An amendment to the Frank bill regulating online casinos requires gaming sites to determine the child support payment status of customers.
During the markup this week of Barney Frank's bill proposing the US regulate online casinos, Representative Michele Bachmann offered an amendment suggesting that Internet gambling sites be required as part of their licensing to refuse access to parents behind on child support. Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, said online casinos should be made to determine which customers are deadbeat dads and refuse deposits from them, or face fines and suspensions.
Some gaming analysts found the proposal to be ironically similar to the problematic UIGEA, which the Frank bill would render moot. In both cases, enforcement is required of the private sector, with penalties for lack of success, despite great difficulties acquiring the necessary information to properly decide when the law is applicable.
At best, online casinos should be only required to reject patronage of deadbeat dads from a list provided by the regulatory authority. To ask Internet gaming sites to investigate the child support status of all customers on a continuous basis is creating an unreasonable burden on the industry, says OCA gaming analyst Sherman Bradley.
Bachmann said the cost to taxpayers of carrying the burden left unsatisfied by irresponsible parents made keeping those deadbeats from gambling money at online casinos a public necessity. However, she failed to explain how online gambling differed from hotels, music concerts, movie theatres, or almost any form of spending imaginable.
"Internet casinos are still being singled out even as they are welcomed into mainstream life in the US," says Bradley. "Sure, deadbeat dads should be paying their bills rather than spending money entertaining themselves, but why are online casinos the only group forced to police their patrons?
"Congress wouldn't think of committing the absurdity of asking every bar or moviehouse to determine which patrons owe child support, or face punishment," Bradley continued. "It seems, even while the online gaming industry faces charges that they do not posess the capability to properly run age checks, Congress trusts the Internet technology to achieve far greater screening than is plausible in land situations."
They came in with high hopes. They'll leave with a guaranteed $5,000. But it could have been so much more.
Brazil and Argentina are out of this year's Americas Cup of Poker, despite the best efforts of their respective team captains, Andre Akkari and Nacho Barbero. The fast format and Sit & Go structure meant that labelling anyone as "favorites" going into today would have been a foolish gesture, but even so, with two LAPT final tablists in Ivan Raich and Javier Gordo, many had singled out Argentina as this year's team to beat -- including Barbero.
But all is not lost. They'll go into tomorrow's fifth place play-off with Team Brazil hoping to lock up an extra $2,500 in prize money.
One team with loftier ambitions tomorrow will be that of Chile, who with a little help from one of the event's three female players, put on the day's strongest showing to edge out Peru by a single point at the summit.
The win means Chile will go into tomorrow's decisive heads-up battles as top seed, where they'll play fourth placed Colombia. That leaves Mexico (third) to scrap it out with Peru (second) in the day's other match-up.
Each team will play five heads-up matches against the other. The first to win three will advance to the semi-finals, and then final, where the juicy $32,500 first prize will be dished out. Until then, see below for the full pay out structure and more photos from a noisy day in The the Bahamas.
Americas Cup of Poker Date: January 11-12, 2014 Entries: Six teams Prize pool: $100,000 1st: $32,500 2nd: $25,000 3rd: $17,500 4th: $12,500 5th: $7,500 6th: $5,000
OUT: Brazil and Argentina
Humberto Brenes and Amos Ben hug it out
A lonely Arieb Ortega finds himself in a Colombian huddle
Celebrations a plenty for the guys in the yellow and white of Colombia
Akkari and Team Brazil during happier times
Team Chile get some pre-match tactics on the go
The full 2014 Americas Cup of Poker cast
Team Peru and their adopted Costa Rican coach, Humberto Brenes
Team Mexico outside the Ballroom
Team Argentina before it hitting the rail at least $5,000 richer
Team Chile, today's leaders
Stay tuned to the PokerStars Blog for more from the Americas Cup and don't forget to click through to live updates, features and interviews from the $10,000,000 guaranteed PCA Main Event.
The yellow, blue and red of Colombia show their colors
With the closing of the 2013 TCOOP series today, January has been busy month for our SnG grinders. What better way to earn a profit than an investment with zero dollars invested? Well, maybe a couple of bucks spent earning the ticket to today's Battle of the Planet $50,000.00 triple shootout freeroll. Tonight's final table would feature players who have been here before and even a SCOOP high buy-in champion. But, it was FPSTAG who hauled away the first place prize of $12,000.00.
Down to two heads-up matches in the first round of the triple shootout had one player who saw more poker hands in the first few days of January than most people do in a year. Alex "AWice" Wice managed to attain the VIP status of Supernova in just over 40 hours. At the time Wice was 50 tabling for those 40 hours to reach the mark and according to his status around his avatar, he has already achieved the Supernova Elite status (1,000,000 VPPs) for the year.
Alex Wice -- VPP machine
Today Alex was looking to pick up a little free cash from his efforts playing in all those SnGs down to heads-up against Igos19 and a 7,705 to 2,795 deficit with blinds at 150/300 ante 25. After min-raise by Igos19 and a call both looked at an all-club flop [4c] [Jc] [9c]. Awice would check-raise all-in with middle pair [8s][9s] but Igos19 was not going anywhere with aces and a nut-flush draw [Ac][As]. The [5s] and [6c] on the turn and river, sent the Supernova Elite back to his 50-tabling in 83rd place. After Russia's electron74 busted a few moments later, the final 81 were assured $195.00 with twelve grand sitting at the final table.
In the round of 81 Sunnnlight, good player to have at your table during the periodic PokerStars hand anniversaries after collecting some free cash during both the 75th billionth hand milestone giveaway and the 10th anniversary special milestone. Bad player if you wanted to reach today's Battle of the Planets final table as the Russian dispatched the table in under an hour to claim the first seat and lock up at least $775.00 today.
Sunnlight will have some tough competition today as YugiohPro is making another appearance at the Battle of the Planets final table after making it back-to-back, in August and September. Not to mention claiming a $10,000 PokerStars Passport for finishing in eighth place on the overall Tournament Leaderboard for 2012 as well
Down to the final seat between excellent potential future WWF wrestling star steel serg against aleXXXpaw both would play well into the 200/400 ante 50 level 15 minutes after B4d3m3!st3r dispatched joszumabot18. After grinding alexXXXpaw down to 2,655 chips, steel serg would call the Russian's shove with [5c][Ah]. aleXXXpaw needed a little help holding [9h][Jd] all that came up on the [Ts] [2s] [6s] [Qs] [2h] board was a busted straight draw to finish in 10th place starting up the final table below:
Seat 1: YugiohPro (1500 in chips) Seat 2: steel serg (1500 in chips) Seat 3: B4d3m3!st3r (1500 in chips) Seat 4: Sunnnlight (1500 in chips) Seat 5: Buhass (1500 in chips) Seat 6: FPSTAG (1500 in chips) Seat 7: kafelnikovz (1500 in chips) Seat 8: yingding (1500 in chips) Seat 9: ihaterivers (1500 in chips)
The opening 10/20 level usually exits with nothing exciting but YugiohPro used some final table experience to grab double the starting 1,500 chip stack while knocking Sunnnlight and steel serg down to fewer than 700 chips. To show there is no rest for the successful players; YugiohPro was also playing 16 other tables including the final TCOOP 2013 ($215 buy-in NLHE Hyper-Turbo Event #50).
Turning out the light
The first one at the final table was also the first to leave. Starting up the 25/50 blind level Sunnnlight would be dwindled down to 321 chips sitting in the small blind with [Tc][Qc]. Sunnnlight tried shoving the short stack against Buhass who had a little under the starting stack holding [Jd][9d]. Buhass made the call looking to bump the short stack and found a jack on the river [As] [Td] [Ah] [3d] [Js] to do just that. It would be a quick sunset for Sunnnlight earning $775.00 in ninth place.
Liking this river card
The rest of the 25/50 level remained quiet but as the 50/100 level started up Buhass' stack was chipped down to 796 and opened all-in from middle position. Folded to ihaterivers in the small blind and shorted stacked as well, the river hater made the call with pocket sixes [6s][6h]. Buhass flipped up [As][Td] for the coin flip that went ihaterivers' way as the ace-free [3h] [2h] [Jc] [9s] [3c] board shipped 1,692 chips to ihaterivers and $1,200.00 to Buhass in eighth place.
Flushed out of the tournament
Watch the hand below for yet another pocket jacks horror story:
RSS readers please click through to view video
Despite getting the money in good with pocket jacks [Jc][Js] against FPSTAG's pocket fives [5c][5h] kafelnikovz watched a gruesome river card fill the four-flush [Qh] [4h] [4s] [Th] [2h] and ship the 2,882 chip pot to FPSTAG. Left with 69 chips, kafelnikovz would donate those to B4d3m3!st3r on the next hand to finish in seventh place ($1,700.00). It took away to get back here, but kafelnikovz cashed in on a return to the BOTP final table after making it here twice in 2010.
No go for YugiohPro
Third time a charm for YugiohPro? Unfortunately no as the South Korean was the chip leader when kafelnikovz was knocked out but nine hands later, YugiohPro would find a seat on the sidelines. With the blinds at 75/150 and fresh off doubling up FPSTAG after running pocket tens into kings, YugiohPro would open shove for 560 chips from the small blind and steel serg made the call from the big blind with [Qc][Th]. YugiohPro would bring a slight lead preflop holding [Js][Kd] but a queen in the door [Qd] [5s] [8c] [Ac] [4c] gave YugiohPro a disappointing finish to the former Sunday Warm-Up champ's third BOTP triple shootout final table in sixth place ($2,200.00).
Ding! You win $3,350.00!
Three hands later still in the 75/150 blind level yingding would shove from the small blind for 1,359 chips holding a decent [Tc][Kd]. But, waiting and hoping for someone to bet was steel serg in the big blind with pocket aces [Ac][Ad]. An immediate call scored a set of aces on the flop [9d] [Qh] [Ah] [Kh] [9s] while successfully dodging yingding's straight draw. For fourth place yingding scored a nifty $3,350.00 in cash.
Breaking steel
Three handed play would rock on for 20 minutes without a whisper for chopping up that five-figure score waiting for the January champ. As the blinds moved up to 125/250 ante 25 FPSTAG would shove from the button for 2,389 chips as steel serg called for less in the small blind holding [Tc][Kd] (or the same hand that yingding just busted on). While FPSTAG did not have aces, the German did have an ace [9h][Ac] which hit an unnecessary pair on the [5c] [9c] [2d] [5d] [Qd] board to end steel serg's night in third place ($4,500.00).
Germany wins the January Battle of the Planets triple shootout!
That headline was posted before B4d3m3!st3r and FPSTAG even started as the Germans would battle it out for the $12,000.00 first prize. Things looked to be going B4d3m3!st3r's way at the start after taking down seven of the eight hands and taking a 10,751 to 2,749 chip lead. Then, on the next hand FPSTAG would strike back by doubling up after seeing a free flop and catching a straight with [4h][6s].
Three hands later we would name our first champ of 2013. Watch the video below to see if SCOOP champion B4d3m3!st3r would add a Battle of the Planets title to the SCOOP champion's watch:
RSS readers please click through to view video
The answer? No. After FPSTAG min raised with a slight chip lead, B4d3m3!st3r would shove holding [Th][As] but FPSTAG had no problem making the call with pocket kings [Kc][Kh]. Despite a ten on the turn, FPSTAG's kings made it through the [5d] [8d] [Tc] [2h] [6h] to claim the $12,000.00 first prize and the Battle of the Planets January 2013 title!
$50,000 guarantee Battle of the Planets triple shootout results (01-27-13):
Hines WardHines Ward came into this season of Dancing with the Stars the same way that NFL players have in the past, with an eye on filling their time between the end of the regular season and the new year. Ward may end up going out as former NFL players as well, like a champion.
Ward was not one of the betting favorites when the show began, and although he did not have long odds, there were others who were considered to be more of a favorite. As the season has started to progress, however, the Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver is starting to become a fan favorite.
Ward is known during the NFL season as one of the toughest receivers that has ever played the game. Fans have always been drawn to Ward, despite the tough guy mentality. It is possible that Ward's smile has won him NFL fans over the years, and now it is his smile that is making him a tough out in the DWTS competition.
After Mike Catherwood was eliminated this past week, Ward's betting odds dropped to 9/2. The favorite to win is Ralph Macchio, but nobody is counting Ward out. Even Catherwood acknowledged that it any be the NFL star that wins out in the end.
Catherwood pointed to the fact that Ward plays for possibly the most popular team in the league, the Steelers. Millions of Steelers fans are around the US, and even non-football fans know the brand. That could help Ward win votes as the list of competitors shrinks each week.
DWTS has joined American Idol as the two reality competitions that gamblers have turned to at online sports books. Over the past decade, reality television betting has become an option at sports books, and gamblers have responded by placing money on the proposition bets.
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Published on February 19, 2014 by Tom Jones
A long battle has been raging and lines have been drawn in the sand regarding the legality of poker, and whether the game is one of luck or skill. That question has been asked in court rooms all across the US, but as of yet the US Supreme Court has not weighed in on the subject.
On Friday, poker enthusiasts and opponents alike will get their answer as to whether the Supreme Court will hear a case that is being appealed in the state of New York. The case involves a bicycle shop owner who was holding a poker game amongst friends in the back of his bike shop.
Authorities arrested the man and charged him with operating an illegal gambling operation. The owner, who has been convicted, is appealing his case to the Supreme Court, asserting that poker should not be illegal because it is a game of skill.
There is precedent across the US on both sides of the issue. Several courts have ruled that poker is a game of skill, while others have ruled there is too much chance in the game for it to be considered a game of skill. Each state has their own laws regarding home poker games.
In Virginia, home games are legal. In Georgia, the same games are illegal. How the federal government sees poker is a key to states that are attempting to move forward and allow home games among friends.
If the Supreme Court decides Friday to take the case, it will serve as a mini-victory for those who want the law clearly defined. A Supreme Court ruling on whether poker is a game of skill or luck could also go a long way in shaping the future of the poker industry in the US.
Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey have recently taken the game of poker to the next level, regulating online casinos. Over 100,000 poker players have already signed up for accounts at New Jersey online poker sites that host games played for real money.
There's something quite comforting about things returning to normal after the New Year celebrations. Last week there was a $5 million guarantee to mark the end of 2014. This week it was business as usual, with the Sunday Million stripped of any bells and whistles, and returning to its familiar format. And what's not to like about that.
Some 7,614 players seemed to agree, taking seats this week. After nearly half a day of play the final nine got to work, with a three way deal ultimately sending the title and $196,911.97 the way of doypaliza of Argentina.
A weekend of winners
As Jason Kirk reported on the PokerStars Blog it was a volatile final table, not least for runner-up BDmaro of Germany, who had the fewest chips when the final got underway. It would prove some spin up.
Elsewhere the Sunday Warm-Up played on in its usual glory. As David Aydt wrote shortly after it concluded, vip25459 earned himself a very important win, one worth $99,884 to the Kazakhstani, ahead of runner up random_chu from Australia.
The box scores from the Sunday Million and the Warm-Up are below:
These weren't the only winners this past weekend. The usual raft of weekend majors turned up a long list of winners, which you can browse at your leisure at the link below.
But while the online tournament world returns to normal, things start to get a little exciting in the live poker world this week.
In case you missed it, the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure 2015 gets under way this week, starting with the Super High Roller event, kicking things off tomorrow. Then on Thursday the main feature, the Main Event, with a buy in of $10,300, which will conclude next Wednesday bringing the festival to a close.
The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas where the PCA begins tomorrow
As always you can depend on the PokerStars Blog for all the live coverage, as well as stories and features from the tournament floor. What's more you can watch events unfold for yourself, with each day's action available on PokerStars.tv, starting tomorrow at 15:00 (EST). That also includes the cards up final table of the Super High Roller on Thursday. For details of everything taking place in the Bahamas, check out the PCA homepage.
In the meantime congratulations to all of this weekend's winners.
During the markup this week of Barney Frank's bill proposing the US regulate online casinos, Representative Michele Bachmann offered an amendment suggesting that Internet gambling sites be required as part of their licensing to refuse access to parents behind on child support. Bachmann, a Republican from Minnesota, said online casinos should be made to determine which customers are deadbeat dads and refuse deposits from them, or face fines and suspensions.
