I do not know the inner-working of those other sites and how they process the money. I have heard some sites are apparently still active in the U.S. You are probably right, the smaller sites may be just as shifty and it is just a matter of time before they go under. Buy it still stands that they were not good shepherds of other people's funds.

A lot of unanswered questions.

1. Stona stops playing online.
2. Stona disappears.
3. Friday's indictments.

just getting to the Nelson Rose part right now - this guy is really helpful, a very good guest.

going forward I like the idea of a 'business as usual' approach. The market will sort itself out, poker will lose a lot of part-time and full-time players in the US over the next couple of years, your show has to accomodate the audience that remains.

I'm in the US, and will wait it out here until legalization goes thru. I have no immediate plans to move, but I'll continue to look forward to the show.

Sorry...but I'm new to town...who's Stona? (seriously)

Finally home from work and able to download. 4 hours, eh? Poker may be licensed and regulated before I finish! (yeah, don't I wish.)

Thank you guys for your work!!! I bet the week off seems like a distant memory now.

He's German.

Where has it been said that Americans on UB/AP can't play? They are on there now.

Only listened to the intro and TTs part so far, but I found it super interesting.

I think TTs view of the traffic from this point on is really too pessimistic though or at least too simplistic. I personally play cash games during the day, so that means, my work hours here in Switzerland are from 9am to 6pm, which means from 3am to noon eastern time or midnight to 11am western time. So the main portion of the player pool has always been european and asian/oceanian. There haven't been too many US players playing during that time on weekdays anyway and those that were playing were probably split about even into regs and fishes.

So I'm really not that pessimistic about the changes in the player pool that affect me personally. Of course if you're an online tournament players and you started playing in the afternoon/evening european time and finished in the early morning, you're probably affected a lot more by the absence of US players.

I saw on Twitter that people with different clients are able to play, like the Mac client works, while the Windows doesn't (or was it the other way around? I don't play there). Likely won't last long.

Don't know how I feel having the strategy segment on this week's podcast. Happy and thankful for the nice intro. Sad just at the situation and the nature of the podcast. Hang in there, everybody!

Did Bunner and Adam stop drinking too?

Pretty ominous IMO that Steve was absent and I don't even think there was even an ad for Pokerstars. I mean if non USA is 70% of their market shouldn't they say something. I lost a lot of confidence in Stars listening to this podcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FISH...embedded#at=73

I noticed the big Sunday Tournaments were down like 20% on Stars, down 30% on FTP - maybe that's an early indication of the impact.

I don't think you should have a negative reaction at this point to Stars/FTB silence. Truth be told they will likely never be able to operate in the US market again, and it's a business. I expect them to make good on player deposits, and in a timely fashion, because doing so helps them protect their other businesses.

Right now the US market is wide open, and that means one thing: opportunity. Don't you think Steve Wynn salivates at the possibility of commanding a 70-70% US marketshare? He has the juice to push thru the legalization, and there is no established competition - all he needs is a license, and some software. I would expect hearings on legalization to accelerate once the dust settles on this thing (six months?), after which the Betfairs, 888s, Everest Pokers et al will start teaming up with existing Vegas license holders like Wynn. I'm not on the inside but it just makes sense that those sorts of alliances are already formed or forming.

Now, there is real incentive for powerful people to push thru legalization. Millions sit on the table waiting a few strokes of a pen.

Great Podcast. I think I Nelson Rose was the most cogent, informative, and entertaining guest. He really seems to be an authority on the law aspects of this. Please get him on the podcast again, I think having someone like him who really has experience in gambling law, and has worked both for and against the DOJ, gives him unique insight that we the uniformed masses are desperately seeking.

Listening now.

Question:
If I was willing, could I act as the agent for an American player by accessing their account to transfer money into mine, and then sending 95% to the player, WITHOUT being charged with money laundering by the FBI?

Agreed. The DOJ is going after the 2 largest fishies. Doesn't mean that smaller sites will be safe from future prosecution.

You forgot 4.

I've listened to every podcast from the 2+2 pokercast beginning but I think I was looking forward to this one the most. You guys do a great show and I was really interested to hear your take on things. I think one of the things that makes your shows so good is the great guests you guys have on here, the last guy, Nelson Rose was the best of this particular show, imo because he REALLY knew what he was talking about, followed by the guy from Pokerati, (sorry can't remember his name) but this guy really didn't pull any punches and gave what I thought was the least biased outlook on things in general.

I've been researching all of this stuff all weekend long, looking everywhere I could for information and I still learned a ton of good stuff from this show, big thanks to you guys!

You guys asked that we give our feedback about your show going forward, for US players like myself, I kinda feel I'm in one of those movies where it's war time and I'm in an occupied area and there's a radio show broadcasting the good word from the free lands giving us hope that we might one day be free too. I feel like you guys are that lifeline for us, I hope that you can keep giving us updates about how this is gonna shake out for all of us in the long run, not that I won't try to dig up all the info I can on my own, but you guys provide extra insight that's invaluable.

BTW, there's a cool thread that you guys didn't mention, "The Time to Fight Back Thread". I would love if you guys can mention this on your next show and if you can somehow get it stickied across the site, that would be even better as we need to take advantage of the chance we have right now with so many players who are usually apathetic and who might be outraged enough right now to fight for their rights in this country: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...poker-1023883/

Thanks again, keep up the good work!

hmm.. the thoughts of that professor on the future of online poker are interesting. Surely a bit too negative, at least I hope so.

Im from EU and Im really wondering why one would think the games are getting that much harder now?

imo, the players from the US were most of the time decent/good players; All the knowledge/software/information comes out of the US. I mean, good luck finding a person from France, Italy, Spain, Greece who understands/speaks English well enough to get something out of a DC vid/post in a forum.

How is it that the same games allowed "in real world", are not allowed "in the online world" !?

Seems to me "online" and "real" are blended in with each other for some time now... (arent they dropping bombs on the other side of the world with a joystick, safe from home-base?! Isnt twitter/facebook an oficial news source nowadays?!)

can't wait to listen to this show, i think i may even not watch the canucks game and listen to this...well upon reflection, the canucks game it is, pokercase after

I had set my own line for show #168 as over/under 3:20.....

F***ing internet.
"Online Poker Players Flock to PartyPoker after Top 3 Poker Sites Seized by FBI" sounded like an interesting article.

Totally bogus. The douchebag who wrote it had also recently blogged the following:

"Royal Caribbean Cruises this Summer"
"Paintball Growing in Popularity Amongst Sports Enthusiasts"
"Weight Loss Diet Plan, Reducing Bloat for a Flatter Belly"

Hope he drowns in his 3rd cosmo at happy hour today.

F***ing internet.

Strategy segment definitely made me sad. Felt like getting hitting tips after you've been ruled out for the season with an injury.

Interesting article:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011...-winning-hand/

Might the French or Italians pull Stars/FTB licences in those countries as a result of Friday?

Thx for the great show guys. Definitely been bumming since Friday, and this helped. Was awaiting this show with great anticipation, and you did not disappoint.

Most hopeful guest was the professor guy at the end. He seemed very knowledgeable, and it was nice to hear he sees a silver lining. Todd Terry... not so much.

Here's hoping for brighter days to come for the poker community.