Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Could D.C. be ground zero for American online poker?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-state-of-nova/post/news-for-degenerates-vol-2-dc-moves-closer-to-online-poker-md-stumbling-newt-rumbling/2012/01/24/gIQAXZ2UOQ_blog.html

Monday, January 23, 2012

Where have all the bloggers gone?

The first few months of my new job I went headfirst into work.

It's not unusual, I think, too be very eager when you start a new endeavor, and it's been fun to be back at the reporting game again. One day you're writing about a crime, the next a new business, the next a feature on a humanitarian. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Between commuting two hours a day while trying to sell a house, then selling the house and moving to storage, then buying a house and getting ready to move in...well, I've been preoccupied since the first of October.

We are finally settled into Decatur, having closed on our new home on Dec. 31. We moved in a couple of weeks ago and now my commute to work is about nine minutes.

Yes, I can breathe again!

It's also got me thinking how much I miss poker. I'm sure there are live games somewhere around here, but I am not at all in tune with the underground scene. (And I would be surprised to find an afternoon $2-$5 NLHE game with an average of $5K on the table, but I digress).

I still dabble online at World Sports Exchange, but I have to treat it like play money. If you haven't heard, they are at least $600K behind in paying players. That's just the known delinquent payments on the top sportsbook forum, Sportsbook Review. The nearly five figures they owe me, for example, would not be included in that total since I have not reported it to the forum. There's no telling how much they owe.

The good folks at WSEX claim they are behind because payment processors won't process enough money. I would say the smart money is on another Full Tilt situation where the till got raided and player accounts were not segregated. WSEX seems insolvent. Stay away. Stay far away.

I've taken some time lately to catch up with some of my favorite bloggers. Unfortunately, they seem to be more scarce online than even me! It's sad to see many who haven't posted in at least six months. Perhaps the worse sight of all was going to alcanthang.com and finding a Go Daddy placeholder page. Oh, the humanity!

The temporary death of American online poker seems to have scattered the online poker blogger community too. Both will be back in time. I just hope Congress comes to its senses and creates federal legislation before we have a patchwork of intrastate poker from sea to shining sea. Besides, can you imagine Alabama online poker? Yeah, me neither...