With the final table of the WSOP right around the corner, ESPN is taking advantage of the fact that one of the biggest names in poker will be competing for the first prize……Phil Ivey. If you are a poker player, you already know who he is. If not, you will know of him soon.
He will be on the cover of ESPN Magazine and will also be featured on ESPN’s show, E:60, set to air on November 3rd. Below is a behind-the-scenes look into the E:60 episode; which I, for one, am looking forward to.
Apparently there is a link between online poker and child abuse. What a joke! Some people really just don’t get it. For more info on the legality of online poker check out the PPA’s Website.
Watch this hand and make any kind of judgements you want. But know that this is a cash game. When the commentators are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars, they aren’t tournament chips, but it is true cash value.
What would you do if you were Dwan?
What would you do if you were Eastgate?
What would you do if you were Greenstein?
At first you might ask why in the world would Eastgate or Greenstein fold such big hands to such a loose player. Then you might say how lucky Dwan was with just pure aggression, and he might not have even known how strong his opponents’ hands were.
….But did you notice how Dwan, at the end of the hand knew exactly where he stood in the hand and even made a side bet with Doyle Brunson (I believe) about who had the best hand (Eastgate).
So Dwan knew exactly where he was in the hand, and went with his read that he could get the others off their hands.
Eastgate was worried about his kicker. But I will never be sure as I can’t get the information directly from him.
But we can get the information directly from Greenstein as his recently talked about it on PokerRoad. Follow the link below to get an idea of how a world class poker player dissects a hand.
Tips from the Bear.
50 minutes, that is what the latest 60 minutes show should have been called. It really would have saved the show if they had just dropped this 10 minute segment on online poker.
First, let me say that online poker is not illegal in the US at this point in time though 60 minutes claims this to be the case. There is no law currently in place that makes the act of gambling online illegal, two laws that remotely come close to this is the old wire act established to prohibit people from making sports bets over the phone. The other is the UIGEA, or Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act. This act makes it harder for one to withdrawal and deposit funds onto sites associated with online gambling. But again, there is no law in place that says one can not play online poker.
I was really disappointed by this 60 minutes piece. Not only did they say that online poker was illegal, when this is not the case, but for an investigative report they seemed to have done 0 investigating (driving by a couple of buildings is not investigating). All of the information that was brought forward was already known by the poker community. All they did was put it in the lime light.
At no point through this segment did they mention other supposed scandals of the past, the UIGEA, or the PPA. They also left out some interviews with people like Greg Raymer, the ’04 World Series of Poker champ.
This truly was a lack of good investigative reporting and it makes me wonder how credible the other pieces they air are. If they continually get facts incorrect and leave out key information, then the show has lost all credibility in my eyes.
I realize that I will have a bias point of view when it comes to online poker, but I am trying to be as neutral as possible. I knew all this information before it aired. I just thought they would at least get the facts straight or bring in some new information into this black-eye scandal for online poker.
I also want to add, Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet are the ones behind this scandal. There are other places to play that are much better in terms of security and customer opinions. Two that come to mind right away are Pokerstars and Full Tilt, both the more popular sites for American online poker players.
Well, the day is finally here. The much talked about 60 Minutes (CBS) piece will air this Sunday. It will involve the cheating scandals at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet amongst other online-poker-related topics.
I for one can not wait to watch it. I know it will do some immediate damage to the online poker industry, but hopefully it can do some long term good. The hope is that this will open people’s eyes to the fact that online poker needs to become regulated by the US to prevent this exact type of thing from happening in the future.
There are plenty of other reasons why online poker should be legal and regulated, but for more info on that check out the Poker Players Alliance Website.
