NY Times Article - Online Poker (very long)

[QnA]

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if a foul-out is deflected away by a fan allowing another team to make the world series....oh never mind.


[/ QUOTE ] [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[Sloats]

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gambling includes all games in which chance outweighs skill

[/ QUOTE ] That means poker is in the clear. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]


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Mr. Dreifach said, gambling includes all games in which chance outweighs skill. "I don't know about you," he said, "but for most of us, poker is certainly a game of chance."

[/ QUOTE ] Playing poker, without knowlegde, is no more a game of chance than is playing the stock market, without knowledge. Hard work and research in both can lead to profits. After all Ben is clocking 10 hour shifts in order to make his money, and sleeping 5 hours a night. That doesn't describe a profitable life due to dumb luck. In fact Ben's life sounds a lot like the lives of Internet stock traders.

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I don't think the mass poker players should be punished for the lack of self-control a few people.

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*COUGH* Prohibition *COUGH* Lawsuits against McDonalds because of Supersize *COUGH*

[QnA]

It's only a 25 cents more for twice as many fries and more soda than I can drink? I'LL TAKE IT!!! [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Who can resist a deal like that? [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[TTMAN]

"As a result of the pressure, several large media operations - including Infinity Broadcasting, Clear Channel Communications and the Discovery Networks - have stopped running advertisements for offshore Internet casinos."

I've seen adds on Fox Sports for Party Poker.

Good work.

[Bubbagump]

Thanks for posting this article MAC.

Is there anybody on this site with a legal backround that can offer any insight on what the chances are that legislation banning on-line gambling (specifically poker) will get passed any time soon?

Thank again.

Bubbagump

[Poker Jet]

Game Show Network's airing Golden Palace ads, so yes as soon as one says no another says yes ;-)

[DanTheCardMan]

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What about baseball for example? Only a few teams a year win more than 60% of their games. Doesn't this mean chance outweighs skill in baseball?

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There's a saying in baseball that you're going to win 1/3 of the games and lose 1/3 of the games. It's the 1/3 of the games in the middle that determine your season. So there's an element of "luck" (or more likely variance because the highest skilled players in general are playing), but it's the element of skill which really determines how the season will wind up.

[Prickly Pete]

What you guys are saying though is there is some element of luck when athletic teams are of similar skills. Even the D-Rays beat the Yankees sometimes since they are close skill-wise. It's the 162-game schedule that pushes the more-skilled teams ahead.

But try to get 24 of your friends together to take on either of these teams. You will go 0-162 no matter how lucky you are.

That's why sports like this are clearly games of skill. It's a lot harder to explain to the moron politicians how poker is skill when the Varkonyis and Moneymakers can beat the best in the world in poker's biggest tourney.

[curtains]

Once again, I know the people involved in the article and most of the information depicted is simply false. Ben does NOT play 10 hours a day or anything remotely close to it. Jimmy and Ben play almost exactly the same limits, although sometimes Ben plays 30-60.
Ben is also upset that the article depicts him as some sort of criminal. Anyway Id say that the both of them don't play more than 5 hours a day, on average, if that much.

[MicroBob]

"Game Show Network's airing Golden Palace ads, so yes as soon as one says no another says yes ;-)"

in the NVG forum another poster and i commented on these ads that ran during the WSO-BJ and we both notived that they never mentioned 'real money' or anything like that in the ads. it was just an ad for 'i learned to play BJ like a pro at goden palace'.
obviously the golden palace people are hoping anyone who goes to the site will consider playing for real dough.....but they make absolutely no mention of that option in the ad.

kind of a fine-line....but an interesting one nonetheless.

many of the ads on tv for party and stars would say things like 'win real money and seats to the WSOP' or stuff like that.


my dad knows virtually nothing about poker but has become interested in my success in it.
here are his comments:

"Thanks for the article. If Spitzer wants to shut down something that is truly a game of chance he should start with the various lotteries. Clearly many poor people play the lottery and the odds of winning of course are outlandish."

at the casino where i work i had a player recently who said he used to drive 8 hours to a state where the lottery was legal and buy $1000 worth of scratch-offs.