Thursday, May 27, 2010

UIGEA on June 1st

Here is some excellent Q&A from some fellow FTF'ers:

What are people's thoughts about it? I'd specifically like to hear from those that make a living or atleast a large chunk of money from online poker. There are lots of threads about it on 2+2, etc., but very few of the well-informed people are letting their opinions be known. Most opinions are from people who have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. Obviously I never keep too much money online, but I have plenty of buyins right now because I've been grinding a lot lately and plan on having a very sizeable ironman bonus in July. However, this won't be very good if A) I can't withdrawal money at this point, or B) if the fish can't deposit money, so the games are completely reg infested.Thoughts and opinions? - ostornadoe


I'm fascinated that you want facts and not conjecture, yet ask other professional poker players to respond, as if THEY somehow become expert in this topic by the simple fact of their profession.

Well I ain't one of those, but perhaps 30+ years in the consumer finance industry and my past status as both an activist and a registered lobbyist for my industry may suffice?

If A) happens, move your account to another place and optionally sue your financial institution; the UIEGA specifically allows transactions in that direction (from the site to you.)

Issue B) is more a function of what people (including the people that run banks) chose to believe, and less a function of what the UIGEA causes, as evidenced by the current state of affairs online - which is already pretty "reg infested" as it applies to US players. I anticipate that some financial institutions may find a way to limit transactions from their account holders to what they believe to be "gambling site operators," but that is because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to (since actually knowing a payee is a gambling site is pretty fucking impossible unless the site is dumb enough to call itself Illegal Foreign Gambling Website, Inc. or something.)

On a non-financial industry tangent, however - there will always be European and other foreign players, and they suck so bad it takes a minimum of three US fish to equal one French idiot, so, to quote Alfred E. Neuman, "Why worry?"

PS: I've heard completely unsubstantiated and therefore highly suspect stories of financial institutions calling people in a microscopically small number of cases to inquire the source of funds being received for deposit to a player's account. In the case where the amount is less than $10k, the correct answer to this question, if it is really ever asked (which as I said I doubt) is, "Fuck off, it's none of your fucking business."

In the case where the amount exceeds $10k (or a series of similar transactions during a relatively short period of time, when combined, exceeds that amount) and if the transaction originates outside the U.S., you are required by law to answer the question. The correct answer for this question (again, in the imaginary case where it is actually asked) is "it comes from the company whose name appears as the payor in the transaction."

In the above situation, answer all questions about your identity and home address factually; they have the right - in fact, they are obligated under Federal law - to ask, and you are subject to some pretty severe penalties if you were to lie.

Finally, if asked the nature of the transaction, the answer "adult entertainment" has a nice ring to it. They are not entitled to more specificity than that. - Zerbet

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

BBT5 & Tuesday Night Booze Cruise


Well, there is one event left in the BBT5 for me to win my seat in the Tournament of Champions. It's tomorrow night in the Mookie, gl me!

We should have a decent turnout tonight in the Booze Cruise thanks to the free public service announcement last night on Buddy Dank Radio during the BBT5 Poker From the Rail Tourney. 21:10 ET password is "boatdrinks", so sign-up!

Speaking of the tourney last night. This was my fateful hand, which I still think was the right call given the way DDionysus played it & his range. Comments??

Full Tilt Poker Game #21100784728: Poker from the Rail Tournament (161790564), Table 1 - 50/100 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:53:20 ET - 2010/05/24
Seat 1: oossuuu754 (4,120)
Seat 2: NYRambler (1,942)
Seat 3: railey69 (8,915)
Seat 4: columbo (3,065)
Seat 5: muhctim (2,515)
Seat 6: twoblackaces (5,410)
Seat 7: InstantTragedy (2,985)
Seat 8: DDionysus (2,640)
Seat 9: SmBoatDrinks (2,450)
NYRambler posts the small blind of 50
railey69 posts the big blind of 100
The button is in seat #1
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SmBoatDrinks [Qs As]
columbo folds
muhctim folds
twoblackaces folds
InstantTragedy raises to 245
DDionysus calls 245
SmBoatDrinks calls 245
oossuuu754 folds
NYRambler calls 195
railey69 folds
*** FLOP *** [3s 9s Jd]
NYRambler checks
InstantTragedy checks
DDionysus bets 2,395, and is all in
SmBoatDrinks has 15 seconds left to act
SmBoatDrinks calls 2,205, and is all in
NYRambler folds
InstantTragedy folds
DDionysus shows [Ac Ad]
SmBoatDrinks shows [Qs As]
Uncalled bet of 190 returned to DDionysus
*** TURN *** [3s 9s Jd] [9c]
*** RIVER *** [3s 9s Jd 9c] [8c]
DDionysus shows two pair, Aces and Nines
SmBoatDrinks shows a pair of Nines
DDionysus wins the pot (5,490) with two pair, Aces and Nines
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5,490 Rake 0
Board: [3s 9s Jd 9c 8c]
Seat 1: oossuuu754 (button) didn't bet (folded)
Seat 2: NYRambler (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: railey69 (big blind) folded before the Flop
Seat 4: columbo didn't bet (folded)
Seat 5: muhctim didn't bet (folded)
Seat 6: twoblackaces didn't bet (folded)
Seat 7: InstantTragedy folded on the Flop
Seat 8: DDionysus showed [Ac Ad] and won (5,490) with two pair, Aces and Nines
Seat 9: SmBoatDrinks showed [Qs As] and lost with a pair of Nines


On the bright side, I did cash in the Daily Dollar last night! A whole net $2.50 for 4 hours of work, woot! At one point I was @ Matt Sexton's table, who was in red, but did not have a custom avatar. I was wondering if it was Mike's boy, so I looked him up & found this under Full Tilt Pros: http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/matt-sexton

"Over $9K in Career Tournament Earnings". lol - the bar is getting lower for the red pro!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

0 for 4 in SCOOP Events

Well, the PS SCOOP events did not go exactly as planned. I ended up splitting my $33 ticket into a $22 and a $11, giving me 2 of each to play over the 2 week span from what I had won during the blogger events back in January.

On 5/11 I played the $11 NL Event and went out 5668/16000+ when I ran AhQh into AA.

5/13 I played the $11 PLO8 Event. I ended up going out 2539/7017 and could never get anything going with mediocre hands.

5/14 I played the $22 NLO8 Event. I finished 1949/1352. Getting rivered as this final hand shows seems typical of late:

POKERSTARS GAME #44103665722: TOURNAMENT #2010050331, $20+$2 USD OMAHA HI/LO NO LIMIT - LEVEL IX (75/150) - 2010/05/14 21:31:33 ET
Table '2010050331 59' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: ISUREDBIRD9 (6431 in chips)
Seat 2: dustang9699 (3636 in chips)
Seat 3: evan95000 (16842 in chips)
Seat 5: bkb789 (7097 in chips)
Seat 6: POCTOB2008 (25614 in chips)
Seat 7: SpawnOkreek (4894 in chips)
Seat 8: Amy Gdyla (10230 in chips)
Seat 9: SmBoatDrinks (4671 in chips)
ISUREDBIRD9: posts the ante 20
dustang9699: posts the ante 20
evan95000: posts the ante 20
bkb789: posts the ante 20
POCTOB2008: posts the ante 20
SpawnOkreek: posts the ante 20
Amy Gdyla: posts the ante 20
SmBoatDrinks: posts the ante 20
evan95000: posts small blind 75
bkb789: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SmBoatDrinks [8s 7s 8d Ad]
POCTOB2008: calls 150
SpawnOkreek: folds
Amy Gdyla: folds
besan002 is connected
SmBoatDrinks: calls 150
ISUREDBIRD9: folds
dustang9699: calls 150
evan95000: calls 75
bkb789: checks
*** FLOP *** [8h Jh Jc]
evan95000: checks
bkb789: bets 600
POCTOB2008: folds
SmBoatDrinks: calls 600
dustang9699: folds
evan95000: folds
*** TURN *** [8h Jh Jc] [5h]
bkb789: bets 1350
SmBoatDrinks: raises 2551 to 3901 and is all-in
bkb789: calls 2551
*** RIVER *** [8h Jh Jc 5h] [Qc]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
bkb789: shows [Jd 4c Qh 2h] (HI: a full house, Jacks full of Queens)
SmBoatDrinks: shows [8s 7s 8d Ad] (HI: a full house, Eights full of Jacks)
bkb789 collected 9912 from pot
No low hand qualified
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 9912 | Rake 0
Board [8h Jh Jc 5h Qc]
Seat 1: ISUREDBIRD9 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: dustang9699 (button) folded on the Flop
Seat 3: evan95000 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: bkb789 (big blind) showed [Jd 4c Qh 2h] and won (9912) with HI: a full house, Jacks full of Queens
Seat 6: POCTOB2008 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: SpawnOkreek folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: Amy Gdyla folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: SmBoatDrinks showed [8s 7s 8d Ad] and lost with HI: a full house, Eights full of Jacks

On 5/16 I played the $22 NL Event and went out ~ 20000/24000 when this hand happened. I flopped the flush & had him right where I wanted. The bad river card came yet I still shipped the rest of my chips...... inexplicable!

POKERSTARS GAME #44181198449: TOURNAMENT #2010050371, $20+$2 USD HOLD'EM NO LIMIT - LEVEL V (60/120) - 2010/05/16 14:20:56 ET
Table '2010050371 520' 9-max Seat #2 is the button
Seat 1: boxer_girl21 (18835 in chips)
Seat 2: SCOOTMEUP (4820 in chips)
Seat 3: unc thirdchn (4290 in chips)
Seat 4: sherlocko (21700 in chips)
Seat 5: alexnmx (8955 in chips)
Seat 6: MOLINHA1 (9670 in chips)
Seat 7: Igotguts (18195 in chips)
Seat 8: SmBoatDrinks (6690 in chips)
Seat 9: thegreendoor (12830 in chips)
boxer_girl21: posts the ante 15
SCOOTMEUP: posts the ante 15
unc thirdchn: posts the ante 15
sherlocko: posts the ante 15
alexnmx: posts the ante 15
MOLINHA1: posts the ante 15
Igotguts: posts the ante 15
SmBoatDrinks: posts the ante 15
thegreendoor: posts the ante 15
unc thirdchn: posts small blind 60
sherlocko: posts big blind 120
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to SmBoatDrinks [6h 5h]
alexnmx: folds
MOLINHA1: calls 120
Igotguts: calls 120
SmBoatDrinks: calls 120
thegreendoor: calls 120
boxer_girl21: calls 120
SCOOTMEUP: folds
unc thirdchn: folds
sherlocko: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kh Ah 8h]
sherlocko: checks
MOLINHA1: checks
Igotguts: checks
SmBoatDrinks: bets 600
thegreendoor: calls 600
boxer_girl21: folds
sherlocko: folds
MOLINHA1: folds
Igotguts: folds
*** TURN *** [Kh Ah 8h] [4s]
SmBoatDrinks: bets 2100
thegreendoor: calls 2100
*** RIVER *** [Kh Ah 8h 4s] [9h]
SmBoatDrinks: bets 3855 and is all-in
thegreendoor: calls 3855
*** SHOW DOWN ***
SmBoatDrinks: shows [6h 5h] (a flush, Ace high)
thegreendoor: shows [Qh As] (a flush, Ace high - Queen higher)
thegreendoor collected 14025 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 14025 | Rake 0
Board [Kh Ah 8h 4s 9h]
Seat 1: boxer_girl21 folded on the Flop
Seat 2: SCOOTMEUP (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: unc thirdchn (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 4: sherlocko (big blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 5: alexnmx folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: MOLINHA1 folded on the Flop
Seat 7: Igotguts folded on the Flop
Seat 8: SmBoatDrinks showed [6h 5h] and lost with a flush, Ace high
Seat 9: thegreendoor showed [Qh As] and won (14025) with a flush, Ace high

Saturday, May 01, 2010

April Poker Summary



Ferguson Challenge Update – I started March with $1,889.32 and finished with $370.85. Before you say, whoa, WTF happened, or how is that possible? After a bad session on Tuesday the 20th I decided to cash out $1500 while I could. This will allow me to play another WSOP event in June. I have booked my flights and hotel for the week of June 21st.

I am currently reading Cowboys Full by James McManus. This is basically the history of poker. It’s OK, but not as enjoyable a read as Positively 5th Street.

I am looking forward to playing at least 3 SCOOP events in May on PokerStars. Seem like a long time ago in January I won tickets in all 3 of the WBCOOP tourneys I was able to play in! The SCOOP start times are not exactly ideal for us working stiffs, but this is still a good opportunity, as I have $0.00 in my PokerStars account, so hopefully I can turn my $11, $22, and $33 tickets into something of a bankroll on PS!

I am still hosting $5 tourneys every Tue & Thur on FTP @ 21:10, so sign up for the Booze Cruise, the password is boatdrinks!