German Online Gambling Ban on the Horizon?

My condolences to all of you German residents out there. It looks like your country has banned online poker much as the United States did with the UIEGA.

The new law prohibits all Web-based gambling, wagering and betting over the Internet, specifically including the placement of bets with companies located in other countries. Some are suggesting that this will even force German ISP companies to actively block the "illegal" gambling sites, but there is no question that it empowers them to do so if they choose.

With Bloomberg reporting that 13 of 16 states already ratifying the law, only legal action can save you now. Luckily, bWin and a few other online gambling operators are already stepping up and pledging to fight this gambling prohibition in your courts. The rest of the European Union isn't happy about this, and sanctions may follow. The Brussels-based European Commission, a regulator for the European Union, still has the opportunity to challenge Germany’s new regulations.

Bloomberg Reports on German Online Gambling Ban

Antigua Settles with US Over Gambling Prohibition

Thanks to Mark Gritter for pointing out that the WTO reached a decision allowing Antigua to ignore United States copyrights worth up to $21,000,000 per year. That's practically nothing on the international scale.

Bad news, but on the plus side I've had no difficulties at all with Poker Stars E-checks. Quick and easy deposit method for any US or Canadian players looking to scratch their texas hold'em itch.

Details at Yahoo.

US WTO Gaming Deal Bypasses Antigua

In their never ending fight to protect us from ourselves, the United States government pens a settlement with the European Union to continue the US prohibition of online poker.

If you've been following at all, you know that Antigua has caused quite a stink in the WTO. They haven't taken kindly to America's gambling prohibition which violates a WTO (World Trade Organization) ruling. Antigua had threatened to suspend United States trademark and copyright rights in their country, which would have allowed anyone in Antigua to legally produce bootlegs DVDs, counterfeit clothing, pirated software, or just about any other product produced by a domestic company. These black market producers would have no fear of prosecution (unless returning to the United States, no doubt).

Antigua hoped to leverage this threat against the United States after the US apologetically refused to abide by the WTO ruling in Antigua's favor. Antigua was the shining beacon of hope for American online poker players, but now the beacon has dimmed...snuffed out by a US/EU settlement deal that sparked an immediate 4% drop in the share price of PartyGaming in the UK.

This EU deal has the European Commission signing a deal in Geneva that agrees to the United States restrictions on international banking and online gambling (Don't forget that the WTO already ruled that this policy was in violation). In concession, the US agrees to give the EU new trade opportunities in research, postal, warehousing, and testing service business sectors. Oh, thank you big government! Thank you for outsourcing more American jobs rather than allowing your citizens to easily fund their micro buy-in sit-n-go habits. If the average citizen can't "click his mouse and lose his house", I guess he doesn't need a job, eh?

Japan and Canada have reportedly also agreed to similar terms. It looks like Antigua's push to fully legalize online poker in the United States has lost its momentum. A major setback, obviously, but there is still hope. (We're looking at you, Barney Frank)

EU and US Strike a Deal in Online Gambling Fight Antigua Left Out in the Cold

Bluff Fires Chris Vaughn after Cheating Controversy

The axe has fallen. BluffMedia (Bluff Magazine) has officially fired Managing Editor Chris Vaughn. After initially supporting him following the Mizzi/Vaughn account sharing fiasco at the Full Tilt $1,000,000 tournament, Bluff must have hoped that the story would dry up and blow away. One week of mounting industry pressure, however, has left the cheater Chris Vaughn on the soup line.

Matthew Parvis, Bluff Magazine Editor-in-chief had this to say on the TwoPlusTwo forums:

...and I don't think any one is more sorry that this whole incident happened then he (Chris Vaughn) is...

Oh really? You think, Mr. Parvis? Depending on the price Sorel Mizzi paid for Vaughn's account at Full Tilt, Mizzi might be feeling a sting much more painful than the peanuts you were paying a niche-industry managing editor.

Bluff's handling of this entire controversy shows the general immaturity of most business aspects surrounding the poker world. Do you think this would have been handled the same if the Wall Street Journal editor was caught red handed illegally trading? Of course not. The only way Matthew Parvis and the other bigwigs at Bluff could have ever supported Chris Vaughn is if they either didn't view their editor's blatant cheating as a moral conflict, or they assumed the news would go away without ruffling many feathers.

That's not the type of insight I expect from a leading industry magazine. How out of touch are these guys?

Sorel Mizzi and Chris Vaughn Admit to Cheating the Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed Tournament

No more debating. They've both come clean.

Mizzi bought Vaughn's account when the tournament was down to the final three tables, logged in, then resumed the tournament(ultimately winning), and still denies that he cheats in tournaments via multi-accounting. So let's recap. Sorel Mizzi enters a tournament and plays hands from his own account as well as hands from Chris Vaughn's Full Tilt account. In Mizzi's warped mind, this somehow doesn't add up to multi-accounting.

The complete interview is linked at the bottom courtesy of Poker News, but here are some highlights:

Sorel Mizzi: No, I'm not a – I'm not a cheater; I'm not a multi-accounter. I acted fast without malice and didn't intend to hurt Chris and myself, opponents, or the entire poker community.

Allow me to translate. "No, I'm not playing multi-accounts, I just play more than one" (Huh?!) While I'm sure he had no malice in his heart for himself (lmao) or his Bluff Magazine editor little buddy, Chris Vaughn, to pretend you didn't intend to hurt your opponents is either comical or insulting. I can't decide which.

Sorel Mizzi:But, I want to make it clear that this is something that was an isolated incident and it's, it's not something that I've done in the past.

So he's never cheated in an online tournament before. Ok. Fine. For the sake of argument, let's assume he's telling the truth. But then what is this comment about later in the interview?

Sorel Mizzi:The fact of the matter is that – yes, there's a lot of things going on where players are being ghosted in the middle or late – in the late stages of the tournament by a better player and this is – this is something that can never be regulated. And the fact that there is no one player per hand rule online really gives those people justification for doing this kind of thing. But, I know – I know that it goes on in the high limits and in the low limits and there's absolutely nothing that can be done.

As predicted, here is another "I don't do it, but everyone I know does" poker cheat. The only thing this guy feels he has done wrong is login from a different location. The article is full of interesting quotes that point to the simple fact that there is an Old Boy network among the top online players. They are team playing against you, and they don't think that is wrong. Buying and selling of accounts deep in the big money online holdem tournaments is the norm. If you manage to survive until the final few tables in a high payout online poker tournament, you aren't playing against just the other players...you are playing whomever is the best final table player out of his entire network of contacts.

I wonder if Ray Bornet wasn't right after all. As this becomes more and more common, involving bigger and higher profile people, will the poker sites eventually have to throw up their hands and give up on any sort of online poker cheat prevention at all?

I have a virtual army of pokerbots playing right now as I type this. Many of them are sitting at tables with other members of my bot army, but none of them share cards or any other sort of collusion. I could collude on a massive scale with a day's worth of coding, but I don't.

Can someone please explain to me how I, or any other poker bot operator, should somehow be viewed as a less moral poker player than the high-profile guys that literally turn online hold'em into a team sport?

PokerNews Interviews Chris Vaughn and Sorel Mizzi

PokerStars Blogger Tournament 2007

Having finished in October, The PokerStars Blogger Texas Hold'em Tournament isn't exactly the freshest online poker news, but I received a couple of emails asking me why I didn't enter the event under this blog's banner.

I'd like to think they are kidding, but just in case...

I like my accounts at PokerStars. They make me money. They make Pokerstars money as well, and they don't seem to mind if the poker bot accounts hang around there playing poker and multi-tabling for 4-5 hours a day. I'm not going to shoot off a flare gun for Stars security, however. The anti-bot crowd would love to find my identity and out me on two plus two or some other major forum. I'd get banned and setting up new accounts, proxies, etc is a real pain in the ass. In fact, if you could guarantee I'd win the entire tournament, I'd still pass. $12k isn't worth it. It's not even close.

Anyway, here are the top 9 finishers from the event complete with links to their respective poker blogs if you want to take a look. Let them see their hits come from an online poker bot blog...It'll make them nervous.

Congratulations to LParreira. As I stare at snow on the ground, that Caribbean Adventure package looks like heaven.

LParreira (Portugal) — $12,000 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure package
mathwise (Canada)
lborba (Brazil)
ulan-ude (United States)
Abellyus (France)
NileFever (United Kingdom)
stakaman1962 (Greece)
BoreN =P (Norway)
fourflushers (United States)

Another Full Tilt Poker Scam

Chris "BluffMagCV" Vaughn, Managing Editor of Bluff Magazine: BANNED!
Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi: Maybe sorta almost banned?

Details are still hazy about Sorel Mizzi, but without question Chris Vaughn (Winner of TWO Full Tilt $1 Million Guaranteed Tournaments in a row) has been disqualified from the tournament, his winnings removed, and his account 100% banned from Full Tilt Poker after running a scam in a million dollar hold'em tournament.

You can catch the link at the bottom to get all the details from the 2+2 forum, but basically 1 guy let another guy play under his account in the final stages of the tournament. It's blatant cheating (ahem...unlike a poker bot system). Poker is not a team sport.

It's funny how the public screams and yells about bots, but every single one of them seems to "know somebody" who chip dumps, or colludes, or switches accounts. So if I search for these two online poker celebrities on 2+2, what odds will you lay that I find a post from both of them condemning the "evil" poker bots out to destroy the game?

2+2 Discusses Mizzi/BluffMagCV Banned at Full Tilt Poker

WSOP Voted One of America's Top Competitions

All the Winholdem bots, Ultimate Bet Scandals, and Absolute hacking incidents can't put a damper on poker's continuing move to the mainstream as this news release shows.

So This Blog is Banned from Digg...

Woke up this morning to do my normal Sunday Digg browsing and got a shock: This blog is banned from Digg?

No idea what happened, but all articles from this site are now auto-buried by Digg. Now, they don't call this a ban because they want to maintain the idea that they are a site created by the users. Banning a site might create a backlash of publicity (not from my trickling of readers, but there are some large sites that have received the same treatment).

I've contacted Digg for clarification but from what I've read, they are unlikely to even reply.

I did find some interesting links of others that have had the same problem. Interesting reading if you, like me, believed Digg to be a user generated site. On the bright side, I'll be ditching the annoying clutter of the Digg button.

Swollenpickles.com - Defacto Dig Ban
Forevergeek.com - Digg Corrupted: Editor's Playground
Toprankblog.com - Digg Hypocrisy

Those three are enough to give you the gist of the story. Heck, I could post dozens of links to people who've been banned. Some, obviously spammers, but many small time bloggers like myself that don't understand what has gone wrong. Google "Digg ban" if you like to see dozens of examples.

Here's a tutorial for how to use Digg's own system to ban a site you don't like, even. Unbelievable.
Wolf-howl.com - How to be a Dirty Digger

Hopefully the Digg folks will get back to me so I can find out what caused this. Wouldn't shock me if an anti-pokerbot contingent spammed Digg with complaints.

DOJ Siezes More of Our Money: Citadel Commerce

More bad news.
Personally, I've never used Citadel Commerce, but they've fallen victim to another DOJ cash grab. You may know them better as myCitadel Wallet.

Citadel Commerce, a Canadian based company, gave a press release in late April that they had money "held up" by one of their U.S. based processors. Now, they confirm that the DOJ has seized over $9,000,000.

This is a company that stopped dealing with any U.S. customers at the same time that the Neteller legal problems began and yet they are still a target. They did more to comply with the DOJ's wishes than the e-wallets that continue to operate to this day, and yet...they did not escape the US Government's wrath. I hope nobody has any money sitting in ANY e-wallet. At this point, we have to assume that any of them can shutdown without any warning what so ever.

You did read your new Epassporte Terms of Service, right? Did you catch the changes where you now agree that Epassporte can confiscate your entire account if you fund it from an "illegal" source? Sounds to me that Epassporte doesn't want to deal with the headache of returning seized money to players. Easier for them to keep it all, eh?

Thank you, Big Brother. I feel safer already.

2007 WSOP Event Director Resigns

Still think the WSOP isn't a declining brand?

Robert Daily, former World Series of Poker Tournament and Events Director has agreed to become a member of the DG Holdings board, leading the company's online gaming platform division.

Mr. Daily leaves Harrah's after 11 years in various capacities. During his tenure, he served as the 2005 WSOP Event Manager and 2006 WSOP Tournament Director. Bob received the prestigious 2007 Chairman's Award for his efforts.

An interesting tidbit that could be easily skimmed over comes from the following quote from Mr. Daily, "After my resignation, DGH approached me to join their group as a board member to provide leadership to their online gaming platform – especially poker – and I couldn't pass up the opportunity. I have made many great friends within the poker industry and I look forward to working with them in the future from a different perspective."

"After my resignation..." Hmm. Does something stink inside the WSOP? Why would the event director resign a mere two weeks before the event?

Read the official DG Holdings Press Release.

More Pokerbots Found at Fulltilt? *whistles innocently*

Alan Bostick, an interesting blogger currently writing at As I Please gives us a bit more information on the Full Tilt bot scandal(s).

2+2's favorite tinfoil hat wearer, MrGatorade, is on the witch hunt. He doesn't give criteria, just rattles off a bunch of names of heads-up poker bots at Full Tilt.

Full details at As I Please.

WSOP Changes Payout Structure

In what I believe to be the dumbest P.R/Advertising move in the entire poker industry, the people behind the World Series of Poker change to a flatter payout system.

It makes no sense to me. How much did 74th place get last year? Anybody know? Anybody care? I don't understand how the WSOP folks could be unaware of what every spam-blog poster on digg already knows: Big numbers sell! People don't sit at home and dream of 147th place in the WSOP Main Event, they dream of first place. They spend weeks or months dreaming of how they are going to spend the first place prize money. They talk around the water cooler about the lotto-sized final table stakes.

For whatever reasons, the WSOP has decided that the final table payouts will be smaller this year. Each player that reaches the top will get a smaller percentage of the purse than before, with the difference being splashed around down in the "barely cashed" levels.

For example, if you were 873rd place last year, you took home $14,605. This year (assuming the same number of entries) that would be a $22,266 win. Typically I like flat payout tourneys to minimize variance a bit, but NOT when the entire value of the tournament is derived from its shear size and enormous first place prize! Last year, Jamie Gold took home $12,000,000. The winner this year would receive just over $10,000,000.

With most players expecting a smaller field this year to begin with, why is the WSOP further damaging the buzz of their brand? It makes no sense. All they've done is weaken the single most important aspect of their brand for reaching those not completely immersed in the world of poker: That big, headline-grabbing first prize.

“We discussed this concept with our poker operations team and with members of the WSOP Players Advisory Council and the consensus was that spreading the wealth is the right thing to do,” said Greenbaum, Regional V.P. for Harrah's. “The new schedules are designed to increase the rewards to players who finish in the money but don’t reach the final table.”

Congratulation, Mr. Greenbaum. You just got angle-shot by a bunch of pros looking to reduce their variance at the expense of your marketing.

I can't find the table of exact payout structure at the WSOP's main site. They reference it but don't even link to themselves. Quality.
If you want to wade through their site for details: World Series of Poker

Firepay Assets Siezed by U.S. DOJ

Shares of Optimal Group Inc. (parent company of the Firepay e-wallet service) fell sharply Monday after the Montreal-based company had nearly $20,000,000 frozen by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York.

$4.2 million has been siezed directly from the Firepay reserve accounts, with another $15 million siezed from Optimal Group's money market accounts.

While this won't be as disastrous as the Neteller account siezures, this is bound to catch some online poker players off guard. Neteller, E-gold, and now Firepay...Epassporte and the other e-wallets currently in operation can't be far behind.

Full details at Forbes.com

Full Tilt Rep Responds to Poker Bot Accusations

Full Tilt Poker representative "FTPSean" responds to the angry mob at Two Plus Two. As you've come to expect from Full Tilt poker, there isn't much substance.

I'll spare you FTPSean's corporate-customer-service-speak and jump right to his bullet points.

• During the investigation we found the evidence to be inconclusive in supporting either determination (human or bot).
• After careful consideration, the evidence did not warrant the seizure of funds and permanent account closure.
• We stand by our decision. Having said that, re-opening an account after an investigation such as this one does not mean we have made an irreversible decision. We will continue to reevaluate this situation.

Not too exciting, but Full Tilt is in damage control mode...I'm surprised they replied at all.

FTPSean's full post can be found at the Two Plus Two Forums .

Full details in my earlier coverage here: Full Tilt Poker Bots

Full Tilt Poker Bots (?) at Two Plus Two Forums

A massive thread at Two Plus Two regarding poker bots at Full Tilt Poker has exploded. You can read the 1,500+ replies, or see my summation below.

An observant human player (SukitTrebek) noticed some statistical similarities in the play of 1forthethumb, full_tilting, mariojr, and 0_Drunkenboxer. When I say similarities, I mean SIMILARITIES. Their stats on all streets are nearly identical over 100k hand samples each. This is a link to SukitTrebek's collected stats...decide for yourself.

SukitTrebek reports his findings to Full Tilt. The suspected bot players disappear, and Trebek assumes they are banned. 1 month later, the entire crew of accounts re-appears at the same time and returns to grinding more hands of $200NL than anyone else for 1.5bb/100.

Suspicious? Oh yes. You really shouldn't continue reading until you take a look at the stats

When the bots return, Trebek breaks his silence and the NL Bots on Full Tilt thread is born. Read Trebek's original post if for no other reason than to know what a player will go through to catch you. Full_tilter and a buddy chime in to profess their innocence, backed by Nation, a Two Plus Two forum moderator that claims to know them in person and "knows" they do not run bots.

What do I think? I can tell you right now that something fishy is going on with their stats. These guys have posted stats over 100k samples that are more similiar than any I've been able to find on ANY of my bots, and I'm admitting they are un-tilting, automatons. I've run bots for 1M hands with untouched logic code without 100k runs this similiar. If these guys are bots (or a sweatshop...there's no difference) then they are following a script, but one that is horribly static and has almost no regard for the texture of the board or styles of the opponents around them.

The only way I can see a bot with such similiar statistics is if they are using only the number of actions in the hand and their hand strength to make decisions. They obviously don't use the bet amount as a decision making tool as hand histories have been posted showing them folding to minimum bets and raises in a way that no sane player would.

In other words, folks, this is a horrible bot/script/sweatshop. There are so many factors of the game that they are obviously ignoring and they are still turning a considerable profit at $200NL, a game and limit that most ignorant human players thought was untouchable by bots. full_tilter and his crew have done it successfully and as you've seen from their stats, they are making some downright horrible plays. They are continuation betting 97% of the time at $200NL for example.

Update: A Full Tilt representative has responded. Read my article Full Tilt Rep Responds to Poker Bot Allegations.

Poker Stars Cashout by Check Increased to $10,000

In this post UIGEA world, any news of relaxed banking is good news! According to reports in the Two Plus Two Forums, Poker Stars has doubled their maximum cashout by check.

As quoted on the Two Plus Two forums:

"Hello xxx,

Thank you for emailing us.

The minimum you can request on any one cheque is $25 and the
maximum is $10,000. If you wish to cashout more than this, you will
need to use an alternate cashout method. Please contact
security@pokerstars.com for more information about what options are
available to you for cashouts of larger amounts.

If you have anymore questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to
contact us.


Regards,

Jeffrey
PokerStars Support Team "


Of course be aware that a $10k deposit is likely to require a little more paperwork at the bank. Pay your taxes and you have nothing to worry about. I've been on the bad end of the IRS and it isn't pretty.

Neteller Layoffs and Continued DOJ Investigation

I don't think it will come as a surprise to anyone that Neteller continues their downward spiral. Gambling911's inside sources notify of further layoffs plus some interesting DOJ tidbits.

If you were playing poker a year ago, chances are you were moving your money around via Neteller, and if you were an online pokerbot, then the speed and convenience of Neteller's transfer system was great for adding a chunk of "free" bankroll every month from bonuswhoring. All this ended when the U.S. Department of Justice stormed Neteller HQ and froze all the funds. Many of you are probably still dealing with money trapped in Neteller-limbo, I'm sure.

Things aren't improving for the company, unfortunately. I never expected them to return to the online gambling e-wallet market, but I didn't think they'd completely fall apart.

Gambling911 reports that not only are layoffs still occuring within Neteller's management, but the DOJ investigators are STILL investigating the physical HQ building. I won't be expecting my limbo money anytime soon.

Read More at Gambling911.com

Free Winscrape for your WinHoldem Bot

I've been a bit bored lately.
No cashout problems.
No "random" security checks.
No bot problems.
I've gotten some hits from the WinHoldem forum, so I've decided to start tinkering around with WinHoldem again.


The biggest problem plaguing the new WinHoldem user at this moment seems to be the recent loss of official online poker room screen scraping. Unless something has changed since the last time I had to mess with Winscrape, I figure I can knock out a profile in a day or so. I just need you to Vote for the site you want scraped, and please be specific. I will need to know all the details you want in your profile (# of chairs, window size, 4-color cards, etc etc). I will compile all the suggestions and scrape the most popular one.

To be honest, if the winning online poker site is a juicy little spot my custom bot is beating up, I probably won't scrape that so that a hundred 12% vpip bots flood in. Sorry. I doubt this will be an issue as the more popular sites will be requested more often anyway.

Email me to vote.

Winning site and format will be announced on May 7th with the profile coming the following weekend.

Yes, I'm aware that Ray Bornet, WinHoldem's creator, is giving away $100 worth of subscription credit for working master profiles. My anonymity is worth more than $100, but I will find a way to get this to Winholdem support and hopefully posted to the master profile list. I'm not sure how exact I have to be to get my winscrape profile into the official list, but if Ray isn't too demanding, I'll do what is needed.

Yahoo Enters Online Poker Market

Online poker might change dramatically in the coming months. The first online mega-giant has entered the fray.

Both Party Poker and Poker Stars representatives have been quoted in the past as saying that the real fight begins when one of the big online brands enter the market. Well...here it comes.

Yahoo's site is currently not open to U.S. or Canadian players, as the UIGEA continues to cast doubt. Others however, are welcome to sign up at Yahoo Poker (I purposefully did not link for fear of being accused of affiliate links) and begin playing immediately on the Boss network.

Markus Holm, Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development of Boss Media said, "We are delighted to be working with Yahoo! UK and St Minver. This partnership takes Boss Media to a new dimension and is a very strategic milestone for the company. It confirms that online gaming and entertainment are becoming increasingly integrated and that a major portion of future growth in our industry will come from large online entertainment brands."
"This partnership strengthens our position as the leading online poker software provider for the European market. Product innovation and an in-depth understanding of the European gaming landscape are keys to our success."

Is this the spark that lights the fuse for the next poker boom? Could be, but in and of itself, probably not. A more interesting thought, is that perhaps Yahoo knows something about online gambling regulation that we do not and is positioning themselves for an upcoming change.

The UIEGA looks weaker every day. Great news for us all, player or bot...American or not. Six months on from the introduction of the UIGEA in the United States and on the day that Congressman Barney Frank announced his bill to regulate online gaming, this news marks another seismic event in the relatively short history of the online gaming industry.