RandyRants: PokerStars Blog Tourney: How'd I Do?

Randy No Arms' ongoing commentary on life, gaming, and the rest of the world.

PokerStars Blog Tourney: How'd I Do?

Rant: Monday, June 19, 2006 at 05:42 PM by Randy

I registered for the PokerStars blog tourney again this year... I did pretty bad then. You see, over last summer, I read a few books and sites to "improve" my style of play. Worst. Decision. Ever. Got all up in my head and over analyzing things... what's worse is that I play in a friendly game every week and a lot of the "normal" card tricks simply don't work there. Position raise someone while you have the button? You'll get four people that will call the raise and one that will come over the top on you. And if you've got Aces on the button, better hold on, because that 74o the big blind has will meet a 568 on the flop.

Sometime this year, I rebooted myself and went back to my own style of play... since then I've done much better. A month ago I accidentally left my sunglasses on - mirrored front and prescription lenses - and did very well. Seems that all those years of teaching my eyes to show emotion worked against me at the poker table. Or I've just been on a run of timely suck outs - I don't think so, though, since I've gone as long as 30 hands where the best hole cards I've seen at T9s.

Anyway, the real story of this years Tourney is what would happen if I did well and won a prize, seeing as online poker playing is now a Class C Felony in WA state...

Class C Felony? Yep, you heard right. Actually, if you're in state, you've already heard a lot about it. If you're not, the law states that playing poker online earns you the same charge that you'd get if you molested a child. Yep, you heard me right a second time.

What gives? I dunno.

Well, I think I do know. In WA we've got a few reservations hosting casinos. We've got a lot of bars that offer state-based pull tabs. We've got lotto and scratch tickets and all that. Obviously gambling isn't the problem. Usually. Every year there's a law on the ballots that would allow bars and/or other casinos/card rooms/bowling alleys to have slot machines. Every year it fails to pass. Every year, the reservation-based casinos lobby to fight the proposed law and, from their point of view, it's money well spent. The only place to find slot machines in WA is on a reservation casino.

With poker, it's a little different. All of the reservation casinos have poker rooms, but so do a lot of other places scattered throughout the state. Given the above example of successful lobbying, wouldn't it stand to reason that there would be a lot of proponents for anti-online poker legislation?

You better believe it.

And that's where the new law comes from. I guess it wasn't enough that online poker was already on the books as illegal. They had to escalate the level of punishment that the crime carries. Online betting of other kinds? Totally legal. It's just online poker that carries this sentence. Additionally, a few other web sites that offer poker advice, rules, and the like, they have been targeted by the government as well. They've been threatened with prosecution if they don't remove the poker related content.

When pressured for an explanation, the WA government has stated that they are trying to protect their citizens.

What. A crock. Of shit.

I mean, honestly: are we expected to believe that? Really? The government is concerned about "poorly run" card rooms, meaning dirty online casinos that will allow "house" players to cheat or maybe casinos that steal your credit card information... so they criminalize the player? How in the hell does that make sense?! That's like preventing WA customers from buying stuff on eBay because you might get a spoofed email to get your information or you might bit on an auction that rips you off. Can't go after the casino because they're offshore? Why prosecute the player if you're really concerned about their safety?

Something doesn't click. The only thing in this mess that does click is that a whole lotta state senators were influenced and/or bought by lobbyists this go around... *shrug* to each their own, but I'd be tempted to vote out the majority of the incubents this November... honestly, it's that absurd.

Here's another thought... what were to happen if I drove up to Vancouver and set up a Windows Server box and left it with a hosting company? Sold accounts to ppl in WA and allowed them to use Terminal Services? The session to the online casino would be based in Canada, where online poker is legal... would that sidestep this silly law? Hell, you could even use Virtual Server, to do the same thing: in that scenario a full blown OS instance would be running, rather than just a terminal session... in case the TS session isn't "legal" enough...

Hm. Maybe I should get a business plan together.

Anyway, I got distracted by the gym and shopping and the Nintendo DS Lite so I totally missed the Blog Tournament... but that's also totally not the point.

Not anymore.

Comments: (13)

(latest)

Posted on: July 15, 2007 at 03:18 PM by EDWARD HOUE

I BELIEVE POKERSTARS IS THE BIGGEST JOKE OF THEM ALL!!!!!!! WAY TO MANY 4 OF A KINDS FULL HOUSES AND FLUSHES FALL ON THE BOARD. I TRY TALING TO THEM THEY FELL YOU FULL OF CRAP REASONS WHY! THE BIGGEST CRAP POKER SITE I HAVE EVER PLAYED ON. DONT TRY THIS SITE ITS A JOKE. THANK YOU ED

Posted on: July 15, 2007 at 03:20 PM by EDWARD HOUE

THEY ARE A CROCK OF SHIT COMPANY. WAY TO MANY 4 OF A KINDS AND FULL HOUSES AND FLUSHES FALL ON THIER BOARD. THEY ARE A JOKE AT PLAYING POKER

Posted on: July 15, 2007 at 03:27 PM by Randy

Wow. Might be the best non-relevent blog post comment to date.

Posted on: October 13, 2007 at 01:18 AM by Steve

POKER STARS IS A CROCK OF SHIT... I HATE THAT FUCKIN PLACE. You can do way better live then you could ever do at that piece of shit website

Posted on: April 28, 2008 at 05:05 AM by bob

I'd like to put in my 2 cents cause thats all i have left in my pokerstars account. if you dont have a sence of humor, you shouldn't play,This site is a friggen joke, 3 years of losing and I still play,hence my screen name(anothersuker),maybe we've played, good for you!even the worst player in the world has better luck than I,miricles do happen all the time when i play, there seems to be a sequence to winning, I'm not quit there yet, but i'm close. im just anothersuker putting in my 2 cents

Posted on: June 23, 2008 at 03:34 PM by robert

OK I would have to agree. Pokerstars is a joke! I won a $4.40 tournament with 180 players. Was a decent job but, for the last 5 days every pocket pair I get end up getting slammed.
AA beat by 93 suited all in pre flop...flop is a 33k. AA again was beat by A8 pre flop all-in. He got the flush.
KK was beat by 66.
I counted over 90 bad beats, river wins, in 2 days.
There is no way that pokerstars is not rigged.
I think they have computers palying on 2/3's of their tables and are raking the money in themselves.
Of course they have to occasionally let people win but, this way they can make even more money.
So who esle has seen this crap?

Posted on: July 29, 2008 at 05:45 PM by Jerry

Pokerstars is rigged.....

Bad beat after bad beat. Site is a complete joke.

I am confident pokerstars has players on tables raking in the money.

I sat and watched a player start a cash game with $6. Played every hand and left the table with over $200. He did not lose a hand!! Playing shitty hands and winning. I watched this happen on many occasions.

Stay away from this site!!!!!!!!! You will lose!!!

Posted on: July 31, 2008 at 06:31 PM by Marc

Pokerstars is a fucking joke. I watch a player (David202006) lose one hand in a sit n go with 18 players. Sat out maybe 10 hands. All in with rags, 6, 2 flopped a fullhouse, 4 times.

Want to lose your cash. Better off mailinged your money to the crooks who own pokerstars.

POKERSTARS IS ANOTHER ONLINE SCAM

Posted on: August 10, 2008 at 12:07 PM by PokerStars

We have all been there man, I can totally sympathize with any player who suffers from what I call river-stars. It seems to be a regular occurance at pokerstars to get killed on the river, or a lot of times right after the flop. It has happened to me so many times at PokerStars that I have now started to refer to their poker room as riverstars. I know that I am not the only player who complains about this, and by the responses I see here, it affects everyone. On most online poker web sites, to lose with a dominating hand is a rarity, but on pokerstars, the rarity is for your superior hand to hold up.

Posted on: August 15, 2008 at 11:06 PM by yujun

can you trust online play?
i been play at pokerstars almost 6 months, i been doing ok with tour but get rigged at cash game. thats nomal, the things i want to say. very series question, can you trust online gamele, what we gona do when series problem happen!
i have roomate learn play poker from me, and we been tranfer each other often.he use e-check deposit, lately he deposit and he didn`t pay back(i guess tired for many bad beat), and he moved out, but i still play at pokerstars. two weeks ago,finnaly i won a small tournment $1800, and i am going to cash out $1000,what happen, guess. pokerstar frozn my account, i can`t log on any more, and pokerstars told me. beacuse i have close realationship whit my friend(my roomate), i have to responble his owe, i talk to them they not reopen my account untill my friend pay off his owe, i am so mad. somebody else owe pokerstars why i have reponsble for him, do you think that right?
any anyone have any idea for my problem? i been play at pokerstars almost 6 months, i been doing ok with tour but get rigged at cash game. thats nomal, the things i want to say. very series question, can you trust online gamele, what we gona do when series problem happen!
i have roomate learn play poker from me, and we been tranfer each other often.he use e-check deposit, lately he deposit and he didn`t pay back(i guess tired for many bad beat), and he moved out, but i still play at pokerstars. two weeks ago,finnaly i won a small tournment $1800, and i am going to cash out $1000,what happen, guess. pokerstar frozn my account, i can`t log on any more, and pokerstars told me. beacuse i have close realationship whit my friend(my roomate), i have to responble his owe, i talk to them they not reopen my account untill my friend pay off his owe, i am so mad. somebody else owe pokerstars why i have reponsble for him, do you think that right?
any anyone have any idea for my problem?

Posted on: September 04, 2008 at 02:43 PM by MJT

your telling me there is something going on with pokerstar 75% the time i'm either being killed or killing someone on the river .I do one know who is running pokerstar but i do belief by making wins more on the river cause more upsets and hogher betting to make pokerstar make more money ...NOW the question is what can we do about it?????

Posted on: November 20, 2008 at 09:38 AM by Austin168

same fucking shit happend on me as well, PS is really a fucking rigged room and I can almost ASSURE YOU THEY HAVE THEIR ONW PLAYER AT TEH TABLE TO GO AFTER YOUR MONEY AND WIPE OUT YOUR ACCOUNT, EVERY TIME I had pocket Aced, everyone folded pre-flop and if the one didn't fold got me beatten by the last fuckign action card or at the flop with flush or river already, this happend 95% of the time whenever I all in with pocket Ace or pocket K and LOST. fucking Pokerfuckignstars, it is so fucking rigged.

Posted on: November 20, 2008 at 09:45 AM by Austin168

STAY away from this fucking site. Boycut it

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