Online gambling image by befuddle via Flickr

Representative (Rep.) Barney Frank has recently picked up two more supporters for his online gambling bill, which would bring an end to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). Mike Thompson from California is supporter number 50 and Rep. Daniel B. Maffei from New York is number 51.

“Rep. Frank has received major support from both New York and California in his efforts to change Internet gambling laws,” said observer Mike Ralley, “already, there are 13 co-sponsors from New York and five from California.”

California lawmakers are already considering legalizing online poker, which could potentially bring in millions of dollars in revenue for the state. And New York Governor David A. Patterson, who is a proponent of allowing more options for gambling in his state, has recently expanded New York’s land-based casino gambling options.

“These lawmakers are starting to realize just how out of touch previous lawmakers were when they adopted the UIGEA,” said observer Mark Freely. “The new administration seems much more in tune with what people in the U.S. want, and clearly, people want the right to gamble online legally.”

Rep. Frank understood this from the beginning and has fought hard over the years for people’s right to do whatever they want with their money in their own homes. A Republican-led Congress held Frank back in his previous efforts to get rid of the UIGEA but Frank has political numbers in his favor this time around, now that Democrats hold the majority in both the House and the Senate. Frank is also receiving a lot of support from Republicans who want to position their party as more friendly to the growing number of online gamblers.

Needless to say, online gambling site owners and trade associations are in full support. Even sites that offer free online roulette and other non-paying games of chance have a dog in this fight, because those sites provide gateways to paid games, such as online video poker (or online pokies, as it’s called in Europe and Australia), slots, black jack and many other forms of Internet gambling. All eyes are watching the progress of this initiative, because there’s a lot of money at stake.

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Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey fired another salvo in the battle to legalize online gambling, by unveiling S 1597, the Internet Poker and Games of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection and Enforcement Act. He’s taking us one step closer to enabling all those grandmothers and just plain folks who want to play bingo online or even get adventurous and learn to play video poker.

The legislation would explicitly legalize and regulate games of skill, clarifying that the U.S. government views poker, bridge, mahjongg, backgammon and chess as games in which a player’s skill dominates the outcome.

According to the bill text, which is 89 pages long: “While each of these games contains an element of chance, over any substantial interval, a player’s ultimate success is determined by that player’s relative level of skill.”

Menedez’s bill focuses heavily on online poker, stating that “Poker is part of the cultural and recreational fabric of the United States and has been since the founding days of the United States. United States poker aficionados have included presidents, judges, and statesmen.”

The move comes a few months after Representative Barney Frank proposed HR 2267, legislation that would both legalize and regulate all online gambling. Like Frank’s HR 2267, S 1597 would establish a licensing and regulatory framework for the online casino gambling industry in the United States. HR 2267 was introduced exactly three months ago and now has 54 co-sponsors.

Rep. Frank and Senator Menendez are both actively pursuing the reversal of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, which has caused more than its share of confusion and problems because of its lack of clarity about what constitutes online gambling. Frank is already on his second attempt to overturn the UIGEA; the first was denied by a Republican Congress. But this year Democrats Frank and Menendez have the majority in their respective chambers, in addition to wide Republican support. Many GOP leaders are beginning to understand that legalized gambling is the will of the people.

Believe it or not, the 2010 World Series of Poker (WSOP) is just around the corner. In fact, the schedule for the 2010 WSOP has been released and contains several interesting changes made that should benefit both pro and amateur players looking to get their share of WSOP glory.

More $1,000 Events
In addition to the customary $1,000 Seniors and Ladies events, this year there will be six $1,000 No Limit Hold’em events. Last year’s $1,000 “Stimulus Event” drew such a positive reaction from players that Harrah’s decided to keep this level of buy-in for the WSOP. It’s hard for many people to come up with the $1,500 or more that most WSOP events require, and by cutting the price down by one-third, the door is opened for many more players. (If $1,000 is still too much for you, there are single table satellites at the WSOP for these events that start at $125.) As can be expected, the fields will be huge for these events.

$50,000 Event Gets Face Lift
Many poker sites have some version of a mixed game that includes No Limit Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha. For the first time in World Series of Poker history, the WSOP has decided to change the $50,000 HORSE Event to a $50,000 Players Championship and switch the format to 8-Game. The format for this event will be HORSE, plus No Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha and 2-7 Triple Draw Low-ball.

New $25,000 Event
For those wanting an event with a prize larger than $10,000 but not as massive as $50,000, there is now the $25,000 Six-Handed No Limit Hold’em event. Six-handed events have become popular online, as they require greater skill to play. This event is expected to have a lot of online stars take part and should prove to be action-packed.

Re-buys are absent yet again from this year’s schedule and the November Nine will make a return for the third year in a row. For a complete breakdown of the schedule, head over to the WSOP website.

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Bob Stupak, the infamous Las Vegas entrepreneur and poker player, lost his battle  at age 67 with leukemia on September, 25, 2009. He was well-known not only for his ambitious 1,149-foot-tall Stratosphere Tower, but also for his charm and mischievousness.

According to Las Vegas mayor, Oscar Goodman, “Bob was an impresario, a ringmaster in the mold of the promoters who made Las Vegas the great town that it is. His ingenuity got him into trouble sometimes, but that happens to folks who try to grab the brass ring. I’ll miss his impishness.”

He was renowned for that “impishness,” which manifested itself in many forms. Just one example of many was the time he slapped a TV reporter who asked him if he was drunk while interviewing him about his failed run for Las Vegas mayor in 1987.

Stupak also raised eyebrows when he proposed the Stratosphere, which opened in 1996, went bankrupt and was sold soon after. As he put it, “They thought I was a complete, oh, for lack of a better word, fruitcake — and maybe they were right.”

“He had a really big idea with the Stratosphere, but it was a little before its time. Love him or not, he wasn’t afraid of anyone or anything,” said former Las Vegas mayor Jan Jones.

But Stupak backed up his bravado with some real poker skills. And he had the hardware to prove it: he entered World Series of Poker (WSOP) history when he won a bracelet in 1989 for a deuce-to-seven lowball event. His skills got him a place at the table on the Game Show Network’s High Stakes Poker, which put him back in the limelight after some time away to take care of his failing health.

But Stupak wasn’t all flash; he had a soft and charitable side too. In the mid-1990s he offered $100,000 for information to help solve the case of a Las Vegas child who had been shot to death on Halloween. He also gave money to homeless organizations and personally fed meals to thousands of homeless people. While his charitable acts served to balance out his wilder side, it also made him even more of an enigma.

But he knew his reputation well. As he said, ”The last thing I’ve ever been all my life is normal. I’ve accomplished what I have by being nothing close to normal.”

Stupak requested that his body be cremated and that there not be a funeral. His family has asked that anyone who wants to honor his memory send contributions to the Stupak Community Center:

The Stupak Trust
300 South Fourth St., Suite 701
Las Vegas, NV 89101

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According to online poker news site PokerNews.com, a federal judge in Manhattan recently sided with Phil Gordon, former Celebrity Poker Showdown commentator against television producer Tony DeRosa-Grund. Gordon had been approached by DeRosa-Grund four years ago to act as host of a holdem poker strategy show DeRosa-Grund claimed he was developing for CBS.

To free himself for the CBS show, Gordon hired a lawyer to extricate him from his Celebrity Poker Showdown contract with Bravo. Gordon then signed a contract with DeRosa-Grund to host 26 episodes for $340,000. Nearly half — $150,000 — was supposed to be paid 15-days after signing the contract. Unfortunately, Gordon found out soon after that DeRosa-Grund did not have a deal with CBS or any other television entity. Gordon may have hoped the show would be another WSOP or High Stakes Poker, but it wasn’t meant to be.

In December of 2006, Gordon sued DeRosa for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract. DeRosa fought the suit by using the specious claim that the contract wasn’t enforceable anyway because Gordon had portrayed himself as a Full Tilt Poker consultant instead of as an acting director of the company. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote didn’t buy it and said in a 2007 decision that DeRosa failed to prove that Gordon had a conflict of interest.

Gordon was subsequently given a summary judgment in January 2008 but DeRosa-Grund tried to fight it by coming up with other arguments the judge chose to ignore. DeRosa-Grund then moved to Texas and filed for bankruptcy to avoid having to pay Gordon. But Gordon isn’t giving up on his efforts to collect. According to a statement he made to online poker news site PokerNews.com, Gordon said, “He has moved to Texas and filed for bankruptcy to avoid dealing with the consequences. He’s tried to use the judicial system to his advantage all the way, but we are not going to stop until this is settled.”

Image of Phil Gordon interviewing Phil Hellmuth from Wikipedia.

Note: Phil Hellmuth has nothing to do with the lawsuit mentioned in this article.

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Want to help PokerStars test their online poker software innovations and get something for yourself to boot? Then try TestPokerStars.com.

TestPokerStars.com is a beta site that allows you to try out the latest version of the PokerStars software, so you can evaluate their new game features before they go live on PokerStars.com. All games pay out play money only but the play poker chips you win on the test site can be transferred to the main PokerStars site, at a special bonus conversion rate currently set at two chips for every one you win. How’s that for good poker odds? That rate is subject to change, though, so get ‘em while you can.

You must have an account on the regular PokerStars site to access the test software. And because the site was created for beta testing, it might not be available all the time. If you find it’s down, though, come back a few hours later and try again; it may well be back up by then. Keep in mind that you may or may not get an answer if you contact support. Because it’s a beta site, they reserve the right to not answer every e-mail.

The Tropicana Casino in Las Vegas was once one of the hot properties on the Vegas Strip and a great place to play poker. But hard times and bankruptcy proceedings slowly whittled away at their image and until earlier this month, they were considered yesterday’s news.

But new owners the Onex Corporation; along with the Tropicana’s new CEO,  former MGM Mirage President Alex Yemenidjian; don’t accept that fate. In fact, they expect be able to return the Tropicana to its former glory.

Yemenidjian knows they face an uphill battle with the Tropicana, which just came out of a one-year Chapter 11 bankruptcy period the first week in July. But according to him, there’s “nothing more rewarding than watching people who say something can’t be done being interrupted by people who are doing it.”

Having a fresh infusion of cash will certainly help Yemenidjian and company achieve that goal though. The Tropicana emerged from bankruptcy with more than $10 million in cash and $75 million in commitments from its new owners and other equity holders. This means funding is in place for major renovations, which are planned for all aspects of the Tropicana, including pool, spa, casino and poker room upgrades, a nightclub and expanded dining options. Renovations are expected to begin later this year be complete in 2010.

So, if you go to Vegas in 2010, stop by the Tropicana and say “shuffle up and deal!” With all the money being poured into the restoration, the newly posh casino will probably attract some poker stars like Annie Duke, Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson and others. You never know, it might just be a good place to go poker-star gazing.

Many predicted that attendance at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) main event would be affected by the economy, because people couldn’t afford to make the trip. Not so, as it turns out.

A few hundred players were actually turned away from the main event because the tournament had reached its capacity, leaving rejected players to explore other poker tournament options around the city, although it’s generally acknowledged there’s no other poker forum quite as popular as the WSOP.

A total of 6,494 players got in and were whittled down to these participants, who will play at the final table beginning November 7th:

WSOP final table players and their chip counts:

Darvin Moon: 59,770,000

Eric Buchman: 36,300,000

Steven Begleiter: 28,195,000

Jeff Shulman: 20,510,000

Joseph Cada: 13,620,000

Kevin Schaffel: 13,080,000

Antonie Saout: 10,200,000

Phil Ivey: 10,100,000

James Akenhead: 5,760,000

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The origins of the game of poker are somewhat murky but there is some evidence that the version of poker we play today is derived from several ancient card games. Some think it came from the 16th century Persian card game known as As Nas, which is played similarly to modern five-card stud and has similar cards or poker hands. But poker also has similarities with the 18th century French game poque and the 500-year-old German game poch or pochspiel, which both contain elements of bluffing and betting. Poch is still played today in Germany under the names Poch, Pochspiel, Pochen, Bock and or Bocken.

Historians have included the Hindu word pukka as another possible source of the name, while some claim that the word has more nefarious origins. It has been said that it originates from the underworld slang word poke, which is used by pickpockets and cardsharps to indicate extracting a sucker of “his poke” (his cash and valuables). A few even believe that the word poker came from the famous term used by magicians: hocus pocus.

Whatever its origins, poker as we know it today is commonly believed to have been born in the United States in the 18th century. There’s a lot of evidence for that poker theory when you think about how many terms from the game are now part of the English language:

• ace in the hole
• ace up your sleeve
• beats me
• blue chip
• call your bluff
• cash in
• high roller
• pass the buck
• poker face
• up the ante
• when the chips are down
• wild card
• odds are

These and many other poker terms (visit www.seriouspoker.com/dictionary.html for others) have been part of the lexicon for decades. It’s ironic really, because some people still look down their noses at poker. Little do they realize that some of the words they use often come straight from the world of cards and clay chips.

These more common terms have been joined by the words “shuffle up and deal,” which can be heard at virtually any poker tournament. Bravo’s Celebrity Poker viewers heard that every week while that show was on the air, which sent those words out over the mainstream airwaves in a way they hadn’t been before. Celebrity Poker, and the more recent Poker After Dark, World Poker Tour, World Series of Poker (WSOP) and High Stakes Poker are only some of the TV shows that have featured poker — and their collective audience is massive. But TV’s stake in poker pales in comparison to that of the Internet, which has breathed new life into the game in a way that nobody probably expected. There are now not only lots of international Internet poker millionaires but new poker fortunes are being made even by people who don’t play the game. A whole new industry has sprung up worldwide that offers poker clothing, collectibles, poker accessories and every manner of poker chip sets, in addition to poker chip carrying cases and playing cards.

So whether poker began in Persia, Germany or the good old U.S.A., it doesn’t matter. It’s clear that poker is now the world’s game.

If you’re ready to learn to play poker, you’ll definitely want to understand its rules and specific poker strategies. To read articles, poker software reviews and participate in discussion forums, visit www.winatpoker.com. Remember, never go to the poker table unarmed — with information, that is!

Image: Les Joueurs de Carte by Paul Cézanne via Wikipedia

Although we hope anyone who plays poker does so responsibly, let’s face it, it’s easy to get out of control when it comes to gambling.  People think they can beat the poker odds by knowing just a few poker hands they learn on television, but they usually don’t realize how much strategy is involved when they first learn to play poker. That’s even more true with online poker, because the  recent popularity of Texas Hold-em makes it so accessible.

Almost anyone who has a computer and a credit card can play poker online, so there aren’t as many barriers as there used to be when you had to drive (or fly!) to a casino. That’s why never before in World Series of Poker history have we seen so many new poker players rush forward to try to take their place next to big winners like Phil Hellmuth and Jamie Gold. And occasionally it works. But more often than not, it’s the seasoned pros like Annie Duke and Doyle Brunson that take home the gold. That’s because they’ve played for years and what is just so much poker theory for most people is practical experience for them.

Even if you play responsibly, not all online poker sites are created equal. That’s why we feel it doesn’t hurt to point out a few of the pitfalls inherent in the online poker world:

• Not all poker sites are legitimate. Some exist only for “phishing,” which means their goal is to get your personal information and credit card data. So before you join, make sure the online poker site is legitimate and offers secure transactions. A good way to ensure you play on a safe site is to register on sites recommended by trusted sources or are on the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC) membership list.

• Make sure your computer is secured against viruses and spy ware by installing anti-spy ware and anti-virus software in your computer.

• Don’t bet more than you can afford to lose. Good poker strategy involves more than just knowing how to play; you have to know how to set limits in advance. And don’t set a goal for how much you want to win, especially when playing online poker, because that can keep you gambling long past when common sense says you should stop. Do set a limit of how much you’ll allow yourself to bet though — and stick to it.

• Always remember that online poker and gambling in general can quickly go from fun to addiction if you have an addictive personality. If people who care about you tell you you’re getting out of control, listen to them. If you think you’ve been bitten adversely by the gambling bug and you’re in the United States, you can call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 1.800.522.4700 for referrals to a variety of resources.

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