Being a resident of the United States, it makes me cringe every time another major poker network or room takes their services away from US players; pretty soon there may not be a whole lot of places where US people can play online poker.  And since the deal happened where Kentucky has seized 141 domain names, the process has only sped up.

The Microgaming Network is the latest poker entity to be spooked by the actions of Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and other government officials from the state.  That’s because Microgaming has announced that it will be pulling its services from 13 different states and Washington D.C.  The 13 states that will no longer be able to use Microgaming software include: Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, Louisiana, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Nevada, and Washington. 

In being from Ohio, I don’t have to worry about this mess – yet!  It’s only a matter of time before other major poker networks start to fall in line with the ridiculous demands set forth by Kentucky; then more states will start to see their online poker freedoms revoked.  The 13 previously mentioned states will already be barred from using the popular Doyle’s Room. 

After the UIGEA, things seemed to get pretty quiet as far as the online gaming crackdown.  Unfortuantely, those days seem to be over with the inception of Steve Beshear’s campaign to rid Kentucky of the right to play online poker.  I just wonder how many more states will be affected in the future.

A few months back I wrote about how casino poker dealers should fear for their jobs since the induction of automated poker tables (see this here).  After all, these electronic tables are said to have several advantages over traditional poker tables – the most glaring one being that casinos could save more money over the long haul by using the machines.

Well now dealers should really worry since the automated tables have been making appearances in Las Vegas casinos as of late.  The Excalibur is the latest large-scale casino to utilize these tables and they have replaced every single regular table in their poker room. 

As mentioned before, the biggest reason that casinos have started using these machines is because they realize the amount of money that can be saved.  Going beyond the money aspect, automated tables are also virtually mistake-free, the tables won’t bitch when you don’t tip them, the game will go much faster this way, and cheating will be harder.

However, there’s plenty of downside to using the electronic poker tables too.  For one thing dealers will be losing their jobs, people won’t have the pleasure of chatting with the dealer, and a lot will be taken from the overall poker experience.

So my question is this: if a lot of casinos start switching to the automated tables, then what will motivate people to play poker at a casino rather than online in their own home?  Obviously people can still talk to other players, but it will be a lot more of a come and go experience with everything seeming much more robotic.  Plus the experience of being dealt cards and pushing chips back and forth will be taken out of the game.  In short the more casinos that choose go to this format, the less I’ll want to play poker in casinos.

A new chapter was added to the ongoing saga of what Michael Phelps will eventually do with regards to his possible future in the game of poker (see one of my previous posts on this here).  Earlier this week Phelps played in the Caesars Poker Classic and managed to do quite well in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em event.  He took 9th place in the tournament and also earned $5,213 for his solid finish.

Phelps’ day wasn’t quite done after the 9th place finish since he also took part in the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em tourney too.  Things didn’t go quite as well for him here though since he busted out early on in the tournament.  However, after taking his $1,500 and $1,000 buy-ins against the $5,213 he made, that’s a $2,713 profit which is better than most poker players fare with the game.

Obviously the $2,713 is just a drop in the bucket for Michael Phelps since he earns at least $5 million in endorsements every year (probably way more now after his record-breaking Olympic performance), but it shows that he does have some game.  And people are eagerly anticipating what Phelps will do next since a ton of excitement was generated when he made an appearance at the WPT Festa al Lago with Phil Hellmuth.  Many were hoping to see him in action but Phelps was there more as a spectator than anything else.

He probably won’t be able to fully immerse himself in the poker world for another four years since he’s going to be training for swimming off and on until the next Olympics.  But Phelps did indicate that he plans to retire after 2012 at the age of 27.  Once he is retired, then it’s probably more conceivable that we will be seeing the 14-time Olympic gold medal winner in more poker events.   

For much of early the 2000’s, the focus of online poker rooms was about how they could attract the most Americans possible to play at their room.  After all, it seemed that a good number of US residents were poker fanatics who were ready and willing to spend money on the game as frequently as possible.  But when the UIGEA act was signed into effect in 2006, many of these rooms were at a loss for what to do.

Fortunately for the poker industry, many Americans have come back to the game but the focus isn’t on them as much anymore.  That’s because online poker is rising rapidly in many European countries – especially among the younger people.  A survey run by JupiterResearch discovered that the number of poker players between the ages of 18-24 has gone up by a ridiculous amount. 

For example, Germany saw its total poker playing population in the 18-24 year-old demographic go from 17% to 41% in just one year!  Sweden saw a somewhat big increase too since its number of 18-24 year-old players went from 18% to 25%.  Poland and Hungary didn’t see its younger poker playing population increase that much but it’s tough to do when you’ve already got over 60% of your players being in the 18-24 year-old range.

Females are increasingly responsible for this poker surge in Europe too since places like Spain and Italy have seen huge hikes in female players.  In fact, Spain sees almost a 50/50 split since 44% of its poker player population consists of women and this is up from 16% in 2007.  Italy only had an 18% female online poker playing population but this number has bolted up to 34%.  Norway, Finland, and Sweden also have a big female poker player base too. 

With how much many of the demographics and numbers have changed in just one year, it’s tough to imagine where the limits for poker are in Europe.  Hopefully the game keeps growing throughout the continent as more and more people take up poker.