WSOP bracelet winner Annie Duke, otherwise known as the “Duchess of Poker” can now add another name to her collection- a congressional witness- as she is now advocating the right for every American to gamble online in the privacy of their own homes.

Duke expressed this view to the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday, and also argued that there were huge advantages to legalising and regulating an ever growing and lucrative underground online gambling market.

"At its most basic level, the issue before this committee is personal freedom, the right of individual Americans to do what they want in the privacy of their homes without the intrusion of the government," Duke said.

As it presently stands, online poker is illegal in the US but players still go to the online casino sites that are set up offshore and therefore beyond the reach of federal regulators.

Duke is firmly behind the views of Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the Financial Services Committee, who is trying to introduce a bill that would legalise and tax the online gambling websites.

Frank advocates the players’ freedom to choose: "Unwise choices [are] part of freedom."

If this bill is passed the taxes on it could bring in almost $42 billion for the federal government for the next 10 years.

 

There always has to be one at every WSOP and unfortunately it was Tim.

Tim McDonald, an American fisherman bubbled out of the WSOP Main event after four days on high intensity poker in Vegas when his pair of ladies met Erkenovs Aces and Two’s 

It was inevitable though. When 7,319 people knew they were going to enter the event, there was always going to be the 748th player who is the last unpaid place.

As a result, McDonald walked away with nothing. If he had hung on another minute or so, he would have won a minimum of $19,263.

To make things a hell of a lot worse, as McDonalds world crashed around him, the remaining 747 all stood up and hugged each other as they knew they would all be going home $10,000 richer.

A shattered McDonald said afterwards: “I felt like I could sit there and go ahead and grind out a check, but I was trying to play good poker no matter short-stacked or otherwise.”

Here’s why we think poker, and especially online poker, has grown so rapidly over the last 10 years:

•    High Stakes Media Coverage
High-stakes poker tournaments throughout the US have been receiving increased media coverage. While ESPN and The Travel Channel are the main channels to cover such events, other channels are following suit. The BRAVO network has been airing weekly celebrity poker tournaments since 2003 and Fox Sports Net has begun airing their own “Late Night Poker” program.

•    Texas No Limit Hold’em ensures entertainment
The type of poker played in most of these televised tournaments is Texas No Limit Hold’em. This version of poker is more confrontational and high energy than other versions like 5-card draw or 7-card stud. Texas No Limit Hold’em is a version of poker that not only pleases the players but also the audience.

•    WSOP invites the man on the street to play
The World Series of Poker is arguably the most sought after tournament in the world. This tournament has a rich history as well as rich payouts. The 2003 World Series of Poker winner ended up being a 27-year-old accountant, aptly named Chris Moneymaker, securing poker’s reputation for being a rags-to-riches game. 

The entrance fee for the WSOP is $10,000 but several online poker services offer the opportunity for less financially advantaged players to win spots. PokerStars.com offers players the chance to play in satellite tournaments for $40. This is how Moneymaker earned his entry into the WSOP. When he made it into the 2003 WSOP it was his first “live” tournament and he went on to win the first prize of $2.5 million. This event led to the notion that online players are just as good as casino players, as well as the notion that anyone, no matter how (un)ranked they are, can win. 

•    The American Dream sells
In a country that created the concept of and believes in the “American Dream” the concept of a “nobody” making it really appealed to people. Thousands of “nobodies” tried to become poker “somebodies”. ESPN really emphasised this by repeatedly airing images of the critical moment when Moneymaker became a $2,5 millionaire. The internet also capitalised on this by offering online poker in a package that was instant and easy to use without players having to get in their cars and drive to land-based casinos.

Despite online gambling growing considerably over the past decade, it is illegal in the US. While controlling the actual online gambling is tricky, controlling financial transactions to and from online casinos seems to be the way that the US has decided to crack down on online gambling.

There is now some hope for online gambling in the US on the horizon it seems. Recent developments might allow Californian citizens to gamble online legally.

The senate committee that is being lead by Senator Rod Wright is adamantly pushing for online poker to be legalized. This controversial move will mean that California could earn extra money to help contribute towards easing their significant budget shortfall. By taxing these sites this shortfall could be reduced.

This drive will face considerable opposition. If online gambling is legalized in California it might violate the agreements set up in the state with Native Americans. These agreements make sure that there is no competition and with the legalization there will be sure to be new competition. Other opposition will come from those concerned about how the legalization of poker in one state could lead to a domino effect of poker being legalised throughout the US.

While it is possible to create artificial intelligence that can almost simulate a chess game and contend as a formidable opponent, it is not so easy to do this when it comes to creating online poker games. While computer chess games are closer to the real deal than computer poker, it’s still being criticized for  failing to completely simulate human thought, as well as for not developing since the 1960’s and 1970’s. Garry Kasparov, the chess grandmaster who has won and lost games against computers and human beings, says that if programmers really want to grasp and master human thought, the game of poker would be better suited in assisting them.

 He goes on to explain that while chess is a 100 percent information game in which both players are 100% aware of all the data all the time, poker comprises of hidden cards and variable stakes that create opportunities for chance, bluffing and risk    management. These entirely human aspects of poker might not be able to be formulated into a system that can accurately simulate real poker play.  The ‘human’ aspect of poker will perhaps make it an extremely unpredictable game. While there is constant research into poker odds and variables, poker will never be ‘black and white’ or to be defined.

 

Anyone here Reddit? Personally I’m somewhat obsessed with the community, especially the poker one. I constantly check it out everyday to read what is going on in the world of Poker.

Not know Reddit? Here is the Wikipedia description of it.

“reddit is a social news website owned by Conde Nast Digital on which users can post links to content on the Internet. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to become more or less prominent on the reddit home page.”

The site is in essence numerous amounts of discussion areas in which users post links and vote up or down towards other users comments and submitted content. It really does make for highly interesting a topical reading and it really does let you know exactly whats new and upcoming in terms of community, the world, and the in my case especially with the poker community.

Now: IMO, the best part of reddit are the’ subreddits’. These mini-reddits are topical sections which deal with different news, there is the pics subreddit (which I’m sure the funny email people in our office get their content from and pass it around) the IAMA; whereas people state what they are (in my case: IAMA Poker Nut, AMA) and there is the Poker reddit. I implore you to go check it out.

Here’s a screenshot of the Poker Subreddit. Now tell me that does not look appealing?

The Poker Subreddit.jpg (101.85 kb)