeping in mind that the US government seems to have little objection to poker itself if it is played in a brick and mortar casino.
 
Fjones said:
The US government is a powerful force indeed. You have to hand it to them for passing an "illegal gambling enforcement act" when the gambling in question is not even illegal.

Of course, the US government allows state lotteries, which constitute gambling with very poor odds on a "game" of complete luck.

Yet, online poker is a problem? It's a problem if people willingly gamble on their own ability to play a game of skill against other willful participants? I would love to hear anyone try to defend this ludicrous position, especially keeping in mind that the US government seems to have little objection to poker itself if it is played in a brick and mortar casino.
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Yah you might want to reread those news reports again because you totally missed the point.
 
I just withdrew my roll on FTP and Stars.

Hope it arrives, when it does I will be re-depositing it since I originally thought my account would be locked and all sites closed down.

Australia here.
 
Crack4Lyfe said:
Yah you might want to reread those news reports again because you totally missed the point.
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I assure you I haven't missed any point. I have read a couple dozen articles about this matter. Which "point" exactly do you think I am missing? My last post was obviously not intended to be a full recap of the entire issue. Perhaps YOU missed MY point.
 
Black Friday. :(

Luckily I've been playing a lot more live leading up to this past week's event. Alas, many players don't have the same luxury of a local poker room. And even those of us who do are still missing out on certain nuances only online play can offer (e.g. HUPLO)
 
nguboi said:
Paayaaace. Fjones.... whyyyyyy!!! whyyy nowww!!!??
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Why not? Because the Federal government is a group of criminal thugs that use force and the threat of force to commit crimes and exert their will over a helpless mass of citizens who are too afraid to fight for their rights.
 
Loaded up 4 tournys. Two 180 man, two 45 man.

Allin preflop
AK fucked by A7, runner flush.
KK cracked by AJ
AA fucked by QJ OFFSUIT
AJ fucked by QJ OFFSUIT AGAIN

Posting hand histories soon cause there are alot more, just in the past 2 hours. Very bad run, very very bad run.
 
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Hadn't been playing much at all when I heard about what happened
Fuck

Can you imagine how many people with rolls just ranging from like 10 to 600k or even higher are prolly going to just lose it all right?
FTP is assuring the US players they're going to get there money but I've seen alot of people saying it's not going to happen.
 
StrutterGear said:
Loaded up 4 tournys. Two 180 man, two 45 man.

Allin preflop
AK fucked by A7, runner flush.
KK cracked by AJ
AA fucked by QJ OFFSUIT
AJ fucked by QJ OFFSUIT AGAIN

Posting hand histories soon cause there are alot more, just in the past 2 hours. Very bad run, very very bad run.
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I think you should indeed post some of these hand histories. You know what would be an even better use of your time and energy?

ANYTHING.

Seriously, good hands lose to bad ones thousands of times per day. Next hand, next tournament, move on. Focus on decisions, not results, blah blah blah, hackneyed cliche, etc.
 
Bill said:
Hadn't been playing much at all when I heard about what happened
Fuck

Can you imagine how many people with rolls just ranging from like 10 to 600k or even higher are prolly going to just lose it all right?
FTP is assuring the US players they're going to get there money but I've seen alot of people saying it's not going to happen.
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I think FTP players and poker stars players will get their money back.

If they don't, the U.S. government is going to look worse than it already does, and I don't think they want that.
 
I was able to successfully withdraw my money (bank transfer) from Poker Stars a few days ago. Mind you it wasn't much, but still, I didn't think it was a problem at this time. Just my experience, and yes I am in the US

As for FT, I don't know - I had a little bit on FT but they banned me and took my money for "collusion" or some bullshit.
 
Fjones said:
I think you should indeed post some of these hand histories. You know what would be an even better use of your time and energy?

ANYTHING.

Seriously, good hands lose to bad ones thousands of times per day. Next hand, next tournament, move on. Focus on decisions, not results, blah blah blah, hackneyed cliche, etc.
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I try mate, I try. SCOOP £$10 event, bout 11kk runners left out of 20k, I hold KQ he holds JJ, he only calls my 3 BB raise

FLOP KK8, I raise, he pushes, I snap call.

Turn 7, river J

It pisses me off, but my best mate got quad 5s cracked by 77s last night, so it makes me feel a lil better I havent reached that magnitude.


No I'm not a 'new' player, been playing for years.

I do agree, I should get over it, but busting out of 4 tournys within minutes of eachother in the same manner is aggrivating.
 
StrutterGear said:
I try mate, I try. SCOOP £$10 event, bout 11kk runners left out of 20k, I hold KQ he holds JJ, he only calls my 3 BB raise

FLOP KK8, I raise, he pushes, I snap call.

Turn 7, river J

It pisses me off, but my best mate got quad 5s cracked by 77s last night, so it makes me feel a lil better I havent reached that magnitude.


No I'm not a 'new' player, been playing for years.

I do agree, I should get over it, but busting out of 4 tournys within minutes of eachother in the same manner is aggrivating.
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Am I missing something here? If you had trip Ks and he had trip Js, why were you pissed?
 
StrutterGear said:
I try mate, I try. SCOOP £$10 event, bout 11kk runners left out of 20k, I hold KQ he holds JJ, he only calls my 3 BB raise

FLOP KK8, I raise, he pushes, I snap call.

Turn 7, river J

It pisses me off, but my best mate got quad 5s cracked by 77s last night, so it makes me feel a lil better I havent reached that magnitude.


No I'm not a 'new' player, been playing for years.

I do agree, I should get over it, but busting out of 4 tournys within minutes of eachother in the same manner is aggrivating.
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I know what you mean. If my KQ always beat JJ, I'd have won a lot more tournaments in my life. It's frustrating.
 
Exploring what sites to transfer to for the time being during this very gloomy period of being an online poker player in the US. Been at Stars and FTP for so long I guess I just lost sight of this situation ever becoming a reality. Haven't played since Black Friday. Any suggestions on what sites to checkout? I suppose I should just post in the 2+2 forums, but I always like to hear BLer's suggestions.
 
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