Poker News

Investing in the Nut Flush

Investing in the Nut Flush

It was a lively $3-$6 hold’em game at the Normandie Casino-the oldest casino in the Los Angeles area and one of the original Gardena poker clubs, with old-world charm that’s hard to describe in words. The poker gods had not yet smiled on me and I was a bit behind, but I wasn’t too disturbed. After all, I know that you must be patient in the game of poker. Then a fascinating hand came up. It was the combination of circumstances that made it memorable.

I was dealt A-6 of clubs in the blind. The Normandie Casino features hold’em with one blind, which many players prefer. Several players stayed to see the flop. I was pleased that there were no raises preflop, and it was a multi-way hand (three or more opponents staying in). Starting with a drawing hand-in this case, hoping to connect with the nut flush-a multi-way hand assures me of a decent pot at the showdown, assuming I make my hand. That’s what I call “buy low, sell high,” as a wise investor does. . .

The flop brought three more clubs, including the king: I flopped the nut flush! The odds against that happening are over 100-to-1. The poker gods had rewarded my patience. Now my goal was to build the pot as large as possible. With four opponents in the hand, I checked from the blind to keep as many as possible in the pot. Tom, a player across the table made the $3 bet. Everyone called. Wonderful. This could be a monster pot.

The turn brought a blank that did not pair the board. Good. Again I checked. And Tom made the $6 bet. Two opponents called. Now was the time to raise. Once a player calls a single bet, he generally will call a raise. I was not disappointed. Tom and two other opponents called my raise. The pot was growing.

The river was another blank. There were no pairs. Neither a full house nor quads were possible. My nut flush was indeed the nuts! This was my pot! As you may have observed from the play of this hand, it was a rather loose-passive game- with lots of players staying in and very little raising. Since I had check-raised the turn, if I tried for another check-raise, everyone would check behind me. So I came out betting. One player called. Then Tom raised. He must have a flush, I reasoned, and he thinks it’s the best hand. I hesitated, examining my hole cards and then the board. A straight flush was not possible. My nut flush was unbeatable! I reraised. Also, by pausing to study my hand, I gave Tom the impression that I had some doubt as to the strength of my hand.

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition. . . Tom quickly reraised. With only two players, there is no limit on the number of raises permitted. Unhesitating, I reraised, hoping to build up the tempo for continued betting. This time Tom just called. Reality had sunk in.

I showed my A-6 of clubs, the nut flush! Tom turned up the Q-J of clubs-a great hand but second-best to my ace-high flush.

For awhile, Tom was carried away with his hand. You could hardly blame him. I was lucky to be holding the ace of clubs. That was the biggest pot of the evening and it put me well ahead. A great investment…

So, readers what’s YOUR opinion?

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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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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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Paul McGuire

I played a lot of organized team sports and learned the concept of winning and losing at a very young age. We were taught to be humble winners and gracious losers. I played on the varsity basketball team in high school and participated in fraternity intramurals in college and maintained those early lessons instilled in me by my father and various coaches. Those traits involving graciousness and humility followed me to the poker tables.

Team sports is something that are great for children because they teach you fundamentals of teamwork and at the same time they prepare you for accepting losses in life. And in poker, losses are a part of the game. But an ability to rebound from a bad beat is what separates winning players from losing players.

If you have ever played poker with me in real life, you’ll quickly discover that I’m not much of a smack talker. Especially if you put a wicked bad beat on me, I shrug it off and focus on the next hand. I’ve been able to take a bad beat since I first started playing poker and Lord knows how many vicious ones I’ve taken over the years. At the same time, I have issued a few bad beats myself. We often forget about those fortunate incidents and magnify our greatest travesties.

My introduction to casino poker was playing stud poker in Biloxi, Mississippi and then at the Taj in Atlantic City. That’s a game where you frequently get outdrawn, so beats are commonplace. When I started playing hold’em regularly, I was able to absorb the beats because I was used to absorbing bad beats in stud.

These days, I play a lot of online limit hold’em cash games. Suckouts and bad beats happen all the time. In any given session, I’m taking my licks. Sometimes I get three or four inside of an hour. Alas, I know those things happen and I put it out of my mind. On the other hand, my girlfriend and several friends of mine who play no-limit tournaments, go on mega tilt when they get sucked out by an opponent. One moment they are calm and serene and focused and then all of a sudden … wham! It’s like invasion of the tilt monkeys and they turn into a completely different person, hurling insults and unleashing a Hellmuthian tirade into the chat box.

It took me while to understand why they get so upset on one bad beat in a $20 tournament. Heck, while they played in a tournament, I took a couple of beats worth a few hundred dollars that were a lot worse. That’s when it finally hit me. It should have been pretty obvious but some things go right over my head.

No-limit tournament players go absolutely berserk on bad beats because that hand cost them all of their chips and they were knocked out of the tournament. Several hours were wasted and the end result is an out of the money finish. In cash games, if you take a beat, you keep on playing and wait for another opportunity toget your money back. If you get felted in a cash game, you rebuy and wait for your chance. Over the long run, the better players should win, but short term luck is such a major factor in tournaments that once you lose your chips … that’s it. You’re done.

With my new found realization, I’m more sympathetic to my no-limit tournament friends who go insane after a bad beat. However, I’ve been encouraging them to accept the fact that bad beats are a part of the game and if they want to advance to the next level of tournament poker, they have to be able to take a beat and keep on playing as if nothing happened.

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Lou Krieger

According to John Norcross, a professor of psychology at Scranton University who has conducted three studies on resolutions in recent years, only 40 percent of adults make New Year’s resolutions. He also found that 71 percent of those making resolutions keep them for two weeks, 64 percent keep them for a month, while50 percent hang on for three months. If you’re determined to raise your game, this is the time of year to resolve to do something about it. Here are some of my New Year’s poker resolutions. I’ll share them with you, and you’re welcome to share yours with me. Together we can keep each other on track.

sadf Learn Another Game: I still play far more fixedlimit poker than no-limit, and much more Texas hold’em than any other game, but I resolve this year to play more no-limit cash games, and to broaden out my play to include more Omaha/8 and other games-if I can find them in the casinos where I play. sadf Never Go On Tilt; Never Play Less Than My Best: I make this resolution every year, and tend to grade out quite well on it. And I’ll do it again this year. I set this bar a pretty high, and while I’ve never had an entire tilt-free year, I’ll keep soldiering on and keep trying.

This resolution keeps me focused, and by aiming high I guarantee myself that any tilt incidents will be short, quickly identified, and immediately corrected.

Playing our best all the time is a reachable goal for everyone. There’s really no reason not to play our best. But we don’t. Not all the time, anyway. Yet playing one’s best is the easiest way to take some giant steps forward as a poker player. No new skills are necessary. All that’s required is playing as well as you can. It’s will power, and anyone can do it.

sadf Narrow the Target: Narrowing the target is somehow tougher online than in brick and mortar play, but all that’s required to improve is strength of will.

If we’re lacking here, we’ve no one but ourselves to blame. Pogo, the now defunct-but-still-beloved comic strip character created by cartoonist Walt Kelly, was fond of saying, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” And that’s as true in poker as it is in life.

This year I resolve to limit the number of times I put myself in speculative situations where the risk outweighs the reward. One way I’ll assess each playing session will be to answer this question: “Was there anything else I could have done to narrow the target?”

sadf Be An Ambassador for the Game: This is one of my ongoing resolutions-and one that has never given me any trouble. I gave myself an “A” last year, and won’t settle for less. Because I am the editor and a columnist for Poker Player as well as an author, I have an image I choose to uphold. While being a public figure might not prevent boorish behavior from other well-known poker players, it is very important to me. Although there’s no shortage of whiners, ingrates, and illtempered poker players, I’ve also found our community to be incredibly generous, bright, and among the most vibrant, interesting people I’ve met.

Many of my closest friendships were initially made at the poker table. The best way for me to give something back to this cherished poker community is to live my life to a high and honorable standard. To the extent that we all play up to the most ethical standards we can, the poker community will be a better place for it. I hope you join me in adopting this resolution as your own.

If you want some tips for sticking to your resolutions, Professor Norcross suggests picking realistic goals that fit your lifestyle. Sharing your goals with those around you will help you stay on track. Best wishes for 2008.

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Bonnie Demos

For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. -T.S. Eliot

Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on. The year 2007 will no doubt leave an indelible markon the evolution of poker in the Midwest. New casinos and card rooms were appearing on the scene in record numbers, and expansions of existing properties accelerated to meet the demands of a poker-hungry public.

We witnessed the opening of the largest all electronic poker room in the country at The Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, MI. We were awed by the unveiling of the renovated Motor City Casino in downtown Detroit, MI by renowned designer-turned-TV-star Chip Foose. This followed the equally spectacular renovation of the area’s Casino Windsor.

The Heartland Poker Tour exploded in popularity, building on its already steady growth and adding more tournaments to its schedule along with steadily increasing prize pools. The Majestic Star’s HPT events shattered all previous records, and finished the year with a prize pool topping $800,000 at the final event in December.

Properties added bigger and better tournaments to their venues, with plans for even more in the coming year. It was a great year to be a poker player in the Midwest, and the ensuing year promises to bring even more unprecedented growth and change to the poker industry in the area, and along with it, more opportunities for local and visiting poker players alike.

Midwesterners, up to their eyeballs in ice and snow by this time of year, always welcome the New Year with the anticipation of the spring and summer soon to follow. However, with all of the poker action scheduled for 2008, the chill of our inclement climate has been melted by the hot action at the tables.

Whatever your poker resolutions may be for the New Year, opportunity awaits everywhere in the Midwest. Cherokee Casino located in Tulsa, OK kicks off the New Year with The Oklahoma State Championships, a twelveday event beginning on February 14 with a special Valentine’s Day Jack and Jill event. Qualifiers and single seat satellites began on New Year’s Day.

Most Memorable Midwest Poker Moment in 2007 November 9, 2007- A bad beat jackpot hit for $61,950.00 at Menominee Casino’s Forest Edge Poker Room in Keshena, WI. The hand, aces-full-of-jacks over aces-full-of-tens, although not an everyday occurrence, is not totally unusual. What made this bad beat jackpot so historical was that it was split between a husband and wife. Dick and Deb Skinner gave new meaning to the old adage, “The couple who plays together, stays together.”

Dick’s winning hand resulted in Deb’s bad beat win of $24,780. Dickmanaged to put out his wife, win a large pot, and take home his share of the bad beat jackpot totaling $12,390. What are the odds?

My personal resolution this year is to keep you posted on all of the exciting news, events, and results throughout the coming year. Happy 2008 to all!

Bonnie Demos from the midwest, Gambler, poker player and award winning chef, has enjoyed working in the gaming industry for the past several years.

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Lou Krieger

The World Trade Organization Issues a Decision

On December 21 a World Trade Organization (WTO) arbitration panel ruled that Antigua is entitled to $21 million a year from the United States. This is a far cry from the $3.4 billion that Antigua sought in its claim against the US regarding online gaming.

The WTO?s ruling took into account only money Antigua lost through online horse-racing wagers, and chose not to account for all online wagering that takes place in the US. Instead, it only awarded Antigua compensation from online wagers that are taxed and regulated.

There’s a larger, unseen cost too: the loss of billions in tax revenue and job creation that would accrue to the US if they were to regulate and tax online gaming.

Some Background on this Case

Antigua?s claim against the US is predicated on the US allowing certain forms of online wagering, such as horse race wagers, but preventing access to other forms of online gambling. This is in violation of sections of the General Agreement for Trades and Services (GATS) that cover online gambling.

The European Union, Japan, Canada, India, Costa Rica, and Macao joined Antigua in seeking sanctions against the US. The US settled with the EU, Japan, and Canada, but negotiations with India, Costa Rica, and Macao continue.

Letting the Fish Off the Hook

While online gaming companies urged their host countries to stand tough against the US in order to force them to revise online gambling laws, the EU settled for smallish concessions. This let the US off the hook for much less than the amount than is lost to the gaming industry itself. The nations hosting online gaming sites also stand to lose significant tax revenues because they are excluded from the US online gaming market?the largest in the world.

This Decision Can?t Be Appealed

The decision issued by the WTO arbitrary panel cannot be appealed, although the WTO must first approve the arbitrator’s decision before Antigua can act, and that approval will not come until later in January.

WORLDWIDE REACTION TO THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION’S DECISION

Because there are so many parties involved in this case, there are reactions from many quarters, and the issues involved in this case still comprise a very unsettled situation.

The Remote Gambling Association

Online gaming in the US is anything but neatly tied up and put aside in a box. The Remote Gambling Association, a trade association representing European internet gambling companies, plans to file a complaint against the United States for violating WTO rules by targeting foreign gaming companies while not prosecuting US online gaming operators.

The RGA said the WTO decision fails to address ??discriminatory and protectionist US practices against European and other foreign online operators in the form of selective prosecution related to trade in gambling services.?

The RGA?s Clive Hawkswood said: ?How would US investors and businessmen feel if they invested in a business in the UK based on international law commitments, and then suddenly the UK not only passed new laws forcing them to shut down their business, but then tried to throw them in jail for past activities while still allowing their domestic competitors to continue on doing the same thing? That?s what is happening to our industry in the US.?

Safe and Secure internet Gambling Initiative

Jeffrey Sandman, spokesperson for The Safe and Secure internet Gambling Initiative, said the RGA?s action should encourage lawmakers to regulate internet gambling through Representative Barney Frank?s proposed internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act.

According to Sandman, ?It is time for the US to end its hypocritical practices that discriminate against foreign online gambling operators, while allowing US gambling operators to accept bets for certain forms of gambling. Regulation of internet gambling should be supported as a means to resolve this trade dispute.?

Trade Law Expert, Professor Joseph Weiler

Joseph Weiler, a professor of law at New York University, commented, ?What is particularly troubling is that these prosecutions for past activity are still continuing. To compound it by selecting only non-US targets is even more troubling. To clarify the situation for the future for all is one thing, but that does not seem to be the case here.?

Anti-Gambling Advocate, Representative Bob Goodlatte

“Considering that Antigua and Barbuda were asking for over $3 billion in compensation, and they were only awarded a token $21 million, this decision is a partial victory for the U.S.,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte, (R-VA), a staunch opponent of all online gaming?except, of course, for online horse race wagering. The inconsistency there stems from the fact that Rep. Goodlatte is the recipient of $40,000 in contributions from the horse racing industry. Horse racing has cut-outs exempting it from the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA), and was also slated for exempt status in bills Goodlatte tried to push through Congress in the past.

Financial Services Roundtable

The Financial Services Round Table warned that regulations being drafted to enforce the Unlawful internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) will present major compliance obstacles unless the Bush administration clarifies its conflicting views on online betting.

Bank of America

The Bank of America said that the Government should provide a list of specific entities that banks are forbidden to take payments from. ?Without a definition of what is legal,? the Bank of America stated that ?financial institutions will be forced to block legitimate transactions in order to avoid the possibility of permitting an illegal transaction.?

Antigua?s Reaction

Antigua’s finance minister Errol Cort described the WTO’s decision as a setback for the small Caribbean nation. Antigua had sought to apply $3.4 billion in trade sanctions against the US to compensate the nation for lost revenue due to unfair trade practices, but were instead awarded $21 million by the WTO.

Still, Cort is hopeful, saying ?We think that this decision, as terribly flawed as it may be, should still have the desired result of getting the US to sit down with us and seek an amicable resolution. We look forward to meeting with the U.S. delegation in the very near future.?

Read the Full WTO Decision

The full text of the WTO decision can be accessed here: http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/285arb_e.pdf

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