Daily Online Poker Room News

American Gaming Association President and Chief Executive Officer, Frank Fahrenkopf, wrote a letter to the Las Vegas Review Journal to clarify the AGA's position towards Internet gambling in reponse to the op-ed piece LVRJ published entitled "Wanna Bet?".

The LVRJ piece had said that "Mr. Fahrenkopf and the AGA are lukewarm on Internet gambling because it poses a competitive threat to brick-and-mortar casinos."

The esteemed gaming executive denied that AGA was lukewarm, and stressed that, "In fact, some of our member companies have been vocal about their interest in getting into this sector of the business should it be legalized."

Industry observers note that several AGA members already have online gambling ventures in the European market, making them better prepared should the USA online gambling market re-open.

AGA IS WORRIED THOUGH

Fahrenkopf then went on to raise AGA's concern with legislation to legalize and regulate Internet gambling on a federal level as it could threaten the long-held rights of individual states. He also cautioned that moving too fast could result in inadequate "protections to prevent underage gambling online and to safeguard those who may have gambling problems."

Following its Board meeting over the issue, in January 2007 Helen Thomsen of the association stated, "The AGA supports a study of online gambling in the US being congressionally funded. Such a study would look into how online gambling could be properly regulated and controlled (click here for related article).

Fahrenkopf reiterated that position, and said AGA wants to slow down legalization and regulation to allow time to study the surrounding complex issues, as outlined in the 18-month long Internet Gambling Study Act introduced by Reps Shelley Berkley and Jon Porter of Nevada last spring. That Study bill currently has 68 co-sponsor signatures compared to the 48 Congressional co-sponsors of Frank's bill.

Poker News
by PokerPages.com
Thu, Apr 17th, 2008 @ 12:00am

[I Heart Gambling Online]

With seven tournaments still remaining in the Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series, there is plenty of time for poker bloggers to earn their way towards a shot at the $12,000 WSOP Main Event prize package. And to keep things interesting along the way, there will be another Team Bodog pro seated at the virtual tables when the action gets underway next Tuesday, April 22, at 9:05 pm ET.

Unlike the previous blogger tournament, however, in which everyone knew in advance that two-time WSOP bracelet winner Josh Arieh would be playing, this time players won't know which pro may be seated directly to their left. It could be Arieh again or tournament ace David Williams. Or perhaps poker pro Evelyn Ng or Team Bodog newcomer Jean-Robert Bellande.

There will once again be a bounty on the Bodog pro's head, giving players a chance to walk away with a little extra something, just as poker blogger "Abby17" did when she knocked out Arieh a few weeks ago. However, if the Team Bodog pro wins the tournament, they will walk with the $100.

For bloggers who have yet to play in the series, there is still plenty of time to accumulate enough points to climb the leader board and be one of the 18 who qualify for the final tournament on Tuesday, June 10, where the winner will walk away with a $12,000 WSOP prize package. For example, the blogger currently in 18th place on the leader board has 194.1 points, but that coveted spot is still well within reach. Depending on the number of entrants in each tournament, which has been as high as 56 players, just a couple of top five finishes by a single player would award them enough points to be solidly in the top 18 on the leader board.

The Bodog Poker Blogger Tournament Series is composed of 18 qualifying tournaments that run every Tuesday at 9:05 pm ET. The top 30% of finishers in each qualifying tournament earn points based on their finish, and these points are used to rank players over the four months of qualifying. At the end of the qualifying series, the top 18 players on the Tournament Leader Board will play in the Final Tournament on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 with the first-place finisher winning a $12,000 WSOP prize package.

For online poker players who want to be part of Team Bodog at the 2008 WSOP but don't have a blog, Bodog is currently running a number of online qualifiers for poker's biggest event this summer. A guaranteed four WSOP seats are up for grabs every week at the Bodog Poker tables for the rest of April, with that number jumping to five per week in May and June.

Each Main Event prize package includes the $10,000 buy-in to the 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event, $2,000 for travel expenses, loads of Team Bodog gear and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Las Vegas in total Bodog style, including meeting the Bodog Girls and much, much more.

Click here to play Poker at Bodog!!!

- Bodog Beat

[Canuck Kid]

I"m glad there's such help out there for newer poker polayers, bodog has a good help guide that I'm studying...I want to start playing more poker online.

[Ruddem]

How often do you play poker online? For me it's more of a weekend thing, I play for about an hour or too a week, not too often.

about the same for me

Heather Wells (screen name: H2Bling) of Carlsbad, Calif., must love the Bodog qualifiers since she just won her second WSOP qualifier in less than a year. Not only has Heather recently won a seat to this year's WSOP Main Event, but she also qualified for and played in the inaugural WSOPE in London last year.

While Heather didn't make it out of Day 1 after she took a big hit with an over pair that ran into someone's flopped set, she had a blast in London. That's one of the things that you can count on with Heather, her infectious love of life.

Heather's most recent WSOP seat came, at least partly, as a result of her husband winning his at Bodog. She didn't want him having all the fun in Vegas, so she took several runs at Bodog's WSOP online semifinals until she came out with a seat of her own.

Now, they and their 1-year-old son Jordan are all ready to hit Vegas, take a shot at the multi-million dollar prize pool and more importantly, have a blast.

More...

[Mike0715]

I haven't entered the computer age on this game. I'm still playing poker with friends once in a while. Your sterotypical guys' night out, beer, smokes, munchies. Once one of the wives came and kicked a**. I didn't have as much fun that night.

So how does online poker feel to you vs. the old fashioned casino or dining room table setting?

[Mike0715]

It stands for: eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance

They have an icon "eCOGRA safe & fair" that shows up on sites they have researched, their own stamp of approval.

From their website:

Our goal is to deliver all of these player imperatives at quality sites carrying the eCOGRA “Safe and Fair” Seal. Be sure to look for it, everytime you play. If it’s not there, your site may not be safe. Independent Directors are solely responsible for determining which software developers are admitted as eCOGRA members, and which operators qualify for the eCOGRA Seal. And, in the unlikely event a problem develops while playing at an approved site, eCOGRA has developed a first class, fast, free player dispute mediation service. Additionally, we offer you a Fair Gaming Advocate, accessible on the eCOGRA site.

With all the debate about online gambling laws, online poker addictions, etc, do you look for this kind of "Safe and Fair" endorsement? Do you think this has some weight and helpfullness when it comes to the debate of keeping online poker legal where it is being challenged?

[Sampson]

I'll play online once in a while, I actually am starting to prefer it to any other method of playing to be honest. I don't mind it being impersonal.

eCOGRA is a good thing for our industry, now if the US GOVT would just step up to the plate and regulate the online gaming industry in America they'd be keeping up with Europe...which is never a bad thing....cmon nude beaches!!!! LOL