Poker News @ ICUFISH

Yes, we may have taken a long break, but we needed it. After all the turkey that was consumed on Thursday, we couldn’t get off the couch of two days. Good thing we had some online poker and football to keep us occupied. We’re back at it this week…

Last Friday, a thread popped up in Poker Discussion entitled “Tough ‘Life Decision,’ need some quick answers.” In it, PocketFiver Matt MDG0RD0N Gordon lamented over whether to travel to Australia to participate in the PokerStars-sponsored Asia Pacific Poker Tour (APPT) Sydney event or go to class and adhere to the wishes of his family. It’s a situation similar to ones that other poker players have faced in their lives. So what did Gordon do? Did he decide to cross the Pacific or remain in New York?

PocketFives.com: Now that you’ve had a chance to weigh all of your options, what have you decided? Will you be traveling to Sydney or going to class?

Gordon: I just had to weigh all of the factors like anything else. I took some heat for creating the thread from several posters, saying how asking a bunch of poker randoms isn't the answer and how I'm too immature and all of that. Of course, I wasn't and never intended to make the decision simply based on a bunch of responses, but I wanted to hear opinions from people of all ages and backgrounds, which is exactly what I got. I was pleasantly surprised to get [so many] responses.

I feel I have more to lose than just missing six days of class, which is a result of the people who have the largest investment in my life saying that missing a week of school is just too important. I’ve proven that I can win seats to big events and I'll have a chance to travel around and play cards at a later, more appropriate time.

PocketFives.com: Why did you enter the APPT Sydney satellite if there was a chance that you might not be able to go?

Gordon: It was a 50,000 FPP satellite that I'd been eyeing for a few days predicting an overlay. PokerStars confirmed in an e-mail that they didn't even expect 60 runners. Since I figured there was going to be a ton of added value, I sold off some action and asked my father what he thought. In the original post in the thread, I put what he said, which was that he wouldn't let me fly around the world to play tournaments and miss a week of school. I didn't think he'd actually hold himself to that and tell me to burn the package.

PocketFives.com: Live tournaments aside, how will you continue to improve and expand your poker game?

Gordon: It's going to be tough, especially since I don't have the support from my grandmother, who is paying for my tuition. My parents understand that it's a skill game, although they had me work two part-time jobs this summer because they didn't like the idea of me gambling for an income. I suppose if I can balance school with poker and life, things will work themselves out.

I'm a sit and go grinder at the moment, looking to dabble in cash games and multi-table tournaments soon. It's a catch 22 because I don't have the freedom to make all of my own decisions since I'm still financially dependent on my parents and grandmother. To get there, though, I'd have to support myself via poker, which would hurt my performance in school.

PocketFives.com: What’s your degree in? What are your plans after graduation?

Gordon: I'm a math and statistics major. I'm not sure what my plans are exactly. My father runs his own business and is successful. I want to follow in his footsteps, but I don't really want to work the standard nine to five job that others do. For now though, things have to change and I have to balance poker with my schoolwork and college activities better. Hopefully, I can buckle down and see what I can do well in.

PocketFives.com: Tell us how you got started in poker.

Gordon: I played in small $5 cash games in eighth grade with friends and later put some money online. I lost it, but got better by reading books, finding the forums, talking to others about poker, and putting some more time in online. I haven't really looked back.

Check out the original thread in Poker Discussion and feel free to weigh in on the discussion.

Last week, PocketFives.com member Jeff jshark4 Sharkey took home a Triple Crown after winning the Cake Poker $20,000 Guaranteed for over $5,000. The $162 buy-in tournament easily broke its guarantee and capped off a five-day Triple Crown run that also saw Sharkey final table a handful of other tournaments that are tracked for the PocketFives.com Online Poker Rankings. PocketFives.com sat down with Sharkey to recap his run.

His first Triple Crown leg came by virtue of winning the UB.com $30 rebuy on November 21st for nearly $3,000. The afternoon event drew much of his attention and he claimed, “UB is really weak, so I don’t really think there was much resistance there. I pretty much just 3bet on the final table bubble and built up a pretty good stack.” Around the bubble on UB.com, the $40,000 Guaranteed kicked off on Full Tilt Poker. On the $69 buy-in event, Sharkey recalled, “I wasn’t really focused much on the Full Tilt tournament because it was still really early and I was down to two tables on UB. I just put it on the other monitor and auto-piloted it.”

Sharkey was short-stacked in the Full Tilt Poker $40,000 Guaranteed from the final four tables down to 11 players remaining. He recalled that he sucked out twice right before the final table and entered with a top three stack. His win was worth $8,400 and set up a potential Triple Crown with one more qualifying victory: “I was really excited to try to get a Triple Crown. In fact, at the time I don’t think I even had any money on Cake Poker and traded some money around from the wins.” He won Cake Poker’s $6,000 Guaranteed for $1,500 the next day, but it did not qualify for a Triple Crown because its prize pool sagged below $10,000.

On both November 23rd and 25th, Sharkey final tabled the Cake Poker $20,000 Guaranteed for a combined payday of $7,500. His second effort, a win, was worth 150 PLB Points and earned him $5,000 alone. On the field that turned out for the tournament, Sharkey told PocketFives.com, “Cake Poker is kind of weak when events get deep. It seems that people raise/fold a lot more often on that site than on PokerStars or Full Tilt, so I was just 3betting a lot near the bubble and when I thought someone was weak.” Four-handed, he came over the top of a raiser pre-flop with A-10 offsuit for 25 big blinds and Andrew Chen made the call with pocket tens. An ace on the river saved Sharkey’s stack and propelled him to victory.

He was overjoyed to find himself on the list of Triple Crown winners: “I was really excited. I remember about a year and a half ago I was looking through the site and all of the Triple Crown winners. I wondered how in the world they could be that good to win three tournaments in a week when I had trouble just making the final table of one in a month.” He picked up 460 PLB Points in the process and a three-page thread developed congratulating Sharkey on his accomplishment.

A $5 debt from a friend earned him entry into a home game, setting up his poker career. He was taken to school the first time around, but he noted, “I’m kind of competitive, so I went home and tried to learn as much as I could so that the next time they played, I could show them.” He ultimately became backed by Mark dipthrong Herm and Dan djk123 Kelly in February. Sharkey explained, “I started out in mid-stakes and after a few good scores, they allowed me to move up to the bigger buy-ins. That whole group has helped me immensely with my poker game: Herm, Kelly, Jamie pokerjamers Armstrong, Benson BBOY3110 Nikkerson (pictured at left), shanetrain22, Gags30, and 99NvrLosez.”

Also helping his cause is his girlfriend, fellow PocketFives.com member Julie JRisk17 Risk (pictured at top with Sharkey). Backed by 99NvrLosez and Nikkerson, Risk has seen her presence online grow. In September, she took down the PokerStars $25,000 Guaranteed for $5,600, about the same amount that she earned for trumping the field of the Full Tilt $21,000 KO Guaranteed.

Check out the full list of PocketFives.com Triple Crown winners.

With poker at the center of our universe here at PokerNews, it’s often easy to overlook everything else going on in the gaming industry. If you’re as interested in all things gaming and casino as we are, you’ll enjoy the fruits of our research by…

As poker players gathered around their kitchen tables across the United States last week for a meal packed with friends, family, food, and football, officials from the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve were hard at work. The result was a seven-page breakdown outlining a six-month delay in compliance with the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which were scheduled to go into effect on December 1st. Now, the financial services industry has until mid-2010 to fall into line with the 2006 law.

Released to the general public last week was a lengthy discussion of why compliance with the regulations of the UIGEA, which were approved as midnight rules by the Bush administration, should be pushed back. Before announcing the delay, the Treasury and Federal Reserve noted that the agencies consulted with the Department of Justice.

Very simply, the UIGEA “requires non-exempt participants in designated payment systems to establish policies and procedures reasonably designed to identify and block or otherwise prevent or prohibit unlawful internet gambling transactions restricted by the Act,” according to the government entities. However, as online poker players are well aware, no definition of “unlawful internet gambling” was ever given. Instead, financial institutions were tasked with interpreting a contradicting web of state and federal laws.

In mid-September, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) teamed up with two horse racing organizations asking for a 12-month extension in the enforcement of the UIGEA regulations. The three groups, according to the Treasury and Federal Reserve, “cite the possibility of confusion regarding the term unlawful internet gambling.” The confusion could allegedly result in overblocking, the now-common term that first cropped up when credit card companies trying to comply with the UIGEA were denying legal online lottery transactions in New Hampshire and North Dakota. Rather than tediously examine every transaction, companies like Visa and MasterCard simply prohibited anything that resembled unlawful internet gambling.

Several financial institutions added their two cents, including Wells Fargo, the American Bankers Association, the Credit Union National Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions. In the beginning of October, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA, pictured at right) was one of 19 lawmakers to urge a delay in regulation enforcement. The Treasury and Federal Reserve explained, “Several of these members of Congress stated that there is considerable interest in Congress in clarifying the laws underlying internet gambling, and that it would be prudent to defer the compliance date until Congress has had time to act.”

Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL, pictured at left) issued a letter of their own on November 3rd calling for the December 1st, 2009 compliance date to stand. Given the “speculative nature of the problems raised by petitioners,” Kyl and Bachus unsuccessfully argued that no delay should be granted. Both are staunch internet gambling opponents, with the latter serving as the Ranking Member of the House Financial Services Committee. Kyl was one of the main figures involved in passing the UIGEA three years ago; the bill was attached to an unrelated port security measure and not debated in the Senate.

At the end of the day, the extension became a reality: “The Agencies are thus persuaded that a limited extension of the compliance date for regulated entities is appropriate.” Although “neither petitioners nor commenters supporting the petition have provided the Agencies with sufficient data or documentation to justify a twelve-month extension of the compliance date,” a six-month reprieve was given. In the interim, sensible internet gambling legislation may be debated and ultimately passed.

On Thursday, the House Financial Services Committee, of which Frank is the Chair, will hear discussion of HR 2266 and HR 2267. The former, dubbed the Reasonable Prudence in Regulation Act, delays mandatory compliance with UIGEA regulations to December 1st, 2010 and is likely moot given last week’s extension. HR 2267, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, outlines a framework for licensed online gaming companies to solicit U.S. customers. Frank introduced both bills on May 6th.

Read the entire Treasury and Federal Reserve UIGEA decision.