$1 Million GTD attracts a lot of players who don't normally play on the site. The numbers you're focusing on aren't an accurate reflection of the player pool during a $1 Million GTD.

It will exceed $1 Million every week if it's available every week.

What was the total prize pool for the one they ran on February 22nd?

It was much smaller than the one in December because of the DDOS attacks that deterred a lot of players from playing on Feb. 22nd. $900,000

I played in the one in December, but refused to play in Feb. because of the DDOS attacks. Now that the tournament ran smoothly in Feb. more players will be willing to play from here on out.

What was the total amount in the December one?

It is hardly as simple as that (but then all of your views are really simple), and a single tournament will not have the impact you believe it might have in this industry.

A few years from now the odds are that Pokerstars will still be by far the leader in this industry on a global basis, and if a state changes from unregulated to regulated then you will have players moving from the unregulated networks to the legal ones.

If Pokerstars is one of the legal rooms in those states then they will likely get the bulk of the business due to their name recognition and quality product.

The tournaments that Bodog/Merge/Winning run has nothing to do with if and when various states move forward with this issue. Those networks pay nothing to the states, so the irony is if they actually get much bigger then it will likely speed up the process that eventually eliminates them.

That is a choice they can make, but your thought process has no validity on it.

You may not want them, but eventually many states will want to monetize this industry for themselves and at that time companies like Pokerstars will be in good shape while Bodog/Winning etc will not like it as much, but they are aware of that risk as it is part of their entire model.

This has nothing to do with what people like you want. The states will do what they will do to their laws and the industry will adjust accordingly, and this is whether or not Winning runs a tournament on a weekend (still have no idea why you think that tournament matters).

I doubt that. Poker legislation is moving at a snail's pace.

The scenario you're talking about won't happen for years. By that time, people won't even push for poker legislation as it won't be necessary to play online poker. They'll likely vote against politicians who push for it, too.

People no longer need government permission with Bitcoin and they're starting to realize that. Poker players face no consequences for playing on unregulated poker sites. As the government openly states that playing online poker isn't illegal at all.


Well, that means WPN will be able to run the $1 Million GTD weekly with no problems for about 5-6 years before they run into any problems.

That's assuming that the US Government can even do anything about them at all. The fact that WPN uses Bitcoin means that the government will have a much more difficult time doing something about WPN. Pokerstars was in a much different boat because of fraudulent charges that were required for players to transfer money from bank accounts to Pokerstars.

WPN won't have that problem at all.

They already tried to shut down Bovada and failed. So...

Really weird?

Yea, because New Jersey is doing so well. I mean... New Jersey is killing it in the online poker industry. I'm sure players would love to have that system in their state.

Why don't you look around on the forum in New Jersey threads and see all the residents of New Jersey who are begging for access to WPN, Merge, and Bovada?


People aren't going to want regulated poker in their states after they realize that it will restrict access to superior sites with a larger prize pool. Pokerstars is no longer lobbying to simply get back into the states, at this point. They're now in a position where they're required to lobby to keep superior sites out of the states.

Good luck getting poker players to voluntarily give up access to superior sites for a smaller state segregated Pokerstars that they can't make as much money on.

Why would players vote for that, Monteroy? Why would players vote for politicians that support that? They won't.


You seem to be very angry. Are you mad?

Don't worry, Monteroy.

When Pokerstars lays you off you can get a job at WPN. They'll soon be in need to of riggie thread posters themselves when they take over the American market. Maybe, Bodog will hire you.

hahaha

It was cancelled because of the DDOS attacks.

It was set to clear the $1 Million GT. I think it was $80K over the $1 Million GT and counting...as the late registration was still going on.

Well, I guess we'll see if it works for them. From what you have said, I guess the December and February tournaments were not complete overlay disasters for them (although $100K overlay is pretty bad - I wonder how many of those they can survive).

I don't really understand why they would announce it now and then wait 7 months to do it though.

They're planning on doing 2-3 more $1 Million GTD before that time.

They need time to make players aware of it. You're a regular poster on the forum and you weren't even aware of it.

I suppose.


True, I did not know about it. But I never really pay attention to news about those sites. I've been playing on NJ regulated sites.

Damn, that sucks.

I'm sorry.

WPN is also doing World Series Main Event satellites now. So, that should bring more exposure to the site and more players if one of their players can make a deep run in the Main Event.

I'm not. For the most part I like them.

Why? It sounds aweful to me.

What is the biggest tournament you can play in?

Nearly all legislation moves slowly. Pokerstars has to go with the long term approach of being in their legally at this point. Small rooms like Winning can keep doing what they are doing for as long as they can.

Not sure what your point is other than validating what I have said that Stars and Winning pretty much have nothing to do with each other.


Yeah, bitcoin sites have really changed this industry...

Feel free to ask Micon whether governments care about him, and that he faces no consequences...




I hope so as I have hundreds of players in my affiliate there. Pokerstars is looking past 5-6 years with their US plans I suspect. Winning is doing what it can to maximize what they can in the short term. Different approaches for different companies.


Bitcoins has nothing to do with it at all. Pokerstars was worth it for the government to go after. Winning probably is not, even though they did mess around with some other small networks in the past like Yachting or whatever.


Welcome to government involvement in industries. Lots of bumps in the road and learning curves. Whether Winning runs a tournament or not has no significance in that process.

Welcome to legislation. Like it or not more states will eventually monetize this industry and when they do the Bodogs of the world will be squeezed out of those states.

Whether that happens in a week, a year or decade - it is eventually inevitable, and that is whether people like you want it or not.


Nah, "people" in general will not care that much about what you think, and supporting an underground economy is never a strong position to use when trying to thwart legislation.



If the change makes states money then it will eventually happen. Whether players like you like it or not will not matter much when it involves replacing an underground industry that pays zero taxes.

Most players are not you. Most would prefer to gamble legally if they can.





Never worked with Bodog but I have hundreds of players on a BCP (and now WPN) affiliate. I would be much happier than you if they took over the US market from Bodog, so your comment is pretty weird since in theory I should be the one shilling the network instead of you as I would have much more to gain from it than you do as a single player.

Thing is I have worked with them for years, and I know them (and like them), and I also know and respect what their goals are for the future, but they have nothing to do with the very weird world you have created in your mind about the future in this industry.

Again, you literally have zero idea what you are talking about.

Oh, well poker legislation in the USA isn't moving at all.

Last I checked, Micon and is partners are about to reopen the site in another country. Micon wasn't even charged with anything.


So...


I suspect those plans will change now that players have motivation to vote for politicians who don't focus on poker legislation.

Yes, it does.

The government can't cause problems for WPN the way they did with Pokerstars. There are no banks for them to focus on in this situation the way there were with Pokerstars. The legal situation with Pokerstars is outdated and simply doesn't apply. The industry has changed since Black Friday and alternative methods of transferring money have been introduced to the market that simply didn't exist in those days.


Actually, Winning's $1 Million GTD does have significance in the process.

It now gives voters motivation to vote for politicians who don't focus on poker legislation. Before, that motivation simply didn't exist. As if it even matters because poker legislation is so far down on the list of political priorities.


That, or politicians who seek to "squeeze the Bodogs out of the states" will be squeezed out office come election time.

This is a democracy, Monteroy. The government simply can't go around doing what it pleases. Plus, it doesn't appear that poker is a big priority for most states and it likely NEVER will be.

Keep telling yourself that.

In the past 4 years you have how many states with regulated online poker?

You might get somewhere in 20 years at that rate. Good luck with that. a "decade" is a little hopeful, on your part. It's been 4 years and you haven't even been able to get 20% of the country to focus on it. You're convinced that in "10 years" 80% of the country will decide to focus on internet poker and make it a political issue?

That's a neat theory. What are you basing that on?


The government in general doesn't appear to care at all about legislating poker.

So...



If the change cost players money then the politicians who support that change will simply be voted against come election time.

There are very few states that even seem to be making internet poker a priority. You act as if it's a huge topic of discussion. It isn't. Internet Poker is at the BOTTOM of the political agenda list. As long it stays there the future is looking bright for the WPN's and Bovada's of the industry.

According to the Department of Justice there is nothing illegal about playing poker on unregulated poker sites. The government has never expressed a desire to bring consequences down on players who play on unregulated sites and has specifically stated that "it's not illegal."

Most players realize that.



Well, I guess we'll see what the next few years hold. Won't we?

As of right now....residents of 40 states will be playing poker on unregulated sites for the next few years. There doesn't appear to be any legislation on the horizon to change that FACT.

On a regular basis, I think a $215 or so buy-in that gets something like a $50,000 prize pool. The sites all seem to have special tournament series fairly regularly though that have bigger buy-ins and bigger prize pools.


But I don't really play many tournaments and haven't for like 8 or so years. So far on the NJ regulated sites I've probably played around 10 tournaments and around 315,000 cash game hands.

That's awful.

That's why I don't want your system in my state.

I don't think anybody particularly wants segregated player pools. I'd prefer companies to be able to offer global player pools like what PokerStars, Full Tilt, etc. used to do, or at least have most of the U.S. combined in one player pool.

But for the moment I think I prefer being able to play on WSOP NJ; 888 NJ, Borgata NJ; PartyPoker NJ, etc., and not being able to play on Merge, Bovada, America's Cardroom, etc., rather than vice versa.

Does anybody know of a site that allows you to post converted hand histories privately? I no longer see the option to do this on weaktight.

Hi everyone,

one question - when i open my pokerstars of fulltilt poker account, when i check from mid to high stakes games i notice one thing - there are almost 99 % empty seats, always sb is waiting in the table. And the question is - why is no one joining? Isn't that fact that if you want to move up the stakes and be better player - you need to play with better then you? When i look at mid and high stakes it's like there's no action pretty much. Everyone is looking for a fish?

I know, i'm a beginner but i imagine you need to play with better, sit down, take a risk, play hand, adjuct, gather reads and outplay the opponent.

Yep. These players play for a living, so they don't care about getting better, they just want to win easy money.

Hi, 7 days ago Bwin closed my account and they didnt send me an email telling me why.

I send them tons of emails , tons of tickets and still no single answer.

Any way of contacting bwin that I dont know?

I tried tickets on their site and this two emails: support@bwin.com, support.en@bwin.com

country code and then this number -> 350 200 47196

good luck with them...

*

actually, dial your country's exit code and then this number -> 350 200 47196

350 is the country code for Gibraltar and already included.

I think Pokerstars and PartyPoker do. It restricts access to competing poker sites with superior player pools. That's why they participate in segregated player pools.

There is more money to be made on unregistered sites.

Participation != preference.

Obviously they'd rather be able to rake players in pools that are segregated by law than completely lose out on those players, but they'd both much rather just have one big site and one big pool of players to work with. It'd make things cheaper (and more profitable, I'm sure) for them if nothing else.