Black Friday
The battle for online casino USA continues to wage on in the United States of America. This article will talk about a couple upcoming hearings that could prove important. First there is a Senate hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 18th at 2:15 PM EST. Then there is a hearing in the House of Representatives the next day at 9:00 AM EST on Friday, March 19th.
Al D'Amato, the chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, has been one of the biggest allies poker has had in the fight for US poker sites. As a former Senator, he has an intimate knowledge of how the American government works. He was a witness at a recent hearing in the House.
The movement to license and regulate online poker has been picking up steam in the past few months. This is the second hearing in the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and…
Read MoreThe Department of Justice targeted a number of people on Black Friday, and two of them have decided to take an interesting stance in their defense. In an attempt to have their charges dismissed, Chad Elie and John Campos will be arguing that poker is a skill game.
The charges against the men are very serious and include money laundering for both. In total, Elie is facing nine charges while Campos is facing six. They are hoping that some of these charges can be removed once they argue that poker isn't 100% gambling. They will argue this point in front of a federal judge. Elie and Campos were arrested back in April just a few days after Black Friday.
Campos is based in Utah and was the Vice Chairman of SunFirst Bank. His trouble stems from the fact that he was facilitating payment processing for PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.…
Read MoreBlack Friday changed the lives of many American online poker players as they were, without warning, cut off from the three biggest online poker rooms at the time. The livelihood of many of these players was stripped away, leaving them to question how they would be paying their bills. Because most of the other sites available in the U.S. have terrible player traffic, the only option for many of these players was to move to another country.
For many normal people, moving out of your home country is a scary prospect. Not only do you have to do research on the immigration rules of the country you're moving to, you also have to find accommodations in said country. If you plan to play on PokerStars once relocated, your next task will then be to provide proof that you have an alternate place of residence in a different country. Poker…
Read MoreLong-time poker supporter Barney Frank has come under criticism from his political rivals thanks to donations received from online poker companies indicted by the FBI. The Massachusetts representative has received $18,600 in campaign contributions from PokerStars and Full Tilt over the past few years.
In response, Frank has publicly announced that he will return all the money to victims of the two companies, should they be found guilty. Although this was not made clear, it seems safe to assume that Full Tilt players will receive the bulk of that cash. PokerStars having already refunded their customers, leaving FT users playing Deal or No Deal online.
Despite the legal issues facing some of poker's major players, Frank remains bullish in his calls for online video poker to be legalized. "I was very disappointed to hear of the allegations, but it doesn't change my views. If anything, it strengthens them.…
Read MoreSince Black Friday many indiscretions have been made by a multitude of poker players as the online poker best have been forced to make many changes. Turmoil and drama have been rampant, and stories of unethical situations have unfortunately surfaced as a result. This article will describe the story of Jose "Girah" Macedo, an example of one of these situations.
Macedo became famous as someone who went from rags to riches. Dubbed the Portuguese Poker Prodigy, he allegedly used a single €30 deposit and went from $0.10/$0.25 No Limit Hold'em cash games all the way up to $100/$200 No Limit Hold'em. It was quite the feel good story as many prominent players such as Daniel "jungleman" Cates and Haseeb "DogIsHead" Qureshi had only good things to say about him and his game.
People were confused when Macedo wouldn't make his screen names in online poker rooms public, which…
Read MorePeople around the world were shocked when they heard that Phil Ivey decided to sue Tiltware, acknowledged for offering some of the online poker best software. Widely regarded as the best poker player in the world, he is claiming $150 million to cover the money he has lost due to damage to his reputation.
The problems have been rampant with Full Tilt since the indictments back in April. Their recent crisis stems from the fact that they have been unable to repay American players even though they allegedly reached an agreement with the the DOJ. PokerStars players were paid back weeks ago, which makes the situation even worse for this download free poker site.
Ivey feels that the way in which the site has operated since Black Friday has been unacceptable. In addition, he has said that his "name and reputation have been dragged through the mud" thanks…
Read MoreAs part of their movement for US poker sites, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) organized a D.C. fly-in on May 24th. By bringing a number of poker supporters to Capitol Hill, the group hoped to convince members of Congress how important online poker could be to the United States.
A total of 24 key PPA members were flown in by the organization, including a handful of state directors. Where regular PPA members are concerned, twelve of them flew themselves to D.C. In support of the rally, around fifty other PPA members met in district offices closer to home.
John Pappas, the executive director of the PPA, made it clear that they did as much as possible to increase participation. He said that the PPA did everything they could think of to advertise the event, that "those who could make it made it," and that he "appreciated them being there."…
Read MorePeople currently living in the United States no longer have a lot of options when it comes to playing poker. If you want to play online, you have to go with a site that still accepts Americans since PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker are no longer US friendly. For example, perhaps you could try a True Poker download. If you don't like your online options, you will have to play live poker.
Small sites and live play just won’t do it for a lot of Americans, and therefore they are considering a move. Obviously some people with family or permanent jobs can't consider this, but it is an opportunity to travel and meet new people for others. This article will go over the possibility of moving to Australia.
Australia might be appealing to you as it will allow you to resume earning PokerStars rakeback, but it would be…
Read MoreApril 20th saw the Department of Justice make a deal with Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars, agreeing to give them access to their original dot-com domain names. This would be done so that Americans could have the chance to withdraw their funds. American players have not had access to their accounts since last Friday, so April 20's news came as a huge relief.
A press release from the US Attorney's Office states that while it froze several accounts held by the previously US friendly poker sites, it does not mean that the sites are prohibited from returning funds. It might take some time for the withdrawal process to commence, so the two sites are asking their players to remain patient.
Observant readers will take note that UB/AP is not part of this agreement. This could lead some people to believe that Cereus is not interested in returning funds to…
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