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.

I am one person who will never make it to the higher stakes of poker.  After all, I’m the type of player who gets sick if I lose more than $60 or $70 in a single hand.  I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to lose $600 or $700 in a single hand - much less thousands of dollars!  But these are the things that high stakes players deal with every day and this was never more apparent than at Full Tilt Poker on October 26th. 

On this night, the record for the largest online poker hand in history would fall several times with players like Tom “Durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, and John Juanda being involved in some of the pots.  Things kicked off when Durrrr went up against Sami “LarsLuzak” Kelopuro for a pot of $618,000 and Durrrr got the better of LarsLuzak in the exchange; he also set the record for the largest online poker pot ever won.

Despite this huge win for Durrrr, things would only go downhill from here as he again got involved in a huge pot with John Juanda.  With the pot sitting at $678,000 this time, longtime live pro Juanda caught a break when he rivered a king while holding pocket kings to beat Durrrr’s pocket aces.  A new record was again set but the night had yet to begin.

Phil Ivey and Juanda later got involved in a huge $687,500 hand and John was looking to cash in yet again.  However, it wasn’t to be as Ivey took all of the money (and then some) from Juanda’s previous Durrrr exchange after hitting a set of 10’s.  If you think the record stayed here, think again because there was one big hand left on the night.

This time it was Ivey against Di “urindanger” Dang and Durrrr who both were willing to stay in with Ivey until the pot reached $724,000.  And it was urindanger’s pocket aces that would win the day and the $724,000 hand.  This is where the record stands today but - with the furious betting action on October 26th - I’m sure that this total will eventually be broken too.

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.   

Most people know the FBI as the investigative unit of the US government.  Some of the various functions that the Federal Bureau of Investigation performs include protecting the US from terrorist activity, combating cyber crime in America, and preventing major white colar crime.  But the last function that people would ever expect the FBI to perform is teaching poker to people.

Joe Navarro seeks to change all of this when he heads to Caesars Palace on November 7th and 8th to teach players at the World Series of Poker Academy.  Navarro’s specialty is nonverbal communication and behavior analysis as he’s been teaching this in the FBI for over 25 years.  But lately, he’s switched his focus to teaching poker players how they can better their game through reading other players at the table.

Obviously using the ability to read players isn’t a new concept but it seems to become something new when Navarro teaches this stuff.  Joe explains that, if a player goes all-in and then proceeds to lean back like he’s casually watching a football game, he’s got the nuts. 

Navarro gets deeper into the analysis by saying, “He’s all in and he’s all spread out.  His legs are open. His arm is splayed across two chairs.  It’s what we call a ‘territorial display’.  It’s what we do when we’re strong. And still, the other guy is struggling whether to call.  I can’t believe I’m watching this.  Why would you call? All the information is right there in front of you.”

Navarro’s excellent grasp of human body language has led him to teach plenty of pros in the past and he made this clear by saying, “I’ve had many professional players in my classes and they sit there with an interest you would not normally expect to see.  They are pros, so you think they would already know everything they need to know. But they are aware that any small edge to a poker player can be invaluable.”

Joe Navarro is one of six instructors that will be at the WSOP Academy this November.  The others are Phil Gordon, Mark Seif, Paul Wasicka, Alex Outhred, and Charley Swayne.  Those wishing to get in on this poker training will have to dish out a $1,999 fee.