Does Iggy know there's still a Party Poker banner at the bottom of his blog?

My brain is leaking out of my ear after that uber.

Bobby Bracelet has done amazing work once again in the final round of auctions for Peyton!

The best item up for auction of all times: (sorry, had to bust the nut right away. This one is too good!)

A genuine Genesis model poker table from Lucky Leahy's, signed by over 30 professional poker players! Not only is it an awesome table - it's been touched the the hands of gods.

Also up for your bidding pleasure:

A package of items from WSOP Champion Greg "The Fossilman" Raymer, including an autographed fossil and t-shirt, and a PokerStars tote bag.

An autographed basketball jersey (size XL) from Mike "The Mouth" Matusow.

Another HUGE Package from Donkey Puncher and Bobby Bracelet - this time including the abominable AlCantHang himself!

Last but not least... a while back, Paul Hannum, WPT camera man and director of the movie "The Real Old Testament," donated a DVD of the movie to our Peyton auctions. Before we could list the DVD for sale, however, Paul Hannum passed away, leaving behind his fiancee and a child on the way. Proceeds from the auction of "The Real Old Testament" DVD will be donated to Hannum's family via http://www.babyhannum.com/registry.htm.

BID NOW and BID HIGH!

The latest email scam to reach my inbox takes advantage of the recent US anti-gaming legislation, at least psychologically. I got pretty excited for about .03 seconds - thought maybe it was a birthday present :)

Hyperlinks removed for your protection, but they went to a fake Neteller site set up on someone's AOL home page. Brilliant!

Dear NETELLER Client: You have just received $684.00 USD in your NETELLER Account from partypoker.com affiliate programs. Payment details Amount: USD 684.00 ID: 2050551 Subject: You must use the link below to accept the payment. Note: https://www.neteller.com/accept.php?payment_id?=2050551 We hope you enjoy your cash.Use this link to accept the payment :https://www.neteller.com/accept.php?payment_id?=2050551 Please note that the fee of $1.00 USD has been deducted from the amount. Thank you, The NETELLER Team

Go read what Bill said.

Clarification: I should have said, go read Neteller's updated statement (PDF). I linked to Bill, who linked to Neteller's updated statement on the gaming ban.

Their updated statement is basically that they intend to treat their business as if it is within US jurisdiction.

That said, their foreign status is now irrelevant. It is as if they are a financial institution operating in the US. I'm sure they will fight to be categorized as some financial institution that is exempt from this law, but our government granting that exemption is unlikely. They may be buffoons but they know who Neteller is.

My question to Full Tilt, after being bombarded with bright and perky Affiliate newsletters about how great things are now that Full Tilt has become our savior:

Does Full Tilt have any opinion of the legality of the affiliate program, in light of the new legislation?


Their response:

Hello,

We are not in a position to answer specific legal questions nor to provide general legal advice to our affiliates. Please seek appropriate legal opinions from an attorney or other authorized legal advisor as soon as practical. Additionally, if you are interested in following the various issues surrounding poker today, you may wish to visit the PPA site at http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/. Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Lisa

That's funny, because if I'm not mistaken, they doled out a huge piece of legal advice to their thousands of US players, stating that playing online poker does not break any US Federal laws. That nugget immediately followed their statement of "After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware...." (See FTP's press release)

There are a million ways they could have worded that affiliate email that wouldn't have sounded like, "Yup, affiliates are breaking the law, but we won't tell you - we'll keep accepting your referrals as long as you don't get caught! Good luck with that!" or, "We love our players, but affiliates are on their own!"

Thanks a lot. Keep on handing out the legal advice so long as it lines your pocketbooks. Besides - my question was stated purposefully NOT to ask for advice, but to ask for a statement on their position on the topic.

Reading skills are overrated anyway.

My question to Full Tilt, after being bombarded with bright and perky Affiliate newsletters about how great things are now that Full Tilt has become our savior:
Does Full Tilt have any opinion of the legality of the affiliate program, in light of the new legislation?


Their response:

Hello,

We are not in a position to answer specific legal questions nor to provide general legal advice to our affiliates. Please seek appropriate legal opinions from an attorney or other authorized legal advisor as soon as practical. Additionally, if you are interested in following the various issues surrounding poker today, you may wish to visit the PPA site at http://www.pokerplayersalliance.org/. Thank you for your support.

Best regards,

Lisa

That's funny, because if I'm not mistaken, they doled out a huge piece of legal advice to their thousands of US players, stating that playing online poker does not break any US Federal laws. That nugget immediately followed their statement of "After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware...." (See FTP's press release)

There are a million ways they could have worded that affiliate email that wouldn't have sounded like, "Yup, affiliates are breaking the law, but we won't tell you - we'll keep accepting your referrals as long as you don't get caught! Good luck with that!" or, "We love our players, but you affiliates are on your own!"

Thanks a lot. Keep on handing out the legal advice so long as it lines your pocketbooks. Besides - my question was stated purposefully NOT to ask for advice, but to ask for a statement on their position on the topic.

Reading skills are overrated anyway.

Neteller vows to stay in the US.... so says the Wall Street Journal.

I'd rather read a statement from Neteller themselves, saying something warm and fuzzy like, "We talked to all kinds of lawyer type people and we will continue to accept US clients because this new law does not apply to us," but this is a start.

The WSJ article ran yesterday. The link will expire, as the WSJ is a subscription based newspaper, but the article didn't say much besides Neteller's quote: "We are staying in the U.S.," said Bruce Elliott, Neteller's executive vice president, marketing and sales, told a online gambling conference in Barcelona. "I don't think we have a very big problem."

Took 3rd in tonight's Mookie. Yeah, I know I said I was done playing. I lied a little.

My KK went down to worldpoker's AT when he pulled a straight outta thin air. It was like magic, I tell ya!

Had fun though. Now I must sleep.

Online poker is not illegal... at least not any more than it was already illegal, if you live in such a state. Check out this CardPlayer article: "Legal landscape of online poker has not changed"

Made me feel a little better about playing, anyway. The legal experts seem to be avoiding the topic of affiliate revenues, though. And we still have to wait and see if companies like Neteller will shut their doors to US players, making it impossible (or at least more difficult) for us to reload accounts or withdraw winnings. CardPlayer mentioned the possibility of the gaming act not covering check transactions, opening up the possibility of using e-checks to fund accounts.

On a side note... Firefox 2 Release Candidate 2 is out, and I'm running it. My favorite features so far are the x's on the individual tabs in the browser window, and automatic spell check when you're typing in text boxes on a web page (such as, writing this post). Misspelled words get underlined as you type. Sweet.

I got this via email from Full Tilt Poker around 9pm tonight:

Dear phlyersphan,

Full Tilt Poker is here to stay!

As an online poker player, you have probably heard about the new legislation passed by the U.S. Congress earlier this week that attempts to prevent you from being able to transfer money to online gaming sites.

While this new law has prompted some sites to announce plans to abandon the U.S. market in coming days, we assure you that Full Tilt Poker will continue to provide all of its players - both inside and outside of the United States - with a full complement of real money ring games and tournaments for their enjoyment.

After consultation with numerous legal experts in this field, we want to make you aware of the following:

* Legal

The new U.S. legislation does not in any way attempt to criminalize the act of you playing online poker. By playing online at Full Tilt Poker, you are not breaking any U.S. Federal laws.

* Full Access

The passage of the new Internet Gaming law will not have any impact on your day-to-day experience at Full Tilt Poker. We will provide all of our players, everywhere in the world, with full access to all of our games and tournaments.

* Easy Deposits and Withdrawals

We will continue to provide our players with all of the safe, secure and convenient methods for transferring money to and from the site. In fact, in recent discussions with our payment processors, we have been assured that this new law will have no immediate impact on their day-to-day business. And as always, any monies that you have on deposit with Full Tilt Poker remain completely safe and secure.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that online poker is not encompassed by this new legislation. In any event, we will continue to lobby for an express carve-out for online poker and for your right to play a truly American game from the privacy of your own home and computer.

We are excited about the future here at Full Tilt Poker and in the coming weeks and months, we plan to roll out many new features designed to enhance your online poker experience.

We appreciate your loyalty to our site and, in turn, want you to know that we will remain loyal to our valued players in the United States and throughout the world.

We look forward to seeing you at the table.

Sincerely,

Full Tilt Poker

Because I am such a huge chicken shit law abiding citizen of the United States of America, I've removed all of my poker affiliate links from this blog. While I was at it, I went through every single post I've ever made and removed all hyperlinks to online gaming sites. (Scurvy scared me!) It took a few hours. To me, it was better to preserve my tales of what once was than to lose all of that.

Sigh. This sucks.

Last night, I played poker online for the last time. I got killed in the Mookie game, losing most of my stack with QQ vs. KK. I made it to the top 16 or so, but that was it for me. I played in the second chance game and went out on the final table bubble. I was profitable on my cash table, though, so I was able to cash out for more than what I started with. I actually played a little NL at the cash tables, for once.

Upon completing my poker for the evening, I sent a withdrawal request to FTP. Upon waking this morning, my funds had been transferred and should be in my bank account shortly.

I spent the few FPP's I had on PokerStars this morning to get a knit beanie hat. It gets cold here in the winter, and I'll need a hat for my long treks over the border to the Indiana casinos.

I'm all cashed out. No more online poker for me - at least not until we see what happens when this bill is signed into law. I'm lucky to have poker rooms within an hour's drive from my home. I wish Empress hadn't closed their room. A 15 minute drive is so much nicer than an hour. But, that's beyond my control, as is the whole online gaming ban.

It's funny, since playing poker online is illegal in my state anyway. Why abide by the law now? I'm not quite so afraid that playing online poker will be what gets any of us in trouble, since that's not the focus of the gaming ban. It's the banner ad revenue and affiliate links that make some of us criminals now for aiding these online poker sites. That's what makes me nervous.

Oh well. Such is life. Reading through all of my old posts, I saw that I really did spend a lot of time at the casinos - and that was back before Empress had a room. I drove out to Indiana 2 or 3 times a week, for months. I'll just have to go back to doing that. And host more home games :)

Daniel Negreanu has weighed in on the online gaming ban.

In a nutshell: by his understanding, since Neteller is neither a US bank nor an online gaming site, players transferring money to Neteller are not breaking the law, and what Neteller does with your money after you transfer it there is untracable. His assumption is that because Neteller is not a US bank, the US will have no jurisdiction over what it does with the money it holds.

He also expects all privately held online poker sites to continue running, "business as usual," as he puts it.

Negreanu is very clear to say that this is all just his understanding of things, and that it's really all still up in the air until things are signed into law.

I'm playing what will probably be my last night of online poker. I've cashed out everyplace but Full Tilt, and in true Maudie fashion, it's all or nothing tonight. Not that I've got much left to put balls-to-the-wall. I spent most of my poker bankroll selling my old house and buying my new one. It's a sad night, really.

The Mookie tourney starts in 15 minutes or so on FTP. I'm watching opening night of the NHL hockey season in HD on my new TV, which is sweet. Hockey looks ungodly amazing in HD.

Soon, the law abiding citizens amongst us will be all cashed out from the online poker sites. One of these days, I'll have to cancel my affilitate memberships and dig through all of my old posts to remove any links to poker sites. That's not a task I'm looking forward to, but I surely don't want to just delete the contents of this blog and start over. This blog and the community of people I've come to know as a result of writing this blog and reading your blogs is a big part of who I am and who I've been the last couple years. There's no delete key that can remove these past couple years from memory, and there's no law that can break the bonds of friendship that so many of us have formed. Still, things won't be the same as they were. Maybe that's not the worst thing in the world, but it's change that I'm not looking forward to.

So, I encourage you all to come play the Wednesday night Mookie on FTP, this week in honor of DuggleBogey.

And accept the things we cannot change. And vote in the next election.

Full Tilt Poker has the most reasonable response to this online gaming ban that I've seen yet.

God I love FTP.

An Open Letter From Full Tilt Poker Regarding the State of Your Online Poker Experience

Spent some FTP points... I was debating between the duffel bag and the FTP plastic playing cards, but since I already have a set of Kem cards, I figured I'd get more use out of the duffel.





Now I don't have to go buy a jacket.


I think I might make a trip out to the casino tonight. Whaddya think?

What a crazy weekend for poker.

Saturday night, I met up with Armando, Kathie and the gang for a long-overdue rendition of the JackHammer game. Armando and Kat got a new house, and it's simply gorgeous, making for a fine backdrop for our poker festivities.

Joining us were Jen, Rob, Ed, Eric and Manda, and eventually Tom. I feel like I'm missing somebody. Please correct me if I'm wrong! It was good to see everybody, and though I didn't play a whole lot of hands due to the overpopulation of 10-3 in my pocket, I had a great time - even when my brother knocked me out on the bubble, calling my short-stacked all-in with Ace high. Bastard. (I had 8-6 of hearts). OK, fine, it was the right move. Grumble grumble grumble. The sleeping vagi-ant got me. He got Jen too, when he pulled a big blind straight flush out of his ass to destroy her Jack-high flush. Rob spent the evening "one cigarette away from being an idiot," and since most of us were drinking heavily, it was a game for the ages.

Congrats to Armando and Kat on the new house, and thanks for having us!

In other news... it seems that I'm going to have to start making the trek over to Indiana if I want to play any poker. The fine lawmakers of this country have pulled a move that only a tantrum-bound 6 year old could appreciate. When they couldn't get their anti-gaming legislation to grow legs on its own merit (maybe because it's completely idiotic, considering the various forms of gaming that are LEGAL - not to mention potential revenues that could be gathered by legalizing and regulating online gaming), they attached it to a bill that was most certain to pass - a port security bill. (Not that port security has anything to do with online gaming...) The president (intentionally written with a lowercase P, because he too is an idiot not worthy of the title) will surely sign it into law, and we will be unable to transfer money to and from online gaming companies. Party Poker and others have already announced that they will suspend all U.S. accounts once this is signed into law. It was fun while it lasted.

If I were involved in any of the companies in the UK that are suffering massive stock losses as a result of this U.S. legislation, I'd be mighty pissed at the short-sightedness and juvenile behavior of our government. It's not a proud day to be an American. In fact, I haven't felt "proud" of my government for a very long time.

So now, I'm wondering what people are doing. Are you all cashing out your online poker funds? I'm sure some sites will force withdrawals when they suspend U.S. accounts, but that mass exodus of money will surely hurt some sites. What if they don't have the money to refund to all of their U.S. players? It makes me think that initiating the withdrawal yourself is not a bad idea. Someone mentioned frequent player points - don't forget to cash those out! I was saving mine up for a Full Tilt Poker jersey. I was almost there. I guess I'll go order some random crap and buy my jersey on eBay (assuming that guy isn't a U.S. player). Damn. I probably won't even be able to get one on eBay.

Oh sad.