Category: Poker General

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Ever since Black Friday, American poker players have been at a loss, and the poker community around the world has felt the loss of American players at online poker sites. Americans, who make up the largest number of online poker players (or used to, at any rate), and who often possess a fair amount of skill in the game, have been banned from the major sites for almost a full year now. While plenty of loopholes existed before that would let US players get around the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which largely bans US banks from making deposits into and taking funds out of online internet sites, Black Friday saw a crackdown from the US government that prevented some banks and sites from exploiting these loopholes and scared others out of even trying. While some poker players in the US have switched to either live games or other pursuits altogether, the majority remain optimistic that their country and/or state will soon pass legislation that will bring back the access to online poker.

Legislature has been introduced in a good number of states. Here’s what’s been happening lately with poker legislation in the US:

Hawaiian Poker Bill 86’ed

Hawaii, which is one of only two US states that doesn’t have any form of legalized gambling (the other being Utah), has nixed another online poker bill. The state legislature has turned down roughly 150 gambling-related bills in the last 30 years, a surprising feat given Hawaii’s left-leaning political climate. Despite the rejection of the most recent bill, which pushed for the legalization of not only online poker but also state lotteries and land-based casinos, research is currently underway to examine the economic and regional impact of opening a land-based casino in Waikiki. While it’s a far cry from being able to play poker online from the Aloha State, it’s at least one indication that local politicians are interested in making strides in that direction… eventually.

Utah Actively Chases Poker Out of the State

Anyone familiar with Utah’s political history won’t be surprised to know that this ultra-conservative state is opposed to online gambling. Since around 60.4% of the state is made up of Mormons, followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a religion that openly forbids, among other things, gambling, it doesn’t come as a shock that the politicians are not only blocking internet gambling laws, but are actively campaigning to ban it from the state entirely. Stephen Sandstrom, a Republican Congressman from Orem, stated on his website: “We want to keep Utah free from the negative impacts of legalized gambling… the gambling industry profits from the vulnerabilities of its customers and opens the way for states to become further dependent upon tax revenues gained from a form of recreation that hits hardest those who can least afford it.”

Nevada Moves Forward on Online Poker Legalization

Unlike its neighbor, Nevada residents and their representatives aren’t squeamish about getting involved with gambling of any kind, least of all online poker. The state has been campaigning hard to legalize online poker ever since the DOJ announced that the decision would be left up to the individual states (albeit not without federal loopholes to jump through), and it seems that their efforts will bear fruit soon– online poker is likely to be completely legal in Nevada in late Autumn, making the state even more of a gambler’s paradise.

New Jersey Takes One Step Forward, One Step Back

Poker fans abound in New Jersey, whose Atlantic City is the number two spot for gambling in the US, and an online gambling bill has made some headway in the Garden State, pushing through the Senate committee. Currently, the bill is facing some challenges from the horse racing legion, which considers online poker a threat to their well-being as a gambling institution. Only time will tell where this leads, but parties on both sides of the issue are getting pretty annoyed.

Iowa Online Poker Bill on the Fast Track

Like New Jersey, Iowa has also passed an online poker bill through their senate subcommittee, and the bill is ramped up for the next committee hearing. Iowans on the pro- side argue that the bill will bring in millions in added revenue, while the anti- side is convinced that the bill will corrupt family values by encouraging underaged players to gamble online. Given the political climate in Iowa, which obsesses over “family values” but has lately been seen as surprisingly progressive, there’s no telling which way this bill will ultimately go.

California Makes Progress

A bill in California proposes that online poker (and only poker) be allowed for a two-year trial period, after which time either the whole thing will be abandoned or other casino games will be phased in. This bill has more potential than the two bills struck down in 2011, and with 60% of America’s online poker players residing in California, residents are hoping that it goes through.

Mississippi Kills Poker Bill

The state of Mississippi killed a proposed online poker bill last week, one that proposed that casinos currently existing in the state could open online casinos and offer internet gambling and poker to their players. Given Mississippi’s position firm in the middle of the Bible Belt, it’s not particularly surprising that the bill was quashed, but plans exist to reintroduce the bill in the future (perhaps when the next elections trade out some of the current representatives for those of a different political persuasion).

The US Department of Homeland Security has gone after another site and its founder– this time Bodog.com and Calvin Ayre, a former Forbes billionaire and contender for most eligible bachelor throughout US media. The curious thing about this particular seizure, however, is that the site hasn’t been operational for nine months, so the US government isn’t shutting down a site so much as they are flaunting their power and taking it because they can. A federal grand jury in Maryland indicted Ayre along with James Philip, Derrick Maloney, and David Ferguson on February 22nd.

After the events of Black Friday, Ayre and the rest of Bodog Poker decided that they wanted to get as far away from the US market as possible, lest the fates of PokerStars, Absolute Poker, and Full Tilt rain down on them as well. They created bodog.co.uk and bodog.eu for European clients and stopped doing business with US clients completely (so they claim). Now it’s a bit of a he-said she-said, as the US government says that Bodog Poker continued to interact with US clients by paying them through bank accounts in Europe, Canada, Malta, and other places. Ayre vehemently denies this, claiming that these charges are ridiculous and that this is an “abuse of the US criminal justice system for the commercial gain of large US corporations.”

The indictment states that at least $100 million in funds were wired to online poker players in Maryland (among other places) between 2005 and 2012, and that Bodog spent $42 million on an advertising campaign geared at drawing new players to the site. The four face charges of illegal gambling and money laundering, which carry penalties of five years and twenty years of jailtime, respectively.

According to the paperwork in the case, investigators posed as players, using Maryland addresses, to see if they could get checks via mail (they did), and conducted interviews with Bodog employees and former employees to get a better understanding of the company’s operations. The affidavit filed with the warrant includes information from a former employee that the company has hundreds of employees in Costa Rica and Canada who are working specifically to launder money into the US. The heart of this matter can probably best be summed up by ‘s official statement: “Sports betting is illegal in Maryland, and federal law prohibits bookmakers from flouting that law simply because they are located outside the country.”

Who’s telling the truth? It’s hard to say. Ayre’s rant against large US corporations neglects to mention that he’s the frontman of a large corporation as well, and lately, online poker sites seem to have a reputation for some shady dealings. Granted, the US government has also received no small amount of criticism for its tactics in dealing with banks, poker sites, CEOs and players alike. Time will tell if Bodog Poker is getting “special treatment” from the US government, or if their company name should be added to the ever-growing list of companies that tries to push the boundaries for a profit and eventually pushed too far.

Maxpokerbonus.co.uk will bring you more updates on this and other news stories as developments arise.

France may be looking at some serious changes when it comes to poker legislation, all because of a case against the manager of St. Tropez and Les Coulisses, Jean-Pierre Gleizes, who was charged with organizing unlicensed poker games among a private group of players. Gleizes was able to convince the court that poker is not a game of chance, but is in fact a game of skill, as many poker players have been saying for decades, and the judge dismissed the charges against Gleizes, as the laws against gambling no longer apply to his activities if poker is no longer considered gambling. Although the prosecution immediately appealed the decision and few experts believe that the judge’s ruling will be upheld through the appeal, the ruling has a lot of people talking.

The defense wasn’t shy about bringing people forward to state their case. During the hearing, the judge heard from a professional poker player, a mathematician who plays poker recreationally, and chess and bridge champions, all of whom said one thing: poker is clearly a game of skill. There is a precedent for this kind of argument, as backgammon was considered a game of chance in the US until 1981, when tournament director Ted Barr was arrested for promoting gambling and took the court to task over their definition of backgammon as a game of chance. While some people consider poker a game of chance, due to the fact that cards are dealt randomly, pros like Annette Obrestad have demonstrated that one doesn’t even need to look at the cards in one’s hand to win a tournament! In 1981, the argument was much the same– because backgammon involved dice, legislators believed that it had to be a game of chance, although the witnesses called to the stand demonstrated that there is no randomness to winning– experienced players consistently beat new players– and there were countless options available to the player after the dice had landed.

If the Supreme Court upholds the judge’s ruling there will be several major changes resulting from the decision (and likely more legislation to correct the loopholes):

• Professional poker players will be taxed on their poker-related income, as poker playing would now be considered a skillful profession. While players are already taxed on gambling winnings, the taxation rate for income is much higher, meaning that the players have less loot to take home.
• Online poker casinos will no longer be taxed, as the French gaming and taxation bill passed in 2009 only addresses taxation for games of chance, and not games of skill. If the ruling is upheld, expect a quick legislative push to add poker and other skill-based games to the gambling/taxation law.

This ruling follows two months after a strange ruling in Sweden’s Supreme Court, where they ruled that poker tournaments are games of skill, while cash games are games of chance. Despite the clear confusion surrounding the nature of this ruling, it was lauded as a step in the right direction for poker, which gains a little more clout with every official acknowledgment that it is, in fact, a game that requires the utmost skill. Only time will tell if France will be able to come to the same conclusion.

America and Canada have always had an amicable relationship based on Canada’s perception that Americans are too intense and America’s firm belief that Canada’s chief function is as America’s hat. Travel between the two has always been easy, and citizens generally regard one another as long-lost friends, albeit friends who talk a little funny. With the chaos in the poker world in the US, however, more and more American poker players are heading to the Great White North in an attempt to reactivate their online poker accounts and get back into the game.

Canada isn’t without its share of legal troubles where poker is concerned. Recently, the Quebec Poker Tournament League (LTPQ) saw all of its activities put on hold while attempting to resolve some issues between themselves and Loto-Quebec, which is run by the state. What started as alleged missed payments has devolved into a full-on cat fight. The LTPQ says that Loto-Quebec owes them money, and, not to be outdone, the latter filed charges against LTPQ for damage to reputation from LTPQ and its owner.

This of course pales in comparison to American poker troubles that began in April on Black Friday, when Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker were forced out of the US market and hit with charges of bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling. While PokerStars and Absolute Poker have been helping Americans get their money out of their accounts (albeit slowly), Full Tilt has not released any funds and has not given any indication of when or if it will happen. While the majority of American players wanted to take their now-crippled bankrolls and play somewhere else, more and more online poker sites (most recently Bodog Poker) have been pulling out of the US market entirely (likely out of fear of what the US Department of Justice is willing to do to make a point).

Several American players have switched to live games for the time being, an act facilitated by the recent World Series of Poker events taking place in Las Vegas. Many of these players will be hitting Europe soon for the European Poker Tour and WSOP Europe events. Some players, however, don’t consider this concession (however long it has to last) to be acceptable, and several professional poker players, including Phil Galfond, founder of bluefirepoker.com and WSOP bracelet holder (with almost a million dollars worth of winnings at the WSOP) and Mikey Stoltz, who has cashed three times at the WSOP. Daniel Cates, known as “jungleman12,” attempted to follow in their footsteps and make Vancouver his new home, but he was stopped at the border and denied entry.

Cates won over $5 million online in 2010, making him one of the biggest winners of the year, but the Canadian Border Police (border mounties?) were not interested. They simply saw an American trying to come to Canada to work without a work visa, and they gave him the boot. This is an interesting twist, as there’s no way for Cates to obtain a work visa while in Canada, seeing as he’s technically self-employed. According to his twitter, he plans on talking to an immigration attorney, but he’s doubtful that he’ll make it into Canada and will likely relocate to a different country instead.

While Cates is the first really notable player to be turned away from the safety of Vancouver, he surely won’t be the last. Where are American poker players to go, if Canada doesn’t want them?

For the last three months, poker fans have expressed concern about the future of Poker TV, given the events that transpired on Black Friday. With a full season of poker playing between that time and now, we have a clearer picture of what will become of Poker TV. Full Tilt is currently down and no longer offering advertising (and likely won’t be advertizing in the US anymore, even if they do recover) and PokerStars has been forced out of the American market, to be followed by the voluntary withdrawal of other sites, such as Bodog Poker, who have simply decided that operating in the US is more trouble than it’s worth.

As we all know, the World Series of Poker continues to be aired on ESPN, and the station is currently showing highlight reels that they plan to air through November, when the final table returns to finish out the 2011 WSOP and crown a champion. ESPN doesn’t seem to have any intention of letting go of this cash cow, as plenty of people have tuned in to both the live play and the highlights. The World Poker Tour, which airs on Fox Sports Net will likely also stay on the air, due to high viewer volume (and no sponsorships from companies that are currently at odds with the US). The European Poker Tour and North American Poker Tour, however, have both been pulled from television. They were allegedly timebuy deals, and almost all the timebuys have been removed from network television.

Timebuys, also known as brokered television, are when a company buys a time slot outright, rather than trying to earn income either through the network or through advertising. These types of shows often don’t make enough money through ads to be worth trying to air the traditional way, so when the company paying to air the show no longer has any reason to air it, the show is taken off the air. When PokerStars was shut out of the US market, it no longer had any motivation for paying millions of dollars to keep televising the EPT and NAPT, as Americans now had no way of accessing the site, therefore removing the shows’ efficacy as an advertising tool. PokerStars therefore pulled the plug.

Several other shows that are still being aired, such as High Stakes Poker and Poker After Dark are also running on timebuys, which means that they’re in serious jeopardy of being taken off the air after the current season, as the sponsor has no reason to keep funneling money into them (and in the case of Poker After Dark, the main sponsor was Full Tilt, which will probably not be sponsoring anything for a while). It’s anyone’s guess which shows will still be around a year– or even six months– from now.

Not all is lost, however. This fall, Epic Poker League will be coming to CBS and Velocity, a new network that was previously Discovery’s High-def Theater Network. Between the two networks, the latter of which won’t go live until early October of this year, 20 hours of programming will be aired. Because many of the other poker shows have gone under, Epic Poker League, led by poker legends Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack, stands to draw the professional players who will no longer be playing for other Poker TV shows. With a monopoly on the televised poker talent, Epic Poker League may well be what the foundering Poker TV has been looking for.

The American Gaming Association has said, “Thanks, but no thanks” to the Barton bill, a piece of legislature currently striving to be passed into law sometime before the end of the year, saying that instead, they’re working on their own bill. The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011, or Barton bill, as it’s more commonly called, aims to restore online poker in the United States through creation of more government and handing over more power to Big Brother, and the AGA seems to think that they can do better.

The Barton bill has gotten a great deal of attention since it was first introduced before the House of Representatives by Texas Republican (let’s be honest– he’s a Tea Partier) Joe Barton in late June. The bill has been lauded as the great salvation of online poker by Americans desperate to play and online poker sites desperate for the customers in the United States, but some people are taking a second look and realizing that there’s something a little bit off about the bill (and not just that it was introduced by Joe Barton, which is enough to make most sensible people wary).

The truth is, it’s refreshing that the AGA has come forward to state that they’re going to hold out for something more sensible. While the AGA statement has said that they “are pleased that Rep. Barton wants to protect American consumers and understands the need for regulating online poker in our country,” the AGA’s president and chief executive officer, Frank Fahrenkopf, has stated that the AGA will be introducing their own bill, once the kinks are worked out.

One of the fundamental differences between the two positions seems to be whether or not states are automatically opted-in to the new online gambling policies. While this may seem insignificant, it’s actually an incredibly important issue in the United States, which has waged wars over the argument of states’ rights vs. federalism. Allowing– nay, forcing– each state to decide in the beginning where they stand on the issue of online poker means that Barton’s suggested federal agency that oversees online poker becomes not only unnecessary, but borderline unconstitutional. Since some states will most likely opt out (such as Utah), and others will assuredly opt in (including those with high Native American populations, where casinos generate a large amount of income for the tribes, moreso if they can eventually go online), regulating online poker becomes the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.

The bill supported by the AGA also allows for federal regulation where taxation is concerned (and state government as well, in states that have a state income tax), as online poker winnings will be subject to taxation. Barton’s bill, however, suggests instead that the federal government will receive funding not only through taxation, but through the application of fees and fines for users (without setting limits for what those fines or fees can be). The Barton bill is filled with holes and loopholes that consistently take away authority from both individuals and states and slowly give it to the federal government; the American Gambling Association has had the foresight to not only recognize this, but actively oppose it.

More federal regulations around online poker are not what the United States needs; a worthwhile bill will involve effective regulations that protect players without blocking international commerce where poker playing is concerned.

The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011, or H.R. 2366, has received a great deal of attention since it was first introduced by Texas Republican Joe Barton, who has given the bill its most common moniker, “The Barton Bill”. The bill is often lauded as the salvation of online poker in the United States, although, in reality, should the bill pass into law without significant revision, most players will find that they’ve gotten far more than they’ve bargained for.

Joe Barton is best known for his frequent political blunders, such as apologizing to British Petroleum about the “witch hunt” that was taking place in the US as the government attempted to hold the industrial giant accountable for the unparalleled environmental disaster they created. Despite his placement as chair of the Energy and Commerce committee, Barton has frequently made statements denying the existence of global warming and criticizing the utilization of wind power, as “Wind is God’s way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it’s hotter to areas where it’s cooler. That’s what wind is. Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up? Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen, Mr. Chairman, but that is definitely something on the massive scale. I mean, it does make some sense. You stop something, you can’t transfer that heat, and the heat goes up. It’s just something to think about.” While it’s certainly possible for good legislature to come from lousy politicians (especially when the bill is co-sponsored by 11 others), it’s often wise to consider the the source of a bill before assuming that it will be an automatic success.

The Barton bill does make playing online poker in the United States legal, but guess what? It’s already legal. There’s nothing wrong with playing poker online in the US, as long as you don’t fund your account through your bank. Therefore, legal changes in the US need to be made to the way payments are processed, not the “legality” of playing poker online.

The bill also bans the use of credit cards to fund poker accounts, which the bill names as an attempt to prevent fraud. Whether intentional or not, this is much more an instance of legislated morality, where people will find it more difficult to gamble away money that they don’t have. There is also an element of classism present in the emphasis on this restriction, as it requires that players have more liquid assets to be able to play, and liquid assets of this sort are far more common among Barton and his fellow Tea Partiers than among the average American.

The bill also states that it wishes to preserve “state and tribal rights,” but what this really means is that Barton is rallying for more governmental control. If the bill passes as currently written, not only will the US Government have more control over internet regulation and poker winnings in particular, but a new governmental department will be created for the sole purpose of monitoring online poker activity. This department will not only ensure that all poker winnings are properly taxed (at a rate yet to be determined), but will also prosecute players who are caught cheating– using a bot or cheating in any way could lead to up to three years in already overcrowded prisons.

While American players are looking everywhere from a reprieve from the current state of poker in the United States and the Department of Justice witch-hunts for companies that accept money from US players, the best answer is very rarely to pick the very first alternative that comes along. In this case, choosing the Barton bill means sacrificing the welfare of the long term for an immediate gain.

For those of you who have been following the story since early in the year, it may not come as much of a surprise, but to the rest of us, this could be news that shakes up the whole online poker balance of power, as two of the world’s leading poker sites, bwin Poker (#5) and partypoker (#3), have finally officially merged, according to a press release dated July 29, 2010.

In that same press release, it was asserted that the new bwin Poker/partypoker combination will surpass the top two sites (which shall remain nameless) and take the top spot of number one poker site in the world. Only time will tell whether those claims can be met.

Based on traffic numbers, it looks as though the bwin Poker/partypoker merger will essentially double both sites player pools, with bwin Poker get slightly the better end of the deal (having slightly fewer players to start with). In all, the post-merger poker room should have close to 6,000 daily players. Currently, the merged sites joint network is valued near $3 billion. All it would take would be a re-entry into the United States online poker market, where most poker sites get 50% of their traffic, for partypoker and bwin Poker to fulfil their claim of market superiority.

What can bwin Poker and partypoker players expect to get out of this deal? Expect twice as many fish in the online poker sea, more big money promotions, now cross-platform, most likely with bigger prize pools too.

Party Gaming, which is based in Gibraltar, and bwin Poker, which is based in Vienna, Austria, are still currently running their separate sites, and members of either site will not yet be automatically admitted entry to the other, soon-to-be sister site (although that seems imminent).

And once again it’s that time of the year where we gather around a tree and celebrate together with our loved ones. While the many special Christmas offers of our featured poker rooms are tempting and definitely worth taking a look at, we hope you do find the time to relax and share Christmas with your family or close friends.

For Max Poker Bonus this year ends with a lot of promise for the future. We want to thank you all for the continued trust in our project and the support that has helped us improve our site steadily. We are in the fortunate position of having developed a high quality product that enjoys great renown in the poker industry. This effort from our side has in turn translated into excellent offers by our partners for you, our customers (like our special poker bonus offers or the free Titan Poker Calculator to name a few).

We would also like to thank our partners at all our featured poker rooms. We appreciate their effort and their time spent. You guys really earned your Christmas holidays. Actually we all did.

While this year ends on a high note for Max Poker Bonus we also want to make it clear that this is no reason for us to slow down or be content with our achievements. We still have things on our to-do list and have also already come up with new ideas that are being developed and worked on – and some are actually already being implemented as we speak.

If you are a frequently returning visitor (be it to check for new poker bonus offers, to use our Poker Odds Calculator or to read our poker blog) you will have noticed some enhancements to the site over the past few weeks including a dramatic performance increase thanks to Giorgio’s magic fingers. He has re-done a lot of our code and vastly improved the speed of the site.

We hope you will find lots of nice Christmas presents under your tree (let’s hope you have been a good boy or girl and Santa brings you gifts). And if you feel like giving yourself a present, feel free to participate in the various Christmas promotions.

Everyone at Max Poker Bonus wishes you a merry Christmas and lovely holidays!