We are all poker players here. Playing friends heads up is always fun. Especially when your friend lives outside of the US. HU poker ftw.

A restraining order has been placed on the 75 bank accounts. They have not been seized and certainly not documented into evidence. Only the domain names of the websites have actually been seized so far.

Having read the indictment, and if the charges are proven to be true, I won't be playing on stars or ft again. (am outside the US). Whilst I don't agree with the US legislation, I always thought the decision of these sites to continue to operate in the US was simply a case of them taking the line that "we believe poker is a game of skill and therefore it and the transactions relating to it aren't illegal...it's business as usual until proven otherwise".

Now it transpires that they have been laundering money in order to continue their business. That's shady, foolish and has put the whole online game in peril in my view and they won't be making any more money from me.

Have I got this wrong?

great time to deposit on stars and put long sessions imo

A fraction is still a lot, keep in mind. I said all the money in the US bank accounts are seized. I also mentioned the FBIs cannot touch their offshore accounts, which make up the majority of their stash.

Anyway, I'm confident that I have the right mindset here. I don't care if you folks don't believe me. The bottom line is, you folks should concentrate on your future. Forget about the money. It's gone. Of course, this is a good opportunity to test the intelligence of Americans.

Why?

Only one problem, online poker players don't go outside

No, dont march on congress. All you have to do is ban vegas and reno until poker is legal again. You know all those casinos lobbied for this **** b/c now they are going to get a flood of poker players and a flood of money again. If you are an American online poker player and you go to Vegas or Reno, then you are a ****** and deserve this.

They couldnt have processed USA players transactions without all this funny business. Even if they truly believed everything they were doing was legal, they still had to do all this stuff with the processors to get the transactions to go through.

just because players are playing there doesnt mean they think the site is immune.

Restraining order =/= seized.
What makes you think nobody is going to get their money? I'd be willing to bet every American is going to get their money back (sooner or later)(at least from FTP and PS)

BTW, I am not a "folk"

What their role was is very much in question IMO. My conspiracy theory (everybody has one atm) is that Tzvetkoff set them up in some way.

Shady? How about the people that added the unlawful internet gambling act to a port security bill?

Everyone now is drinking the cool-aid

It's money laundering though isn't it? How can they have thought that was a good idea in the long run?

I realise that without this online poker is the US would have pretty much died in 2006, but that's were it's ended up anyway. I wonder whether the additional 5 years will have been worth it in the long run when you consider the damage this may end up doing in the long run world wide.

I certainly wonder what else seemingly reputable sites may be willing to do. I can't see that it is good to have the general public, as uniformed as they may be, now associating stars and tilt with absolute.

fyp

Hope it's not out of the Gatoraid bottle under my desk.

I totally agree about the uiega.

But taking a seemingly sensible line whilst then laundering money demonstrates that they only think of themselves. Hopefully this is where it ends but I doubt it very much.

I don't get this reference...and I'm not sure I should ask.

QUESTION:

If I withdraw now, from Australia, will I get my money? Or will it be kept/blocked/held like I've heard about?

I dont know if you were around the week the UIGEA was attached to the safe port bill and passed but the very next morning almost every site dropped out of taking USA customers. Pokerstars however waited about a week before announcing their official stance. during that week there was a massive thread on 2+2 with all the USA regs begging lee jones to keep taking USA customers on stars.

f**k knows just try

[chuckles] but obviously not true. I'm sure poker players are if anything more driven to go outside and compete at sports because we're mostly inherently competitive. Don't want to waste your joke, just leveling.

The idea about tenting in Washington isn't bad. I'm of the camp [punfire in the hole] that poker has helped sharpen my mental abilities sixfold and even helped attune me to some of the real problems the country (and world) faces, which this decision is only a microcosm of. Ultimately the biggest problem we face is ourselves. And by that I mean our minds. Ya, I'm dropping a philosophy bomb. We gotta escape the turmoil and trappings that this is only a leveling of, and of which has happened in other instances and disguises for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. If that kind of leveling isn't dealt with, then none of this really matters. It's just a merry-go-round. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FCumosfCgE&NR=1 Let's really start moving forward, and sharpening our minds cuz they rilly ain't nuttin ta looz.

How do you wanna withdraw from FTP?? Please just let me know if that select button for the withdrawing option appears again....I'm in Euroland and can't find a way to withdraw...

We'll see. It will take years at the earliest. By that time, a third of you guys are probably going to be on welfare or worse. This is why Dwan/Galfond made the bet. They didn't mention how long it takes for the payout to occur.