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I was listening to a Thinking Poker podcast today on my lunchtime walk, and one of the guys made a comment that stuck in my craw. He said, "Baseball, Jazz, and Poker are the three original, truly great things that America has given to the world."
So then why the hell is online poker still confined to the shadowy back rooms and virtual alleys of this country? I'm getting angrier and angrier that we still don't have legal, regulated online poker in the US. America's kitchen table past time, my foot. Yes, Nevada is getting its act together, but for the rest of us poor slobs in the other 49, it seems like we're going to be waiting a long, long time for above-ground, legal, and fully regulated online poker to be available in the sanctity of our homes.
Compounding this frustration is the fact that I also listened to a report on NPR the other day that talked about Sheldon Adelson's push to build a huge casino in Madrid. This is the same guy who is giving tens of millions to GOP candidates (including Romney) in exchange for their support in keeping online poker illegal (read: not cutting into his live casino action). I'm disgusted that donor money drives policy more than anything else in the US Government. I'm disgusted that if I want to play poker I have to either go to my local Indian casino and give my money over to the rake-hungry crooks that run those establishments, or play on third-rate poker sites online, where I have zero warm and fuzzies that my money is even semi-safe day to day.
And meanwhile, I read about the huge number of lucrative cash games and big-field MTTs on sites like PokerStars and Party Poker that the rest of the world gets to enjoy every single day, while we're left on the outside looking in. If I truly wanted to play serious poker online, I'd be forced to move to Canada or Mexico, which is exactly what many US poker players have done in the past few years. America may have given the world poker, but our sleezy politicians have turned right around and stolen it out from under us. In two weeks time, it's election day in the USofA. I strongly encourage you to throw all the bums out, especially those that don't think you should be allowed to play the original, truly great game that we've given the rest of the world to play.
All angry in for now...
-Bug
or play on third-rate poker sites online, where I have zero warm and fuzzies that my money is even semi-safe day to day.
ReplyDeleteI tried to withdraw about $400 from Cake Poker and the check bounced. Not only did I not get my money, my bank charged me a fee for the bounced check!
Wow, that sucks. I've pulled money out of a Merge site a few times, but it takes months to get the check in the mail.
ReplyDeleteHmm Memphis MOJO. Bummer. I've never built my bankroll to a point where I'd want to withdraw any, so haven't had a problem yet. I do expect though, that when I do, I'll get a good check. Did you hear anything from Cake?
ReplyDeleteCake recently moved all US players over to Juicy Stakes, for reasons I have no idea. I also play on Lock which is part of the same Revolution group and has the same interface and players as Cake.