Poker Blog and Poker Gossip

Andy Bloch headed back to college last week. Not to finish any degrees or change careers but to talk to a group of UNLV students about his experience as a member of the infamous MIT Card Counting Team. He had several thoughts to share regarding the move released earlier this year, aptly called “21” and based loosely on the real world story of the team.

He dragged on about how the hand signals used during the movie were not the real hand signals they used in real life. From there however, he did mention several areas where the movie was very accurate in its portrayal of the team.  The one highlight of the speech was a cool story about one of the kids on the MIT Team that stole a big shield from the Excalibur, hanging it in his dorm room.

He went on to field questions from the near empty room about problem gambling, his life as a poker pro, and other areas. Surprisingly, no one asked why he wears those gay cowboy hats to every event. It’s assumed afterward that all of them went back to their dorms to play online at Full Tilt Poker. Though, it’s likely a safe bet that none of them had a shield from the Excalibur in their room.

As much as I could care less about Greg Raymer, I think almost anyone in the poker world knows who he is.  Check out the pic on Jerry Yang’s facebook profile where he tags Greg Raymer as Allen Cunningham:

Based in London, Ivobank claims to be the new online currency of online gamers. This new online banking option caters specifically to the problems that surround other problematic online banks like the anti-gambling PayPal and the anti-US Neteller. This bank is for everyone who uses money online, promising to do away with low service levels and high service costs. This modernized banking provides an instant and secure online payment method, complete with competitive interest rates.

Online customers will now be able to use their accounts with this company to transfer money anywhere in the world to family members, friends, and overseas recipients, making Ivobank the number one online bank for international transfers of money.  Perhaps even shoppers will want to obtain an Ivobank Virtual Card to use when making purchases over the Internet, as this option makes online shopping transactions easier and safer, especially for shoppers who do not like to give their credit card numbers out left and right all over the Net.

This new payment method may even offer a solution to online business associates who otherwise have found it difficult to do business in a common online currency. Just a few of the services Ivobank offers include an e-wallet, a savings account, a virtual card, and instant money transfer, which is a free transaction, even overseas.

While this particular company may not be the one to catch on internationally, online banks are realizing that a little competition is needed and the only way to come out ahead of the others is to address the common issues that exist with other online banking institutions. Perhaps Ivobank is the only online bank that can serve the needs of shoppers, businesses, poker players, and international money transfers alike. It makes sense for a company to come along and make online money transactions as easy as they should be.

Maybe Ivobank will be the next big payment processor for online poker… only time will tell.

Well those in the industry certainly wouldn’t think so but a new Canadian Clinic has been specially designed with young problem gamblers in mind. The new clinic, going under the name “ACES” for Adolescent Clinical Education Service was launched last month with the intention of acknowledging that there is a new threat to Canada’s youth in the form of online poker, online gambling and other video game addictions.

Head doctor Bruce Ballon of ACES had the following to say regarding the new clinic:

“We started getting tons of calls about Internet use and we got tired of saying, ‘Oh we don’t deal with that,’” Dr. Ballon told the Globe and Mail. “Instead, we said, ‘Let’s deal with it,’ because it’s just another manifestation or coping mechanism or strategy to deal with other issues.”

ACES is run by Dr. Ballon who is a child psychiatrist and Joanna Henderson a researcher and psychologist. The two doctors indicate that they currently are seeing eight patients and are getting new referrals every day, but they would not specify the type of addiction any of their current patients have. Online poker and other forms of online gambling are currently facing a rash of problems in the policy makers eyes as countries around the world try to make a point out of problem gambling and further restrict people’s right to gamble online.

While online poker and other forms of online gambling certainly can cause problems, it is ultimately the responsibility of each individual user to properly manage what they can afford to lose in an online gaming context. Unfortunately many around the world see online gaming as causing mass societal harm and ultimately costs nations money. Hopefully as countries around the world become more attuned to the idea of generating revenue from online gaming and realize the benefits of regulation, these types of concerns will fade.

For more information about gambling problems, check out the McGill Problem Gambling website.

After successfully lobbying for non-smoking WSOP events starting in 2004, Tom McEvoy is now squaring off with a more formidable opponent – the casino floor. While most poker rooms are now non-smoking thanks to the work that Tom put in, most casino floors are not. Indeed, the casino operators are afraid of running off customers if they were to ban smoking all together.

Since the sissified, womanizing McEvoy learned he was allergic to smoke years ago, he’s bitched and moaned to enough people that they finally gave in and banned smoking in many poker rooms in the US. (Editors note: Is smoking actually bad for you?) Now backed by the group Gamblers Against Secondhand Smoke (GASS), he’s taking his message to the major casinos.

Years ago Tom saw a friend come down with cancer after years of playing in smoky poker rooms. His friend was a non-smoker and that was enough to motivate him to lobby for smoke free poker rooms. Now that the poker rooms are compliant, Tom wants to have casino floors follow suit. Only time will tell if he’s successful but for now, the major players in the casino world are quite happy with the status quo.

After the historical ruling last week effectively giving 141 different gambling sites only 30 days to geo-block residents from the state of Kentucky, the industry remains shaken but not undeterred in their efforts to overturn the ruling. Despite many attempts from industry groups such as the Poker Players Alliance and iMEGA, the judge tossed out their arguments and has allowed the case to move forward.

Originally pushed by Kentucky Governor Steve “the douche” Beshear, the move is a clear attempt to block all online gambling other than the state run lottery and horse racing operations. Since only poor people play the lottery and the horse racing industry is suffering from a lack of popularity, the Governor decided to take drastic measures. When asked by reporters about his reaction to the judge’s decision, Beshear said, “I am very pleased with Judge Wingate’s ruling. The court validated our concern that there is illegal and unregulated Internet gambling in Kentucky. He has given these parties 30 days to effectively block any access to this illegal activity within the commonwealth of Kentucky or they may be forced to forfeit those domain names to the commonwealth.”

Shortly thereafter he headed to the horse races and promptly bet the trifecta, only to lose after his picks finished dead last in the race. In the meantime, thousands of Kentucky residents raced to get their fix on Full Tilt before the geo-blocking goes into place next month.