Online Poker is just about gone for US based players
No surprise if you are an online poker player, but our options of playing online have effectively been taken away from us. The UIGEA law enacted in 2006 made it illegal for banks and financial institutions to transfer funds to and from online Poker sites.
On April 15, 2011, the DOJ used that law and stopped all online play by US players from occurring on two or three of the major US facing online poker sites. This event was named “Black Friday”. US players were no longer allowed to play for cash on either PokerStars or FullTiltPoker. These sites were charged with fraud and money laundering.
These charges are basically true because credit card companies and banks were restricting the transferring of money to and from poker sites. So the sites got creative and coded the transactions so that it appeared that the product or service being purchased was not “poker”. As in all creative accounting ventures, they eventually got caught. Well, actually the person who taught these companies how to process the money ended up as a government witness against them, or so the story goes.
The DOJ has made it hard and even next to impossible to withdraw our funds from these sites. It may take several weeks or even months before US players can even request their funds.
In all likelyhood, it will probably be two or more years before we will be able to play on an online poker site for cash legally.
Yes, I know that Carbon Poker, Cake Poker skins and others online are available., but we still have the same problem of legally depositing and/or withdrawing our funds. We know that the DOJ will be watching and going after the next largest violator of the law. In reality none of the offshore sites will be truly safe for US players until there is legalized online poker in the US, regulated by either the State or Federal government.
So in the meantime we need to contact our local and national government officials and let them know what we want to see happen to online poker in the US. This is not an easy task but we must all do our part. Bickering and complaining about won’t help. Even organizations like the Poker Players Alliance needs to step up their efforts and work for us in an effective manner. They should be thinking about more than just public relation efforts to support our cause.
I still have funds on Bodog, Carbon Poker, DoylesRoom, PokerHost and TruePoker. I will play on those sites and I will withdraw whenever I have $250 in profits. I may take a shot at playing larger tourneys or higher level cash games if the games look beatable. I will certainly start withdrawing any winnings on these sites before they are also locked out to us. But I will certainly try to keep my risk of loss as low as possible in any case.
The next few years won’t be easy and they will not be as fun as they were prior to April 15, 2011.
I will not be making anymore deposits until online poker is legal in the US. This is getting easy because there are practically no deposit options left that I can use. There were online payment processing companies that allowed you to either deposit by credit card or bank transfers from your banks. Then you could transfer the money to the poker sites. Most of these companies have had their funds seized. This was very similar to what happened with NetTeller a few years ago. But at least with NetTeller, I was able to get my money back after about a year wait. This time, I lost all that I had on account with the two payment processor that I was using. One of them offered to wire transfer my money to me but were going to charge me a $50 processing fee which was more than I had on the account.
I will probably visit my local New Hampshire poker rooms three days a week or more.
What are your future poker plans since “Black Friday”? Where do you go from here?
Two’s and Ten’s
I don’t often talk about bad beats but sometime you just can’t help yourself. While traveling from Fremont to Amesbury, I discussed the hand with Diane. She videotaped the following:
What was your worst experience?
Interviewed on MomPopPow.com by Mom
Taking a slight break from my usual ramblings. I was interviewed by my best friend, Diane.
She and I blog together on MomPopPow.com.
She interviews me about my passion for poker.
Stevie trips and falls.
Image by jackace via Flickr
The other day I talked about online players and their avatars and names that they use.
I wondered if the players thought that either their avatars or their screen names gave them some extra power or strength.
Knowing that many players are superstitious I thought it might be interesting to speculate about in the post.
One of my fellow bloggers commented that the names and avatar probably mean nothing once they are chosen.
He then suggested that StevieTrips, my name on Full Tilt Poker, an affiliate site, might indicate that I tirp up a lot.
He was not too far wrong.
Last week I was doing pretty well at picking off bluffs. I could tell that my opponent was betting without the best hand. My bankroll was starting to increase from the 30 buy-ins of $5.00 or $150 and I got it up to about $182 or 36+ buy-ins.
But now I am at about $153 or 30 buy-ins. Almost back to where I started. Am I disappointed? Yes, but I only have myself to blame.
There were no bad beats, no close races, no miracle cards for my opponent. When I thought I was picking of a bluff, I was instead calling a value bet from an opponent with a better hand.
My queens were no match for Aces. My set of 10′s were no match for a flush on the board.
I even had a hand where I had AA and entered pre-flop with a pot size bet.
The flop was 3 5 A, giving me three Aces or trips. How good was that?. Not really as good as I thought as my opponent was holding 2 4 suited. The opponent may have hope to make a flush. Instead, he hit the straight on the flop for the winning hand and most of my stack.
I have yet to learn when to hold them and when to fold them.
The good news is that I still have a playable bankroll and I enjoy the game and will try to plug the leaks that I have in my play.
Goals yet to be reached
Image by donbuciak via Flickr
It is a good thing that I am not dependent on my earnings from poker as I seem to be stuck. My bankroll needle stands at $171.00 or about 34 buy-ins of A$5.00 each.
Last night I played in my second Guarantee tourney on Full Tilt Poker, an affiliate site. The last one I attempted had over 2,000 people and I finished in the 600′s or way out of reach of the money that the top 189 would earn.
I saw that there was a modest $2k prize to be divided by about 12 or so winners and I chose that one. Of course the game being played was Limit RAZZ which I know but I do not have a very good success rate with. It might have to do what the fact that I play it poorly. In any case, I finished 61st out of 90 players. Still not close enough to cash.
What was I thinking. I do play better at No Limit Hold’em Tourneys than I do at RAZZ.
I still have a few Step tickets left that I will use to enter some No Limit Hold’em Tourneys. I will attempt to enter a modestly paying event that has less than 200 players. It is not that I don’t like playing a large field, but I feel that I smaller group is easier to work with. I once played a freeroll witn 8,299 players and came it second. Sadly, only 1sr place won any cash.
My goal is to increase my bankroll until I have over $500. At that point I will attempt to move up to the $10 buy-in cash games.
Do you have bankroll goals? How do you move the needle forward?
What is in a name
I play a lot of Rush Poker on Full Tilt Poker, an affiliate link, because I play using my Android SmartPhone.
One of the things that I noticed while playing are my opponents names and the avatars that they have chosen.
Some of the names are the person’s first name and an initial and/or number to create a unique name.
Some of the names are supposed to represent the attributes of the player. Names like DezSpair, lossless1, Da Mad Clown, Bigsexywoman, AllInBlind27 indicate either an attitude or playing characteristic. My name of StevieTrips might indicate that I play hands when I have three of a kind. Like that happens a lot.
Some times the avatar chosen makes the statement. A shark, a fish, a lizard, a boxer, or a police officer might also be chosen to convey an online attitude.
All of this lends to interesting sessions. Do you believe the names they are using are really like the person behind the mouse controls? Is the avatar supposed to intimidate you into making a wrong play?
What do you think when you see your opponent’s avatar and/or name? How does that make you react?
Grinder
Grinder – Poker Glossary
A grinder is the same as a rounder. These tend to be semi-professional players that make most of their money playing poker, though they do not make much …
The above definition was supplied from the Poker Tips Website.
Grinding is what I am trying to do although at the limits and buy-ins I am playing, I don’t expect poker to be my prime revenue source.
My grinding consists of playing poker almost every day for at least an hour or two a day. I play online using my laptop or my Droid SmartPhone on Full Tilt’s Mobile site, Flash 10.x required. When I play on my SmartPhone only Rush Poker on FTP is available.
Currently, I have an online bankroll on Full Tilt Poker, an affiliate, of $170 or 34 by-ins of $5.00.. My goal is to get to 100 buy-ins of $5.00 before moving to the next level, $10.00 buy-ins.
How do you grind your way up to the next level? What are your goals?
Winning and Losing
Image via Wikipedia
In poker there are ways of winning and losing that are more acceptable than others.
The best type of win is when you have the absolute best hand, the nuts, and nothing can help your opponent to overtake you.
The second best type of win is when you have the best hand, and even though your opponent might have twelve cards left in the deck that could help him, your hand holds up and you win the pot.
The third best type of win is bitter sweet and is when you do not have the best hand but you have at least 12 cards in the deck that can give you the win. You get that card either on the turn or on the river for the win.
The bitterest way to lose is when your opponent catches his miracle card on the turn or on the river for the win. This is the type of loss that makes you say “that’s poker”.
The second worse way to lose is when you have a good starting hand but the flop, turn and river don’t improve your hand and your opponent’s better hand wins.
The worst way to lose is when you have a hand that is behind, losing, but you cannot give it up.
Even after the river, you call off more chips in the hopes that your opponent was bluffing and nine times out of time you know he is not, yet you call anyway.
Yesterday I had yet another losing session and I would like to say that I was beaten at the last or next to last card and that my opponent managed to outdraw me but in reality I beat myself. I called off chips in the hope that my hand was better, in spite of all of the evidence to the contrary.
My bankroll went from $182 to $165 or 36 buy-ins to 33 buy-ins.
Have you ever given up more chips that you should? Have you ever made a crying call?
A losing session yet my bankroll grows – slightly
Image via Wikipedia
Yesterday, I had my first losing session this month, but I ended up with more than I started with.
I ended yesterday with $173 or 34 buy-ins of $5.00 and this morning my balance on Full Tilt Poker , an affiliate, was $182 or 36 buy-ins of $5.00
How can that be?
Every pot that I win has a certain amount taken out of it and this amount is called the “rake”. The amount varies per site, but it is a amount that the online site takes for allowing you to play there. Even in casinos and poker rooms, each pot is raked before paying the winner.
But I have a special deal with Full Tilt using a broker, StackBack.com and I get back about 27% of the amount raked from my pots. This amount is paid to me monthly on the first week of the next month.
I won pots totaling $129.50 in February with $34.97 taken out as rake.
Yesterday I received my rakeback deposit of $8.79 or about 25.2%.
Rakeback is one way to help increase your bankroll while you play.
You are never going to win every session you play, so it is nice to have a method that softens the blow of losing an occasional buy-in.
Do you get rakeback on the sites you play? Is it even offered?
Using a Step 3 ticket
Image via Wikipedia
In my quest to build up my bankroll, I have been entering into what is called Step Sit and Go Tourneys. These are usually one or two table tourneys, with first and second place winners getting a ticket to the next Step. You can play from Step 1 thru Step 7, with the winners getting cash at the last step – an award valued as much as $12,000 in cash.
Step 0 costs 1.10 and gives you a Step 1 ticket worth 3.30
Step 1 costs 3.30 and gives you a Step 2 ticket worth 8.70
Step 2 costs 8.70 and gives you a Step 3 ticket worth 26.00
Step 3 costs 26.00 and gives you a Step 4 ticket worth 75.00
Step 4 costs 75.00 and gives you a Step 5 ticket worth 216.00
Step 5 costs 216 and gives you a Step 6 ticket worth 640.00
Step 6 costs 640 and gives you a Step 7 ticket worth 2,100
Step 7 costs 2,100 and gives you a winners choice prize package work $12k
As you can see, if you are a winning player, you can convert 1.10 into a prize worth as much as $12,000.00.
In reality, it might not be that simple.
I have purchased 10 of the Step 1 tickets and have converted 6 of them to Step 2 tickets.
I have converted 6 of the Step 2 tickets into 4 of the Step 3 tickets.
I will use the Step 3′s, worth $26, to enter tourneys that have top prizes as high as $8,000.00 and 50 to 100 winners or more possible.
It is highly likely that I could use 10 of the Step 3 tickets and only win money once in the ten attempts. That is the nature of these low entry tourneys.
In fact, I entered one tourney yesterday that ended up having over 2,100 players and I finished 619 and only the top 189 finishers received a cash prize.
I will keep you updated and let you know if and when I win and how much.
By the way, my online bankroll now stands at $180 = 36 buy-ins of $5.00. My goal is to grow this into $500 before moving to buy-ins of $10.00. If my bankroll dropped to $400 or under, I would go back to playing $5.00 buy-ins.
