So I guess everyone who plays online poker will be calling this coming Friday, Friday the 13th I might add, BLACK FRIDAY. This will be the day that President Bush signs the Port Security Bill, which includes the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Now would be the time that I go off on Senator Bill Frist who is the snake who slid this onto a must-sign terrorism bill that anyone in their right mind couldn't possibly sign. There's so many blogs and articles on this subject that I don't want to even get into this pathetic almost unconstitutional law. Here are a few links on the subject:
Legal expert AND poker player, Allyn Jaffrey Shulman
Poker Blogger Flipchip gets down and dirty on Frist and the future of online poker
I. Nelson Rose - leading expert on gambling and the law analyzes the new law
In my opinion, why say it, when someone else can say it better. Please read the links above!
With all of this, what I just can't get out of my head is the fact that Harrahs (the owner of the WSOP) will not be accepting internet qualifiers to the 2007 WSOP. So, this year there was 8,700 people playing, there were early guesses that 2007 would have at least 10,000 players. At $500 a pop (I believe that's the vig that Harrahs takes out of the money pool), that comes out to $5 Million dollars going straight to the pockets of the host casino. Now, while much of that money goes to expenses (dealers, chips, tables, etc), most of it is revenue. Phil Gordon (listen to his ESPN podcast believes that 2007 will have a decrease of 6500 entrants, equaling a total of 2200 players, or less than when Moneymaker won it all! So, Harrahs stands to possibly lose 3.25 Million Dollars, not to mention all of the profits lost on those 6500 players that will not be staying in their hotels, buying food at expensive restaurants, and throwing dice and doubling down. Now, I am not well versed in politics, but I do know that not only is this country run (right now) by the conservative right wing, but that group of religious fanatics is quite greedy and love their money. Is there any connection between the brick and mortar casinos and the politicians? In my opinion, it's more than likely. Now, i'm not really much of a conspiracy theorist, but a good friend of mine and occasional online poker player and sports bettor believes this is all a ploy to get regulation and open up online casinos that are directly connected to land based casinos. He goes so far as to say that these online casinos are already in place and are basically waiting for the go ahead from Washington. I don't know if I am quite this optimistic, although the thought of logging on to TheBellagio.com and sitting in a virtual game is intriguing.
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So, what am I going to do with my miniscule bankroll? From all I can tell, I think we're all ok, and there's no need to panic just yet. Pokerstars, UltimateBet, Full-Tilt, and Bodog have all said that they are here to stay, and that's good enough for me.
I have actually been playing some pretty darn good poker the last few weeks. I haven't been playing that much but it's been going pretty good. I am so close to taking my money off Pokerstars though. I just can't get over the bad beats. Whether it's in my head or not, I might as well just put it all in one place. I do feel like i'm due for a BIG WIN in my near future...I just feel it!
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What else has been going on? Mo and I have had a pretty busy couple of weeks. Two weeks ago we went for a nice two day camping excursion to Assateaque Island. I'll post some pics:
Guitar and Camping go hand in hand
Mo and the campsite
Last weekend we again went down to Ocean City and stayed at The Hilton, which was one of the best hotels i've ever stayed in, and right on the beach. The weather cooperated one of the two days, and we had a fun time riding bikes on the boardwalk and enjoying the weather. Here are some pics from that trip:
Mo rides a bike on the boardwalk
Weird Maryland Spot
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I've been compiling a music "to get" list that is pretty interesting so here it is:
The Little Willies - The Little Willies
Beck - The Information
Josh Ritter - The Animal Years
Ollabelle - Riverside Battle Songs
The Black Keys - Chuhlahoma, The Songs of Junior Kimbraugh
- Magic Potion
Ray Lamontague - Till the Sun Turns Black
Trey Anastasio - Bar 17
John Mayer - Continuum
Widespread Panic - Earth To America
Roots - (can't remember the name of their newest release)
Willie Nelson - Songbird, The Songs of Cindy Walker
Soloman Burke - At Nashville
My Morning Jacket - At Dawn
- The Tennessee Fire
Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
If you have a Tower Records in your area, they are going out of business. I stopped there and right now they are only offering a 10% discount on all purchases, but, i'm sure this will go up as they have to get rid of everything. Pretty dissapointing since Tower is probably the best place for cd's (other than Itunes).
