Laying Low

A busy week here at Hard-Boiled Poker. As far as playing goes, I ended January on a small upswing and so was able to book a winning month (no great shakes, but being in the black is always good). And February has started well so I’m feeling okay at present regarding those smallish sums I’m nursing in each of my four sites. So unlike most of the world of online pokery (it seems), I ain’t fretting about deposit options at the moment. Nor am I really thinking about withdrawal options, either -- I’ll see if I can build the bankroll some and worry about that if/when it becomes an issue.

Been reading my new poker books. Have stubbornly worked through the first few chapters of The Mathematics of Poker -- a grind, but fascinating stuff, really. I’ve been dipping here and there in the Super Systems. Jennifer Harman’s limit chapter in Super System 2 has been particularly enlightening, showing how one can add aggression without becoming a blood simple maniac.

I’ve also finished Tom Schneider’s Oops! I Won Too Much Money, which I enjoyed quite a bit and can see myself going back to again. I’m actually going to try to get my non-poker playing friend Vera Valmore (whom I’ve mentioned here before) to read it before I post any formal review. She’s one to appreciate sound advice, so I’m curious to get her take on what Tom has to say.

Meanwhile . . . thanks to Ante Up! for playing my silly edit this week. I hope some folks got a laugh out of that. And thanks, also, to Falstaff for the nod regarding my last post. As I said, I do think he’s right about getting the poker sites to take a more aggressive role in the fight to save online poker. Along those lines, I thought I’d share a brief exchange I had with Bodog this week.

Bodog’s customer support has been particularly good in my experience. They are always very fast with responses to emails (invariably responding within 30 minutes or so), and the phone help has been good as well. A couple of weeks ago when I sent my question around to various sites about how they managed the funds in players’ accounts, Bodog was the only site to give me a straight answer.

I’d been hearing and reading various theories about the future of Bodog in the U.S. Most of these forecasts have been less than rosy, so thought I’d send Bodog a note asking them about it. Here’s my message:













Exactly 26 minutes later I received the following reply:

















Have to say, I respond well to such frankness. (Unusual, really, in this context.) Interesting, also, to think about a company that considers itself “completely legal” and “a legitimate business” finding it necessary to “lay low.” Like I say, I like the frankness. But it does makes me wonder a little how much we can really expect of these sites to take up the cause.