Tuesday, October 17, 2006

"Death to Poker Blogs"

Man the new legislation has done some damage to poker blogs. Blogs that I read frequently have not posted in a long period of time. The now have the Crypto syndrome and only post every couple of weeks. You know the fact the this legislation was attached to the Port Security Bill smells fishy when the President refuses to address it the day he signed the bill into law.

I have almost emptied all of my accounts and just praying that I receive the checks. My plan is to start looking for some local games, using this bankroll. I will then have some poker content to blog about.

The one thing that keeps running through my head is the huge impact this legislation has had and will have on the poker world. I doubt you will see 8000 entrants in the WSOP Main event in 2007. All that taxable money lost. I think the next move for our wonderful legislatures would be to cave in to big money Casino interests and allow US gambling monopolies to offer on-line poker. This would be a tax cow! It will got a long ways toward paying for Welfare and the 15 Million illegals in our country. Or we could set a world record for the largest wall along our borders. We could pay all the graffiti artists a large sum of money to paint the wall with images of Morality. Man we can educate the heck out of our children with that much money. Every legislator would be in the top 100 billionaires in just a few years.

The next legislation that will be tacked on to the Nuclear Weapons initiative will be the Banning of Poker blogs. An entire culture is on the verge of extinction. The "Blog Father" with have to write about his daily grind. Oh nooooooooooo!

Elections are only a few weeks away. I promise that I will NOT vote for a single incumbents. I am debating about sending all of my representatives an Ace of Spades. Not sure what good it will do, but I think I will feel better.

I decided to see what was happening on the Libertarian front. I had a poker game at my house and a friend made a comment that Williamson Country was 98% Republican and he was the only registered Libertarian. I quickly stated there were two registered Libertarians in Williamson County. The philosophies of the Libertarian party are closer to mine than any other party. The problem is that without more support we do not have a great chance to win. I decided to see what they were saying about the Port Security Bill. On the main page I found this headline:

Congress Chooses to Legislate Morality with Internet Gambling Ban - Over the past weekend, a bill was passed by Congress that essentially bans Internet gambling within the United States. Tennessee Senator and supposed presidential hopeful, Bill Frist, snuck the legislation into a port security bill which passed with only two dissenting votes. The new regulations, which will go into effect when George W. Bush signs the bill, will ban wire transfers to online gaming companies.

Several words jump out at me such as legislate Morality and Fist Fuck. Oops I mean Frist snuck! Our founding fathers certainly did not intend to legislate morality.

Here is another great quote from the website: "Tens of Millions of Americans Dealt a Losing Hand"

Oh I could not agree more than:

Supporters of the legislation accuse online gaming companies of being involved in money laundering operations and, according to the Washington Post, even fronts for terrorist groups.

"This goes beyond the absurd," exclaimed Shane Cory, executive director of the Libertarian National Committee. "Using the supposed War on Terror in defense of this legislation designed to legislate morality is sickening. Using this same reasoning, Congress should close Vegas as 9/11 Hijacker Mohamed Atta made a least two trips to the 'Sin City' before setting out to murder thousands of Americans."

In addition to citing money laundering and terrorism as excuses for the new Internet restrictions championed by Republican politicians, proponents also state that online gambling targets children and gambling addicts.

"Once again, we see politicians in Washington attempting to protect us from what they see as wrong in this world. I have news for them: Americans are smart people who can take care of themselves AND their children," continued Cory. "In restricting Internet activities, I think it would make much more sense to ban instant messaging within Congressional offices rather than ban the online hobbies of millions of tax-paying citizens."

I find myself addicted to NL Omaha-8 SNGs. I placed 2nd earlier and I am the chip lead on the one I am currently playing. It is extremely hard to blog, watch Miami Ink, and play NL Omaha.

I hope you enjoy this post. Check out the Libertarian website, then send your senator and Ace of Spades.

Poker blogs please do not die!

L8TR

Friday, October 06, 2006

“Angry Beavers”

OK! It is time for me to post. Where do I start! Lets go right for the heart of it. I DO NOT GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT FOLEY and his banging of teen age boys. What a waste of government time investigating the happenings around this sick bastard.

What does that have to do with poker? Everything! Our government is a total disaster. I am about as conservative as they come, but my political philosophy falls more in line with the Libertarian Party. What is going on in Capitol Hill disturbs the hell out of me. I did take the time to write to my congressman and Senator stating my opinion with respect to on-line gambling. They both responded with vague generic responses. Both voted for the Port bill. Oh Wait I mean Internet gambling bill. How the fuck can our legislation tack on anything and everything at the last second to bills moving through the house and senate. In a deep crackling southern voice: “Been doing it that way since time began!”

Reminds me of that song we heard as kids “I am only a bill just sitting on Capitol Hill… then it is off to the Whitehouse where I wait in a line…” I can definitely think of ways to change those lyrics, so I will work on that for a future post. Who the hell thought an innocent poker blog would turn into a government rant and rave?

My two brain cells are going in multiple directions. Focus Carl focus!

Let’s start with the big cheese! I do not have a problem with George W, because I know realistically one man does not govern this country. I could go on to say special interest groups govern this country, but oh lets not go there. Unfortunately he will sign the “Portal Bill” into law being the rubber stamp that he is. Also there is not much I can do today about electing a President, but soon he will be out of office. I greatly fear who is next in line, but regardless there will be a change. I supported the ouster of Sadam and rebuilding of Iraq; however, it is taking way to damn long. I support securing our borders, but I am not confident the correct actions have taken place. I feel no safer today than I did after 9-11.

Speaking of out of office my new platform is that I will not vote for any incumbent, Federal or State level! Anyone who wasted their time proposing and approving the Internet gambling law does not deserve to remain in office. Our legislatures waste more time than I do. The focus should have been simply, how we can get revenue from internet gambling and not to ban it. Next thing you know I will not be permitted to go to the local grocer and get me a candy corn fix! Ban all candy now!

I am going to suggest that Iggy organize the Great Poker March. We need to get thousands of poker players to play poker on the lawn of every Capitol around the country. There was the Million Man March. How about a million poker players playing holdem on the Whitehouse lawn! Okay that costs money to get to Washington DC. Everyone who plays poker mail a package of Binion’s poker cards to their Congressman.

Personally I am not taking any chances. I have already lost my free money at Party Poker so that is no big deal. It took me three tries to withdrawal my money from PokerTime. I with drew 90% of my money from CNR. I have about $25 to play at CNR and $10 at Paradise and that is all. What I did find interesting was an e-mail from Bugsy Poker Room. Here is a an excerpt:

Regarding the recent bill passed regulating payments to online gaming sites- Most important is that this bill does NOT make it illegal for individuals to play poker online. The bill targets payment processors and US banks and is basically trying to make it difficult for online poker sites to allow their customers to fund their accounts (nothing new here really). The bill does not take effect immediately. After the president signs the bill into law (if) (within the next 7-10 days), a government board will have 270 days to come up with new regulations for the banks and payment processors to follow. And even after the regulations are published they will likely not go into effect immediately, since the banks and payment processors will need time to add systems to comply with the new regulations. Smaller banks have already stated they would not even have the necessary resources in place to monitor such transactions. We want you to know that we will continue doing business with our US customers. We are a legal and licensed business in the Netherlands Antilles and none of our operations are carried out on US soil. We have no intention of closing USA player accounts or restricting their ability to play on BugsysClub. The World Trade Organization ruling brought by Antigua and Barbuda has repeatedly instructed the United States to stop trying to block US residents from playing at such operations while the US simultaneously favors certain US operations (such as horse betting, lottery etc). I will personally update you with any updates to this situation if or when they occur. Luck Bugsy

Now I am pissed! I have worked hard to win the money at Poker Time and they send me this bull shit e-mail. I got my money by referring my brother to the site and have played thousands of raked hands and tournaments. This is total BS. I guess I have to deposit $20 to get my money!

We refer to your withdrawal of $100 on your Poker Time account number ptr07790887.We'd like to inform you that the amount you have requested to withdraw constitutes Free Money, which you have received as a promotional offer. Our Free Money offers (including but not limited to free poker credits, prizes, or service credits) have raked hand requirements which need to be met before they can be withdrawn.You also have to purchase a minimum of $20, before you will be allowed to withdraw the Free Money.As a result, we have reversed the amount of $100 back into your account.

I just took a shot at CNR to win a big pot. Someone raised $4 all-in pre-flop and I was holding AQ. What the heck I called. A third player called. Flop came Q67 rainbow. I raised all-in and got called by the third player. The turn came an Ace and the river brought a King. Of course the third player had AK. What I found humorous was that the player that was all-in started bitching about how horrible the site was. He is the one who went all-in with pocket 4s.

OK! If I did not have a nice house, a job, wonderful family, and a reasonable amount of freedoms I think I would consider moving out of the US. I never thought I would say that. I love this country, but government is totally mucked up. I am not sure the two party system makes sense today. There needs to be checks and balances, but not checks for votes. I am going to dedicate myself to third party and independent candidates if they make any sense at all. If no candidate makes sense I am going to do as I have in the past and right in my favorite candidate Yosemite Sam or Bullwinkle the Moose. We might as well have cartoon characters governing this country.

I am sure I have more to say. This post has been broken up throughout the day. It is going to be really really hard to give up on-line poker. I think it is for the best. I try to focus on some other interests such as learning Spanish and developing Web applications. I will also probably focus on live games and maybe organize a road trip across the Red River or to Cajun country. Speaking of Red River – GO HORNS.

Four soccer games this weekend, so it will be busy. I need to watch more of the cartoon, Angry Beavers. I need a good laugh!

Ciao