The Fallout

So it's been a while since my last update. A lot of that has to do with being back in school and not really having time to play.

But a lot of people have been asking me questions like, can you still play online poker, how can you deposit money, etc etc. And the big question: "How are you going to win a seat in the World Series of Poker again?"

So. Basically, the wording on the new legislation wasn't exactly straight-forward, and many sites are not interpreting it as a ban on online poker. However, PartyGaming did decide to back out of the U.S. market. A somewhat surprising move, since they were by far the largest online poker site in the world and basically had a death-grip on the entire market. With their departure from the U.S., the largest sites are now PokerStars and Full Tilt (where I won my seat this year). A few other sites have backed out too, but none that I really cared about (Paradise, Pacific I think, and some others). So at the end of the day, all this means is that I no longer play at Party, and the games at Full Tilt are better and more plentiful. Mainly these days I play at Full Tilt and WPEX, the rakefree site.

In terms of moving money around, the dust hasn't quite settled on this yet. There have always been numerous ways of doing electronic tranfers... but some more dubious than others. The two major methods of depositing/withdrawing money were Neteller and Firepay, which basically are just online wallets like PayPal (who unfortunately has never gotten involved with online poker so that has never been an option). As of now, Firepay has backed out, but Neteller is still around. It is uncertain whether they will remain an option or not, but hopefully other options will not be too difficult if it comes down to it.

As for winning a seat in the World Series of Poker in 2007, ok this will have to be a multi-part answer.

First let me address the report that Harrah's announced that they will no longer be accepting third-party registrations. This would certainly be bad. It would mean no more online satellites, which is how the majority of entrants get into the Main Event (including, of course, me). Phil Gordon on his Poker Edge Podcast said this would be a disaster to the tournament as it is, and we would expect a drop off in participation by like 500%. Then he spoke to a Harrah's representative, and the official word is that nothing has changed from previous years. Meaning that someone else can pay your buy-in, but you just have to go to the main booth to register in person, like we all did this year. So that is fine.

Second part is where will I do it. Well, luckily Full Tilt is still around. Last year I made attempts at Full Tilt, Party and Stars. I was very happy to have won my seat on Full Tilt, because they are by far my favorite site, and as I was required to wear their apparel, I wore it proudly since I like them. If I had won it on Party, I'd have worn it in disgust. Stars... I'm indifferent towards them. So anyways, this year I'll be going for it at Full Tilt and Stars I guess. Last year Rahul won his seat on Party, so hopefully he can do it at Full Tilt or Stars this year. We've made big plans of going #1 and #2 in the Main Event this year :)

Third part is... well, bankroll issues. Last year, when I made my attempt, I set aside $2000 out of my bankroll to take my shot. Which was what I feel to be reasonable fraction of my roll at the time to use on a longshot dream. ok so I got lucky and did it in $800ish, but anyways. The problem is that right now I don't even have $2000 in my whole poker bankroll. Thanks in part to not playing much as I mentioned, spending most of my roll in August/September, and then hitting a nasty downswing over the past week or so when I finally did start playing again (including a trip to Vegas which I'll talk about later). Anyways, basically I'm going to need to rebuild first, before doing anything frivolous like playing WSOP satellites.

Fourth part is again not really having time to play. Tournaments take a big chunk of time, even satellites. Anyways, the plan is that I won't really play any satellites until after my 1st year theory exam in June. In the meantime... I won't have much time to play otherwise either, but hopefully there will be enough time in there to rebuild some semblance of a roll again. Then after my theory exam, assuming that I have rebuilt enough, I'll spend the month of June on satellites (yes I realize this gives me only a month to win it :P). Hopefully by then Rahul will already have his seat and we can have all the reservations in place. And then if I get my seat, then I will join him. Actually I'd probably join him in Vegas either way :)

Anyways. That's all for now. Since I'm on break now and have some free time, I'll probably write a few more entries, on my latest Vegas trip, and also a WSOP 2006 report/summary.