A Hand Poorly Played: Online Poker
Send lawyers, guns and money. The shit has hit the fan. - Warren Zevon
It is sadly ironic that online poker sites have played this hand as poorly as I play pocket tens. A Full Tilt pro will tell you the folly of limping into an unraised pot. But like the legislative newbies that they are, online sites passively wallowed through this situation with deer-in-the-headlights aplomb. If you stand in the highway in total disbelief long enough, a car will hit you.
A tournament room full of amateurs might be impressed when you trot out the likes of Raymer, Ferguson, and Lederer. But taking a day in the capital to shuffle them through congressional offices and handlers wasn’t going to cut it. Hoping that the Banking lobby would do the heavy lifting was a fool’s errand. And hiding behind the poorly subscribed Poker Players Alliance was a grass roots approach that went out in the seventies, before changes in the campaign fundraising laws raised the financial ante in the DC influence game. I’m taking the under that any of the online sites put up even one week’s rake on fighting this with the only tried and true method that cuts it in Washington these days; lawyers, lobbyists, and a ton o’ bankroll. While collusion is a no-no in poker, that’s the way of the world in DC. Online sites didn’t join forces. They need to now.
I play(ed) poker online. But losing that opportunity doesn’t even make my top three issues I have with this legislation. While pork and private agendas in legislation have failed to surprise me for decades, Frist’s blatant cramming of this legislation into this particular bill managed to crack even my disillusioned foundation. The fact that this security bill fails to secure mass transportation in deference to Frist’s catering of Leach’s anti-gaming fetish should (but sadly may not) irk more than online gamers. And then there are some trivial concerns like privacy and government control; issues that the Republicans actually used to claim as their moral high ground. It is tragic that this becomes yet another poster child for how public policy can be hijacked by a couple of well positioned morons.
We used to wonder when poker would jump the shark. Well boyz, the shark has been harpooned. If the online sites don’t get their shit together and upchuck the buck, this shark is going to lick the wiggie.
We are indeed living in dangerous times. Check out this government-knows-best mindset as quoted from startribune.com.
Rep. Jim Leach, R-Iowa has led the gambling crackdown in the House of Representatives. Greg Wierzynski, a spokesman for Leach, said Monday that “gambling from your bedroom or living room or dormitory is not a socially useful activity.”
Joe said this on October 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 pm
[…] I’m sure I’ll be stumbling across more and more must-click items throughout the week … the latest is Amy Calistri’s well-written take on what all came together to create the current online poker clusterfuck. […]
Pokerati — Texas hold’em blog — semi-live at the WSOP » Blog Archive » Insta-Amy said this on October 4th, 2006 at 6:23 am
Well stated, Amy. This is just a small part of a much, much bigger problem. Every day we lose more and more of our rights and liberties. And to those that don’t agree with that, it’s only because you have not been paying attention.
Michael said this on October 4th, 2006 at 8:51 am
I personally lost all hope when I ran across the ‘Jesus’ cuts a carrot with a playing card during the D.C. visit.
Anyways, well said.
PokerProf said this on October 5th, 2006 at 10:28 am
Join forces now? Get their shit together now? It’s too late now. They should’ve done this months ago. Now the law has been passed. The President will be signing it shortly. The cat’s out of the bag.
Once the law goes into effect, banks will have no choice but to comply. The online poker sites will have no choice but to cease U.S. operations. Party Poker, Poker Stars, and 888 have already announced such intentions.
Do you know how hard it is to repeal a law? You have to mount enough support to pass bill that overturns this legislation. This is gambling we’re talking about. Good luck getting this overturned.
Online poker has just been crippled.
Junelli said this on October 5th, 2006 at 10:55 am
Well said. And these losses in liberites and rights are coming from the party who constantly preach about personal responsibility and individual rights.
Eric said this on October 5th, 2006 at 5:00 pm
Jim Leach, the Republican U.S. Rep from Iowa, also said in his own news release condemning online gaming: “Click a mouse, lose a house.” I guess when you have nothing coherent to say, a stupid catch phrase will have to do.
I agree with Amy: There could not have been much well-financed opposition to this wrong-headed legislation. Begging and pleading clearly wasn’t enough. The heavyweights of online poker should have had a field day poking holes in a misguided plan that cripples a skill game like poker but exempts online gambling on horse racing and bingo! Pure politics. Though full of deception themselves when enjoying their game, poker players never have played a hand as deceitfully as these GOP moralists. They know what’s best for us?
Finally, every citizen, whether a fan of online gaming or not, should be outraged that the democratic process was subverted. Attachment of the gaming bill to a completely unrelated, sure-to-pass port security measure was a cowardly, underhanded act. Leach and his buddies deprived their constituents and the whole nation of a healthy and much-needed full debate of the online gaming issue. Most of the country’s 10 million online poker players would have welcomed regulation of the industry, and the estimated $3.3 BILLION in revenue for the government wouldn’t have hurt anything, either.
Now we know who the real poker cheats at are. Through trickery, it looks like they’ve got us drawing dead.
Russ Scott said this on October 6th, 2006 at 2:15 am
It is highly debatable that this law will change the legality of online poker… just people’s perceptions of the legality of online poker. Online gambling is illegal, says the US Justice Department, because of the Wire Act of 1961. Specifically, this Act says wagers may not be placed on sporting events over phone lines. Somehow, the Justice Department has interpreted “placing wagers” to mean any form of betting, although the intent of the bill was to prevent people from betting over props they have no control over… not poker. Also, they belive “phone lines” include the internet regardless of whether it is cable, DSL, etc. Lastly, they believe playing poker is a “sporting events” just like taking the over in the MNF game. This string of assumptions must ALL be proven true in a court of law for online poker to be illegal… and do date there has been no such decision… only “opinions” issued from the US Justice Department. To date, no one has ever been prosecuated under the 1961 Wire Act for playing Poker online. The high-publicity arrests of gaming CEOs has only been from online sites that allow sports betting… no poker only sites! The Justice Department’s opinion of the Wire Act of 1961 needs to be challenged… preferable by someone with deep pockets (PartyGaming et al, where are you).
GREAT, SO HOW DOES THIS EFFECT THE NEW LAW?
The new law that will take effect in 270 days has to do with banks and credit cards not allowing transactions to illegal gaming sites… the new law does NOTHING to amend the 1961 wire act. Additionally, it is VERY unclear that the new law will do anything to close the likes of using internediaries like Neteller and Firepay (which the majority of online poker players currently use since most credit cards have been declinging online poker transactions for years)… as they are not gaming sites and they are not US companies either. In a nutshell, the new law has only further clouded the legality (and decreased the availability) of online poker, but it is by no means definitively illegal… or dead (despite PartyGaming and other pulling out of the US market)
Steve L said this on October 7th, 2006 at 3:20 am
Well said, Steve L.
You know how when software companies give lip service to a product, but it doesn’t exist? Vapor-ware? This is “vapor-law”.
It does ONE THING. Restricts US banks from making certain transactions to sites participating in “illegal online gambling”.
But “illegal online gambling” is left undefined. It DOES NOT make online sites illegal, nor anyone’s participation in them illegal (probably thanks to gambling lobbyist efforts, as the original House bill did define such things). So we are left with the Wire Act of 1961, which only speaks to sports betting, as you pointed out.
And transactions by check are exempt (thanks to the banking lobby).
NetTeller, etc., came into existence to counter credit-card company declinations of direct transactions to online sites. They adapted before, they will again…
So… what do online poker players do? Stop running around like checkens with their heads cut off, and…
SHUFFLE UP AND DEAL, FOLKS!!!!
Bob said this on October 7th, 2006 at 10:36 am
[…] Many think that it’s likely that this bill will destroy the on-line poker industry in the United States - even the Motley Fool thinks so - and I’m inclined to agree. One blogger thinks that the on-line poker companies simply flubbed the ball when lobbying Congress. […]
Fascination Place » Blog Archive » Destroying Poker said this on October 9th, 2006 at 12:40 am
The immediate effect is reducing the number of players substantially from the online pool, as well as eliminating a number of sites who have decided to abandon the US market for now. Less new players and less total players yields tougher games with tougher players remaining, IMO.
cc said this on October 9th, 2006 at 12:52 pm
Can you imagine working for a companythat has a little more than 500 employees and has the following statistics:
* 29 have been accused of spousal abuse
* 7 have been arrested for fraud
* 19 have been accused of writing bad checks
* 117 have directly or indirectly bankrupted at least 2 businesses
* 3 have done time for assault
* 71 cannot get a credit card due to bad credit
* 14 have been arrested on drug-related charges
* 8 have been arrested for shoplifting
* 21 are currently defendants in lawsuits
* 84 have been arrested for drunk driving in the last year…
Can you guess which organization this is?
Give up yet?
It’s the 535 members of the United States Congress.
The same group that just passed a law banning us from playing on-line poker, because on-line poker was corrupting the moral fabric of this country.
Is it just me?
Or do you also think we are being led by idiots, without a clue?
Dave Dillman
http://going2pro.blogspot.com
Dave Dillman said this on October 15th, 2006 at 2:35 pm
cc says…
“Less new players and less total players yields tougher games with tougher players remaining, IMO.”
I agree… the fish will be the first one out. The trick may be to find sites that allow US players but have mainly European players.
Steve L said this on October 16th, 2006 at 4:45 am
Great commentary. I’ve been enjoying reciting the last sentence aloud repeatedly.
Still shaking my head at how so few of our favorite commentators (the mags, the posters, the podcasters, the bloggers) seemed to notice how badly the sites were playing this hand. Sure, none of us quite knew what exactly Congress was holding, but talk about failing to protect . . . !
Terrific blog, by the way! (Found you thanks to Iggy.) Looking forward to reading more.
Short-Stacked Shamus said this on October 25th, 2006 at 5:49 pm