Over at PokerJunkie, we found a fantastic rendition that’s been created by some talented poker enthusiasts, and has turned it into a Christmas Song.


Reid Bill Christmas Song (Sung to Do You Hear What I Hear)
Said the grinder to the poker fan
Do you see what I see?
Way up on the hill poker fan
Do you see what I see?
A bill, a bill
Heading for a fight
Let’s go tweet this to kevmath tonight
Let’s go tweet this to kevmath tonight
Said the poker fan to his poker foes
Do you hear what I hear?
Marching through the hall poker foes
Do you hear what I hear?
A bill, A bill
Setting players free
Now let’s go make Full Tilt more money
Now let’s go make Full Tilt more money
Said the foes to the Senate king
Do you know what I know?
Up in congress mighty Senate king
Do you know what I know?
Your foes, your foes
Sitting on their ass
No chance in hell that this bill will ever pass
No chance in hell that this bill will ever pass
Said the king to the media fans
Listen to what I say
This bill is not dead media fans
Listen to what I say
The bill, the bill
Will not go down without a fight
Not sure when but it will pass some night
The bill, the bill
Hold on to it tight
Perhaps some day Congress will get this right.

It seems Harry Reids proposed online gambling bill that would have paved way for the legislation of online poker in the US is no longer n the table during the current session of Congress.

Harry Reid, who had hoped to fold a provision legalizing online poker into the tax cut compromise or the omnibus spending bill, has instead just decided to fold.

The Senate Majority Leader deeply disappointed proponents of online poker earlier this week when he failed to slip language legalizing online gambling into the tax cut bill. His decision late last night to bow to political pressure and pull the trillion-dollar spending bill from Senate consideration during the lame-duck session effectively ended any last hope of beating back the ban on online gambling.

The odds that a Republican-run House will do anything to rescind the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act are next to nothing.

Too bad – It seems the house has one this time.

Gambling has been a favourite past time in Britain for the past thousand years. Dice, horses, cards, cats (!?) have been used for the purposes of gambling. From its ancient beginnings to the multi-million pound industry it is today, it is abundantly clear that the British love to gamble, even if it’s behind the backs of the authorities.

EPISODE 1 – PRE-1100: PRIMITIVE GAMBLING

Religious rituals using stones, sticks and bones, thrown on the ground, their landing positions used to predict the future eventually evolved into a form of gambling – with human sacrifice! Stakes were offered to favour more positive outcomes and rewards would include the best piece of meat after a hunt.

Gambling was banned in Ancient Rome, except for betting on chariot races and during the week-long festival of Saturnalia. So while the Romans weren’t integral in Britain’s love of gambling they can be credited with introducing dice into the Britain.

The Anglo-Saxons grew to love dicing and their favourite was a game called Knucklebones or Fivestones. The game consisted of the flicking of sheep or pig knuckles into the air followed by players attempting to catch them on the back of their hand. Bets were placed on the outcome and the player who caught the most would be the winner. This form of gambling was so popular back then that even a royal grave from this time had over 50 gaming bones as well a two deer antler dice.

Months back we wrote about Michael Olaf Schuett who was accused of illegally processing around $70 million worth of online poker winnings between November 2007 and March this year. He’s been sent back to Lee County jail, Florida after increasing concerns that he may try fleeing the country.

Schuett who has been facing a jail sentence of 5 years was bailed out by by his wife of 9 months Jennifer Sherman with a bail of $100,000. However, its been believes that she’s largely responsible for his re incarceration after she became concerned he may try to flee and she would lose the money.

According to documents surrounding the case, Sherman “indicated she was in fear, was afraid her husband was going to flee, and wished to be removed from the defendant’s bond.” His wife was responsible for paying the cash if Scheutt fled the country.

However, on the other side of the spectrum, a Schuett’s lawyer argued that Schuett had shown “substantial and exemplary” behavior while assisting federal investigators and should remain free on a bond, U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheri Polster Chappell was of a different opinion.

The judge stated, that the accused has “no employment ties, no familiar ties, is not a US citizen, and sought information to obtain a pilot’s license’. She ordered him back to Lee County Jail.

Federal agents seized $2.47 million from a number of bank accounts, $10,000 cash found in Schütt’s home, cars and jewelry.

 It was a seemingly lucky night for Thomas Gigliotti until the moment he pulled into his driveway.

Thomas Gigliotti, 74 and his wife Josephine 71, were returning home to their house from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood after a lucky night on to the tables.  According to Police, several masked bandits robbed the couple of their winnings in their driveway of around $4,000 in cash. The masked men rushed towards Gigliotti, pulled him from his car knocked him to the ground and stole his cash, credit cards and mobile phone.

However, this was not the end of this crime tale. Rather than being shaken up after being robbed and assaulted, the feisty senior citizen jumped back in his Lincoln Navigator and took off in a almost Hollywood-esque chase after the bandits. He spotted the bandits jumping into a white getaway car near an intersection not too far from where the robbery occurred.

Gigliotti tailed the robbers through the streets of Plantation and at one point even attempted to ram the smaller getaway vehicle in an effort to make force the car to spin out. Gigliotti bumped the car twice from behind in a scene that  could only be reminiscent of a Jason Bourne movie. “The chase was one of the greatest chases you've ever seen, they took rights and lefts, rights and lefts. They couldn't shake me. They just couldn't," Thomas said.

Eventually at speed of around 65mph, he rammed the getaway car sending the vehicle out of control and the bandits skidded off the side of the road.

The suspects bailed out of the vehicle and abandoned the car, "I put my high beams on and reversed to see the vehicle, it looks like there's nobody in the car.' Gigliotti said he as he cautiously approached the vehicle but the men had fled by this point.

Although, in the meantime his wife has said that her card –playing days are over. “I’m not going back there she said. “I don’t ever want to go back there.”The senior bravado was however not on the same opinion, and believes he was not tempting lady luck; “I like to go down to the casino” he said.

And this is why I play online. This same sort of robbery seems to happen far too often. 

I was playing around on Second Life earlier (unbeknown to the IT administrators who delve out our bandwidth in the office) and I came to recall the good old days when Poker and Casinos existed in this ‘DisneyLand’ society.

So I did my research and I’m providing you a brief history of gambling in Second Life.

here was a time quite a few years ago that being a citizen in Second Life could involve the following; you could buy and sell virtual real estate, network and advertise to real clients, go a little deep into the not-so-underground other side of the world of virtual swingers clubs and brothels and even attend lectures by plenty of the world’s major universities. There was even a time that this utopian world had the ability to play online poker and casino, but alas this is no more.

A couple of years ago, there were quite a few news sources reporting that the FBI had been visiting many of Linden Labs virtual casinos and poker rooms.  Whilst Linden Labs denied they were under investigation by the FBI they quickly changed their policy stating that they would no longer anything related to casino activity. A sad day indeed for the online gaming world and for Second Life citizens,

Casinos had been a popular and entertaining Second Life activity and like the real life counterpart, had experienced growth. Residents utilized the Second Life currency, the Linden dollar to play various casino games ranging from the ever popular blackjack to our personal favourite, poker. A major reason that Second Life casinos were under a legal grey zone was the ease that was involved in converting Linden Dollars to United States currency.

Shortly after the UIGEA was passed, Second Life issued a statement outlining their understanding of the new law and how they might fit into it. They were neither a designated payment system nor a gambling service; they had limited liability as a service provider. They did try and seek clarification as the UIGEA become well understood – however in the long run, Second Life took a cautionary stance and banned gambling out right…

To date, there are literally thousands of posts scattered through the internet discussing the gaming stance and the UIGEA with reference to Second Life. There are numerous posts about whether their rights as virtual residents in the  libertarian and capitalist society have had their morality regulated to that not dissimilar of that of the dictator of Oceania, the ruling totalitarian leader featured in George Orwell’s 1984.