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Debbie Burkhead

The Wynn Classic is Back-Bigger and Better than Ever. The Wynn Classic begins on February 26 and runs through March 19 with events ranging from $500 to $10,000. The Wynn has made several changes to this year’s event by increasing levels in the $1,000 event from 45 minutes to 60 minutes. They also increased starting chips in the $2,000 event to $6,000, and the $3,000 event to $8,000, along with adding three new levels in the main event. They also added a H.O.S.E. event and two rebuy tournaments. To assure all rebuys are accounted for, the Wynn implemented an exact real time accounting system. All floor personnel will be equipped with hand held devices to scan your buy-in ticket when you make a rebuy. The rebuy will show up on the board immediately, allowing players to visually track the prize pool.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of this event in the past, they are doubling the poker room’s space by adding 30 tables on the main casino floor. All entrants will receive a $20 comp upon registering. All tournaments start at noon and are two-day events, with the exception of the main event, which will run four days, and the opening $500 event that will run three days. Single table satellites begin on February 26, and a super satellite for the main event will be held on March 15. The Wynn is offering a $129 room rate Sunday-Thursday and a $199 rate on Friday and Saturday.

Play live poker from January 1-February 18 for 13 chances to win your way into the Classic. For every hour of live play you will receive one ticket into a virtual drawing. Players will not actually receive tickets because the process is computerized. Four drawings per day will be held on February 18-20 for three $1,000 seats and one $2,000 seat. Drawings will be held at 11 a.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Drawings vary so everyone has a chance to win the $2,000 seats. The last drawing will be held on February 21 at 7 p.m. for a $10,000 buy-in to the main event. Players must be present to win. For more information and a complete schedule of events see the Wynn ad inthis issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Tournaments at Casino Arizona. If tournaments are what you are looking for, check out Casino Arizona’s daily tournament schedule. No-limit events are held on Monday, Thursday, and Friday, at 11:15 a.m., Tuesday and Wednesday at 11:15 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., and the last Saturday of the month at 10:00 a.m. For you Omaha/8 players, tournaments are January 19, April 19, and October 18, at 9:00 a.m. For more information see Casino Arizona’s ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Win a $10,000 World Series Seat at Tachi. On the first Saturday of each month Tachi Palace is the place to be if you want to win your way to the WSOP.

The no-limit event has a $200 price tag and the winner receives a $10,000 seat in the main event at the 2008 WSOP plus all expenses. The entire package is valued at approximately $17,000. The tournament starts at noon but sign up early because registration ends at 11:45 a.m. the day of the event. The event is limited to 16 tables with 10 players per table, but they do take an alternate list for up to one hour. The last event was sold out with 32 alternates and 29 of them made their way into the tournament. Second place through tenth place receive cash. For more information see theTachi Palace ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

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Jennifer Newell

As has been detailed in the first four parts of this series, the Absolute Poker superuser cheating scandal has been in the news since September 2007. Though the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which holds the gaming license of Absolute Poker, had initiated an investigation, a final report was due from the auditors, Gaming Associates, in early December. Until the second week of January, there had been no further word.

While most media outlets let the story slip from their front pages, a select few continued to demand answers. Poker Player Newspaper allowed me to continue these columns, for which this writer is grateful. And when Chuck Barnett, a member of Mohawk Internet Technologies Board of Supervisors heard Keep Flopping Aces , Lou Krieger’s radio show?with yours truly as a guest, and an intense focus on the Absolute Poker scandal?he called in. Barnett shed some light on the connections between the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) and Absolute Poker, which I will detail in the next column. He also informed us that a decision was forthcoming.

In less than 24 hours, a decision was rendered and published by the KGC. Dated January 11, 2008, the decision confirmed that cheating occurred on Absolute Poker for six weeks beginning on August 14, 2007 and involved nine different user ID names.

Those responsible for the cheating are no longer connected with AP, and AP as a corporate entity did not sanction or initiate the activities. The decision confirmed that all players known to have been cheated were reimbursed, and anyone not included in that reimbursement of monies can contact the KGC within 60 days for consideration.

The KGC decision noted that AP had ?taken the appropriate actions to address the vulnerability in its systems.? In addition, some new information came to light. AP failed to contact the KGC within24 hours after they became aware that cheating occurred, which violates the Commission’s regulations. And person(s) associated with AP’s operations deleted certain gaming logs and records that hampered?but did not prevent?the investigation.

As a result of the violations and breaches, sanctions were imposed on Absolute Poker by the KGC as follows:

AP’s Client Provider Authorization was amended to subject AP to random audits of logs and records for the next two years, the cost of which will be absorbed by AP. The company must also implement a compliance program.

AP was ordered to pay a fine of $500,000 within 60 days of the decision.

AP must pay a security deposit of an unspecified amount to be held by the KGC for two years to offset the cost of any further breaches in the gaming laws.

AP was ordered to pay all costs associated with the investigation, audit, and any follow-up matters that may occur as a result.

Within hours of the release of the KGC’s decision, Absolute Poker released a statement. The company recognized the completeness and accuracy of the decision, adding that it appointed a team of internal and external members to improve controls and install safeguards on the site. In addition, a series of ?poker security summits? with ?respected and independent members of the poker community? will be held to further improve AP’s security.

AP noted that it ?regrets the inadvertent deletion of certain gaming logs and records during the course of the investigation,? though it is unclear how records are ever inadvertently deleted. Most striking about the AP statement was its several mentions of relief to have this experience over. It was a ?most distressing and regrettable experience,? and it is glad to ?close the book on this sordid affair.? Clearly, this was an attempt at an apology.

The next (and possibly final) column in this series will look at the ownership of Absolute Poker and the subsequent connections to the Mohawk Territory .

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Richard Burke

in the last issue of Poker Player newspaper, we showed tactics for tournament play derived from the Independent Chip Model. In this issue, we present more tactics, and counter-measures for small, medium, and large stacks.

Suppose you’re in the stage of a tournament, I told Fred, where half the remaining players will make the money and the stacks at your table range from five to fifty times the big blind. Furthermore, suppose that one of the small stacks is the big blind and her starting hand requirements are any pair, any ace, any king, or any two cards ranking higher than sevens.

The short-stacked big blind will therefore call an all-in raise 45.1 percent of the time. Her win probability is .6138 (or better) against 9??? - 8??? (or worse). Should anyone raise her all-in? The ICM answers that question.

The second column shows your ?fold equity,? the dollar equity that would arise if the big blind were to fold times the probability that she would fold. The last column shows your probable change in equity from putting the big blind all-in. If the big blind were to call, then as shown in columns 3 and 4, a small stack has the most to gain, and also the most to lose.

The above table suggests that someone ought to raise the short-stacked big blind, even with hands as marginal as 9??? - 8??? . According to the ICM calculations, any stack size would gain equity.

Fred asked about raising a small stack with ?air.? The next ICM table shows the results of raising all-in with the hammer , 7??? - 2??? . Since the probable change in equity is negative for all stack sizes, the ICM doesn’t support raising all-in with ?air? against a short-stacked big blind, or limper, with those calling requirements.

Everyone at the table increases his equity when someone busts out, so if a small stack limps, then either he’s foolish or trapping. He would be foolish because anyone could raise him all-in. But knowing that, a short stack might trap with a big hand, hoping to entice someone to raise him all-in and thereby double up. Fred said he might try that play himself, although he rarely had a big hand and never when he needed it.

While the larger stacks might prefer to wait patiently until the smaller stacks eliminate each other, often a large stack is last and only to act. If so, then he can pressure the blinds with a min-raise at least.

Medium and large stacks might better use their ammo to pound on medium stacks. The small stacks are desperados and more likely to push with anything; the medium stacks tend to play too tightly, hoping to keep a low profile and to back into the money. Because they play too tightly, any attacker has very large fold equity, and may profit from raising with ?air.? A frustrated medium stack may play back at you, I told Fred, after you’ve raised his big blind yet again, so you need to pick your spots, and trust your reads.

ICM Part 1

ICM Part 2

ICM Part 3

ICM Part 4

ICM Part 5

ICM Part 6

ICM Part 7

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I. Nelson Rose

The European Court of Justice and the European Commission have issued dramatic statements calling for the end of barriers to internet gambling. Some observers see these as the beginning of the end for America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the opening of doors to internet poker.

These developments are certainly much needed good news for publicly traded online poker companies, like PartyGaming. But I believe people are being way too optimistic in believing that changes in the law in Europe, or even direct challenges from Europe, will lead to any relaxing of U.S. federal prohibitions in the immediate future.

From this side of the Atlantic, it seems that the dispute over internet gaming is really about how independent the old nations of Europe will be in the new European Union. In the U.S., we would call this a fight over “states’ rights.” But the E.U. is not the U.S. The United States is a nation, a federation with a Constitution. More importantly, it has a Supreme Court that can and will strike down any state law that offends that federal Constitution.

The E.U. is only a treaty organization. Yes, a very powerful one. But the European Court of Justice will only declare a member nation’s laws invalid in cases of clear conflict with the laws of the European Communities. Instead, this High Court of Europe usually provides guidance and refers cases back to the courts of the nation involved to actually resolve the case.

For years, the Court has consistently declared that a member state can only keep out legal gambling if it can show it is doing so for a high-minded reason, like protecting children and compulsive gamblers, preventing crime and fraud, or protecting local morality. Giving local operators a monopoly to increase profits or tax revenue is not enough.

The Placanica case finally pushed the European Court of Justice too far. Stanley Leisure, the fourth biggest bookmaker operator in the U.K., has more than 200 agencies in Italy, called data transmission centers, where bettors can access Stanley’s computers in the U.K. Some of those operators tried to get licensed, but were ignored. Until they were arrested.

The High Court stated that when Italy excluded Stanley from applying, merely because it was a publicly traded company, it violated E.U. laws that guarantee freedom to establish businesses and freedom to provide services. The High Court also did not buy the argument that Italy wanted to shrink the opportunities to gamble, considering it announced that it was going to award more than 1,000 new licenses.

The case had an immediate impact far beyond the actual decision. Commentators declared that the case marked the end of all barriers inside Europe to internet gambling. Word came out of Poland that it would begin licensing online operators. E.U. Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen slapped down Germany when it said the case only applied to Italy.

The most optimistic observers declared that the U.S. was next. The problems with this view are many: The U.S. is not part of the European Union. America does have similar treatyrestrictions with the World Trade Organization. But the long-running fight with Antigua shows how little the U.S. cares about violating W.T.O. rulings.

Most importantly, look who would have to change the American law. Only Congress can amend or revoke the UIGEA. And any bill would have to be signed by President George W. Bush, since Congress would never have enough votes to override his veto. Can you imagine Pres. Bush signing a bill to bring back internet gambling that is not regulated or taxed by the United States?

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Debbie Burkhead

I just returned to Vegas from an 11-day Christmas vacation on the East Coast with family. After a candlelight church service on Christmas Eve I spent the evening playing Santa, arranging and setting up toys for three toddlers under the age of six.

Christmas morning with three little ones can be hectic but seeing the smiles on their tiny faces was priceless. Poker is the last thing on my mind during the holidays, but after a full day of exchanging presents, cooking and cleaning up we played poker. I don’t know about you, but for me it was a great way to end the year. Happy New Year!

After Christmas Blues Free Roll at the Palms. For those of you who are experiencing the after Christmas blues, get over to the Palms poker room and start qualifying for their $10,000 free roll. Play 30 hours of live poker from January 3-27 to qualify. The free roll will be held January 29 at 7 p.m. Play poker on Sunday and Monday nights and win up to $300 every time a team scores during the “Poker Football Cash Bash.”

Their “$20,000 Diamonds are Forever” is back by popular demand. Hit a diamond flush Monday through Friday and win your share of $500. New to the Palms is the 10 percent or $3.00 max rake.

The Palms has handed out more than $7 million in high-hand jackpots and is still going strong. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Looking for a Game in Arizona?

Casino Arizona has something for everyone when it comes to poker. If playing on the graveyard shift is for you, check out the bonus jackpots offered between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. When hold’em players get acesfull- of-tens beaten by fourof- a-kind or better they win a portion of the jackpot, and when Omaha or stud players get four fives cracked they win a portion of the jackpot. The losing hand wins 50 percent; the winning hand receives 25 percent, and the other remaining players at the table split 25 percent of the jackpot Player that have those dreaded pocket aces cracked from 3 a.m.-9 a.m. Monday through Friday will receive a rack of white chips totaling $100.

Saturday and Sunday are “Monte Carlo Days” from 3 a.m.-9 a.m. The first player to make four-of-akind, a straight flush, or a royal flush, wins extra cash. Make four deuces through four fives and receive $300; catch quad sixes through four tens and get $400; make four jacks through four aces and receive $500. Make a straight flush and receive $800, and make a royal flush and pocket $1,200.

If that’s not quite enough incentive for you maybe the “Splash Pots with Kickers” days will do it. Monday and Thursday at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., and noon, Casino Arizona draws five lucky tables and adds $100 to the pot but the kicker is that all other players at the table receive $20.

More splash pots take place on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., and 11 p.m., with four tables drawn and $100 added to the pot. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Win a Seat to the World Poker Showdown. The Gold Coast poker room is celebrating their third anniversary by sending a lucky player on a fabulous cruise aboard the Freedom of the Seas March 30-April 6. Start earning drawing tickets on January 14.

Drawings will be held on February 5, 6, and 7 p.m. The Gold Coast offers daily hold’em tournaments at 10 a.m. with a $22 buy-in. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player.

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Annie Duke

Our fearless reporter, Jennifer Matiran, caught up with Annie Duke a while back and the result is this multi-part interview. Part 1 ran last issue, and we’ll wrap things up next time. But for now, here’s a chance to hear Annie Duke expound on teenage poker phenomenon Annette Obrestad and a plethora of other subject too.

JENNIFER: What do you think of Annette Obrestad, who just won the WSOP Europe Tournament?

ANNIE DUKE: She actually knocked me out of that tournament. I finished twenty-first. I think she’s incredible. She’s the most talented 18-year-old I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I’d seen an 18-year-old play professional poker before. You know, she turned 19 the day after she won that tournament. She has incred-ible instincts. If she continues to improve I wouldn’t want her at my table. She’s very good at reading people. Another thing she is really good at is figuring out the logic of a hand. She really thinks things through, which is something that a lot of people don’t do. That’s really nice to see in an 18-year-old. She is so beyond her years. You see many people who win events and you think, “Wow that was a fluke.” The thing that I can tell you about her is that she deserved to win. She is extremely aggressive, very talented, and really good at thinking a hand through. She really understands game theory.

She’s a little bit reckless, but that is not surprising since she trained on the internet. I’ve seen a lot of internet players that start off a little bit reckless when they first play in the brick and mortar world, and then they pull it back a little bit for these slower structured tournaments. There is no question that she will do that. She is one of the most talented young players I have seen in my life. She’s really good.

JM: What are your thoughts on internet gaming, its legalization, and direction?

AD: I think the Unlawful Internet GamingEnforcement Act (UIGEA) is a shame because poker isn’t a game of luck; it’s a game of skill, and skill games should be legal.

Its okay that people play baseball, I think people should be allowed to play poker. I think that poker as an educational tool is incredible. It teaches a lot of math skills, game-playing skills, as well as negotiation skills.

You know, there’s a lot of options trading groups that force there traders to play poker because it broadens their skills. I know lawyers that play poker because they feel it sharpens their negotiating ability. If I had a choice between my kids cruising around or being at clubs, I would prefer that they spend their time playing poker. There is a lot usefulness that comes from playing poker. It’s definitely a skill game and I wish that people would view it that way.

I think the government is making a big mistake. If they just regulated it there is a tremendous amount of revenue that could come from it too.

One thing that is really insulting about the legal landscape right now is that in the same breath-in the same bill-where they made it impossible for online gaming to succeed in the United States, at least from the banking standpoint, they legalized online lotteries. And that’s just gross because the lotteries are just a complete game of luck- there’s no skill involved whatsoever-and they are also an incredibly regressive tax. I guess it depends on whether or not you believe in regressive taxes. I believe lotteries only give people a way of just dumping their money off to a completely luck oriented operation. It has become a state institution with a constituency all its own-all of this while not allowing them to do something [poker] that might actually help people improve their cognitive abilities.

JM: You know my dad is an avid poker player. At 75 years old, he is as sharp as a tack. I believe his poker playing is exercise for his mind. More on the Annie Duke interview next issue!

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1951-2007″>David ‘Chip’ Reese
1951-2007

David “Chip” Reese was, born in Dayton Ohio in 1951 and died in his sleep December 4, 2007. Widely regarded as one of the best poker players in the world and the youngest player inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame, this profile was done by Phil Hevener a few years ago. Poker Player Newspaper is presenting it again, in honor of Reese’s memory. -Lou Krieger, Editor

Thirty years in Las Vegas has not altered David “Chip” Reese’s approach to the poker business. He still prefers the biggest cash games he can find, thank you very much. He’ll leave the book and Internet deals, the movie and TV possibilities to others. They’re just not his cup of tea.

Just point him toward the big games.

Reese has never won one of the major bracelets at the World Series of Poker (Editor’s Note: Since this interview was first published, Reese subsequently HAS won his tournament bracelet, in the 2006 H.O.R.S.E. tournament)- he once finished sixth in the WSOP’s main event-but he was one of the youngest people ever voted into the Poker Hall of Fame and he was invited to participate in both of the major made-for-TV poker events filmed this year: the “All-Stars of Poker” now running on FSN and ESPN’s “Tournament of hampions.”

The offers have been lobbed his way, but Reese likes to keep things simple and profitable . . . very profitable.

“What I am is a poker player,” he says. And few people do it better. Even the visitors to online websites, people who usually find it easy to trash some of the most respect names in poker, have trouble taking shots at Reese.

“Looks like the best cash money player in the world,” gushes one on-line visitor. “Chip Reese is a worldclass poker player as well as an incredibly nice human being,” says another.

The 53-year-old Dartmouth grad who stopped through Las Vegas in the summer of 1974, thinking he’d visit a friend, spend a few days here, hasn’t adjusted his focus since he discovering he had a certain winning instinct for this game called poker. He did collaborate on Doyle Brunson’s “Super System,” the how-to book for a generation of wannabe poker champs. But aside from such very occasional distractions, Reese would rather stick to playing poker.

He’ll leave his Las Vegas home for an occasional tournament, but his view says that cash games represent a far more efficient means of making money.

His cell phone rang one night recently and the nearly always upbeat Reese answered it with a tone that suggested he had nothing on his mind except that call. The caller explained his purpose and Reese, lapsing into an apologetic voice, says, “You suppose this could wait until maybe tomorrow morning? I’m playing four- and eightthousand right now.”

“Then you’d better get back to the game,” the caller said.

But are there any significant new ventures in his life these days?

“Nothing that I am really actively doing,” Reese says.

“I am working on a project but I can’t talk about it yet. You know, I’ve been offered some consulting things for TV, but, I’m really more of a poker player than I am someone who wants to get involved in a lot of other stuff . . . A lot of people are really taking advantage of the opportunities that have come their way as the consequence of personal success and the public’s appetite for poker-Internet sites, books, CDs and whatever else there is.”

Reese has given some thought to possible Internet deals, but he does not like the risks. “I still think there is some risk involved. And at this stage of my life . . .”

His voice trails off and he shrugs, as though he’s saying, I just don’t need it. “It’s still a bit of a gray area and I really don’t want to do anything that would be deemed illegal.”

As one of the best known and most respected of the high stakes pros does he still have people coming to town wanting to take him on at the poker table?

“There’s always going to be people like that. Those circumstances have always existed. I mean I’ve always been in the big game. The size of the big game has certainlygrown. Back in the 1970s, playing at limits of a thousand and two-thousand, that was a huge, huge game. Compare that with someone like Andy . . .”

A reference to Dallas banker and billionaire Andy Beal whose passion for heads-up Texas hold’em has led him to play hold’em in Las Vegas for ultra-high limits of a $100,000 and $200,000.

“What Andy’s done,” Reese says, “that’s a very rare thing, a really unusual situation, but certainly there are always going to be guys, smart guys who have a lot of money and they want to play. They want to learn a game and be good at it.”

Any sign that Beal is ready to accept the challenge of poker legend Doyle Brunson, who speaks for a group of Las Vegas gamblers that would combine resources to put up $40 million if Beal will agree to do the same?

The result would be what poker pro Howard Lederer terms, “The biggest poker game ever.”

Reese says, “I think there has been some talk. I think he (Beal) wants to play, and I think there is some negotiating going on, beginning to go on, what the structure would be and where they’d play.”

Reese hesitates for a moment, adding, “They’re gonna play. There will be a game somewhere in the near future. You can rest assured of that.”

Perhaps two casinos have at least briefly toyed with the possibility of turning such a game into a television event.

Not a bad idea, depending on the willingness of all involved to take TV poker to a new level.

Would this big game be in Las Vegas or perhaps somewhere in Texas?

“I’m not sure,” Reese says. “It just depends on how the negotiations turn out.”

How often does Reese play now?

“Ooooh, have to think about that for a moment; maybe a couple days a week, usually at the Bellagio or over at the Hustler club, you know with Larry (Flynt) and then every once in a while I’ll get on a plane and go to a tournament.”

Why not spend more time with tournaments?

“You know I’ve got a lot of other things going on in my life . . . To go on the tournament circuit it is really a high fluctuation. You know, good players do well in the tournaments, eventually, if they play in enough of them. It’s kind of like being a salesman knocking on doors. If you’re a good salesman you’re gonna do better than others, but if you’re not out there knocking on doors regularly nothing is going to happen.” He thinks about that, adding, “I only have so many hours in the day and I do a lot of other things now besides play poker.

My family takes up a lot of time. The fact is there’s a lot more money playing in the big games than there is running around chasing the tournament circuit.”

Reese is a long, long way down the winding road from that moment in 1974 when he hit Las Vegas for the first time with $400 in his pocket “just to visit a friend” and sat down to play $3-$6 hold’em. He won and he won. A $500 tournament at the Sahara got his attention, he entered that and won it as well, earning $60,000 in prize money.

It was enough to have Reese rethinking his priorities. “Instead of going to graduate school (at Stanford, where he would have studied law or business), I decided to hang out here and never left.

Life was just too much fun.”

Did he ever play another session of $3-$6 after those first few days?

“No,” he grins, “I pretty quickly moved up to $10-$20, played that for awhile and then graduated to $30-$60.”

He and his buddy worked as partners, splitting their bankroll and playing in shifts.

Which is about the time he had an epiphany . . . a head-on collision with opportunity, is what it was.

“I was playing $30-$60 one day at the Flamingo and looked over and saw this game with all black chips. It was Doyle (Brunson) and Johnny Moss and Puggy (Pearson) and some others . . . I was watching, they wouldn’t let me very near the table but they were playing fourand eight-hundred highlow split.”

Chuckling at this memory, he continued, “I kept watching. I thought they were playing horribly. I felt sure of myself because this was a game I had spent a lot of time playing in college.”

So Reese calls his friend and partner who was home sleeping after playing his shift of thirty-sixty.

“We had a bankroll then of maybe $50,000 andI talked him into taking $30,000 of that- more than half of all our money and putting it into this game-because it was clear these guys did not know what they were doing when it came to high-low split. I was a waaaaay better player. I had played it at Dartmouth every day because it is kind of an East Coast game and these guys there at the Flamingo were a bunch of Texans playing a game they didn’t really know.”

In that first day, the brash, young college kid won $66,000 playing against Brunson, Moss and the others who even then were Vegas icons. This was on a Thursday and before the weekend was over he had won more than $300,000.

There was no looking back after that. Reese remembers those early months in Las Vegas as a time when he was taking on a cast of poker players that included “… a lot of Damon Runyon characters. They had a lot of skills that people today do not have. A lot of today’s poker players are much more mathematical.

They don’t have as much of the gambling savvy that you saw with a lot of the old timers who didn’t have any of the dozens of books that are around now telling you how to play.”

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I. Nelson Rose

The European Court of Justice and the European Commission have issued dramatic statements calling for the end of barriers to internet gambling. Some observers see these as the beginning of the end for America’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the opening of doors to internet poker.

These developments are certainly much needed good news for publicly traded online poker companies, like PartyGaming. But I believe people are being way too optimistic in believing that changes in the law in Europe, or even direct challenges from Europe, will lead to any relaxing of U.S. federal prohibitions in the immediate future.

From this side of the Atlantic, it seems that the dispute over internet gaming is really about how independent the old nations of Europe will be in the new European Union. In the U.S., we would call this a fight over “states’ rights.” But the E.U. is not the U.S. The United States is a nation, a federation with a Constitution. More importantly, it has a Supreme Court that can and will strike down any state law that offends that federal Constitution.

The E.U. is only a treaty organization. Yes, a very powerful one. But the European Court of Justice will only declare a member nation’s laws invalid in cases of clear conflict with the laws of the European Communities. Instead, this High Court of Europe usually provides guidance and refers cases back to the courts of the nation involved to actually resolve the case.

For years, the Court has consistently declared that a member state can only keep out legal gambling if it can show it is doing so for a high-minded reason, like protecting children and compulsive gamblers, preventing crime and fraud, or protecting local morality. Giving local operators a monopoly to increase profits or tax revenue is not enough.

The Placanica case finally pushed the European Court of Justice too far. Stanley Leisure, the fourth biggest bookmaker operator in the U.K., has more than 200 agencies in Italy, called data transmission centers, where bettors can access Stanley’s computers in the U.K. Some of those operators tried to get licensed, but were ignored. Until they were arrested.

The High Court stated that when Italy excluded Stanley from applying, merely because it was a publicly traded company, it violated E.U. laws that guarantee freedom to establish businesses and freedom to provide services. The High Court also did not buy the argument that Italy wanted to shrink the opportunities to gamble, considering it announced that it was going to award more than 1,000 new licenses.

The case had an immediate impact far beyond the actual decision. Commentators declared that the case marked the end of all barriers inside Europe to internet gambling. Word came out of Poland that it would begin licensing online operators. E.U. Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen slapped down Germany when it said the case only applied to Italy.

The most optimistic observers declared that the U.S. was next. The problems with this view are many: The U.S. is not part of the European Union. America does have similar treatyrestrictions with the World Trade Organization. But the long-running fight with Antigua shows how little the U.S. cares about violating W.T.O. rulings.

Most importantly, look who would have to change the American law. Only Congress can amend or revoke the UIGEA. And any bill would have to be signed by President George W. Bush, since Congress would never have enough votes to override his veto. Can you imagine Pres. Bush signing a bill to bring back internet gambling that is not regulated or taxed by the United States?

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Debbie Burkhead

I just returned to Vegas from an 11-day Christmas vacation on the East Coast with family. After a candlelight church service on Christmas Eve I spent the evening playing Santa, arranging and setting up toys for three toddlers under the age of six.

Christmas morning with three little ones can be hectic but seeing the smiles on their tiny faces was priceless. Poker is the last thing on my mind during the holidays, but after a full day of exchanging presents, cooking and cleaning up we played poker. I don’t know about you, but for me it was a great way to end the year. Happy New Year!

After Christmas Blues Free Roll at the Palms. For those of you who are experiencing the after Christmas blues, get over to the Palms poker room and start qualifying for their $10,000 free roll. Play 30 hours of live poker from January 3-27 to qualify. The free roll will be held January 29 at 7 p.m. Play poker on Sunday and Monday nights and win up to $300 every time a team scores during the “Poker Football Cash Bash.”

Their “$20,000 Diamonds are Forever” is back by popular demand. Hit a diamond flush Monday through Friday and win your share of $500. New to the Palms is the 10 percent or $3.00 max rake.

The Palms has handed out more than $7 million in high-hand jackpots and is still going strong. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Looking for a Game in Arizona?

Casino Arizona has something for everyone when it comes to poker. If playing on the graveyard shift is for you, check out the bonus jackpots offered between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. Monday through Friday. When hold’em players get acesfull- of-tens beaten by fourof- a-kind or better they win a portion of the jackpot, and when Omaha or stud players get four fives cracked they win a portion of the jackpot. The losing hand wins 50 percent; the winning hand receives 25 percent, and the other remaining players at the table split 25 percent of the jackpot Player that have those dreaded pocket aces cracked from 3 a.m.-9 a.m. Monday through Friday will receive a rack of white chips totaling $100.

Saturday and Sunday are “Monte Carlo Days” from 3 a.m.-9 a.m. The first player to make four-of-akind, a straight flush, or a royal flush, wins extra cash. Make four deuces through four fives and receive $300; catch quad sixes through four tens and get $400; make four jacks through four aces and receive $500. Make a straight flush and receive $800, and make a royal flush and pocket $1,200.

If that’s not quite enough incentive for you maybe the “Splash Pots with Kickers” days will do it. Monday and Thursday at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., and noon, Casino Arizona draws five lucky tables and adds $100 to the pot but the kicker is that all other players at the table receive $20.

More splash pots take place on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 a.m., 9 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., 9 p.m., and 11 p.m., with four tables drawn and $100 added to the pot. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player Newspaper.

Win a Seat to the World Poker Showdown. The Gold Coast poker room is celebrating their third anniversary by sending a lucky player on a fabulous cruise aboard the Freedom of the Seas March 30-April 6. Start earning drawing tickets on January 14.

Drawings will be held on February 5, 6, and 7 p.m. The Gold Coast offers daily hold’em tournaments at 10 a.m. with a $22 buy-in. For more information see their ad in this issue of Poker Player.

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