[whiskeytown]

still gotta block every IP and every route. And if Costa Rica's only path is thru the US, I highly doubt the US could allow traffic to pass thru to other countries without it also being accessible to US residents....that would be one hell of an access list that I doubt ISP's could do.

As for myself, I'd go thru an anonymous proxy somewhere offsite from the US and hop into Costa Rica from there...


Without a doubt, they'd take a beating, but there's so much international business now, and I don't know for sure but I DOUBT Costa Rica's only path is in thru the US, and if the US did block it you know they'd find another way to get internet service to the island. That's one of their biggest revenue streams at this point.

and if Costa Rica wouldn't do it, the Pokersites would relocate somewhere outside Costa Rica where the US can only block traffic going into it's country, and not cut off the whole world. There's already a couple in the UK, right?

It would definately deter the average player...but as I can think in the world of a network engineer, some of us would find a way around it. There would be a FAST migration out of Costa Rica and some governments would be more then welcome to take them in and then we gotta block THEM too.

and I once thought the inability to use credit cards and the fear of technology would limit online poker's growth. Boy was I wrong....online poker players will find ways to adapt.

It won't be 2500 players at Pokerstars for the $215 but it won't be the death of online poker - not by a long shot.

And as Desertcat said, there are legal challenges.

But if you're asking can the US technologically do it? -I really don't think so...there will be hacks/loopholes/ and other ways to get around it -

RB