NETELLER pulls out of U.S. Pragmatic Play market

 

The biggest middleman in all of online poker payment processing has caved under the pressure of the U.S. government’s continued jackbooting. Following the arrest of NETELLER’s founders, John David Lefebvre and Stephen Eric Lawrence, the publicly traded NETELLER decided to pull the plug on its American business.

Regarding the arrests, NETELLER issued a press release in an attempt to calm shareholders. It read in part, “Other than as shareholders, neither Mr Lawrence nor Mr Lefebvre has any current position with or connection to NETELLER.”

Less than 48 hours passed before the other shoe fell and American customers were left barefoot. Just hours ago, NETELLER updated its website to read (our emphasis):

“The US government has recently introduced new legislation in the form of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. To best protect the interests of NETELLER members, employees, shareholders and business partners, NETELLER will no longer provide service to US members to transfer funds to and from online gambling merchants.”

The full text of the NETeller Frequently Asked Questions for U.S. members can be read here.

Here are the lowlights. The following is the actual language from the NETELLER site. We make no claims about its veracity.

—-

Can I still use my NETELLER account?

Yes. All US members and non-US members will continue to be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet account for safe online transfers to and from non-gambling merchants, secure peer-to-peer transfers and NETELLER Card withdrawals at ATMs around the world.

Does this change affect withdrawals with NETELLER?

US members who currently have funds in their e-wallet account may keep their funds safe in their account or are free to make withdrawals at any time they choose with a NETELLER Card. US members are not required to withdraw their funds from their Pragmatic Play account.

What’s the quickest and most convenient way to withdraw funds from my NETELLER account?

The NETELLER Card is the quickest and most convenient withdrawal option. When you transfer funds from your NETELLER e-wallet account to your NETELLER Card, you can withdraw those funds from any ATM cash machine on the Cirrus/Maestro network and Pulse Star network, depending on your country of residence. You will have to pay a nominal fee for NETELLER Card withdrawals, but your funds will be available from 15 minutes to an hour after they are transferred to your card.

Is my money safe in my NETELLER account?

Yes, your money is safe with NETELLER. All members can hold their funds safely in their NETELLER accounts until such time as they decide to move the funds. The changes in gambling merchant transfers do not affect the ability of US member to maintain funds in their NETELER e-wallet accounts.

NETELLER protects all members’ funds (all deposited, in-transit and un-cleared funds) by holding the value in independent trust accounts. As the largest independent online money transfer business in the world, we maintain our head office in Europe and are a publicly quoted company on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. NETELLER UK Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Am I required to withdraw my money from NETELLER?

No, there is no requirement for US members to withdraw their funds from their e-wallet accounts. US members will still be able to use their NETELLER e-wallet accounts for safe online transactions to non-gambling merchants, secure peer-to-peer transfers and instant payouts with the NETELLER Card.

Does this change affect non-US members?

No, NETELLER customers with registered addresses outside of the US will not be affected by these changes. The company will continue to operate its non-US business as normal, maintaining all existing products, services, customer and merchant support across all the other countries it currently serves.

How can US members find out about changes to their NETELLER services?

NETELLER will continue to notify you of any pertinent changes to your service. All members will continue to have access to this FAQ site for answers to the most commonly asked questions, but members can also register to receive all NETELLER press releases, by signing up for our e-news alert service.

I am a US resident. Can I still become a NETELLER member?

No. We have temporarily suspended the ability for US residents to create a NETELLER e-wallet account.

Why were the founders of your company arrested?

Although we can confirm that Steve Lawrence and John Lefebvre were detained separately while in the United States, we do not know the details surrounding the detention and cannot provide more clarification. We can confirm that both individuals are no longer employees or board members of NETELLER and have not been involved in the day-to-day running of the company for a number of years.…

The Texas sanghoki of Golf

 

This is pretty cool. We all know that the World Series of sanghoki is a great chance for any amateur player to bust out some moves and walk away with millions in prize money, so someone decided that the World Series of Golf was an equally cool idea. That someone was right.

Well, Golf requires some pretty intense physical skills, and one needs to at least have some skill with a club to have a shot at the title. However, a bunch of poker pros with a heap of spare time on their hands – including Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Phil Ivey – will be competing.

It’s a $10,000 buy-in event, and each player starts with 10,000 chips. As a no-limit event, players can bet, raise, fold or go all-in on their particular shots. For example, Cunningham and Negreanu may be involved in a pot where both players have made it to the green. Cunningham may be closer to the flag, but Negreanu may consider himself a better putter and raise his bet.

The top 25 places are paid, and it’s good to see various game mechanics from poker can be implemented successfully in other sports. If you happen to be in Vegas, head over to the Paiute Golf Resort and check out some of the action!

Poker videos at Carbon

Starting very shortly, we will be introducing new media to the community here at CarbonPoker. The success of poker in recent years was assisted greatly by the popularity of televised poker, so we thought it’s high time to start making some great poker videos accessible right here at our own site!

We have a number of cool new features in the works for video content, so players can enjoy the glory of the poker spotlight while still hitting the tables hard. The plan is to make your secure Player Admin a central hub for video content, where you can check out a whole bunch of online and live action.

For starters, every player should be aware of High Stakes Poker, a televised cash game starring some of the biggest names in the poker world. With pots skyrocketing to hundreds of thousands of real dollars, it is one of the most popular poker shows in the world. Those who haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, here’s the very first episode from Season 1. Enjoy!

WSOP TV schedule released

The WSOP Main Event final table is being delayed until November, and ESPN is sorting out all its television coverage to culminate in the (almost) live final table on November 11th.

Basically, players can enjoy all the fun of the World Series and win boatloads of cash, then watch the TV coverage soon after the events come to a close. The Main Event will start at the usual date, but conclude when the final table is set and break for over three months. During this time, regular WSOP coverage will air, including the first several days of the Main Event.…

Kelly Clarkson situs online Prefers Cash Games

 

I was back at the Coushatta Casino today. I decided to skip the Sam Farha appearance and take at shot at the weekly $200 NL tourney. I have to get back into rhythm before I take on the WSOP Circuit Event at the end of the month.

One big change this time around was my card protector. For more than a year, I’d been using a Hurricane Ivan situs online coin. It’s done pretty well for me, but it was time for something new. And that something is Kelly Clarkson.

As you can see from the chip stack, she came through big. After a disappointing end to the touranment, I turned a $300 buy in into $1300 before walking out of there with a little more than a grand. Not bad at all.

Get in Behind and Suck Out

I ignored my own rule and it cost me. Apparently getting all my chips in as an 85% favorite with one card to come is a bad idea. If you ‘d like to skip the bad beat story, skip down to the next bold title. Although what lead to this particular bad beat is a little unusual…

I’m in the BB with 53c. It’s limped around and, naturally, I’d like to see a flop with this hand as cheaply as possible. The dealer lays out Jd-Tc-4c. I check and so does everyone else. The turn is the K of clubs and I’ve made my flush.

I check again planning to check-raise to find out where I’m at in the hand. A guy who clearly hadn’t played many tournaments decided to bet. We start with T8000 and he and I are both near starting stack. Blinds are just 50/100 and there’s about 400 in the pot. He grabs four T1000 chips and four T500 chips. For some reason, he sets the four T1000 chips across the line before tossing in the four T500 chip and announcing, “2000.” Because it all crossed the line, he was in for T6000.

I knew there was no way he had the flush so I went ahead an pushed all in. I suppose I could have just called, knowing my hand was vulnerable to a four flush, but I knew at worst I was about a 60% favorite if he had a set and an over-club. I pushed and he called, flipping over Jc-3s. He was 14% at that point, but the 6 of clubs on the river crippled me. I was out a few hands later.

Getting It Back

I thought about going home. The club on the river was like a gut punch. Of course, I’ve dealt enough of those out to know you have to bounce back. I’ve generally done very well at the NL game so I was confident I could win my buy in back.

The table was pretty passive with a lot of pre-flop limping and a lot of post-flop calling. It’s just the kind of table I want to be at.

I folded for the first orbit until I was UTG. I decided to straddle to see what the table reaction was and put $10 out there. The dealer was kind enough to give me pocket Q’s. Three people called the $10 and then called my raise to $40.

The flop was T96 rainbow. I put another $100 into the pot. One player pushed all in for less and another, who had seen every flop since I sat down, pushed me all in.

Ugh. Am I going home after one pot? There was no way I could fold. I called and flipped my Q’s. My opponents decided to keep their hands secret until the end of the deal. The turn was another T. I thought I was outdraw. The river was an 8 and I thought someone made their straight. When it was all said and done, the dealer shipped the nearly $800 pot my way.

Can you guess what they were holding?

The Luckbox Returns

By the time I went to grab some food, I was up near $1200. When I got back to the table, the cards got really cold. Suddenly I was back at about $800. That’s when I found Big Slick in the SB.

I raised to $25 preflop after five players limped to me, and four players called my raise. The flop was JT7 rainbow. It was checked to me and I put out a $60 continuation bet. To my disappointment, two players called, the cutoff and the button.

The turn was a K. This time I checked, even though the card improved my hand. I wonder if I should have bet here, but I didn’t. The cutoff also checked and then the button immediately pushed all in for his last $125. The bet seemed fishy to me since he did it so quickly. The pot was now $435. I was getting 3.5-1 on my money. I thought there was a chance I was ahead, and if I wasn’t I thought an Ace or a King might win it and a Queen would give me the nuts.

I called and, shockingly, so did the cutoff. At this point, I knew I was behind. “I need some help,” I told Joe, the dealer. He peeled a Q off the deck and laid it on the river.

“All in!” I declared. The cutoff reluctantly called with his last $75 (not sure why he still had it at this point). And when the cards were shown, the $900 pot was shipped my way.

Can you guess what they were holding?

I’ll post the answers tomorrow.…

Tournament Fish

 

If you didn’t get the chance to watch ESPN’s coverage of the 2011 World Series of bandar slot pulsa Main Event, you missed out. ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN3 have been providing live (no hole cards), semi-live (hole cards), and produced coverage of the event (only the best hands, edited commentary), in a nonstop stream of the best poker pros in the world going at it.

Well, that’s what you expect at the WSOP, right? Only the very best players compete in the event? That’s just not the case. The Main Event has always attracted a healthy portion of wealthy businessmen looking for excitement, celebrities looking to raise their profile, or players who built the bank roll to buy-in but just don’t have the skills. These players are mixed in with some major sharks, yes, but don’t get the idea that the Main Event is the best of the best. All you need is $10,000 to get in and, the truth is, a lot of bad players have $10,000.

These kinds of players, from the excitement seekers to the players taking a stab, can be found in any tournament, live or online. You might be playing for profit, playing your odds, making reads, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is.

Profitable play in a tournament is determined by countless factors of strategy, but don’t forget this one. You’re already categorizing your opponents based on their playing styles, their hand ranges, and what they’re capable of. What I’m suggesting is that you categorize what motivates a player to play: are they here to gamble, to get a rush, to get lucky, to get famous? Many of these motivators make a player un-bluff-able, in which case: stick to tight-aggressive. Or trap. Or slow play (though this is rarely recommended). And, rather important to remember: as these players make their rail exit and the field thins, switch gears to deal with the remaining, more-skilled opponents.

Poker tell: “A tell in poker is a subtle but detectable change in a player’s behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player’s assessment of his hand. A player gains an advantage if he observes and understands the meaning of another player’s tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable.” Poker tells are what make for good movies, but more importantly, what make the defining difference between profit and loss, a big call or a bad fold. Here to assist you in growing your skills are some of the top poker professionals in the world, sharing some insight into poker tells:…

Online Poker: bitcoin casinos for us players Wins at Sunday Million

 

PokerStars held its monthly $500 buy-in (with $30 entry fee) version of its Sunday Million tournament last night, and 2,617 entrants tried their luck, generating a total prize pool of $1,308,500. The first-place finisher of the event stood to pocket almost a quarter of a million dollars. The $500 buy-in version of the event had 2,644 entrants the last time it was held, on Aug. 26, 2007 (a month was skipped for September’s World Championship of Online Poker), meaning the tournament’s attendance has been holding fairly steady.

The final nine players had outlasted 2,608 other entrants, and had earned at least $10,000 for their troubles. It was the top two six-figure prizes that were the real targets here, though, and every player at the table was achingly close to seeing those figures in their bitcoin casinos for us players accounts. In the end, it was only blanconegro and Chris “SlippyJacks” Vaughn left in contention, and they’d each earned their six-digit paydays. SlippyJacks managed to outlast his final opponent to take the biggest chunk of change, the $240,633 top prize.

SlippyJacks’ win is particularly impressive considering he took down the $1 million-guaranteed event on Full Tilt just last Sunday, making this his second win in a Sunday major in as many weeks. His combined winnings for the tournaments come to almost $439,000. He also hopped within arm’s reach of the top-20 spots in the Card Player Online Player of the Year race. (He currently sits in 22nd place with 3,240 points.)

The final results were:

Chris “SlippyJacks” Vaughn — $240,633.15

blanconegro — $122,344.75

forcewithme9 — $80,996.15

PerPer — $66,733.50

yeamanyeaman — $53,648.50

LuckyLady519 — $40,563.50

domingo32 — $28,525.30

MrKorvOla — $18,057.30

Hasn82 — $10,468

Poker probability (Texas hold ‘em)In poker, the probability of many events can be determined by direct calculation. This article discusses how to compute the probabilities for many commonly occurring events in the game of Texas hold ‘em and provides some probabilities and odds for specific situations. In most cases, the probabilities and odds are approximations due to rounding.

When calculating probabilities for a card game such as Texas Hold ‘em, there are two basic approaches.

  1. Determine the number of outcomes that satisfy the condition being evaluated and divide this by the total number of possible outcomes. For example, there are six outcomes (ignoring order) for being dealt a pair of aces in Hold’ em: {A♣, A♥}, {A♠, A♦}, {A♠, A♣}, {A♥, A♦}, {A♥, A♠}, and {A♦, A♣}. There are 52 ways to pick the first card and 51 ways to pick the second card and two ways to order the two cards yielding 52 × 51 ÷ 2 = 1,326 possible outcomes of being dealt two cards (also ignoring order). This gives a probability of being dealt two aces of \begin{matrix} \frac{6}{1326} = \frac{1}{221} \end{matrix}.
  2. Use conditional probabilities, or in more complex situations, a decision tree. There are 4 ways to be dealt an ace out of 52 choices for the first card resulting in a probability of \begin{matrix} \frac{4}{52} = \frac{1}{13} \end{matrix}. There are 3 ways of getting dealt an ace out of 51 choices on the second card after being dealt an ace on the first card for a probability of \begin{matrix} \frac{3}{51} = \frac{1}{17} \end{matrix}. The conditional probability of being dealt two aces is the product of the two probabilities: \begin{matrix} \frac{1}{13} \times \frac{1}{17} = \frac{1}{221} \end{matrix}. (Note that in this case the total is not divided by 2 ways of ordering the cards because both cards must be an ace. Reordering would still require the first and second cards to be an ace, so there is only one way to order the two cards.)

Often, the key to determining probability is selecting the best approach for a given problem. This article uses both of these approaches.…

First Stop….. slothoki Virtual Vegas

 

It has been sometime since you last heard from good ole’ Huck Finn…

…but there’s a good reason why: Poker! That’s right, since I’ve officially thrown my proverbial “hat” into the ring of professional poker playing, I’ve been busy at the tables.

My first stop, the dinner table. I was starving after the exhausting decision to turn pro, but nothing that a PB&J; sandwhich and a handful of broken ice cubes couldn’t fix. (If you’re going to make it in the world of gambling, you must learn to live on a tight budget.)

Next, it was off to the bargaining table. It’s hard work to convince your parents and siblings that floating your hard earned dough “down the river” with Huck is much more profitable and much less dangerous that investing in mutual funds. I calmly explained my theories on the game and even demonstrated my card playing prowess at the play slothoki money tables on UltimateBet.com. They seemed surprisingly unimpressed with my ability to win $225,000 in one hand. I think my father mumbled something to the effect of, “You know, you were adopted.”

Realizing this tactic was unsuccessful, I resorted to plan B: stealing money out of their wallets while they slept. Sure, I know what you’re thinking, ‘How childish’, but to that I say, “It’s great to feel young again.”

Now, it was time for the interrogation table. I couldn’t believe my mother called the cops on me. What’s a few $1000 between blood? Fortunately, my parents promised not to press charges if I entered a mental hospital. I told them I signed up, but there’s a waiting list.

After that, came the virtual table. Nothing like the world of virtual poker…. especially when your playing with someone else’s money! After getting CJ’s password, I logged onto UPlayPoker.com and tapped into his “real” money. I was on fire! No, seriously, I was. My cat knocked over a lit candle and it fell right in my lap. Lesson learned: Dockers are stain proof, not fire proof. The fortunate side of the whole 2nd degree burn thing was it didn’t hurt to lose most of CJ’s money since the pain from the burns dominated the entire experience.

Finally, it was the operating table. Skin graphs are quite interesting, but I have a running bet with the doctor that most, if not all patients, are given some sort of pain medication during the procedure. If anyone knows someone that was, let me know so I can collect.

I sit here now contemplating two things: 1. What’s the fastest way to transfer money to my online poker account? and 2. What’s the pin number on my sister’s ATM card?

Well, it’s time to change the gauze on my thighs. Hopefully next time, I’ll have a few poker hands to talk about. Until then, see you on the river….

Pressing Poker Question

Is it better when you get sucked out by a woman? And yes, I mean at the poker table.

I’m sure it hurts just as bad, but at this point, my newest obsession is leading me to think it might not.

That obsession is Nicole Sullivan.

She became the first Celebrity Poker Showdown champion defeating seven men and Mo Gaffney (you decide). And this win involved one of the worst suckouts I’ve ever seen.

To be fair, I think she was playing pretty good poker. She threw away a lot more bad hands than the other players, and she wasn’t getting the cards that Paul Rudd has. Maybe it’s only fair that he became the victim of that suckout.

We’re down to just three players: Nicole, Paul and David Gross. David is the big stack at 21,000. Nicole is sitting with 14,000. Paul is at 10,000. Here are your hands:

Nicole: Jc, 7h

David: Ks, 4h

Paul: 6h, 6d

Amazingly, everyone pays to see the flop even after Paul raises.

Flop: As-6c-10d

Jackpot for Paul. He ges all-in. Nicole is convinced he’s bluffing and makes the call. Then she tries to convince David to call as well, he rightly folds. At this point, Paul is a whopping 97% favorite. It’s about as close to drawing dead as you can get.Turn: Qh

Now Paul can worry, but just a little. He’s still a 93% favorite. Going in, Nicole needed running something (8-9 or Q-K UPDATE: NOT 7-7 or J-J), now she’s half way there. With just four outs left…

River: Kc

Unbelievable. I’ve seen a lot of poker on TV and I’ve never seen a suckout like that. I’ve played a lot of poker online, and I don’t think I’ve seen many suckouts like that.

At least Nicole took the pot she stole and wound up winning the whole thing. I’d play at a table with her any time!…

The Best sbo Poker Rooms in Vegas

 

In July of last year, I was working on my first (um… and only) article for All In Magazine and I asked you for advice on the Best sbo Poker Rooms in Vegas. Thanks to that entry, I rank third in Google for searches for Vegas’ Best Poker Rooms.

Unfortunately, I don’t provide any valuable information there, and I’d like to correct that by really giving my readers what they want. That’s where you come in. Now’s your chance for a guest column on Up For Poker. Write a poker room review and email it to me. I’ll post the best reviews. And if you have a blog of your own, I’ll link back to your blog with your review.

So get writing (no too long) and send an email to pagemaster –@– upforanything -DOT- net.

Sharks and butt-trouble

If I had more time to write, I’d go all Mean Gene on this. Instead, just a blurb:

I’m one who fully believes the concept of jumping the shark has long ago jumped the shark. In fact, the idea that poker jumped the shark about the first time someone used the phrase jumped the shark and poker together. That said…

On a return trip from the kid’s daycare, I heard a radio commercial based at a Poker Championship. The protagonist had a big problem…how to concentrate on his cards with all that itching and swelling going on.

Yep… a poker commercial for Preparation-H medicated singles.

Did I Just Burn This Site?

On the advice of blogger-extraordinaire Wil Wheaton, I’ve installed FeedBurner as Up For Poker’s feed service. In doing so, I may have screwed up everyone’s feeds, so let me know and I’ll try and fix it. Thanks.

It’s An Ugly Game

Is there a more brutal game than Razz? I goaded Bad Blood into joining me for a Full Tilt $5 Razz tourney that started at 11pm ET. Bad news for both of us who need sleep, but we both played. I, as expected, busted out early. Bad Blood was the chip leader with 7 left. Then he hit two brutal hands, losing more than half his stack on the river on the first one. And then this one, which he went all-in on early:

roughrazz.JPG

Yeah, that’s a boat. Think he gets a boat at the final table if it’s Stud instead of Razz??? What an ugly game……

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