After what should have been the greatest moments of their careers, John Juanda and Jennifer Harman as well as the inductee panel of players in poker hall of fame are all experiencing the wrath and disappointment of the very massive and vocal international poker community.
The POH announced yesterday the new inductees from a list of deserving nominees including; Carlos Mortensen, Bruno Fitoussi, Chris Bjorin, David Chiu and Max Pescatori. For most of these nominees this was their second or third nomination except for Pescatori who is a newcomer on the list. Other renowned poker players that were nominated for poker’s highest honor were Matt Savage and the late Terry Rogers.
It will however seem that the biggest disappointment to the International poker community was the exclusion of the late David ‘devilfish’ Elliot from the inductee process. The professional player sadly passed away earlier in April this year which sparked a number of poker campaigns all gunning for his inclusion into the 2015 poker hall of fame nominee list and ultimately to win the induction. The campaigns run over social media platforms and even the 2015 World Series of poker to give first time nominee Elliot a big push closer to being one of the selected inductees.
When PHOF announced the names of the new inductees yesterday, a few members of the international poker community took to social media platforms to express their outrage and disapproval. One such person is European Poker Tour founder John Duthie who stated on Facebook, “No non U.S poker player should even consider accepting a nomination to the WSOP hall of fame (note the bastardization of the POKER hall of fame name, which has been in existence since 1979). I have the greatest respect for both Harman and Juanda and their selection are understandable, but the WSOP need to take a serious look at the whole process.”
Ex-Hendon Mobster Joe Beevers took to his blog to express his ire over Elliot’s exclusions with a blog post with the title, “When is a hall of fame not a hall of fame?” In his blog, Beevers stated that there was a possibility that Elliot’s vote was split with Rogers who is the CEO of Irish Poker Open. Beevers then proceeded to state, “There are zero living non-Americans in the Poker Hall of Fame and the only non-American name I can see in the list (now) of 50 is Edmond Hoyle who was inducted in 1980 (he died in 1769). Sounds like they have a fair system here with no bias whatsoever, right?”
Finally Warren Lush, former head of consumer public relations at Bwin Party took to Facebook and said, “The results of the North American Poker Hall of Fame (once again an insult to the institution) are out,”. Lush then proceed to give a link to the WSOP announcement.
To a certain extent majority of the international poker community has a right to be angered with the poker hall of fame processes. For started while the nomination list is put to a public vote, while the actual voting for the inductees is a bit clouded. In the past, an equal number of media representatives and living hall of famers were allowed to vote, however, for this year’s induction process there are claims that the number was a bit tilted in increasing favor of hall of fame members and less media representatives. Then there is the argument that the number of people on the panels carrying out the induction process is too few and need to be expanded. Again there is the issue of lack of transparency in the entire process which explains the lack of international players in the poker hall of fame.
Bottomline, all these perfectly reasonable arguments need to be addressed quickly by the poker hall of fame.
Picture this scenario, I take all the money that is in your pocket, you would probably feel and maybe be furious that I have taken all your money. In other words, you would feel like you have lost something. But what if I took 70% of the money that is in your pocket, would you still feel like you have lost something or feel like you have ‘won’ the remaining 30%? And what if I managed to convince you that you have actually ‘won’ in this case by putting on some happy music laced with fire cracking sounds?
It is this kind of notion that has compelled Australian law firm, Maurice Blackburn to propose a legal action suit against poker machine operators. The suit claims that the people operating the machines are deceiving and misleading clueless gamblers into continually using their machines despite the fact that they are ‘losing’.
Section 18 of Australian consumer law prohibits deceptive and misleading conduct. The key way to assess this is to determine whether said conduct is indeed deceptive and misleading bearing in mind all circumstances surrounding said conduct. To test out this theory, you need to identify both the targeted consumer and the conduct. And in this scenario the targeted consumers are the gamblers or more specifically armature gamblers or the more addicted gamblers.
Maurice Blackburn has also identified the misleading conduct in this case which is a technique that has been dubbed ‘losses disguised as wins’. This is a situation whereby the poker player bets on many lines and even a minor win on any one of those lines set off a chorus of happy music and images that indicate a ‘win’ when in actual sense the player has lost more than he or she has won.
Using The Law Against Poker Machines
The beauty of consumer law is that it employs common sense to answer most of the questions. One such common sense question that would be brought up in court is; If there is a minor win and the poker machine responds with chiming music and flashing graphics indicating a win, would an average amateur gambler regard this as a win despite the fact that they have actually lost money?
In further support of this suit, close attention to detail by the poker player and in turn realizing their error the judgment doesn’t apply in this case. Why? Well because humans are known to behave irrationally and most times we tend to make decision based on the opinions that we form around a particular conduct be it good or bad in actual reality. So, in this case for instance, Maurice Blackburn could argue that armature gamblers are distracted by the flashy graphics and happy music so much so that they pay less attention to their credit.
Other cases that have been argued out in court using the same idea include the TPG Internet case of 2013. The court found TPG guilty of misleading its consumers by putting up an advert which offered unlimited ADLS2+ for meager price of $29.95 when in actual sense this offer was only available to clients who had a bundle broadband and a home phone service. TPG had included this detail in their advert but it was displayed less prominently compared to the flashy deal.
The Argument
So how does Maurice Blackburn plan to argue out the losses disguised as win technique in court? Well, their argument might revolve around recent Canadian research which revealed that the music and accompanying flashy images displayed on poker machines often trigger the same arousal levels in armature gamblers as actual wins and it’s no secret that arousal is central in nourishing gambling behavior.
In fact, the Poker Tournament being held in Malta began Tuesday, 20th and is set to end on Saturday, 31st this month. Malta is a fascinating archipelago within the Mediterranean Sea, and the poker tournament just adds to the inflow of visitors into the island this season. Of course, it is not the first time Malta is hosting a poker competition of this magnitude, and the surrounding areas like Sicily in Italy are bound to benefit economically from this tournament.
This repeat hosting of the tournament by Malta goes to show that besides players and fans of poker loving the venue, the state laws are also appealing. It means that Malta is a place where betting enthusiasts can engage in poker without worrying about breaking any state poker law or other related poker law.
For yet another time, Malta is working closely with the Italian Poker Tour to ensure effective promotion of the event, successful hosting, and generally great experience for the poker fraternity. The specific town hosting the tournament is St. Julian’s, which is popularly known for its vibrant nightlife, actually beating even Malta’s official capital, Valletta. So, after enjoying Malta’s beautiful greenery in the day, poker players and fans can take time off to relax in St. Julian’s’ many clubs, some of which may have facilities for online poker and other gambling activities. There is also no shortage of restaurants as well as cafes in the town and that makes the place great for hosting a big function intended to attract throngs of poker lovers. There are a good number of bars too.
What Makes This Year’s Venue Suitable?
First of all, the venue happens to be the Portomaso Casino – all modern and elegant. Nobody in the poker fraternity can doubt the suitability of this casino considering it is one of the renowned places in the world and has been known to successfully host events of equal magnitude before. Another factor that puts the Portomaso ahead of others in suitability is its proximity to the Hilton, Malta; the place considered the official EPT hotel.
Gladly, there are no state laws restricting entry into Malta, and as for the poker tournament itself, any visitor who has attained the maturity age of 18yrs is welcome. When it comes to locals – the Maltese – the law of the land allows them entry into such venues when they have attained the age of 25yrs. Any person trying to gain entry into the Portomaso for the poker tournament is required to show valid identity first. And as for the dress code, it is liberally casual as sportswear is also acceptable.
Convenience of Transactions
The Portomaso Casino is providing currency exchange services at rates issued by the Forex Exchange Bureau. As such, participants in the poker tournament need not worry about buying Euros, Malta’s official currency, beforehand. The currencies well catered for in this regard include the Australian dollar; the Canadian dollar; the US dollar; the British pound; the Danish Krone; the Swiss Franc; the Japanese yen; the Israeli New Shequel; the Norwegian Krone; and the Swedish Krona.
And as a mark of further friendliness within the poker fraternity, if there is need for a patron to receive a cash refund at the casino, it is possible to get it in the original currency and at the same rate initially used. Of course, this is possible if the refund is being made within a period before banking is done. Understandably, the recipient of the cash, whether a poker player or poker fan, will need to show the original receipt.
Recent poker news posted on CardsChart reveal that the Global Poker league might be having a few legal woes. CardsChart’s Jon Sofen also suggested in his article that GPL may not be such a popular event with global poker players as Global poker Index CEO Alexander Dreyfus hyped it out to be.
Sofen who dubbed Dreyfus as a ‘controversial businessman’ described GPL as an innovative event whose primary intention is to ‘sportify’ the game this way in order to make it more alluring to the non-poker playing audience.
For this year’s GPL tournament, private investors have put up a whopping $5 million. The event will host 12 international poker teams picked from different cities sprawled out across the globe. Each team will have 5 poker players who will be picked out in drafts and it will run through for 14 weeks. Each team having its own manager will battle it out in a stadium and all the games will be fully televised with accompanying commentary.
In his defense, Dreyfus strongly believes that GPL tournament will salvage poker from its slowly decaying glory and rejuvenate it as a fun and intense game. However, given the circumstances of the event and all the fine lines that Dreyfus alleges to put the spank back in poker, most would arguably view this event as more of a gambling forum as opposed to a pure old fashioned game of poker.
It may seem that Dreyfus’s enthusiasm to up the poker game ratings might have blinded him to a few legal issues. Since players on the team will each receive a salary during the season, Dreyfus could argue that GPL is not a gambling ring and everyone is getting paid what they are owed. However, according to US poker laws, games that are hosted outside of licensed establishments are deemed illegal hence gambling. While Dreyfus still maintains that he is doing everything within the law, many beg to differ with him on this. Should the US law enforcement find that the GPL does not conform to the rules and regulations set, the league will have to be cancelled for further investigations.
To add salt to an injury, the timing for GPL tournament couldn’t be worse seeing as the Daily Fantasy Sports Industry is under investigation for allegedly hosting gambling games. However, DraftKings and FanDuel have vehemently denied these accusations saying that the list of fantasy sports are not included in the banned gambling games listed out in the poker laws. Moreover, Nevada has recently officially banned fantasy sports websites from running without proof of a license which leaves room for the federal government to step in at any given moment and declare fantasy sports as indeed gambling games. Imposing more scrutiny on the GPL, the federal government might even rule that running that entire league is against the law.
To make matters worse, Dreyfus is not a popular figure in the poker world. Part of the reason why poker players are not fond of him is because his formula for ranking players in the Global player index is often thought to be unfair. And for a few other players they just don’t like Dreyfus and there is no apparent reason for their dislike for the man. Bottomline, Dreyfus has his work cut out for him. Not only does he have to convince law enforcement agencies that his league is indeed legit and law-abiding, but he has to gain the trust and goodwill of the entire poker community. One cannot do without the other, otherwise the entire league will come crumbling down.
Contrary to the common notion, winning at online gambling is no easy feat. One might have come across dozens of advertisements claiming easy and even guaranteed wins of thousands of dollars. These advertisements are not only seen online or on billboards. One even comes across friends and acquaintances who speak of opportunities of making millions overnight.
Rather than being lulled into these false ploys, one should take a moment to assess the facts. Talking about facts, even these are unknown to most. Marketing tactics ensure that people are left in the dark about the downsides and are only exposed to the wild promises of winning.
What really goes on?
There is a reason why there are a few handfuls of people winning and the majority losing. Online Gambling requires patience, it requires foresight; one needs to do their homework to place the proper bets with all due considerations. This applies to high stakes online gambling bets and not to placing a coin in a slot machine. There’s not much except luck and maybe striking the correct algorithm that gets a win there.
Getting your game on
With time comes experience and with experience comes knowledge, knowledge which distinguishes a professional from an amateur. This does not mean that a starting gambler should have a bad time just because he/she lacks experience. Apart from experience; following the basics count as well.
Know where the ceiling and bottom line lie
Getting carried away with online gambling is one of the biggest pitfalls one could encounter. Keeping oneself in check is of utmost importance. Having a limit on how much is enough is necessary in online gambling. It helps a person realize it is time to call it a day. With gambling one can earn a lot; losing isn’t limited either.
There is a saying: Anything found in abundance loses its value. This holds true for the wins made in gambling. Every game is an opportunity to win so the pleasure derived from it is short-lived. Set your upper limit. Once you reach it, leave. Or keep on playing and leave the moment you make your next loss. Don’t think, just leave. The action should be involuntary, mechanical.
Wrestle yourself out of your seat. Make it a matter of principal. With practice you’ll find this easier. Not only that but it’ll also leave you more relaxed and barely restless as is the issue with most gamblers.
This applies especially for the lower limit. Once you’ve lost up to the amount you have decided upon, it is time to leave. Don’t think the money can be won back through luck; that is for the geniuses sitting in front of slot games with no idea what will happen next.
Think clearly with nothing to cloud your judgment
Upon closer inspection it can be seen that online gambling is nothing more than applying the correct bet and having the requisite amount of money at that particular moment. To achieve this end stem the following points:
Good money management skills
Experience
Skills, know-how of the outcomes based on average trends and so on
Mentioned above are the basics that almost everyone knows about or practices in one way or another. However there is another point to add here; thinking clearly. Even experienced players are known to make insanely dumb moves at times. What is the reason behind it most of the time?
The shortcomings in every human
Losing is taken akin to a hit on a person’s self esteem. This triggers the basic instincts of a human to go on the defensive and even act aggressively; anything except remaining calm. Always think clearly. Never let your ego or any other thing for that matter get to you. Gambling at high stakes is akin to a profession; rather an investment. It demands the highest levels of professional and businesslike mindset. Do not take things personally for even a moment.
Gambling is rough. Sailing your boat on this sea; don’t go about expecting a luxury cruise. You will be tossed around like anything; not to mention the sharks surrounding you. However, follow the basics, make well calculated judgments and remain professional; success will find you in one way or the other.
Casinos are a fun place to hang out with friends on a weekend and chill there till whenever a person wants. Moreover, if a person is in some city that is famous for the casinos like Las Vegas then all one need to do is gather friends, be of legal age, grab some drinks and hit the casinos.
However, thanks to modern world today where a person can get everything while sitting in their home. It has reduced even the hassle of going out and playing in casinos due to the facility of online casinos.
Ease of playing
One can easily play at the comfort of their own home in a relaxed atmosphere in paradox to getting dressed up and hitting the casinos in person. An individual can play at any time of the day with a large number of people from all around the world sitting in their favorite spot with their favorite food or drink and favorite TV show running on the television in front of them. Hats off to online gambling! One can interact with other, socialize, and make new friends. This all has been possible just because of the modern technology that gave the world internet which further gave the gamblers online casinos!
Yes! There are certain risks
People think that online gambling will only make them rich which is not the case. The risk involved in playing online is same as gambling on the land. The games are same although rules and regulations may vary but other than that everything is almost same. There are also high risks of cheatings and frauds involved while playing online so one need to be really careful while playing online.
Despite all of that a person can also become rich if follows certain tips.
Keep it in mind; it should be the first priority to check the authenticity of the online gambling casino website. The casino website should be financially strong and strong to pay out reward its customers for their winnings frequently. Some websites also take the names of well known land based casinos but it does not mean they are associated or a part of it. Moreover, a genuine website must provide with a complaint and suggestions box at their website so that gamblers can report of any cheating that occurred with them.
An individual should make sure the website is accurate and authentic by playing some games as a test to check the reliability of the online gambling casino. Interact with the players already playing on the website to make sure that no cheating is involved and they are actual players. Write a suggestion or question to the website and wait for their reply. If the reply is prompt then one can rely on this website for gambling as it shows the owners concern towards to the customers.
Make a plan before playing. Gamble money on lower jackpots as they reward more frequently. However, one can also keep a balance between high rewarding jackpots and low rewarding jackpots so if the loses are faced in any one, there is another option but if money is lost in both jackpots then pure bad luck is involved and the gambler is certainly going into a shock.
A gambler should foremost set the limits; they should never cross a limited amount of money to gamble. Save for the rainy days rather than losing everything completely while online gambling. Keeping a limit will keep the bank roll going and if losses are faced everything will not go down the drain all together.
Do not let greed and lust invade a person’s mind and heart. The mind might say no but the heart will keep pushing a person to bet more. A person might win but the probability of losing is also the same. Make sure a person leaves the greed and lust outside the casino and then enter inside. If a player is ahead of others then it is best to quit rather than keep betting and probably lose everything won on that particular trip to the casino.
Well, everything comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages and certainly becoming rich is not that easy. If only by online gambling, people became rich then every single person would be doing that rather than working hard and struggling to earn and support themselves and their families.
