Congressman Frank summarizes the feelings of many Americans with his support of Internet gambling in the United States. He has been a staunch supporter of officially legalizing, regulating, and taxing Internet gambling, and he has recently received support from many very big power names in the worlds of gambling and politics. Over the next several posts, we are going to provide an update on the state of Internet gambling in the U.S., what attempts are being made in Congress to regulate and tax Internet gambling, what these efforts might mean to online poker, and what you can do to help out the cause.

First, many players in the U.S. continue to play online poker. Several sites, including FullTiltPoker and PokerStars, continue to allow deposits from U.S. players. Many players report that it is simple to deposit and cash out in the U.S. and the risk seems minimal, except in the state of Washington where Internet gambling is a felony. In fact, with the enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA) pushed back by Congress until June 1, there really is not much teeth to any prohibitions of online poker in the U.S.

However, many players who would otherwise participate stay away, and competition among online poker sites is certainly minimized as a result of fear arising from the UIGEA.

Recent developments in Congress give U.S. poker players a reason to have some hope. On February 22, 2010, Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Judd Gregg (R-NH) introduced S 3018, the Bipartisan Tax Fairness and Simplification Act. The bill establishes a framework to tax and regulate internet gambling in the United States, along with many other topics. The clause related to Internet gambling is what some call a "pay-for" clause, a tax increase to help cover the tax decreases in the other portions of the act. The act contains a 2% tax on gambling deposits and sponsors estimate it would generate $42 Billion of revenue for the U.S. government. On the serious down side, that’s one heck of a rake that U.S. poker players would have to overcome. Although it is directed at the gambling sites, it is easy to see how this could be passed on to the player.

Although this specific piece of legislation is unlikely to pass, it represents an effort in the Senate to match Representative Frank’s efforts in the House. Congressman Frank’s HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, which has 66 co-sponsors on both sides of the aisle, was discussed in the House Financial Services Committee in December. Congressman Frank thinks he can move this bill forward before the UIGEA reaches the enforcement date of June 1.

There is certainly plenty of uncertainty about where this all will lead. It is an election year and many Senators and Congressmen will be more focused on preserving their jobs and dealing with the economy than worrying about online poker. In the meantime, if you feel strongly about online poker in the U.S., join up with the Poker Player’s Alliance (pokerplayersalliance.org) and make sure your voice is heard.

In our next two posts, we will discuss what some of the major players in offline gambling in the U.S. are doing to get prepared for a potential new wave of online poker, and we’ll also discuss more about why some people are against online poker.

These are some of my comments about the WSOP final table. The heads up part won’t be played until tomorrow night, and then it will be on ESPN on Tuesday. If you don’t want to know anything until you see it on TV, read no further.

Bring-Your-Own-Posse

The four month break gave everyone a chance to take some poker lessons. More than that, it gave them a chance to round up a posse. Several of the November Nine had large, very vocal cheering sections. Fights were even breaking out, and spectators were being ejected. I’m not making this up! But the rest of the audience – I mean everybody – was for Phil Ivey. Even when Ivey just took down the blinds, the crowd would roar with approval. But it wasn’t meant to be…

Phil Ivey

At one point Ivey lost a key coin flip to Joe Cada (who went on to make the final two). Then, there was a short break around 8PM, and upon the resumption of the game, Ivey went out on (I believe it was) the first hand. It was the dreaded AQ, but this time Ivey didn’t have it, he had AK. Darvin Moon had AQ. The crowd went wild, everybody was going absolutely crazy. Then, a queen came on the flop, and with no help on the turn or river…it was over. A lot of the crowd started to leave shortly after that. Phil Ivey takes home a lousy $1.4 million.  J

 Stamina

It’s one thing to talk about the stamina needed to win a major tournament. But the human body just isn’t meant to sit in a chair for 17 hours, with the cameras and lights and the knowledge that any misstep could cost you millions in real money. Playing until 5AM just gives a huge advantage to the younger players, or the players who just happen to be night owls. (Hey, I’m one of them, so I’m not complaining for my sake). Anyway, the winner should be determined by skill, not who can pop more no-doze. I suspect we might see a change next year, perhaps we’ll play down to 6, then to 2 the next day, and then play the heads up the following day. Either that, or just have a time limit – after 10 hours we call it a day and pick it up the next morning.

So what are we left with?

Joe Cada came from nearly being out, to doubling up time after time and now going into heads up play with $135 million chips. Darvin Moon started the day as the chip leader, and finished the day with almost exactly the same number of chips, roughly $60 million. He had some very strange plays along the way, and I can’t wait to see if they show these hands on ESPN to see what the heck he was holding. By the way, Cada is only 21 years old. If he wins he’ll claim the title of youngest World Champion ever (Peter Eastgate was 22). 

1. Commerce Casino (Commerce, CA) – Commerce is home to two cavernous poker rooms — a sprawling low-limit area and a high-limit room that hosts some of the biggest games on the west coast. They also host the L.A. poker classic.

2. Trump Taj Mahal (Atlantic City, NJ) - The Trump Taj Mahal has a massive poker room, with well over 80 tables. They have the most diverse selection of games & limits anywhere in Atlantic City. The link here is to their daily poker tournaments.

3. The Borgata (Atlantic City, NJ) – The new 85-table Borgata poker room is a completely different experience than the Trump Taj Mahal – it is like a Las Vegas poker room in New Jersey.
The Borgata hosts a $500,000 Deep Stacks tournament.

4. The Tropicana (Las Vegas, NV) - The Tropicana, or “trop” to its regulars, is another super poker room on the boardwalk. It’s really well-run and they have a great variety of games at their 43 tables, including their unique “pink chip” game, which uses special $2.50 pink chips in a $7.50/$15 hold’em game. We’ve linked to their poker tournament schedule.

5. Peppermill Casino (Reno, NV) - The Peppermill features Reno’s most comfortable and exciting poker room. Their dealers are trained to assist new players, in addition to offering private and group lessons upon request. They host several tournaments a day, with a wide range of stakes.

6. Grand Sierra Resort & Casino (Reno, NV) – With over 115,000 square-feet, the casino at the Grand Sierra Resort & Casino is easily northern Nevada’s largest. Grand Sierra is known for their structured poker tournaments with high payouts. They play all kinds of games here, including HORSE. They comp their regulars well, and it’s a great place for vacationers.

7. Caesars Atlantic City (Atlantic City, NJ) - Most people have heard of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, and they also have a huge poker room that is newly remodeled in the past couple years. But this is the Atlantic City counterpart. Their poker room is open 24 hours a day for live cash games. With structured games starting at $2-4, $3-6 and $4-8, this is the place to play. Higher limit games are also available based on demand. They have a schedule of deep stacks poker tournaments that are listed at the link we provide.

8. Gold Strike Casino and Resort (Tunica, MS) – With two levels of poker play, the Gold Strike Casino is the hottest non-stop poker action in Tunica. Match wits with players of all skill levels in Texas Hold ‘Em, 7-Card Stud, etc., as well as a daily slew of tournaments.

9. The Wynn Las Vegas (Las Vegas, NV) – The Wynn offers a twenty-six poker table room with a variety of games and limits to suite all levels of play. Game limits generally range from $4/$8 up to $100/$200. Their tournaments run daily at 2pm and 7pm currently, with buy-ins of $100 and up. The page we linked takes a while to load, I guess the Wynn does everything to the max.

10. Bicycle Casino (Los Angeles, CA) - The Bicycle Casino ranks as one of the world’s largest Card Casinos and is renowned for its World Class Poker Tournaments. They have 3 tournaments most days, and it is packed with players from all over. If you’ve never played at The Bike, you owe yourself a trip.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are some really good live poker tournaments out there that we haven’t listed, especially in Europe (which we’ll cover separately) or related to the World Series of Poker (which we figure everyone knows about). But, the above casinos are offering some of the best daily tournaments in 2009. Why not check them out and report back to us!

1. Tao of Poker by Pauly – This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, by providing weekly posts for readers to follow and comment on. Always entertaining, and gives you a good picture of what’s going on in the world of poker. This is not a blog for someone looking to become a much better poker player - there isn’t all that much serious poker content. But several of us follow Pauly’s blog, and it’s one of the most widely read poker blogs on the net for a good reason - it’s entertaining.
2. Full Contact Poker – This is Daniel Negreanu’s blog. He keeps his fans informed about how he’s doing, and also gives a bunch of insight into the way he thinks. Posts are made 4-5 a week, so there is always something to comment about. This is an absolute must for fans of Daniel’s.
3. Hard Boiled Poker – This blog deals with the serious nuts and bolts discussion of poker. The blog posts a discussion daily, so this is a great blog to bookmark and check out to learn the ins and outs poker. This is the place to go if you want to read a serious blog for serious players.
4. Pokerati - This is another great blog that deals with the social aspects of poker, as well as the tournament scene. Posts are daily, so you are never left without something to read about. This is one that will keep you entertained, as well as informed.
5. Neverwin Poker Blogs – This is not really a single blog, it’s a compilation of blogs. But it’s great for keeping up to date with what’s going on in the poker world, and it is a very highly followed website.
6. Las Vegas Vegas - This blog deals with everything going on in the world of poker, mostly in Las Vegas. Posts are made 4-5 a week, mainly about tournament news and results. One of our favorite parts of this blog are the pictures. They make you want to be there in the action.
7. Melted Felt - This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, by providing posts 3-4 a week for readers to follow and comment on. Most of the posts will make you laugh. As an example, they recently had a post titled, "Credit Crunch Hits Poker World as Matusow Auctions Lucky Underpants".
8. Noted Poker Authority - This blog deals with the serious nuts and bolts discussion of poker from acclaimed author, Ed Miller. Ed posts 2-3 times a week, by providing poker advise to people’s questions. Ed has very strong opinions on a variety of poker topics, and gives advice that is bound to make a thinking player take some time to assess it. This is not a blog to read for pleasure, this is for serious players who want to improve.
9. Guinness and Poker – This blog deals with the social aspects of poker, providing recent news briefs relating to gambling and poker. Posts are made 1-2 a week, and there is a great archive section set up for you to review. This is a great blog to follow to learn about the politics behind the U.S. ban on internet gambling, and the efforts to get it overturned.
10. Wicked Chops Poker – The self-proclaimed "Daily Dose of All Things Poker + GIRLS", this blog deals with the social aspects of poker, with daily posts ranging from tournament updates, to mug shots, to centerfold pictures. You are sure to find something here to talk about. This is definitely an entertaining blog with plenty of information to keep you up to date.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are some really good blogs left off of this list. But you could spend your life reading through blogs only to waste precious time you could be spending training or playing. Instead, this list will provide you something to do when you are waiting for opponents to join you at the online poker table.

The test comes complete with a professional replay, conducted by noted online fixed limit player and coach BigBadBabar.  His expert advice was also used in preparing the hand-by-hand personal replayer and analyzer that our members also get to use with this test.  It’s just like having one of the top limit coaches spot you for 50 difficult hands, with most of them playable.

To take the test, sign into your account and click the fixed limit test link on the left side of your member page.  If you are not already a member, click the “Train Now” link above or just sign up at this link to start your personalized poker training program, including all our tests, training plans, professional replays, and personalized hand-by-hand replay analysis.

When the World Series of Poker Academy needed a way to accurately assess the skills of their participants, they chose TestYourPoker.com to design exclusive software for use at their poker training academy. This software is used to give their students a detailed, custom analysis of their poker skills, and is based on the same analysis technology that our members enjoy on a daily basis.

The World Series of Poker Academy has featured top pros such as Phil Hellmuth, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Joseph Hachem, Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, and many more. Beginning with the January, 2009 Cash Game Academy, they are using our analysis technology to diagnose and assess the skill levels of their participants and for use with their exclusive competitions.

The very same analysis technology is available for you on this website. Simply take our free NL Holdem Test, get your free PokerIQScore, then begin to work on your training plan. Our members can also test their skills using our 6-max shorthanded test, our NL Multitable Tourney test, and our NL Sit-N-Go test. Take our free NL Holdem Test and get started!

Are you interested in attending the World Series of Poker Academy and learning from the pros? We have worked out a deal for you to receive a FREE LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP to www.testyourpoker.com when you attend the World Series of Poker Academy. Click on the World Series of Poker Academy logo to learn more about the Academy and register. You must register through our link to receive the free lifetime poker training from our site.

1. Two Plus Two Forums - The granddaddy of them all, the best forums on the Internet, by far the most active and most authoritative of online poker forums.
2. PocketFives - Another extremely active, outstanding poker forum. Pocket Fives is also home to the Pocket Five rankings of online poker players, a very popular feature.
3. CardPlayer Forums - The forums for one of the largest poker print magazines. Very active forums.
4. FullTilt Forums - The forums at one of the largest online poker sites. Very active forums.
5. NeverWin Forums - Another very active forum that has been around for a while. It seems that many active posters here consider themselves rivals to 2+2.
6. FlopTurnRiver Forums - Very active, extremely helpful core group of posters.
7. Liquid Poker Forums - Another very active forum, backed by a website with a substantial amount of poker content.
8. CardsChat Forums - Active and worth getting involved in.
9. Full Contact Poker Forums - This is Daniel Negreanu’s site, and it is fantastic. Plenty of information to be had by interested players.
10. Poker Forum Canada - This is a fantastic and active forum system with a Canadian perspective. Extremely informative group, very active on a daily basis.

This list is by no means comprehensive, and there are some really good forums left out of this list. But you could spend you life reading forums, there are plenty of other ways to spend your poker training time.

I’m going to give a different situational explanation of fold equity, one that players who are successful at SitNGo Tourneys understand completely:  fold equity is the single most important reason why certain players consistently win in NL Holdem SitNGo tournaments.  If you play a lot of SitNGo tournaments like I do, you’ll see players who consistently make it to the final 4 or 5 players based on their outstanding poker skills, but rarely ever win.  The reason is that they do not understand the core concept of fold equity in SitNGo tournaments: When you reach the bubble in a SitNGo Tournament, you no longer are playing the cards in your hand. Thus, players who don’t shift gears and continue to play a tight style, or continue to rely on the cards in their hands as the primary decision making criteria, will almost certainly lose in the long run in SitNGo tournaments.

An example here is most informative of this concept:

You are playing in a $33 SitNGo tourney and there are 4 players left.  The blinds are 200/400.  The first player folded. You are on the button and have picked up Ks5s.  You have 4800 chips left.  The small blind has you covered, 5100 chips, but the BB has only 1550 chips remaining. The BB has fewer than 4 big blinds left – he has to make a move soon.  But one thing we know about short, but not completely desperate stacks – they are much less likely to call with a marginal hand.

Against 2 potential opponents, K5s is not a hand you would typically want to play.  However, your fold equity makes this a nearly mandatory raising situation.  The small blind is almost certain to fold unless he has a very strong hand – your worst fear, but relatively unlikely.  The big blind fits one of 2 types here:  1) fold most hands, 2) play almost anything.  You are in good shape either way!  In situation 1), you have a very high level of fold equity, making your odds of picking up 600 quick chips and becoming the chip leader an excellent prospect.  Even if your BB opponent is defending with anything, your K5s is an above average hand which possesses enough showdown equity to make your raise a solid play.   But this strategy by the short stack is very unlikely.

In this situation I would put in a raise of about 1200 chips knowing that my fold equity is high enough that this is a very positive $EV play.

But what if I was in the same situation and had 72o?  I would still raise a significant portion of the time.  The cards in my hand do not change the fact that I am risking 1200 chips in a situation where I would estimate both opponents folding at least 75% of the time if they are typical, with me picking up 600 chips those ¾ of the time and losing 1200 25%, for an expected profit of 150 chips each time I do this.

This is just one example.  The key idea is that playing aggressively with position in late stage SitNGo tourneys is the key to taking advantage of fold equity.  If you don’t do it, you can be sure that your opponents will do it to you.

As it turns out, this test told me that my early and mid-stage skills were outstanding - it found very few errors in my play.  However, my bubble and endstage play was diagnosed as needing significant work.  I used the hand by hand analyzer to identify the key weaknesses in my game - I was paying too much attention to my cards and not enough to chip sizes and position.

I used the information I learned from the test to work on this area of my game.  I am pleased to say that over my past 150 SitNGo tournaments, my overall cash rate has increased nearly 25% from my prior cash rate and my win rate has increased 75% from my prior win rate.

To say that I’m a believer in this method is an understatement.  Try it out for yourself, you will be amazed by the results.