Poker News: 15/05/09

Poker News: 06/05/09

This week 32Red Poker brings you the lastest poker news regarding the UIGEA, the London Poker Circuit and more. Read on and feel free to comment and add your views.

Could UIGEA be frozen soon?
UIGEA, the bill passed in the United States which made online poker illegal for Americans, could soon be frozen as US politician, Barney Frank, introduced a set of bills which could reverse the online gambling ruling in many states.

Frank said; “The government should not interfere with people’s liberty unless there is a good reason. This is, I believe, the single biggest example of an intrusion into the principle that people should be free to do things on the Internet. It’s clearly the case that gambling is an activity that can be done offline but not online.”

Frank proposes that the Department of the Treasury acts as the licensing and regulating authority and provides the consumer protections the gambling ban does not offer which includes; age and identification verification, responsible gaming systems, measures against money laundering and measures against cheating.

Alphonse D’Amato, chairman of the Poker Players Alliance, said; “Online poker is a legal, thriving industry and poker players deserve the consumer protections and the freedom to play, that is provided for in this legislation”.

Should UIGEA be over turned, or revised, as Frank suggests it could open the floodgates for online poker rooms to advertise to and accept American players once more. This is assumed to be true for all other forms of gambling as well. So the suspension of the UIGEA could see online casino and online bingo players welcomed back to the many online operators too.

London Poker Circuit sees low turn out 
Meanwhile, back in the UK, the London Poker Circuit main event saw a disappointing number of players stump up the £1000 buy-in for their showpiece event.  The invitational tournament came and went without much attention from the British poker playing public.  That may have been because all the players attending could only be invited by former Eastenders actor, Michael Greco, or veteran poker professional, Donnacha O’Dea.

If exclusivity was at the forefront of the event organiser’s minds then they certainly got what they wished for.  Lisa Hawkes eventually took the spoils in this low key poker tournament which featured only fifteen players.

Devilfish to speak at Oxford Union
Finally, we all know poker players are a brainy breed right?  Then it should come as no surprise to hear that the UK’s most famous poker player is to address the students at the Oxford Union.  Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott is to follow in the footsteps of Albert Einstein, Richard Nixon, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, The Dalai Lama and Ronald Reagan to talk about the game which made him famous, poker.

Ulliott said; “As a hard working graduate of the University of Life, it’s a real honour to be asked to speak at the Union where some of the great minds and talents of the last 200 years have gone before.”