This week it emerged that $30 million of poker player’s funds has been frozen by the Federal Government. This has affected thousands of US player’s wanting to cash out from sites like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, something already harder to achieve since the UIGEA bullshit. What surprises me most is that PokerStars and Full Tilt don’t use multiple backup payment processors, and spread the load around a bit more. Maybe they do have alternatives, but they’ve been hit by this to the tune of 30 big ones, which has gotta hurt.

At this time it seems the online poker rooms are covering the money, so don’t worry poker players! Let’s not be scared by this act of aggression, though it’s not a good sign for the future. Just remember that online poker is not illegal, even if we’re made to think it’s a crime by people who want to suppress our freedoms. Let’s just hope that Barney Frank’s regulation bill gets somewhere, which seems unlikely (even if Obama likes poker).

Today I got an interesting email from Party Poker today, which read:

You may have seen the news about the freezing of payment processor funds in the United States and its effect on certain competitor online operators. PartyGaming Plc, the parent company of PartyPartners, withdrew immediately from the United States following the change in the law that took place back in October 2006. As a result, we are completely unaffected by these recent events in the US and your account with us will not be subject to any payment issues or lost revenue streams.

I guess you can’t blame them for this mailer, but it’s a bit of a cheap shot. If they weren’t listed on the London Stock Exchange then you could bet your house that they still be in the US market. Let’s not forget how much money Party Poker made in the days when they accepted US players, and how their share price and player numbers has plummeted since their withdrawal. But yeah, if you can play at Party then they are “completely unaffected by these recent events” – go figure!

I use Poker Tracker, and I love it. The main reason why I love it, is because I can keep track of my wins and losses, right down to each session, starting hand, and so much more. It’s a useful tool for learning what mistakes I might be making and how to improve my game. Every once in a while I’ll look deep into the statistics and see where I can plug a hole or two in my game.

The other major advantage of using Poker Tracker is the HUD. For those unfamiliar with this, it basically overlays vital information about your opponents onto the table. The basic stats are; hands played, voluntary $ put into pot (not including blinds), preflop raise percentage, and overall aggression factor. Some people argue that such software is cheating or is unfair as in the real world of poker (live casino play) you have to find this information through observation, and so should be the case for online poker. However my main argument against this is that many online poker players will just be there to grind away on multiple tables, playing virtually nothing other than premium hands, and while it’s their right to do so, it wouldn’t happen in live play (people would notice and they’d get no action). Without a HUD it would be very hard to notice the players who play in this way, and they’d probably end up winning my money.

While I think a HUD is fair game, I don’t think it’s right that people’s data can be bought. There are many sites that will sell hand histories, and you can import this data into your software. I think this is wrong and is cheating. It’s not right and is bad for online poker in general. I also think sites like Sharkscope, which mines data from the sites and displays it publicly is also wrong. It’s a matter of privacy and if a player wants to win or lose then it should be their right to do so in private. I know many online poker rooms are very much against this type of data mining, and Poker Stars has banned the use of Sharkscope on their site. I think this is the right thing to do, but they are probably facing a losing battle, as there are now so many data mining sites. My fear is that one day online poker will just turn into a battle of who has the best software.

Oh and before I go, just to update on my previous post. Unfortunately I’ve not won a WSOP seat just yet. I’ll keep trying though - you just never know!

Every poker player in the world wants to play the WSOP main event, but the only stumbling block is the $10k buy-in. Like most people I can’t find a spare $10k and even if I could I wouldn’t want to blow it on one tournament. So the only way is to try my luck in the online WSOP satellites. I’ve been playing online poker since the early days (Planet Poker) and although I’ve always wanted to play in the WSOP, I’ve never really tried to qualify before. This year is different - I want a seat and I want it bad!

I was ready to begin my quest for WSOP glory yesterday afternoon on PokerStars (who send more players to the WSOP than all other online poker rooms combined), but I was somewhat suprised at the lack of response from the sit & go’s, which required a minimum 100 or 216 runners, yet were stuck around 40-50 at the time. Yes it was a Friday afternoon, but doesn’t PokerStars have a ton of European traffic or people with nothing better to do on a Friday afternoon? Clearly not.

So today was my first foray into the world of WSOP Satelittes. I was psyched and ready to “do a Moneymaker”, and after scanning the lobby at PokerStars I liked the look of the $33 rebuy main event qualifier. Rather than pay the $33 I figured I’d earn it in one of the Super Satelittes - starting with a $2 rebuy. With no rebuys and just a top up (total spend $4) I was doing okay. At the break I was in 15th spot out of 80+ runners and guess what? 15 was the magic number of qualifiers. Sadly this was at the break and after being card dead and slipping down the pecking order I fizzled out. Oh well only $4 down so far.

Next I played a $4.40 single table SNG, with one seat for the $33. I got heads up with a chip lead but got well and truly out fished. The consolation for 2nd was $3! So now I was $5.40 down and still optimistic, but enough of these Super Satelittes - let’s go play the $33 rebuy. So I did - and had a great start but I bailed out after 40 minutes having had one rebuy. I didn’t see much value in this format since there was only one (possibly two seats) available for the WSOP main event.

Having played a few more games I think the best option is to try my luck at the shootouts for the $600 satelitte, as this gives a whopping 25+ seats. I’m done with the $33 rebuy unless I win a Super Satelitte, and while my hopes have been dented thus far, I will proceed. Wish me luck!

Online poker is such a relaxing game, where we can sit in the comfort of our own home and enjoy the ups and downs of this magnificent game - free from the stresses and strains of work. It is a game to pass time and if we’re lucky, pick up a coin of the realm or two. Of course this isn’t the case for everyone. Some people can’t deal with the bad beats that comes with online poker, and they just get hopping mad. Here’s a classic example:

What makes me laugh most about that guy, is that he called the hand before he saw it. But boy did his mood change once he realized this guy had called pre-flop with K2 suited.

Here’s the same player again, and this time he’s just tilting badly. But he is giving great entertainment:

Now here’s my favorite clip EVER, which has nothing to do with poker. It’s related to the theme of this post though, which is anger management. We all get annoyed by tele marketers, but I sense the frustration has been building up with this guy:

Love it! This is a few years old now so he’s probably died of a heart attack. Let’s just hope he hasn’t taken up playing online poker, as I’m not sure how he’d handle getting outdrawn.