UIGEA Delayed

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is expected to make a statement Friday that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner granted the Poker Players Alliance's petition to delay the compliance date for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

The Poker Players Alliance declined to comment on the possible delay until official word comes from Frank or the Treasury Department. Joe Brennan, chairman of the Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association, confirmed that he did hear directly from one of the parties to the agreement that Geithner granted a six-month delay. The six months would be a compromise to the year requested by the PPA and Frank.

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Word of the delay comes just days before the Dec. 1 date when banks and financial institutions were to be held responsible for making sure no outgoing transactions were made to web sites related to what was termed as "illegal Internet gambling."

"It's really surprising we got this concession," Brennan said. "It's very unusual for any department of the government to essentially forestall an act of Congress. This is a testament to the power of Congressmen Frank. This has been his pet issue, because it is part of his core values, for some time now. If Barney Frank was not an advocate, this does not get done regardless of the efforts of the PPA and the banking industry."

Frank made a telling indication that a delay will happen by scheduling for Dec. 3 a hearing in the House Financial Services Committee to discuss his two poker-related bills — including the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act that asks to delay full implementation of the UIGEA until Dec. 1, 2010. It wouldn't make sense to hear discussion of delaying a law that went into full effect two days earlier.

The six-month delay, while not a victory in itself, sets the stage for future victories by giving Frank time to address his other bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act. Because of his important role in shaping the economic stimulus and health care legislation that has dominated this session of Congress, Frank had not found the time to hold a committee hearing on the bills that relate to the poker industry.

"We thought it would probably have to wait until January, so we're pleasantly surprised to see this happen in December," PPA executive director John Pappas said of the hearing. "I think Barney is sending a strong message to regulators and others that he's serious about changing this law. He's going to move forward with his plans to license and regulate this industry."

The PPA filed a joint petition along with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and American Greyhound Track Operators Assocation early in October to delay the compliance date of the UIGEA. Frank followed by hand delivering to Geithner a letter signed by 19 members of Congress supporting the petition. The request received a boost earlier this week when six Kentucky congressmen wrote a letter supporting the delay, citing specific incidents of a credit card company blocking horse racing transactions despite the sport having an exemption in the legislation.

It remains to be seen how the banks and credit card companies will respond to a delay. The situation likely will remain similar to recent months, where some are blocking transactions and some are not. But the six-month stay should prevent blocking from getting worse.

"Do I think things will automatically loosen between the banks and credit card companies?" asked Brennan. "No. They've already moved up to this point in the regulations. They're not going to tear it up and say now we have this six-month window. They're going to take a wait-and-see attitude."

2009 BC Poker champion arrested

Canadian Sophon Sek won the 2009 BC Poker Championship Sunday, but was arrested today in connection with one of the worst gang murders in the history of British Columbia.

The 30-year old Surrey man has been charged with manslaughter and break and enter in relation to the gangland murders of six people, including two innocent bystanders, in 2007.

The incident is referred to locally as the Surrey Six Slaughter.

Sek made an appearance in Surrey Provincial Court today, but was sent back into custody to await continuation of his trial Nov. 30.

He could still face additional charges in connection to the murders, according to Cpl. Dale Carr of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

Sek outlasted 679 players to win this year's $2,700 (CDN) buy-in BC Poker Championships late Sunday night at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver.

Sek's $364,364 (CDN) in prize money is being held by the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation at the request of the RCMP, according to Howard Blank, vice president of media, entertainment and responsible gaming at the GCGC.

This is the fifth year the BC Poker Championships have been held in the current format and the tournament continues to draw world-renowned poker players.

This year Amazing Race stars Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho played as well as Gavin Smith, Liz Lieu, Lacey Jones, "Yukon" Brad Booth, Greg "FBT" Mueller and Scott Clements. Clements made the final table but eventually busted seventh.

Last year Daniel Negreanu, who is perhaps the biggest name in Canadian poker, outlasted all 688 players to win the event for $371,910 (CDN).

Doyle Brunson’s Poker Autobiography Now Available

“I’ve still got mixed feelings about writing this book,” Doyle Brunson commented in his blog.

After reading “The Godfather of Poker”, poker fans won’t have similar problems with mixed feelings.

Instead, they’ll be glad that the game’s living legend chose not to hold back and, with sharp detail, went ahead and dealt out a book rich in narrative and stories that encapsulate his pioneering poker life and contributions.

While some poker biographies are short on meat, Brunson’s is packed with vivid recollections and memories of the people, events, and places that have shaped his high-stakes life.

Mike Cochran, whom Brunson has known since 1954 during their college days at Hardin-Simmons University, helped assemble the book. Cochran previously spent four decades chasing colorful feature stories for the Associated Press. In “The Godfather of Poker,” Cochran has helped Brunson organize and articulate a brilliant poker story. It covers not only Brunson’s own life, but also traces the birth of the high-stakes poker world that people obsess over daily.

“The Brunson story is one for the ages,” Cochran says in the introduction, “a classic paradox, beginning on a hardscrabble, dry-land cotton farm in West Texas and playing out seventy years later in the glitzy casinos of Las Vegas and the flashy cardrooms across the country and around the world.”

That story takes the reader from Brunson’s boyhood home of Longworth, Texas, to Fort Worth’s Exchange Avenue, where “shootings, knife fights and fistfights happened every day.” It then goes further, to the back roads of the Texas poker circuit, where Brunson, Johnny Moss, Sailor Roberts, and Amarillo Slim Preston earned their fame before pulling into early Las Vegas.

As Brunson leads you along his life journey, he introduces you to a cast of colorful characters, the world-class conmen and gangsters who dominated the high-stakes world he frequented. Minnesota Fats, Bill Boyd, Archie Karas, Jimmy Chagra, Titanic Thompson, Tony Spilotro, Lefty Rosenthal, Benny Binion, Puggy Pearson, Stu Unger, and Chip Reese, just to name a few, are all legends whom Brunson rubbed shoulders with. And the stories that Brunson shares from these assorted personalities make “The Godfather of Poker” a hard book to put down.

Readers also get a peek into Brunson’s personal life and the tragedies he’s faced, including the death of his first-born child and a freak injury that ruined his opportunity at a career in professional sports. Throughout the book, he chronicles how he’s survived the years, going from being broke to betting $1.6 million on a round of golf. It was all just another day at the office. Brunson is candid and brave throughout.

In one of the book’s more humorous chapters, Brunson goes into detail about his ventures in business. “A lot of my business exploits headed south faster than a gaggle of geese,” he says. If you name it, Brunson threw money at it — including attempting to raise the Titanic, uncover Noah’s Ark, buying gold and emerald mines, and funding Christian television networks — and it probably didn’t go too well.

In the latter part of the book, Brunson talks about how the game has morphed into a “cultural phenomenon” thanks to online poker, television, and celebrity endorsement.

Brunson, a two-time World Series of Poker main-event champion, admits to throwing the 1972 title in “The Godfather of Poker.” He dumped his chips to Amarillo Slim because, as he says, “I was afraid of the publicity that winning this event would bring, and the terrible shame it would bring to my family.” My, how perceptions have changed three decades later.

Near the end of “The Godfather of Poker,” Brunson says, “I’ve come to realize that life’s experiences are ours to keep and cherish permanent gifts, like diamonds that sparkle in your head.”

Thankfully, because Brunson chose to share his experiences, the previously oral-only history of poker’s wild-west days now exists in written form for everyone to cherish.

“The Godfather of Poker: Doyle Brunson”

An Autobiography with Mike Cochra

Learn How to Play Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a card game, similar to the children's card game of War but played between one player and a dealer. A regular deck of 52 cards is used, with one card dealt face up to the player, and one card dealt face up to the dealer.

The game is very simple in that whoever has the higher card wins. When it comes to rank, aces are high and twos are low. The game carries on in this fashion until a tie occurs between the dealer and the player.

If this happens, the dealer will ask if the player would like to battle or surrender. If the player chooses to surrender, the dealer takes the bet and deals a new hand. If the player to battle, the original wager must be doubled, and cards are then dealt out one by one to the player and to the dealer. If the dealer wins, the doubled wager is lost, but if the player wins, only the original bet is returned. However, if a second tie occurs during the battle the player is payed out at a rate of 7:1.

Learn How to Play Battle Royale

Battle Royale is a card game, similar to the children's card game of War but played between one player and a dealer. A regular deck of 52 cards is used, with one card dealt face up to the player, and one card dealt face up to the dealer.

The game is very simple in that whoever has the higher card wins. When it comes to rank, aces are high and twos are low. The game carries on in this fashion until a tie occurs between the dealer and the player.

If this happens, the dealer will ask if the player would like to battle or surrender. If the player chooses to surrender, the dealer takes the bet and deals a new hand. If the player to battle, the original wager must be doubled, and cards are then dealt out one by one to the player and to the dealer. If the dealer wins, the doubled wager is lost, but if the player wins, only the original bet is returned. However, if a second tie occurs during the battle the player is payed out at a rate of 7:1.

Red Dog Casino Game tips

Red Dog is a game played with a 52-card deck and uses only 3 cards at a time. The object of the game is to bet on what the third card is going to be. The dealer will deal out 2 cards, one on the left and one on the right.

In order for the player to win, the third card's rank must come between the other two cards' rank. So if the two cards are a 5 and a Jack, a winning hand would consist of a card between a 6 and a 10. The closer the two cards are in rank the higher the pay out. Before the player sees the third card, he has the option of doubling his bet by clicking on the raise button. A push happens when the first two cards dealt are either consecutive or are a pair. If the third card dealt makes three of a kind then the player is paid out at 11 to 1.

History

Also known as yablon, ace-deuce, in between, and between the sheets, red dog is a card game that was introduced to the casinos in Nevada in the 1980's. The game is played on blackjack-sized tables with a shoe holding six decks of cards. There is one dealer and can be up to as many as 16 players.

Card Values

The card values for the game are as follows:

• two through ten are worth their face value
• jacks are worth 11
• queens are worth 12
• kings are worth 13
• aces are worth 14

Play commences when the player places a bet and the dealer removes two cards from the shoe and places them face up on the table. The player then decides whether or not to raise the bet. The dealer deals a third card and if the value of the card falls between the values of the other two cards, the player is a winner. Original bets are payed out at even money, and raise bets are payed out according to a scale, where the closer the two cards are together, the better the payout is.

Payouts

The payouts for different spreads are as follows:

• 1 card spread pays 5:1
• 2 card spread pays 4:1
• 3 card spread pays 2:1
• 4 to 11 card spread pays even money

A push results when the dealer deals out two consecutive cards or a pair. When a pair is dealt, the dealer immediately deals a third card. If the result is a three of a kind, the player is payed out 11:1.

Hint: it makes the most sense to raise on those hands that have a spread of seven or more