According to the Antigua Sun, up to late Monday neither Mark Mendel, Antigua's attorney in the WTO matter, nor the local Directorate of Gaming had received any word from the U.S. Trade Representative in the matter.
Mendel had said last week they were anticipating a proposal from the United States on Monday, but they were adopting a "wait and see" approach. There was no indication what the U.S. proposal might be if it were to show up, and Antigua hadn't submitted a proposal of its own.
During the five-year online gambling trade dispute, the process has seen many delays and missed deadlines. The United States has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines on actions imposed by the WTO after its ruling that the online gambling ban flouted trade regulations.
The United States stopped fighting the ruling in 2007, giving Antigua the opportunity to ask for compensation in the dispute. The United States also decided to pull its commitments with the WTO in regards to online gambling, which opened it up to compensation claims from other nations that allow the industry.
Antigua took its initial compensation claims to a WTO arbitration panel which awarded it $21 million per year in trade sanctions. It has also requested arbitration for its second claim for the United States pulling out of agreements.
Mendel had told the Antigua Sun last week that any proposal put forth by the United States would cover both compensation claims to bring both aspects of the dispute to a close.
Several other countries have filed claims against the United States since it announced that it was withdrawing online gambling from its WTO agreements. Costa Rica was the latest to reach a settlement agreement with the United States, along with Canada, Japan and the European Union.
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Prime Table Games weighs in on net gambling
The ad, placed by Prime Table Games, was timed to coincide with the House subcommittee hearing on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act taking place Wednesday in Washington D.C.
The statement in the Wall Street Journal is titled "Who Will Face the Issues" and outlines the regulatory problems with international Internet gaming. According to a press release from the company, the primary concerns are gaming fraud, consumer protection and protection of intellectual property rights.
"It is well known that there are off-shore based Internet gaming operators who are engaged in deceptive practices with American consumers and international players, and there is no adequate system in place to ensure full and appropriate regulation," said Derek Webb, founder of Prime Table Games. "Congress needs to take action soon, or these practices will only get worse."
Prime Table Games' ad encourages Congress to adopt specific regulatory strategies for online gambling consumer protection. The company believes those regulatory strategies should include:
- Limitations on solicitations and incentives to gamble, such as bonuses and cash back
- Prohibition of affiliate relationships
- Standard player verification procedures
- Giving players the ability to self-exclude and have it automatically apply to all online gambling sites
- Site operators assume responsibility for identity verification
Prime Table Games would also like to see the Internet gambling sites verify that players can afford to gamble at their chosen level. Internet gambling debts shouldn't be legally recoverable, and players who don't pay gambling debts should automatically be placed on an exclusion list.
"Internet gaming, by its very nature, has great potential for abuse," Webb said. "Site operators also should pay fees towards problem gambling treatment and research."
On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology will meet to discuss the proposed UIGEA regulations that help further ban online gambling by preventing money transactions to online gambling sites.
The hearing will begin at 10 a.m. and will include testimony from representatives from the Federal Reserve System and the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Several representatives of financial institutions are also listed on the witness list, including Harriet May, who will be speaking on behalf of the Credit Union National Association; Wayne Abernathy, representing the American Bankers Association; Leigh Williams, from the Financial Services Roundtable; and Ted Teruo Kitada, on behalf of Wells Fargo & Co.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) already has a bill before the House that would take the United States away from an online gambling ban and put in a regulatory system instead. He introduced the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act last year and has been working on gaining support for the bill.
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EPT lands in Italy Tuesday
According to the EPT Web site, the event is already sold out despite it being the first time the tour has staged an event in Italy. Among the players signed up to play are Team PokerStars pros Daniel Negreanu, Tom McEvoy, Vanessa Rousso, Raymond Rahme, Lee Nelson, Dario Minieri, Luca Pagano and Katja Thater.
There are plenty of online players heading for the live event courtesy of PokerStars as well. More than 160 players qualified for the EPT event at PokerStars.
Some prominent online players who will be in attendance include Ryan "Daut44" Daut, Bertrand "ElkY" Grospellier and Danny "THE__D__RY" Ryan, among others.
With a full 500-person playing field expected for the €4,700 buy-in plus €300 fee event, the prize pool should top out at more than €2 million. Prize pools for EPT events have reached €2 million or more at eight out of the nine events on the tour so far this season, leaving the winners with €600,000 or more.
This event is the final leg of the tour before the EPT Grand Final in Monte Carlo. The Grand Final is scheduled for April 12-17.
The winners of the Season 4 EPT events thus far are:
- Barcelona Open: Sander Lylloff
- London: Joseph Mouawad
- Baden Classic: Julian Thew
- Dublin: Reuben Peters
- Prague: Arnaud Mattern
- Caribbean Adventure: Bertrand Grospellier
- German Open: Mike McDonald
- Copenhagen: Tim Vance
- Warsaw: Michael Schulze
Play in the San Remo event begins at 3 p.m. local time for Day 1a. The second half of the playing field will begin play on Wednesday with the tournament scheduled to crown a winner April 5.
PokerListings.com will be on the scene to bring you the best live updates, reports, interviews, photos and more from the Casino San Remo. Check it out in the Live Tournaments section.
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Free minds, free markets - and free poker!
"Poker Night At Reason HQ" will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 local time at the magazine's offices, located at 1747 Connecticut Avenue in Washington D.C.
In attendance will be Team Full Tilt pro and former MIT Blackjack Team member Andy Bloch and 2000 WSOP Main Event champ Chris "Jesus" Ferguson. The two poker pros will join Reason for a panel discussion on a wide variety of poker topics before joining the attendees in a game.
Hosting Reason's poker night is Radley Balko, a senior editor at the magazine. Balko testified before Congress on the issue of Internet gambling last year, and has been a consistent critic of local police departments' use of SWAT teams to break up private poker games across America.
According to Balko, more than 100 individuals have sent RSVPs so far, and press outlets such as the Washington Post, Washington Times and the Associated Press will be on hand for the event.
"We've gotten a very favorable response," he says, noting that the magazine's small office will likely be filled to capacity - no surprise given the star power of the pros in attendance.
I talked to Balko today about the Reason poker night, the legal state of online poker, and how the poker community can best pitch its case to the public.
The future of online poker
The cloud of negativity that hung over the poker community after the passage of the UIGEA has begun to lift in recent months thanks to a number of factors, including the WTO's rulings in favor of Antigua and the slow but steady progress of pro-online legislation such as Massachusetts representative Barney Frank's proposed Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act. The sense that legal online poker is coming back to the United States has been hard for some poker aficionados to shake.
For his part, Balko doesn't seem to think it's quite as close.
"I think Rep. Frank is doing great work, and we have seen some Democrats defect over to the pro-legalization side. But my general perception is that we're still a long way from the Frank bill being passed."
Among the other bills currently before Congress that would benefit online poker is the Skill Game Protection Act, proposed by Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). Rep. Wexler's legislation would carve out an exemption for skill-based games like poker and backgammon without touching the rest of America's shaky legal framework with regard to online gambling.
"The Wexler bill is a little problematic in this idea of drawing distinctions and carve-outs for skill-based games," says Balko.
"If you try to carve out exceptions like that they can be revoked as easily as they can be passed. [A carve-out] is certainly better than a prohibition. But I do think it's important to make the broader-principled argument that it's none of the federal government's business and [prohibition] is not going to work anyway."
With what Balko describes as a "moral crusade" on the right and a "Nanny Statist mentality" on the left lined up against online poker's supporters, the push for legalization is bound to be a tough one.
"Your best hope here is to win over some libertarian-minded Republicans and the Democrats like Frank who still sort of understand the importance of civil liberties," say Balko. "But I think in general we're a long way from any kind of legalized regulatory scheme. I hope I'm wrong but I don't see it in the near future."
'Scary stuff'
A number of larger problems surround the legal issues currently of concern to poker players. Balko says that the government's proposed regulations for enforcing of the UIGEA, which PokerListings.com summarized a few weeks ago, has some of the most disturbing possible consequences.
"This idea of deputizing financial institutions to start monitoring your transactions - that's scary stuff," say Balko. "They're basically asking your bank to become a cop to monitor everything you do."
Then there's the issue of state laws attacking free speech, such as the statute in Washington state that put the act of publishing hypertext links to gambling Web sites into the category of "aiding and abetting" a crime.
But most dangerous of all, according to Balko, is the use of violent force against nonviolent citizens to enforce the law.
As the author of the Cato Institute's Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America, which profiles the use of SWAT teams and other dangerous tactics by police departments against American citizens, Balko is familiar with the local crackdowns on poker games across the country.
I asked him if there was much public awareness about the police using violent tactics against citizens playing low-stakes and charity poker games.
"I don't think there is," says Balko. "I think there would be a lot more outrage if people were more aware of it. We're trying to do our part [at Reason] to make people aware. We've written on the issue and produced a video with Drew Carey specifically on the American Legion outpost in Texas that was holding charity poker games and raided by a SWAT team. We're trying to draw attention to the issue."
Balko notes that the SWAT response that started with the War on Drugs has moved on not only to poker players, but also to others.
"We had a guy here in the D.C. area [37-year-old optometrist Salvatore Culosi] who was shot and killed in a SWAT raid. He was under investigation for nothing more than betting on football games with his friends. He had no prior criminal history and wasn't a violent guy.
"These SWAT raids are ridiculous. These are non-violent crimes, [involving] people who are getting together to have fun and are being subjected to these really excessive, overkill police actions."
Getting the word out
Balko says that the lack of public outrage regarding legal issues of importance to the poker community can be countered by getting the word out.
"I think the poker community could do a better job of publicizing when these raids happen," he says. "When we did the Drew Carey video… we got dozens of offers from lawyers to represent the people at the club who were facing charges pro bono. If you look at even non-poker sites like reddit and digg that linked to the video, the reaction was pretty one-sided against those sorts of tactics."
Most importantly, says Balko, the poker community needs to emphasize that it's everyday citizens who are being targeted in such raids.
"When people hear the words 'underground poker game,' they think of The Sopranos or some sort of shady dealings with armed guards at the door. I think it's important to get it out that these raids are happening to regular people who enjoy the game."
Even with all the forces aligned against the average poker player, Balko still thinks the game has a bright future in America.
"I think the good guys in this debate have the winning argument," he concludes. "I just think they need to do a better job of getting it out."
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NYU discussion on poker, business today
The discussion is co-sponsored by the NYU-Stern chapter of the student-led Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society, the NYU Professional Development Society and the Quantitative Finance Society.
It is part of an ongoing series of forums, summits and speaking engagements by some of the top poker experts and players in the world, put on by the GPSTS.
Caby will talk about how he has used the strategies that make him a winning poker player to create a thriving online business. The 24-year-old is a highly successful online poker player, and since graduating from college he also co-founded a poker education company online.
"We are absolutely thrilled to host Taylor Caby at our NYU-Stern chapter. Mr. Caby is exactly the type of individual that the GPSTS is interested in, in that while he has found success at the poker table he has found even greater success in applying the strategies he learned playing poker to the wider business world," GPSTS Executive Director Andrew Woods said.
"He has a highly informed sense of how poker simulates behaviors in the boardroom and at the negotiations table."
The GPSTS was founded by Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson in 2007 to organize student poker societies at major universities and help them promote the use of poker as a teaching tool.
The GPSTS believes that poker teaches and sharpens important life skills, making it more than just a fun game. So the group is dedicated to sharing the poker strategic thinking philosophy, staging strategic poker matches between chapters and schools, hosting conferences and seminars that explore the strategic thinking inherent in poker and exploring new ways to use poker as a life skills educational tool.
Past participants in GPSTS seminars have included poker celebrities such as Jim McManus and Mike Sexton.
Today's seminar with Taylor Caby will take place in Room UC60 of Tisch Hall at 40 West 4th St., New York, N.Y.
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Asian Poker Tour releases 2008 schedule
There will be events in Macau, South Korea and Singapore after that. The venues and dates for those legs of the tour haven't been announced yet.
Each tournament on the APT will offer a $1 million guaranteed prize pool this year, which the APT says is sure to attract poker players from all over the world. There will also be online qualifiers to each event to ensure online poker players will get a shot to play against some of the game's top pros in a live setting.
During the 2007 APT, pros such as Liz Lieu and Johnny Chan made their way to some events. Tony G even won the Singapore event in 2007.
"The Asian Poker Tour will definitely be a top-class brand. This is such an exciting time for poker players in Asia and we feel that with our expertise and skills, we can make the APT a bigger and better series of events each year," said Chris Parker, AsianLogic CEO.
"From the four events that will take place this year, the APT plans to expand to a total of six events in 2009. We are continually working to set up some of the world's most exciting and prestigious poker tournaments."
Online gaming company ESL-Asia, a subsidiary of AsianLogic, took over the APT and will organize all the online and land-based tournaments associated with the tour, as well as handling brand management for it.
The opening leg of the APT is slated to be a poker tournament of world-class standards, according to an APT press release. More than 400 players are expected to battle it out at the felt during six days of poker in Manila, Philippines.
The buy-in for the event is $2,500, and the other three events are expected to have the same buy-in and same $1 million guaranteed prize pool.
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Ladbrokes Poker brings back ELC
"The European Ladies Championship is the FA Cup of the poker circuit. Amateurs pit their wits against some of the best online poker players around for a shot at the title and the glory," said Samantha Alleyne, Ladbrokes Poker PR manager.
"It's a really prestigious event and the beauty of the tournament is like the FA Cup, it's an unmissable tournament guaranteed to deliver a few shocking results!"
Some of the best female poker players in Europe will be playing, including Annette Obrestad from Norway.
"This year's ELC line-up includes 19-year-old Annette Obrestad, who last September at just 18 won the £1,000,000 first prize in a poker tournament with a majority male field," Alleyne said. "We've got women from all walks of life playing in the tournament including an astrophysicist, housewives, an array of businesswomen and a 19-year-old student. If this does not show that poker is for everyone nothing will."
Qualifiers so far include:
- Louise Duffy, Central London
- Dawn Jones, East London
- Jackie Meecham, - Leytonstone (Defending champion)
- Helena Gannon, East London
- Liv Boeree, South London
- Jacqui Terry, North London
- Helena Gannon, Essex
- Bev Pace, Kent
- Cheryl Burton, Oxord
- Kelly Jackson, Birmingham
- Kat Hartree, Shropshire
- Michelle Bennet, Yorkshire
- Tina Ainsworth, Mansfield
- Helen Aspinall, Leeds
- Kim Wheatley, Cheshire
- Pauline Ring, Kings Lynn, Norfolk
- Elizabeth Costa, Anwick, Lincolnshire
- Hazel Birchnall, Tyne & Wear
- Louise Rumsey, Wales
- Kate Barnbrook, Newport
- Anne McDonnel, Co.Antrim, N.Ireland
- Patricia McClean, N.Ireland
- Lorna Mcdermid, Scotland
The ELC has proved to be very popular since its initiation, according to Ladbrokes Poker. Initially the tournament was developed as a way to introduce women to playing live poker, but the tournament has now established itself as a mainstay on the poker circuit.
There are four weeks left to qualify for the ELC at Ladbrokes Poker, and the tournament will take place May 3-4 at the London Studios.
The qualifiers for the tournament take place weekly on Mondays at 9 p.m. (GMT) at Ladbrokes Poker. It has a $250 buy-in but players can win their way into the qualifiers for as little as $5.
Winners of the weekly qualifier will receive a $2,500 prize package that includes:
- $2,000 ELC buy-in
- Two tickets to the ELC Party on May 2
- Accommodation for two in London
- Four Green Room passes for London Studios
- Transport between the hotel and the studios
The ELC will have a guaranteed $100,000 prize pool. The highest-placing Ladbrokes Poker qualifier will also receive an added $14,000 Ladbrokes WSOP package sending them to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event.
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Hansen takes on ladies on
Four-time World Poker Tour title winner Gus Hansen will have his hands full at the Poker After Dark tables this week as he takes on five of poker's most prominent female players.
With more than $5 million in tournament winnings, and six previous appearances on the show, including one win, Hansen may prove to be a tough opponent for the women lined up against him this week.
However, these aren't ladies who will be easy to steamroll at the table, either. Clonie Gowen has made three appearances on Poker After Dark as well, winning twice and finishing in fourth place just behind Gus Hansen in a February 2007 session of the show.
Vanessa Rousso has also made a couple of appearances on the show as well. Plus she has nearly $800,000 in tournament winnings, much of which has come from World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour cashes.
The remaining three ladies heading to the table are new to Poker After Dark, but they all have fairly impressive poker pedigrees.
Erica Schoenberg switched from professional blackjack to Texas Hold'em in 2005. Since then she's racked up nearly $600,000 in tournament winnings. That includes cashes in three WPT and three WSOP events.
Beth Shak also hasn't been playing that long, though she has the advantage of also being married to professional player Dan Shak. She has two WSOP final-table appearances on her resume and not quite $400,000 in tournament winnings to her name.
Perhaps one of the more formidable ladies at the table will be JJ Liu. Not only has she cashed in more than 40 major tournaments around the world, including several WSOP and WPT events, she also became the highest-placing female in a WPT event in 2007 with her second-place finish at the Bay 101 Shooting Star event.
Her tournament career has added up to more than $1.6 million in winnings, putting her the closest to matching Hansen's accomplishments.
The question is will Hansen have what it takes to conquer the ladies at the poker table, or will he find that his status as one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people in 2004 means nothing when it comes to female pros gunning for a $120,000 prize?
Play begins tonight on NBC and will continue with episodes all week long and a recap on Saturday night. Check your local listings for times.
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Josh Arieh taken out of blogger tourney by Abby17
Josh Arieh didn't get much of a chance to make any moves in the tournament however, as Abby17 took him out fairly early to collect the $100 bounty.
Abby17 found his chance to take out Arieh when the Team Bodog pro decided to make a move with pocket sevens. Abby17 called him down with A-Q and won the race when an ace hit the river.
Arieh went out in 47th place, and Abby17 put his chips to use to earn himself a third-place finish in the tournament.
Coming out on top of it all, however, was StinkyBritches, who won $156 plus T$109 for first place.
The final-table results were:
| Place | Name | Prize |
| 1st | StinkyBritches | $156 + T$109 |
| 2nd | TripJax | $104 + T$109 |
| 3rd | Abby17 | $62.40 + T$109 |
| 4th | RecessRampage2 | $52 + T$109 |
| 5th | emptyman | $41.60 + T$109 |
| 6th | Newinnov | $33.80 |
| 7th | JL514 | $28.60 |
| 8th | raisydaisy22 | $23.40 |
| 9th | TheDutchster | $18.20 |
The blogger tournament costs $11 to enter and takes place each Tuesday at 9:05 p.m. (EDT). The weekly tournaments make up the 18 qualifying tournaments of the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series.
The first event took place in early February and the last one is scheduled for June 3. The top 30% of players in each weekly tournament will be awarded points based on their finish and ranked over the four months.
At the end of the series, the top 18 players will play in the Final Tournament June 10, in which the first-place winner will receive a $12,000 World Series of Poker prize package.
The prize package includes the $10,000 buy-in for the Main Event plus money for travel and accommodation.
Related Article: Josh Arieh To Play in Bodog Blogger EventVisit PokerListings.com
House subcommittee to hold UIGEA hearing
The hearing is titled "Proposed UIGEA Regulations: Burden without Benefit?" and will take place at 10 a.m. (EDT) in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C.
The Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology subcommittee is a part of the House Financial Services Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Frank has been an outspoken opponent of the UIGEA and even introduced legislation last year that would overturn the new law.
His bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, seeks to legalize online gambling and set up a system to regulate the industry rather than trying to ban it.
Frank's bill includes provisions that licensing requirements would include protections against underage gambling, compulsive gambling, money laundering and fraud. It also gives the Director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network the authority to establish regulations and license Internet gambling operations including poker and casino Web sites.
In order to operate legally in the United States, online gambling site operators would have to apply for a license. During the process, they would be subject to review of their financial condition, corporate structure and criminal background checks.
The companies would have to agree to be subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and those that obtain a license would also have to agree not to accept any type of bet or wager that is initiated or terminated in a state or tribal land that prohibits that type of Internet gambling.
The UIGEA is currently in the implementation stages as the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve work together to come up with a set of regulations to put the new law in place and enforce it.
In the meantime, the law has continued to face criticism from the online gambling industry as well as organizations such as the Poker Players Alliance.
The list of witnesses and speakers at the hearing has not been released yet, but it is likely that many of the UIGEA's detractors will be on hand to weigh in.
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