The roller coaster ride continues...

The DOJ knows it will probably lose in a court battle. stars might even get the case dismissed. So, they play the fugitive disentitlement card, so that if Scheinberg is the true owner of stars, he cannot win or get the case dismissed if he doesn't surrender to the authorities first. It's a strong card, because no one in their right mind would put the possibility of spending the rest of his life in a cage in the hands of 12 average citizens lightly. Hard to stand up and fight for what's right and face prison when you're a multi-millionaire and can spend the rest of your life in peace on your yacht in the Mediterranean eating cracked crab and having daily sex with 22 yr old woman.

Fact is, I don't think either side is all that eager for an actual trial. The DOJ's cases are weak, but the charges have teeth. As long as they can get people to admit guilt and pay big fines, they all get off with practically no time and a wrist slap. That's hard to say no to, even if you're 95% sure you'll win the trial. Cause if you do happen to lose, 25 to life is a long time.

pokerstars or "big" US site by WSOP 2013'. 6 months later Revolution will announce a software update and then 3 days before it comes out say it's not ready and push it back 4 more years. You heard it here first folks.

I really think that when feds legalize it, some new giant thing will happen, and it may not involve stars...I pulled up zyngas page, and on top it read '7,311,668 people played Zynga Poker today!'

I dont personally believe it, that seems outrageous..But if theres 1 million poker lovers in the closet, here in the US, then, theres gonna be a massive awesome player pool of non p5ers, non study-ers, like my dad who plays on 'pure' for free all day, "cause its legal" with his border patrol buddies..He likes playing "one big card, and one small card" strategy...
If we get the feds, we'll get some sick sites...Pscout says stars had 20k cash players yesterday? Thats small...stars schmars..just wait boys, its gonna jump off big, eventually..the question will be cost to us to play...

 

Originally Posted by Adam

Last post I think I more or less agree with in principle. Most current/former players have very limited perspective on the possibilities of how this will all play out. stars (or Stars and Tilt) isn't the be all and end all of "good poker." It's just the best we've seen so far

Stars is easily the best because that's what a free market has produced. Any "protected" market is going to produce inferior products that are inferior for the player. Look at any form of gambling and the chips always fall that way. Would you rather bet NFL games with 2% margins at Pinnacle (winners welcome), or 5% in Vegas (where winners are limited or banned). Would you rather bet a golf future at 5dimes getting 200-1, or play the same golfer in Vegas at 70-1 (home of 35%+ futures holds)? Would you rather bet a state lottery game where the state takes 40% of the money, or an offshore shop that takes 5-10% ?

You can even look at non-gambling related products and see the same examples. Look at prescription drugs, one of the most "protected" markets there is. A bottle of drugs that costs $7,000 in the US, can be purchased in the same quantity and quality at licensed pharmacies in other countries for $800. But the FDA is "regulating" and making sure your drugs are safe. Odd how so many former high ranking FDA officials get nice paying executive jobs at the same companies they are "regulating", isn't it?

What we really need is someone in the online poker business to have the courage to fight the DOJ in court, and then a judge and jury to have the courage to actually interpret the law, which is that they have been doing nothing illegal all this time, and that there are constitutional limits to what powers the Federal government have regarding the free exchange of money.

Want to know the best way to free up online gambling? Take away the Federal governments unconstitutional monopoly over money supply. The only reason the UIGEA works at all is the Federal Reserves relationship with the government. Free up competition in money, and the government loses most of it's power. If the government could no longer freeze a bank account, there wouldn't be a darn thing they could do to prevent free people from playing poker online where they want, and with who they want.

 

Originally Posted by shakhtar

stars is easily the best because that's what a free market has produced. Any "protected" market is going to produce inferior products that are inferior for the player. Look at any form of gambling and the chips always fall that way. Would you rather bet NFL games with 2% margins at Pinnacle (winners welcome), or 5% in Vegas (where winners are limited or banned). Would you rather bet a golf future at 5dimes getting 200-1, or play the same golfer in Vegas at 70-1 (home of 35%+ futures holds)? Would you rather bet a state lottery game where the state takes 40% of the money, or an offshore shop that takes 5-10% ?

You can even look at non-gambling related products and see the same examples. Look at prescription drugs, one of the most "protected" markets there is. A bottle of drugs that costs $7,000 in the US, can be purchased in the same quantity and quality at licensed pharmacies in other countries for $800. But the FDA is "regulating" and making sure your drugs are safe. Odd how so many former high ranking FDA officials get nice paying executive jobs at the same companies they are "regulating", isn't it?

What we really need is someone in the online poker business to have the courage to fight the DOJ in court, and then a judge and jury to have the courage to actually interpret the law, which is that they have been doing nothing illegal all this time, and that there are constitutional limits to what powers the Federal government have regarding the free exchange of money.

Want to know the best way to free up online gambling? Take away the Federal governments unconstitutional monopoly over money supply. The only reason the UIGEA works at all is the Federal Reserves relationship with the government. Free up competition in money, and the government loses most of it's power. If the government could no longer freeze a bank account, there wouldn't be a darn thing they could do to prevent free people from playing poker online where they want, and with who they want.

Excellently said!!

Around 0% improvement from BF. Pure jigger!

With all this time that has passed the government could have already made millions or even billions by legalizing and regulating internet poker. Every month that passes is lost opportunity for them to collect gambling revenues in a huge untapped market (for the taxing and regulating).