There is huge turmoil in the world of online poker after three of the world’s major online poker sites were shut down by the FBI last Friday, 15 April, now labelled Black Friday in the online poker community.

US federal prosecutors filed an indictment charging the founders of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, as well as nine other individuals, of operating illegal gambling businesses. Federal prosecutors also filed a civil lawsuit of $3 billion in money laundering penalties, accusing the online poker companies of disguising the money they received from US poker players as payments to non-related online merchants such as jewelers and golf ball suppliers.

The PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker.com internet domain names were seized to stop the companies from operating in the US, and a federal judge enforced a restraining order against 76 bank accounts in 14 countries that are connected with these online poker companies.

The accused poker operators have maintained that they were not violating US laws, and that poker is a game of skill and not gambling, but have not commented since last Friday. Some legal land-based casinos have been in the process of setting up lucrative deals with these online sites. These deals will no longer go ahead.

The indictment still maintains that PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute Poker “…used fraudulent methods to avoid restrictions and to receive billions of dollars from United States residents who gambled” and “…deceived or directed others to deceive United States banks and financial institutions into processing billions of dollars in payments”.

The above-mentioned online poker companies are not run in the US but are estimated to have made over $1.4 billion in revenue from US players.

Jack Ury, the oldest 2009 World Series of Poker player to enter, passed away last Tuesday. The aged WSOP player died in his home in Terra Haute, Indiana at 97 years old.

Ury made four appearances at the WSOP and made it to the second day of competition in each.

Ury was seen as an inspiration for others at the tables, especially the younger generation who admired him for his pioneering spirit, endurance and sharpness of mind, despite the fact that towards the end Ury needed help with posting blinds.

At last year’s WSOP Ury made it through to the third day of action but didn’t manage to attend on day three.

Poker prowess seems to run in the family; Ury’s grandson, Seth Harrold, is also a poker player who entered the tournament with his grandfather for the past four years. Harrold has not yet cashed in at the main event but will continue to enter.

Girolamo Cardano was an Italian who lived in the 1500’s who wrote a book called Liber de Lude Aleae (Book on Games of Chance) about the games that were popular among his contemporaries, specifically dice-based games, card games as well as backgammon. Interestingly, Liber de Lude Aleae was published posthumously – about a hundred years after his death – but still managed to be influential in the treatment of probability theory.

Cardano has been described by James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, as the quintessential “Renaissance Man” with expert knowledge of mathematics, music and medicine and some rather strong opinions about the ethics of poker.

Cardano has useful advice for poker players as well as some great observations and anecdotes in Liber de Lude Aleae.

Here are some tips and observations from Cardano, 1500’s style:

1.    Gambling is "One of the incurable diseases"

While Cardano defended gambling as an acceptable pursuit he also did warn that it can lead to destructive and unhealthy outcomes. He cautions players to only play in moderation and never simply to relieve boredom. He says reading or painting are far better ways to pass time as they do not "present a bad example... to one's children and servants." Despite this Cardano did believe gambling had some “useful features”. He saw it as “a means of gaining friendship.” He deemed it one of the “incurable diseases” because so many people felt the urge to play.

2.    Seek fairness: "The most fundamental principle of gambling"

Cardano has some chapters on dice games that feature lots of equations and probabilities that perhaps would go over the heads most readers but do offer some good practical observations on gambling:

"The most fundamental principle of gambling is simply equal conditions"

This is Cardano’s way of saying that collusion should be avoided. He regarded collusion as cheating or starting distracting table talk.

He notes that gambling is not disgraceful if it is fair and all players are equally aware of what they’re getting in to.

3.    Remain vigilant: "Let no one examine the cards in private"

Keep an eye out for cheats. Obviously there was just as much marking cards, stacking the deck, dealing from the bottom and use of mirrors to cheat going on in 16th-century Italy as there is today.

His advice for avoiding cheaters and cheating is to have your own set of cards and to not allow anyone to examine these cards in private.
4.    Choose cards over dice: "It is more fitting for the wise man to play at cards than dice"

There are apparently some very relevant differences between card games and dice games. The fundamental difference according to Cardano being that dice games are open while card games are closed and hidden, therefore relying on ambush strategies.

Card games that required a good memory were considered even better as they required skill.

"In play with dice... everything depends entirely on pure chance, if the die is honest…But in cards, apart from the recognition of cards from the back [i.e., marked cards] there are a thousand other natural and worthy ways of recognizing them which are at the disposal of the prudent man…it is more fitting for the wise man to play at cards than at dice"

5.    The skill of luck: "There is something in this"

Any form of gambling encourages irrational behavior. Carrying lucky charms, stones and amulets to become luckier go against logic. But Cardano did notice that there had been times when he had experienced luck and that “there is something in this, although we do not know the law which connects the parts."

6.    Jerks at the Table: "Certain people are so contentious"

Cardano warns against distracting table talk and activities while at the table. Does the extract below remind you of anyone you’ve ever played against?

"There are some who with many words drive both themselves and others from their proper senses.... Certain people are so contentious that they provoke others to such anger that they forget everything."

Cardano recommends that you avoid such players as well as the players who are too quiet:

"that taciturnity which verges on utter silence is too hard and severe, since it is a greater pleasure to talk without playing than to play without talking."

While Cardano recommends against gambling, he often states that he understands man’s attraction to gambling and that this attraction is part of being human. He certainly seems to have a fascination with it.

So, you’re millions of light years away from home, in fact so far away that the term ‘Earthling’ has become a vague and obscure term which implies a planet no-one has been to recently (except in the holodeck, that is). However, all is still well in the universe. The best of most traditional Earth games based on chance and skill has survived, and when the Borg get really mean, the senior-crew of the USS Enterprise can put their troubles asunder and enjoy a round of poker.
 
All manner of alien species, each sporting a variety of colours, webbed-appendages and pointy or bony protrusions, enjoy this game, where an alert player could increase their chances of winning by watching their opponent’s facial expressions. And if you’re an android you will have to learn to ‘bluff’, but conversely, you will have the most potent of poker faces ever. It helps, especially if the cards you have are not stellar but you have enough confidence in your game plan to pull it off.

Poker is not a game that can be played by relying on mathematical strategy alone. Winning at poker means a good understanding of human (and in this case, alien) nature, a measure of skill and a healthy dose of luck. Good to know if you ever have to play with the Borg queen.

Trekkies have latched on to this idea and in solidarity have started a Star Trek-themed evening to honour this illustrious game that is sure to be around for many light years travelled to come. This is the best option, considering the fact that we haven’t ‘officially’ had any contacts of the third kind, yet...

To the dedicated fan boys (and girls) who play dress-up and play intergalactic games, all I’m saying is keep your poker face on.

There are plenty of stories about where Texas Hold ’Em came from but the earliest substantial documentation we could find is in a Life Magazine issue dating back to the 1960’s.

Back then, the game was referred to as ‘Hold Me Darling’ or ‘Tennessee Hold Me’ and the writer prophetically predicted that it was to quickly become the new standard big-money game. As the game grew in popularity the ‘Darling’ and the ‘Tennessee’ in the name was dropped, leaving ‘Hold Me’ which then became Hold ’Em which seemed to stick.

Nobody is certain of who invented the game but the Texas State Legislature has officially recognized Robstown, Texas as the game’s birthplace. After being ‘born’ here, players including Crandell Addington, Roscoe Weiser, Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim started playing it.

Life Magazine featured an article written by AD Livingston in the late 1960’s which referred to what would eventually become Texas Hold ’Em.
Livingston said about this new version of poker:

‘I believe the game is a major event in the history of poker and I predict it will replace stud for the rest of the century.’

Take a look at more interesting quotes from the article:

•    ‘The game's fascination lies in the number of players involved -- up to 22 can play.’
•    ‘This was Hold me Darling or Tennessee Hold Me, or just Hold Me for short, the culmination of a new form of poker, widow poker.’
•    ‘At home, I went through my poker library.  None of my books covered Hold me or any game like it.’
•    ‘Hold Me is, in a way, poker upside down.  The really big action, unlike normal poker, can often come at the beginning of a hand, as players try to bully one another out.’
•    ‘A few weeks ago, I called a poker man in Colorado and asked whether Hold Me Darling was being dealt out there.  "Never heard of it", he said, "but a new game has really caught on.  High Hold 'Em.  Each player gets two cards...’

The richest poker tournament in history is under way. And it's not in Las Vegas or the Caribbean, but in Melbourne.

Boasting some of the world’s top players the Aussie Millions “Super High Roller” event costs a staggering $250,000 to buy in.

The event saw 20 players take their place on the felt at midday today.

Crown’s executive manager of table games, Sean McCreery, said the amount of entrants took him by surprise.

“We were confident for eight but 20 players is quite unexpected,” Mr McCreery said.

“It’s exactly where we want to take the Aussie Millions in making it more attractive for the high-end players.”

The winner of the high-stakes event will take home $2.5 million with the second and third place players taking $1.5 and $1 million respectively.

“Having players such as Phil come and play gives us a lot of credibility,” Crown’s executive manager of table games, Sean McCreery, said. “You couldn’t ask for a better table.

“The people who are at the table right now are a who’s who of world poker.”

The quarter-of-a-million dollar price tag is the highest buy-in price ever offered with the previous record being shared between the Aussie Millions and another event

Annette Obrestad, a 22-year-old professional poker player from Norway, was the only female in the tournament.

“It’s pretty insane, (the event) was the first one of its kind and it’s kind of cool getting a chance to play in it,” she said.

“You can’t think of the money though. You’re just there to play poker so you play.”

Ms Obrestad said she started playing poker online at the age of 18 and Australia was equal with Las Vegas as her favourite poker destination.

“It’s kind of hard to separate them,” she said.

“They are both such different places but I love them both.”

Mr McCreery said the idea behind the high-stakes game is part of a plan by the casino to make Australia one of the foremost poker destinations in the world.

“If you think about it some of these players have to fly 40 hours just to be in the tournament,” he said.

“We try to create a whole experience for them here at Crown. Some of the players have told me this is their favourite event of the season.”

About 5pm, the tournament leader was Sam Trickett, with $1.17 million in chips. Organisers were expecting the tournament to run as late as 4am.