The death knell tolls. :(

[BrianSwa]

yea I know thats why I said "fight it Lee".

[Talking Poker]

I haven't read the very large post above yet - that's next on my list - but you guys really need to step back, take a deep breath and slow down.

As I have said from the beginning, the problem isn't so much this new law as it is the poker sites reaction to it. Party is a publicly traded company and they are worried about their share prices, which are about to completely tank anyway... but they have decided it is in the best interests of their shareholders to pull out from the U.S. Market. Do I agree with them? No. But that's their choice. Not allowing you to deposit or play on their site DOES NOT mean they aren't going to let you cash out. You guys who are thinking these big sites are going to suddenly say "screw you" to U.S. players and keep all of their money are crazy. That's just not going to happen, as doing that would pretty much turn a big hit into their business into a game over hit when word got out and everyone else pulled their money from these sites. You'll still be able to get your money out.

What surprises me is that Poker Stars is even THINKING about closing it's doors to U.S. players. This is a privately owned company, so they don't have to worry about their share prices. And even when this new bill becomes a law, it will be a LONG TIME before Stars feels the full affects of it (people not being able to deposit), and even when they do, so what? There are tons of U.S. players with money on the site now, the banks have said it will be a year until they can "regulate" all their transactions, and so on and so forth. I have no idea at all why Stars would make this move so prematurely. I think it's ridiculous. But again, that's their choice. Hopefully someone over there will come to their senses and not overreact prematurely - just like you guys who want a refund of your league money are (for example).

What will happen to this site? Well, as far as I am concerned - nothing. If I have to remove links to the sites that fold, so be it... but this site isn't going anywhere. This is a public forum that discusses poker playing. There is nothing wrong with that and it's not illegal. If that changes someday, I'll deal with it then, but I'm not going to freak out and close up shop, withdraw all my money from online and move to Vegas to start playing in live games just because of some stupid bill in Congress that I don't understand.

This recent legislation has dealt a huge blow to poker, yes, but by no means does this mean it's "Game Over" for everyone. The sites that don't prematurely overreact stand to get a lot of new business thanks to Party closing it's doors.

Right now, I'm in Wait and See mode, and that's exactly how all of you should be too. If you are uncomfortable with having your money on a given poker site, go ahead and withdraw it, but I'm 99% sure there is no reason to. They aren't going to steal it from you, even if they do decide to not let you play any more.

[Talking Poker]

For the panicers around here, instead of freaking out, educate yourself and help fight the fight. You can start by reading this:


This is also an analysis of the act in laymans' terms:


If for some reason you aren't a member of the PPA yet, go join. Today.

And for God's sake people, VOTE on November 7th!!!

[Boobie Lover]

Perhaps Stars has plans of going public ala Party and 888, which would make sense in abiding by these laws.

[Talking Poker]

I will say, this is the part of the post above that concerns me the most. Am I going to prematurely overreact (I've used those words a lot today)? No. But I'm not happy about this at all.

If anyone surfing other forums finds anything more about this, I'd be interested to read it. ie, how will 2+2 react (in 270 days, I assume) and so on?

[johnp158]

That's one of the things that immediately struck me too in thinking about things around here. It'll definitely be interesting to see if other people interpret this similarly.

[Talking Poker]

Like I said, I'm in "Wait and See" mode, but if it comes down to it, I've already got a contingency plan that sounds reasonable to me. I expect TalkingPoker.com to be around for many years to come.... unless of course everyone goes away because poker dies. But I think that's definitely jumping the gun.

[juiCe[3x]]

Lee Jones is behind all this just to get more players at his site and more money!!!

[New Guy]

I'll stay here as long as it's here.Ive been playing poker (sneaking in the commerce club when i was 18) for ever and I really like what this site has to offer.There are some really good people here and good players with lots to teach.

[JDMcNugent7]

Italy tried the same thing - banning online gambling. After 2 months they realized it was just too hard to control, and ended up regulating it.
I honestly think our government will do the same, maybe not in 2 months, but I think there will be ways around it, and soon enough it might even get back to normal and just become regulated.

[Talking Poker]

That would be nice, but I'm not going to hold my breath for a quick turnaround on that. How long did Prohibition last back in the day? 4 years or something? Not exactly apples to apples, but it's still a good example of a very bad decision made by our government that was later corrected.

What I am hoping for in the more immediate future, and I have no idea what it would take for this to happen, is that poker gets included in the exemptions, along with the likes or horse racing, state lotteries, etc.

[PShabi]

No point in voting out here. No Republican, Democrat, or any other politician from Nevada is going to support online poker.

[Quint]

This is precisely what's wrong. If the gaming industry based in Nevada would take the lead on getting online gaming legalized and regulated, then opened sites that were based in the US and regulated by the internet equivilent of a gaming commission they could easily become the leaders in online gaming instead of fighting the online sites. How much has the poker boom made them over the last 5 years?

Perhaps they just don't give a crap about the poker players. Poker likely costs them more $/sq. ft. of space and skilled employees to spread. The table games and slots are where the 'safe' money is since they know that they are going to make $X amount of money per hour. I'm sure they'd be more than happy just providing slots if their clientelle would tolerate it. Why can't they see that online gaming is as lucrative, if not more so, than slots - some reliable hardware, decent software, a good support staff and ba-da-bing, start counting the money!

[Talking Poker]

Agreed.... but on the flip side:

Do you really think every single casino in Vegas wouldn't LOVE to have an online site? Can you imagine playing poker at Bellagio.com??? Legalizing and regulating online poker would be HUGE for Vegas. These politicians you have out there are clearly stupid. Elect someone with a brain, please.

[Quint]

No one meeting this qualification has run for office in my lifetime.

[Talking Poker]

Don't be so sure. If online poker goes away, how much will that hurt the local economy come WSOP time (year round, really, but let's just look at the WSOP)? With a fraction of the number of players playing in the Main Event, less people in town for those 6 weeks, a far less successful trade show, etc, etc... Online poker is good for Vegas.

It's your attitude (not you specifically, but everyone who has the "no point in voting" attitude) that got us in this mess in the first place. I'm semi-confident that if every American was FORCED to vote on this topic, online gambling would be legal... The problem is, many of the people for it are too lazy to voice their opinion, while so many of the people against it are not.

[Kurn]

Well, there were, what, 9,000 players this year's ME? Add 3 non-players for every player, that's 36,000 total.

That's a smallish convention by Vegas standards. On one hand, its during the worst time of the year to visit, so convention businessmay be hard to lure for those dates, but the reality is that while the WSOP is a huge event for poker, its really not a big event for Vegas.

[Talking Poker]

You're way off. The WSOP is a lot more than the Main Event. It's a 6 week "convention." I heard that poker sites were paying $1 million plus for a booth at the trade show and were happy to do it.