Blogcritics

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Checkraise: Poker Players Alliance

Justene Adamec — Sat, 15 Oct 2005 16:52:01 EDT

A Pennsylvania bar owner had to close for running illegal poker tournaments:Prosecutors had stated that unlike pool or darts, poker is a game of chance, not skill, and games of chance are illegal outside of casinos in Harrisburg.Poker Players Alliance links to lots of other stories like this. They are a lobbying organization trying to keep poker legal. They argue, quite convincingly in my view, that poker is a game of skill and should be treated as such. In the Pennsylvania case I started with, darts and pool tournaments are run the same way as a poker tournament; a fee is paid, the bar takes a cut and hands out the rest in prize money. The bar was not allowing gambling in which players buy chips that represent cash and can run through the rent money.My main interest in the Poker Players Alliance does not exist yet. They plan to have a database of poker related laws in every state. For now, you have to be satisfied with a few, quite extensive, pdf articles such as this law review level article titled Poker: Public Policy, Law, Mathematics and The Future of an American Tradition.As Card Squad notes, one immediate task for PPA is lobbying against the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2005, which would make it illegal for banking companies to work with online gaming sites.Not everyone is excited about Poker Alliance. Poker Rules notes that most of the funding comes from online casino sites. And that's what a new Las Vegas-based group is trying to do: Bluff that it is a grass-roots effort of kitchen-table poker players, rather than the professional lobbying effort funded by billion-dollar Web poker Goliaths that it really is. The Poker Players Alliance says it wants to sign up tens of thousands of recreational poker players, each of whom would pay $15 in dues. The group would lobby federal, state and local officials to help fight a potential federal ban on Internet gambling and stop raids on community poker games by state and local law enforcement officials. But much of the seed money behind the group comes from online casinos . . . . I am not sure that it's a bad thing but he makes an interesting argument:The involvement of offshore poker operators could keep Las Vegas and other U.S. casino companies, wary of offending state and federal regulators, from helping out the cause. Over the next six to 12 months, the group hopes to have signed up "tens of thousands" of poker players as members, Gorewitz said. The alliance isn't a front for Internet poker rooms, he said. Membership fees will come from individual gamblers and not corporations. "We need to have a real grass-roots organization," he said. Changing state and local policies on gambling presents an even tougher challenge for the alliance, which hopes to eventually lobby on a state-by-state basis. We have gone a surprisingly long time while poker remains mostly in a legal gray area. In the next few years, the legal landscape for poker will change rapidly. Poker Players Alliance won't be the only player but it looks to be one of big guys.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: The Business of Online Poker

Justene Adamec — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 19:47:27 EDT

Online poker sites are ubiquitous. From the large PokerStars to the small Titan Poker, there's a site out there for every player. By sending players to major tournaments and sponsoring their own major tournaments, the sites have gained legitimacy.In July, Partygaming.com, owner of the PartyPoker site, went public on the London Stock Exchange. (Regulatory issues prevent US citizens from trading the stock.) Three months later, on September 7, the CEO issued this statement:"While the online gaming market and poker in particular continues to show strong year-on-year growth, the rate of growth is continuing to moderate," said Richard Segal, chief executive of PartyGaming.com in a statement. "As it does so, the Group will continue to adapt its marketing strategy and infrastructure to provide greater focus on customer retention and player value." Profits were up -- an 81 percent increase in half-year revenues. The market response: a 33% drop in share price merely because "the rate of growth is continuing to moderate." While the stock price has stabilized some in recent weeks, even climbing 1.5% yesterday, it is still well below those pre-announcement levels.In the wake of this, another online complany, 888 Holdings, which owns Casino-on-Net.com, ReefClubCasino.com, and Pacific Poker is continuing with its IPO, expected to start trading on October 3, 2005 (also in London.) A week after the Partygaming announcement, the IPO which had originally expected to be valued at 825-875 mln stg (about $1.5 million USD) was now valued at 750 mln stg (about $1.3 billion USD). It might have slipped further but the owners refused to go forward without the 750 mln stg as a floor. That refusal didn't last long though because, as of today, the market capitalization was down to GBP630.4M (about $1.1 billion USD), and "going well."Meanwhile, another publicly traded online gambling company, Sportingbet, found itself on the receiving end of a lawsuit recently. Although Sportingbet has a poker room, it's main focus is as the name suggests, a sports betting facility. (In my experience, one of the better ones on the internet.) It also owns Paradise Poker.The lawsuit was not about the legality of gambling or any of the other issues that the average person thinks plague the world of online gambling. Instead, it is the bane of any online (or offline) company -- copyright infringement. Rotoplay, a fantasy sports-based, gambling site alleges that Sportingbet stole its lottery style games.The business of online gaming has reached the level of the yahoos and the ebays of ten years ago. While the nonplayer may be worried that it's all a big scam on the level of spyware, these are multi-million dollar publicly traded companies dealing with market share, investor relations and software rights. The "real" business at the top level translates into a real product that you can use, if online poker is your thing.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: The Bots

Justene Adamec — Fri, 9 Sep 2005 09:32:00 EDT

Whenever I get into a conversation about my online poker playing, the issue of poker bots comes up. It seems to be the only concept that people think about with online games -- how do you know you are playing against a real person? I do not know but when I am sitting in an offline casino, I do not know whether the guy across the table dropped out of grade school or if he is a numbers cruncher from MIT. I figure I'm gambling and there are certain factors I can't control. Still the question persists and it's worth more serious consideration. A poker bot is a computer program that plays automatically, always folding in some situations and always raising in other situations. Wired magazine recently published an article looking at one such program, Win Holdem. The article was passed on to me by another Blogcritics editor. One who doesn't even like poker. The interest in bots spreads everywhere. Wired takes the standard view -- the bots are bad and the online sites are policing it. For years, there has been chatter among online players about the coming poker bot infestation. WinHoldEm is turning those rumors into reality, and that is a serious problem for the online gambling business. Players come online seeking a "fair" shot - a contest against other humans, not robots. But an invasion of bots implies a fixed game (even though, like their mortal counterparts, they can and do lose if their hands are bad enough or opponents good enough). So the poker sites loudly proclaim that automated play is no big deal. At the same time, they are fighting back by quietly scanning for and eliminating suspicious accounts. "We're making sure we never have bots on our site," says PartyPoker marketing director Vikrant Bhargava.I have seen other articles taking the same tack. The sites are generally circumspect about what methods they use to detect a bot. After all, once it comes out that the sites are kicking off anyone betting in exactly 1.2 seconds (as an LA Times article reported), the bots will be reprogrammed to vary the response time. I have my own ways of dealing with bots. I chat them up. If they can't tell me where they live and what the do for a living, I get suspicious. If bots ever get to be a huge problem, the sites can ask players to recognize one of those twisted words every hour or so.In a really long, contains-everything-you-ever-thought-of-and-some-you-hadn't post, Iggy says the real issue with bots is they don't work and people are wasting their money.Here are the real facts on WinHoldEm pokerbot for those considering purchasing the product:1) People using WinHoldEm have had their accounts closed/suspended owners of those accounts may or may not have gotten their money back from their account. 2) Almost all of the Poker Sites have a way of detecting WinHoldEm. 3) After 12 hours of using WinHoldEm you can expect to earn $1.38 an hour at $3/$6 or less than 1/2 BB per Hour. This data was provided by an actual test of the product. 4) It will take you roughly 50 hours just to make the $100 back you spent on the program. If during that time or anytime after the poker site detects your bot your account can be closed and bankroll may be confiscated.He also quotes a number of poker pros who also express the opinion that they can beat the bots. Indeed, in a recent pro vs. bot faceoff, the human won.Maudie over at Poker Perspectives looks a little deeper at the next level -- the helping programs. These don't play for you but tell you how to play.The use of cheating software like WinHoldem is clearly unethical and the people who use it ought to be hung from their proverbial balls, to say nothing of the creator of the software.* * *But, WinHoldem and poker-bots aside, I've wondered about the use of "non-cheating" aids while playing online poker. I've played with Poker Tracker, Hold-Em Winner, Game Time+, and Poker Ace. Of that list, Hold-Em Winner has problably given me the most concern. That software will coach you, giving you your hole cards' hand ranking, pot odds, opponent stats and cues to bet, raise or fold. * * *But is it ethical to use aids online? After all, you don't have that luxury at a B&M [bricks & mortar]. But then again, what you don't have online is the benefit of looking your opponent in the eye, chatting him up, watching how he physically places his bet, how closely he's paying attention...Maudie did very well playing with Hold-Em Winner but stopped because she felt she was not sharpening her own game.After reading her blog, I downloaded my own trial version of the souped up version of Hold-Em Winner, No Hands Holdem. The program plays more tightly than I do and I should probably tighten up but there are certain hands that I consistently play and play well that it consistently tells me to fold. It doesn't take into account facts like the player in seat 4 can't resist playing a four-flush nor does it tell me how big a raise to make in no-limit. I try to make my own decision, then look at the recommendation of the program, and learn from the process. I find the interactive method a better way to learn than reading a book. I'm still toying with how to personalize it. Once I get that, it's hard to see it as anything unethical when it's repeating my own advice back to me.What it does do well is remind me of standard opening hands, which by the way, are available at the help section of Party Poker's website. It also calculates pot odds, which are available in other places on the web. The former I ought to have memorized anyway. The latter doesn't seem to be a huge secret. What to do with the info still gives the good player the edge. Checkraise is a regular poker column by Justene Adamec. It appears every other Friday.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: Poker at Foxwoods and Online for Macs

Justene Adamec — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 08:53:05 EDT

A casino in the woods.That's how Frommer's New England travel guide describes Foxwoods Resort and Casino. That is a rather unassuming description for what is the largest resort casino in the world.Of course, the "largest resort casino" also does not give a clear picture. It may be bigger than any resort in Las Vegas but it will never match the size and choices of the strip. It may have a 76-table poker room but Commerce Casino in Los Angeles, where I've played most often, is still the largest poker room.What are you left with? A beautiful, well-run resort that is one of very few gaming options in the Northeast. We checked in a small suite in the Two Trees Inn, which is off property. With two teenagers, the suite is usually the most cost-effective option. You can tell the building is off property because it has no casino. Otherwise it folds seamlessly into the ambiance. The shuttle bus to the casino runs frequently. We never waited more than a few minutes. A small handicapped van makes a regular run along with large buses.Enough of the sideshow, it's the poker that matters. There's more 7 card stud at Foxwoods than anyplace I have played west of the Rockies. There's also a lot of Texas Hold 'em, including a large range of stakes for no limit games. There was very little Omaha, which is popular in the Los Angeles area card clubs.The poker room is large and there is room to walk between the tables. I find that important. So many poker rooms are packed so tightly that I get claustrophobic.The players we met were friendly and the drinks were free -- until 1 a.m. Waitresses on my end of the room were a little slow. The floorpeople were helpful. Every poker room works just a little differently. In this room, there were at least three boards to request a game and it was a little obscure which was which. In many poker rooms, there's a sense that figuring out the system is a prerequisite to getting to play. Here the staff was perfectly happy to help, even letting me sign up at the wrong board to avoid the trek across the room.After an evening in the poker room, we told the teenagers that, if they lived back East, they would be spending a lot of time at Foxwoods.Poker for Macs. There's finally an online poker room with software compatible with Macs. Check out Pacific Poker.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: A Smattering of Poker Resources on the Web

Justene Adamec — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 00:17:05 EDT

As poker has boomed, so have the number of sites trying to make money off the boom. From time to time, this column will take a look at some of them.CardPlayer Magazine is available free in bricks and mortar casinos. You can also subscribe for a price. Published since 1987, CardPlayer used to be the only magazine of note. As competition has arisen from new magazines like All-In, Cardplayer has improved to continue among the top of the heap. CardPlayer's website is the online equivalent of a destination resort. My first, and often only, stop there, is the poker odds calculator (for hold 'em and omaha only). It is not particularly comforting to know that I was an 88.2% favorite to win a hand that I just lost, but at least I can assess whether my all-in bet was the right move. There is also access to magazine articles, a poker forum, free playing opportunities and newly added poker tracker software. Poker tracker software lets you analyze your own hand play and, often, other players' play. A future column will compare a number of the ubiquitous tracking sites.Two Plus Two publishes a number of top poker instruction books. I own a number of them. As I get better, I read a little further into each book. Once I discovered that approximately 20 pages were missing from my copy. Since the pages were in the 200s, I'd had the book for a year before I discovered it. Two Plus Two was very helpful and I had a new book in a week.The highlight of the Two Plus Two website are the forums, moderated by their authors, David Sklansky, Mason Malmuth, and Ray Zee. The wide variety of topics include just about every poker game played. particularly useful if you are starting out online is the discussion of "microlimit" games. Play differs in part depending on the stakes of a game and if you learn a theory of poker that doesn't match the game you are playing, it will actually hinder you.If you are going to play online, I think the best thing to do is to play at all the various poker rooms to find the one you are most comfortable with. However, I guarantee that all but a few of you will try one or two at most. That's where a review site would be useful. Read several. I liked Poker Tips because it had reviews of the major sites and information I want to know such as the play at Full Tilt Poker is tight. However, without knowing when the reviews were written, it is hard to judge whether the information is timely. In comparison, FlopTurnRiver.com lists the number of players as of a certain date and has reviews of the newer sites such as GamesGrid. You will only get a good picture by reading a lot of these sites and none of it will match the experience at playing of the various sites.If it's news you want, check out the straight press release style reports at Online Poker News. The reports are updated regularly and you do not have to dig through the bells and whistles to get to them.Though I prefer online play, I've played in poker rooms in Southern California and Las Vegas. This week, we head across the country to the poker room at Foxwoods, the largest resort casino in the world. Look for the report in my next column.Checkraise is a regular poker column by Justene Adamec. It appears every other Friday.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: Prop players and Poker Prophecy

Justene Adamec — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 10:43:17 EDT

Last week, while the husband played on one of the online poker sites, someone "accused" him of being a proposition player. Repeating this accusation served to drive other players from the table and it was a couple of hours before playing poker was fun again. The husband complained to the site and received an answer that the other player had been cautioned. More interesting though was the unsolicited explanation that the site did indeed use proposition players but only to get the games started. We were surprised that a site as busy as that one needed proposition players. Proposition players are real poker players. They are paid an hourly rate to sit at tables that are empty or only have a few players so that other players will join the game. They play with their own money and win and lose just like any other player. They have no special advantage in the game. In fact, a prop player will often tell you that they have a disadvantage because they may have to stay in games that are not going well and they may have to leave a game that is going well. Yet most players do not want to play against a proposition player. Some are misinformed about what a prop player is but others just don't want to play against someone who plays that long and plays well enough to be able to play a number of hours a week (many are fulltime) without losing their bankroll. So the accusation that the husband was a prop player made it difficult for him to sit long at a table without people leaving. If you do not want to play against someone who plays often and well, Party Poker just banned one of the tools that would help. Poker Prophecy gathered statistics on almost every single table tournamant player and turned it into a program that you could run while playing the game. For each player at the table, it would display whether the player was a "Pro", "Average" or "a Fish". A Pro was a player with a winning percentage over 40%. Clicking a tab on your task bar gave you access to more detailed statistics. There were drawbacks to the program. It only rated single table tournaments. So a player who was very good playing live games might show up as a Fish. If you played tournaments though, it told you who to watch at the table. If tables are loading slowly, you could check out the competition before deciding whether to stay or not. Party Poker banned it because it gave an "unfair advantage." The software providers disabled its use on Party Poker although stats on individual players are still available at the website. The software is still available for Paradise Poker.Checkraise is a regular poker column by Justene Adamec. It appears every other Friday.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.

Checkraise: World Series of Poker Final Table: Listen Live

Justene Adamec — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 11:08:43 EDT

The World Series of Poker was a big deal long before poker became the game of regular folks and shows on the sports networks. It was traditionally held at Binion's in downtown Las Vegas, before the IRS took over the casino. This year, the WSOP tour has been running at Harrah's properties around the country and the grand finale takes place today at 4 pm at the Rio. Cardplayer magazine delivers the final table action live. Final players and their chip counts are here. It won't be the bells and whistles you are used to on television. No chance of seeing those cards in real time. It will be streaming audio only. However, in addition to the live stream, there will be commentary by pro players. If you're interested in poker, it's not to be missed. Entry fee into the championship is $10,000. That amount used to limit it to celebrities and professionals. Now much of the field consists of regular folks who have won their way in via satellites online. At one online outlet, winning a tournament with an entry fee of $315 got you a trip to the championship event, including hotel and the $10,000 entry fee. If there were enough players, the top 2-5 winners in a satellite would go. Better yet, you could play a $10 single table game, win your way into a $36 single table game, and win your way into the $315 event. In 2003, Chris Moneymaker started at the $39 level and won his way to the top prize, then $2.5 million dollars. This year, countless others have tried to follow in his footstps, swelling the ranks of the tournament to over 5600 and the top prize to $7.5 million.Alas, I am not one of the 5600 this year. I spent between $100 and $200 trying to win my way in, starting at the $10 tables. I got to the final satellite level twice, once placing as high as 38 out of a field of 400-500. Last year at this time, I was still playing limit games, afraid to even try no limit hold 'em, the game of the big event. So I have big dreams.Checkraise is a regular poker column by Justene Adamec. It appears every other Friday.

Justene practices law in downtown LA. To chat about this or other topics, IM Justene.