Poker News @ ICUFISH

It’s a fresh new week and we’re back at it. Hope you caught up on last week’s news with The Week in Poker and you crushed the tables over the weekend. If you didn’t, check out the strategy section for some helpful hints.

Late last week, an article in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper revealed that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller had sided with the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result, online poker funds that were seized by the Southern District of New York belonging to Account Services will remain under guard until a criminal investigation of Douglas Rennick is completed. A total of $14 million was seized from Account Services in Union Bank and Wells Fargo branches in California. An August 21st hearing in the case was postponed indefinitely following Rennick’s indictment.

Interactive Media Entertainment and Gaming Association (iMEGA) Chairman Joe Brennan, who has been closely following the action in the Southern District of California, told PocketFives.com, “The reason why the judge postponed the hearing was to consider the request of the Justice Department. Federal judges have a lot of discretion. This is a very simple case of a Federal judge deferring to law enforcement. It’s unfortunate for the parties involved, but they’re on the losing end of something that’s fairly common.” The hearing was originally scheduled for August 14th before being pushed back to the 21st.

Account Services’ lawyer, Michael Pancer, told PocketFives.com that his client plans to appeal in the near future: “We are planning to appeal to the Ninth Circuit. We will file the notice of appeal this week.” In July, Account Services filed a motion for return of property, namely $14 million that it claims was unlawfully seized by the Southern District of New York as a result of a warrant application sworn to by FBI Special Agent Dana Conte. In the case of the Union Bank account, it argued, the funds were seized around June 12th, while the associated warrant was not issued until 12 days later.

Rennick is a Canadian citizen and is presumably still in his home nation. When he will surrender to or settle with U.S. authorities is anyone’s guess. He was indicted on bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling charges and faces up to 55 years behind bars. On Rennick’s future, Brennan speculated, “That remains to be seen. Rennick may contest his criminal indictment, which everyone assumes he’s not going to, but nobody has heard from Rennick. He may be completely innocent of what they’ve charged him with.” The Department of Justice is also seeking the return of funds obtained as a result of his actions. Rennick was allegedly a signer on Account Services’ holdings.

Among those who rallied in support of Account Services’ motion for return of property was the Poker Players Alliance (PPA), which submitted an amicus brief in the case. The 1.2 million member strong lobbying group argued in its brief that poker is a game of skill and therefore falls outside the boundaries of illegal gambling. Whether or not that is a true statement seems to be on hold for the time being in California, which has seen movement for legalized intrastate online poker in recent months. Marc Zwillinger, whom the Union-Tribune claims represents the players, told the newspaper, “It seems the government switched gears and they seem to have done it to specifically avoid the question of whether online gambling violates federal law.”

Shortly after Rennick was indicted, Account Services submitted a reply brief to Judge Miller noting, “The government’s argument is based upon the premise… that ASC is Mr. Rennick’s ‘alter ego.’ Such an allegation is not only contrary to law… but surreptitiously would allow the government to criminally forfeit ASC’s accounts without having to obtain a grand jury indictment.” The company asserts that Rennick’s criminal investigation could take months, or even years, to complete.

Online poker players affected by the Southern District of New York’s actions were reimbursed and, in some cases, issued cash bonuses by the sites for their troubles. Brennan explained, “The poker playing community has been affected. They have every right to be upset, but it’s my understanding that most, if not all, of the affected players have been compensated. They’ve had their accounts credited and have had bonuses tacked on. Players have been inconvenienced, but they were not injured in the long-term.” Conte’s warrant application identifies Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars by name as doing business with Account Services in 2008 and 2009.

Stay tuned to PocketFives.com for the latest in the Account Services online poker funds seizure.

This week on the G4 online poker show “2 Months, $2 Million,” four online poker players challenged the cast in football, nightlife, and, of course, poker. The contenders included Andrew luckychewy Lichtenberger, Steve Zugwat Silverman, Aaron aejones, Jones, and Daniel Starkey Starkey. The “2 Months, $2 Million” crew consists of Emil Patel, Jay Rosenkrantz, Brian Roberts, and PocketFives.com member Dani ansky451 Stern. The show airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm ET and replays throughout the week on the cable station.

Stern opened the challenge by commenting on his competition: “Andrew is luckychewy. It’s because when he was younger, he used to always eat chewy granola bars.” Lichtenberger (pictured at left) is 21 years-old and already owns $754,000 in earnings from World Series of Poker (WSOP) tournaments, including an 18th place showing in the Main Event this year for $500,000. On Starkey, Stern remarked, “Starkey plays lower stakes games from the rest of us, but he’s ferocious.” Silverman a former Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) event winner, received the following scouting report from Stern: “He’s a feared online poker player.”

The first squad to score seven touchdowns was declared the winner of the football portion of the challenge. Stern logged consecutive defensive scores in a Brian Urlacher-like performance and also recorded a receiving touchdown to catapult the “2 Months, $2 Million” crew to a 7-4 victory over Jones’ house on the field.

Silverman (pictured at right) sought revenge for the football loss by playing against Rosenkrantz heads-up online. Rosenkrantz explained, “Zugwat’s really good. He’s 21 and he’s already made millions.” Rosenkrantz was quickly down $40,000 for the week in large part due to Silverman’s play. Later on in the episode, Rosenkrantz’s setbacks on the virtual felts continued, as he suffered losses in Omaha at the hands of ROCK_ET_MAN and GON3INW1ND. On the latter, he commented, “He’s one of the top five players I’ve ever played heads-up.”

Rosenkrantz’s losses at the tables and Roberts’ girlfriend in town meant that only Stern and Patel participated in the nightlife challenge, which emanated from Ghostbar on top of the Palms in Las Vegas. The scoring was based on getting a girl to buy you a drink, getting a girl to do five pushups, and getting a girl to take off her panties. Lichtenberger’s charm, which included telling a girl, “Don’t roll your eyes. You’re a cute girl, but when you roll your eyes, you look like you’re 40,” was enough to win the challenge. He triumphantly convinced a girl to remove her panties, knotting up the house versus house challenge at one apiece.

Fittingly, the poker competition would determine the ultimate winner. The best of three heads-up sit and gos featured Rosenkrantz against Silverman in the first pairing. Rosenkrantz won the opening game after his A-K held up against A-2. Silverman emerged victorious in the second and third matches, however, giving the “Away” team a 2-1 edge. Then, Roberts squared off against Lichtenberger, with luckychewy also taking down two of the three games to give the opposing house a 4-2 lead.

Stern (pictured at left) then faced Jones, who promptly won the first match when his pocket nines held up against Stern’s pocket sevens to give the contenders a 5-2 lead. Facing a seemingly insurmountable deficit, Stern won two straight, pulling the “2 Months, $2 Million” cast to within one game of a tie. Patel defeated Starkey in two straight match-ups to take a 6-5 lead, but Starkey rallied to force overtime. In the final match, whose participants were determined by a random draw, Roberts defeated Jones two games to none, forcing Jones’ crew to clean the “2 Months, $2 Million” house.

When the totals were revealed for the week, the cast had suffered a major setback despite their win against Jones and company. Roberts dropped $4,000, Stern was $33,000 in the hole, and Rosenkrantz was down $80,000. Patel, meanwhile, won $32,800 during the week, but it was not enough to offset his housemates’ major losses. All told, the “2 Months, $2 Million” team was down $84,200 on the week for a three-week earnings total of $114,400. The $2 million goal remains, although a large amount of ground must be made up.

Next week, the preview explains, “The guys declare war on French poker legend David Benyamine. They’re gunning for his money, his respect, and his girl.” Benyamine is engaged to fellow poker pro Erica Schoenberg. “2 Months, $2 Million” airs at 9:00pm ET on Sundays on G4.

Notes sent out by banks in August serve as a warning about the overblocking that could be coming in December, when the penalties established by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act go into

Our fearless foursome encountered some serious distractions on this week’s episode of 2 Months. 2 Million, which found them challenging another quartet of poker players to a three-pronged prop bet.