Thinking About June 1 (& the UIGEA)

Last week we heard the news that with regard to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, House Rep. Barney Frank does not believe there will be any further delays of the implementation of the final regulations. In other words, come June 1st -- less than ten weeks away -- it appears likely that Americans who play online poker will encounter additional difficulty getting money onto sites.

Yeah, I know. Everybody has that other bill on their minds -- the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 -- which has now been passed by both houses and is about to be signed into law. But while reading around yesterday I was reminded by Gadzooks64 of the UIGEA and that fast approaching deadline. And also the possible consequences.

According to those UIGEA final regs, U.S. banks and other financial institutions are being instructed to block transactions between their customers and online gambling sites (no matter if they are located outside the U.S.). Like the original UIGEA, the “Final Rule” does not define what “unlawful gambling” is. Indeed, it makes explicit that the law does not, in fact, provide that definition, noting that “The Act does not spell out which activities are legal and which are illegal, but rather relies on the underlying substantive Federal and State laws” to make those distinctions. (Of course, in many cases, those “underlying” federal and state laws are themselves full of ambiguity.)

The regulations acknowledge that the banks will likely find it difficult “to prevent restricted transactions without unduly burdening their processing of lawful transactions.” Nonetheless, the regs express hope that the banks will practice “due diligence” when it comes to identifying and stopping those transactions from occurring. Many have suggested that such “due diligence” will involve “overblocking” all suspect transactions rather than risk allowing a restricted one to go through.

One other important note -- the banks and other institutions are not obligated to block transactions which involve a customer taking money off of an online gambling site. Rather, “[u]nder the final rule, the term ‘restricted transaction’ would not include funds going to a gambler, and would only include funds going to an Internet gambling business.” Meaning one is (theoretically) supposed to be able to cash out without hassle, but depositing money will be prohibited.

I think it is possible banks could block cash outs, too -- that is to say, they aren’t obligated to do so, but it could happen that some do so, anyway. In fact, I’d say it is probably likely that will happen here and there, given the uncertain position the banks are in with regard to enforcing the UIGEA. Also, even though compliance with the finalized regulations is not mandatory until June 1, banks can already block transactions if they wish.

Gadzooks64 notes how “there is already a dearth of really bad players” such as were easy to find just a couple of years ago, and believes it will only get worse come June 1. Her post made me think of an observation made by Tom Schneider a long time ago -- early 2007 -- on the old Beyond the Table podcast regarding how the UIGEA could potentially affect the relative value of the money one has on poker sites. (I wrote a little about his comment here.)

Responding to the fact that a lot of U.S. players were pulling their money off of online poker sites then -- and with Neteller having just pulled out we were facing additional trouble reloading -- Schneider opined that the money on poker sites could become worth “more than cash.” He speculated that in some cases players could be ready to play “a premium” (a fee of some sort) to a third party to help them get money moved into their online accounts.

He was talking mainly about the higher stakes games, I believe, but I noted at the time what he was saying could apply to us small-timers, too. In any event, if, indeed, it becomes too arduous or even impossible for some of us Americans to deposit anymore, that should affect the player base considerably. It’ll also affect how some of us practice our bankroll management, too. Come June 1, a lot of us may suddenly be playing with our “case money” (so to speak) -- that is, our last remaining funds with which to play.

In her post Gadzooks64 mentions that rather than play that way, she might just take her money out prior to June 1 and stick to them freerolls, avoiding the hassles altogether. I would bet others are probably thinking along the same lines.

I’m not going to use the money in any of my online poker accounts to make that bet, though.

Thanks, Everybody

Lots for which to be thankful, as usual. Thanks first to Gadzooks for the idea to create a South Park Shamus. Check it out, dude.

And thanks, readers, for coming back time and again. This here blogging thing continues to be a source of great fun.

Earlier in the week, Pokerati Dan sent me an interesting article appearing in the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic Monthly by Andrew Sullivan called “Why I Blog.” In the piece, Sullivan opines about his own blogging experiences, and theorizes a bit about the genre and its significance.

Some of Sullivan’s ideas about blogging differ from mine, although I think every blogger has his or her own distinct notion of what a blog is, and only some of our ideas tend to overlap with one another. He does sound a couple of notes that resonate strongly with me, though.

Sullivan writes about the “exhilarating literary liberation” he felt when he first began to write his blog, contrasting the immediacy of the blog with his previous experiences writing for print publications, experiences marked by “endless delays, revisions, office politics, editorial fights, and last-minute cuts for space that dead-tree publishing entails.”

I have mentioned here before that I had had some modest experience writing for other outlets (newspapers, journals) prior to starting the blog. I, too, much enjoyed that sense of “liberation” at being able to write and publish instantly, and (even more importantly) receive feedback and become part of a larger conversation right away. Sullivan points out that this openness to others’ input (in the form of comments, emails, and responses on others’ blogs) ultimately means the “blogger can get away with less [than, say, the author of an op-ed piece in a newspaper can] and afford fewer pretensions of authority.”

That is, while I suppose we bloggers could, like Cartman, try to insist others “Respect Mah Authoritay,” such respect ultimately must be earned. Really earned. Thus does the sense of “liberation” also lead to other satisfied feelings when one happens to hit the mark once in a while with a given observation or narrative.

Sullivan also points out how the blog and its “atmosphere” (i.e., the way the blog connects to others’ via comments, links, etc.) “will inevitably be formed by the writer’s personality.” He says “Even the most careful and self-aware blogger will reveal more about himself than he wants to in a few unguarded sentences and publish them before he has the sense to hit Delete.”

He’s right, of course. Even those of us operating under pseudonyms tend to reveal all, in a way, a phenomenon which gives me a couple of more reasons to be thankful. For one, thanks to you, reader, for enduring my own self-indulgences here. And secondly, thanks to all of the bloggers whom I read regularly for sharing their own selves so candidly. Inspiring, that. Not to mention entertaining and edifying.

Lots else to be thankful for, of course. It’s been a whirlwind year, highlighted by a summer in Vegas helping cover the World Series of Poker for PokerNews. As I’ve written about here before, that was one of those life detours I wouldn’t have seen happening even a year ago, so muchas gracias to PokerNews for the opportunity. Also thanks to the many, many terrific colleagues with whom I worked (and continue to work) at PokerNews. Truly a fantastic, talented bunch that helped create what was probably one of the most rewarding work experiences I’ve ever had.

Thanks also to everyone who has given The Hard-Boiled Poker Radio Show a try, as well as to Tim Peters and the Poker Grump for their contributions to the first nine episodes. Have gotten some terrific feedback from several folks on particular episodes, which I do appreciate very much. Actually had a nice message just this morning from the folks over at OTRCat.com, a site that collects old time radio shows. If yr interested in such things, go check ’em out.

And I’m thankful still to be playing online poker. Let’s hope that remains a source of fun and pleasure for all who want to play.

Finally, I’m thankful for the big crowd of family coming over here later today. Vera Valmore is in the kitchen this morning cooking up the last few dishes. I think we have nine eating, and there will be 15 or so here ultimately before the day is over. We actually had to rent an extra table. Vera has fashioned some nifty place settings.

Okay, need to go help out in the kitchen. Everybody have a good one.

2008 WSOP, Day 8: Keep Up the Pace

The first day of Event No. 11, the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em Shootout, went reasonably well, I thought. Steve and I managed to keep up with quite a lot of the action at all 36 tables.

I was particularly proud of the fact that we got just about all of the final hands on all of the tables, and also caught most (not all) of the bustouts of the big names. Have gotten comments from several folks that the two of us are churning out posts at a high clip, which I’m glad to hear, as I don’t necessarily have a feel for how fast or slow it all appears.

As I’ve said before, it gets a bit hectic just trying to keep up, never mind be clear (or even witty or creative now and then), so getting to the end of the night with a sense that we’ve “covered” the action reasonably well is definitely satisfying.

Speaking of getting to the end of the night, we had one of the 36 tables linger well past all of the others, extending our work shift an extra three hours or so. Mike Sterling and Gregg Turk kept their heads up battle going for something like four-and-a-half hours before Turk finally won his way into today’s Round 2, and so we all stuck around to the very end to make our coverage complete.

The schedule of play for this event is kind of curious, I think, as players began yesterday with 10,000 chips and blinds of 100/200 in Level 1. The announcer at the start described the structure as “slow” and I reported him saying that in the blog, but soon after play began players were complaining that they only had 50 BB to start -- not enough (thought some) for a $5,000 buy-in event. (I reported those complaints, too.) I noticed posters debating this topic a bit over in the Two Plus Two threads sweating Event No. 11, as well.

But while starting with 50 BB might indicate a “fast” structure, I think the structure did slow down somewhat thereafter. Seemed that way, anyway. We noticed that once tables got down to four or fewer players, in most cases the blinds were quite small relative to the stack sizes.

For example, most of the tables were at heads up by Level 5 or 6 (each level lasted an hour). The blinds in Level 5 were 300/600, meaning the two players, who together had 100,000 chips, had an average of over 80 BB. Depending on the players’ styles, that could (and in some cases did) lead to some lengthy heads up battles. I think it was Level 7, when the blinds were 1,000/2,000, when Sterling and Turk started their heads up marathon, at which time they each had about 50 BB. Still allows for a lot of play heads up, yes?

Kind of curious to hear what people’s opinions are on this issue of the structure being fast, slow, or both. Today the schedule of play is almost identical to that of yesterday. They are starting with 100,000 chips today rather than 10,000, but the blinds and antes have all been multiplied by 10 as well. One big difference today, of course, is that they’ll be starting six-handed, rather than ten-handed as they did yesterday. (There are a couple of small differences with regard to the antes, too, though they aren’t terribly significant, I don’t think.)

I was pretty whipped by the time we wrapped things up around 11:30 p.m. We had not gotten a dinner break, and I hadn’t brought a lot in the way of snacks and whatnot, so I essentially hadn’t eaten anything since that bowl of Golden Grahams early yesterday morning. But some of my buds from the Vegaspalooza gang were descending on the MGM to play a mixed game, and I did want to get over there at least to meet some of them, if not actually play a bit.

So after a quick run over to my temporary summer digs, I drove up to the strip, parked the rental at the MGM, then walked the long, long walk from the parking deck to the poker room where I arrived some time after midnight. Put my name on a long list for the 2-4 mix game, then rang Gadzooks up on the cell to find out where they were. The other side of the poker room, she told me, all gathered at a table in the back. I made it over and finally “met” ’Zooks, Columbo (of the terrific “One Minute-Mystery” one can hear on Ante Up!), Falstaff, and a few others. The PokerGrump was there as well (with whom you’ll recall I’d got together last week).

The H.O.R.S.E. game was wild and loose and despite my fatigue I sincerely wished I could have gotten in on it, but I understood why no one was giving up their seat. Too damn fun, clearly. I enjoyed hanging out, nonetheless, chatting with ’Zooks, Falstaff, the Poker Grump, and fellow PokerNews blogger F-Train who arrived shortly after I did. All cool folks whom I hope perhaps to see again before they all go back home some time next week.

The game broke up about an hour after I arrived, as a number of the contingent had plans thereafter to visit one of the many adult-oriented establishments one finds in Vegas. Though invited, I took a pass -- Dr. Pauly, I clearly ain’t -- and made it back to the home-away-from-home by 2:30 or so, at which time I cooked up some pasta and finally fed myself.

I see the PokerGrump has a write-up of the night (with pics), and Gadzooks just posted a synopsis as well, if yr interested. And I’m sure all of the others will be chronicling Vegaspalooza on their blogs as well, so follow them links, too.

For now I think I’m gonna grab a bite, as I know now not to count on that dinner break later today. As Vera reminds me, I have to take care of myself if I hope to keep up.