For a few weeks now I've held my tongue as events unfolded, primarily due to a directive from UB that we not comment publicly on the situation while the company struggled to get a handle on the significant legal & financial bombs that were just lobbed at them by the US Dep't of Justice. Its not every day that your company has a grip of bank accounts seized by the US gov't & is indicted on some pretty serious charges to boot. And for as much as I have a ton to say on this issue at hand (those of you who know me personally know i'm never shy about expressing my political opinions on things), I figured that after 3 years it was only fair of me to give them the past 3 weeks to deal with things.
So as you can imagine, I've got some shit to say about all of this now. The first chunk of this blog deals with specific Black Friday criticism & in the 2nd part, I'll get into my thoughts on UB. Let's do this:
For the 2 or 3 of you left who still don't know what 'Black Friday' is....in a nutshell: on April 15th, 2011 the US Dep't of Justice indicted the top 3 US-facing online poker sites (Pokerstars, Full Tilt, and UB/AP) on a myriad of charges including money laundering & bank fraud, stemming from the 2006 passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). I'm not going to get into a rant here about how ridiculous the UIGEA is (it doesn't criminalize the act of playing poker online, but rather only the transfer of our money to and from online sites that offer 'illegal gambling' -- yet despite many legal challenges over the past 4 1/2 years, has refused to define exactly what constitutes 'illegal gambling'), but suffice it to say that in the absence of this clear definition, many sites have continued to operate in the US market....until April 15th, that is. Black Friday, bitches.
The specific areas the DOJ found indictable involve the fact that offshore poker sites, wary of the banking sector's reluctance to process ALL gambling transactions (in fact it was the banks themselves that led the charge for the US gov't to define for them what exactly constituted an 'illegal gambling' transaction vs other 'legal gambling' transactions...something the gov't has thus far refused to do) apparently started using 3rd party processors that (allegedly) intentionally miscoded these US money transactions as something other than gambling transactions. And as you can imagine, after years of action & billions of dollars going through in this manner, the de facto business-as-usual way of doing things all came crashing down when the DOJ decided to indict some key names at all 3 sites, freeze a chunk of companies' bank accounts, and actually shut down the domain names of the sites themselves! Here's an expanded blow-by-blow of the sudden dismantling of the US online poker industry: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2011/04/online-poker-big-three-indicted-10218.htm
OK, enough fuckin exposition. First off, no matter how valid these charges end up being in the end, i am completely incensed at the balls of my government to physically seize the URL domain names of these sites. We're talking non-US businesses that offer a service to people all over the world -- and because ONE country (the USA) decides it doesn't approve of these companies, it steps in & cripples the main interface people across the planet have to access these sites? That would be like a religiously conservative government somewhere in the Middle East deciding to shut down Playboy.com because they don't want people in their country to be able to access porn on the internet. Talk about a slippery slope -- if the US can shut down websites of foreign companies simply for offering a service it deems inappropriate, what's to stop other countries from having all manner of information being removed from the internet in the pursuit of their own twisted version of morality?
But that's not the worst part. The absolutely insane thing is, the US gov't has NO leg to stand on here, since it allows gambling in a variety of forms in nearly every single state in the country already! While preaching in Congress about the evils of gambling, senators who force issues like the UIGEA through (and continue to fight against ongoing regulation efforts) also have no problem collecting mass revenue from the sale of lottery tickets at almost every gas station and convenience store in their districts, taxing revenue & receiving incredible campaign funding from horse racing interests the country over (not to mention the proliferation of live gambling venues in most states in the country now -- whether completely state-sanctioned or in the many Indian tribe casinos that have become so popular). Top it all off with the fact that on the federal level, gambling is considered LEGAL (leaving it up to individual states to set their own internal regulations) & the persecution of offshore gaming by our government becomes even more suspect.
People have said that the US stance towards online poker is parallel to the policies of Prohibition, but in fact it's much worse than that. Imagine the era of Prohibition, where people were not permitted to purchase alcohol... but then imagine that the US gov't not only sold alcohol themselves (!!!) but went so far as to shut down offshore companies that sold alcohol the world over (!!!!!). Sounds a lot more like good ol' fashioned corporate imperialism to me, rather than the just-as-flawed 'legislating morality' argument opponents to online poker keep hiding behind. Either way you look at it, its just plain wrong.
And another thing -- the US has already LOST this argument (and several appeals) against offshore gaming in the World Trade Organization. Antigua has fought (and prevailed) against the US in similar cases where unfair competitive practices are upheld over the "moral" arguments lobbied by the US. The WTO, in effect, ruled against the US saying that it could not unfairly block offshore gaming when it allows gambling in almost every form as a legally taxed & approved institution in so many states already. Here's a post-UIGEA summary: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2007/03/wto-issues-ruling-against-us.htm
Which begs the question, if the "morality" argument is not only patently hypocritical, but already debunked in international court, why doesn't the focus just shift to one of regulation & taxation instead of blatant protectionism? I don't want to rehash all the common-sense arguments for regulation here, but suffice it to say its absolutely absurd how many more benefits there are to regulating this industry rather than driving it further underground. On the surface, the billions in tax revenue are greatly needed by this broke country, but below that -- the Libertarian arguments of personal freedom to do as we wish with our own money in the privacy of our own homes cannot be ignored.
Opponents to online poker often point to unfounded reports of perceived harms to children, families etc... to which I say, how the fuck are your kids gambling online with no bank accounts, credit cards, & proof of legal age? Cuz if your kids are stealing your credit cards, forging fake ID's & then putting the money online, your household has a lot more to worry about than exactly WHAT your kids are using the money for. Unlike porn (something held as equally reprehensible by the "family values" crowd) -- which can be viewed for free all over the internet -- online poker is a game that can't be accessed without the funds to play. End of story. & the arguments about protecting us against the potentially addicting facets of gambling fall completely flat when you realize its A-OK to fire off your paycheck on lottery tickets, but not ok to play online poker or tournament blackjack -- games in which skill actually plays a significant part.
But lets get back to the Black Friday matter at hand. At the end of the day, the US decided to completely sidestep all the issues of protectionism & corporate imperialism altogether & decided to trip up Pokerstars, Full Tilt & UB/AP on the technicalities of the manner in which the money itself was processed. This is equivalent to taking down the mob on issues of tax evasion... only in this case, "the mob" is a legally operating international business & "tax evasion" is a series of "crimes" stemming directly from the unclear & inherently flawed UIGEA.
On the surface this seems smart of the DOJ, as bank fraud & money laundering are big enough charges to stick to these sites that will lead to the same unfair competitive practices attempted against Antiguan businesses years ago. The effect is already apparent, as all 3 indicted sites have bowed to this incredible pressure & pulled out of the US market. Unfortunately, this is more due to the bully tactics of unfairly locking up domain names, seizing mass amounts of internal funds & levying gigantic fines ($3 billion in total!!) than any fair international judicial conclusion could provide.
But if you dig deeper, you realize that these "smart" charges are only skin deep. Let's start with "Bank Fraud" -- fraud infers that this alleged miscoding of US bank transactions was done in order to obtain some sort of unfair profit or advantage... when in reality, the sites were just sending US players our OWN MONEY. This wasn't some elaborate scheme to bilk the bank's money in some way. In fact, there is NO VICTIM to this "crime" -- US players (who are legally allowed to play online poker, by the way) simply sent & received our own frickin money. If anything, the banks themselves PROFITED by charging wire & transfer fees. And as for the "money laundering" charges... sorry, that's a laugh. "Money Laundering" is the act of taking money obtained through something ILLEGAL (selling drugs, for example) and then washing/laundering it to make this "dirty" money clean & legal. And since the "laundered money" in question is, in fact, our OWN MONEY that we sent to a poker site, played LEGALLY with, and then received back into our own accounts, someone please explain to me where the actual "laundering" took place. How was this money obtained illegally exactly?
Bottom line is, its a series of technicalities trumped up by the DOJ to justify the severely unfair enforcement actions it has taken to obtain the compliance of the poker sites in question by any means necessary, without the mess of an international trial to prove the "facts" of the case. The hypocrisy here literally makes me sick, and is a major reason why despite being a proud American who values above all the freedoms protected by my Constitution & by our fearless soldiers in conflicts worldwide, I am strongly considering now more than ever going ex-pat and moving overseas. Unlike others who may be considering a move primarily to be able to play online poker once again, my motivations have more to do with the absolute disgust I feel towards being part of a system right now that has acted so completely devoid of the freedoms & values it supposedly stands for.
How can I stand by and cheer when my government wipes out an entire industry? When it invalidates the profession it has no problem taxing my earnings on? When it unjustly wields its governmental authority as a clear ruse for corporate gestapo tactics designed only to wipe out the competition of some of the biggest tax & campaign contributors? You only have to look as far as the documented multi-billion-dollar casino, horse-racing & land-based cardroom industries (not to mention state-sanctioned lotteries) who have been actively fighting online poker regulation for years now through lobbies, donations, and other tactics to realize that what's going on here has nothing at all to do with a misguided sense of justice & EVERYTHING to do with making these private billion dollar companies even more money, and bending the US gov't to their will in order to do it. Just like the recent banking/auto industry crisis & subsequent bailout, it is absolutely astonishing how much power & influence the richest corporations in this country have over a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people."
I think nowhere is this more apparent than in the recent post-Black Friday article in Fortune Magazine by Gary Loveman, CEO of megacasino giant Caesars Entertainment, in which (after years of fighting online poker legislation) he makes the case FOR regulation. ( http://money.cnn.com/2011/04/26/news/companies/gary_loveman_poker.fortune/index.htm ) And who, pray tell, would be a leader in this new regulatory framework, now that the established online poker powers that be are banished? Take a wild guess. The sad thing is, this is less an indictment of opportunists like Loveman & more a bewildered criticism of the evolution of the US government itself, now completely able to be bought and sold by the highest bidder. What happened here, people?!
OK, /endrant on the US Gov't & the DOJ. Been holding that one in for a few weeks, so to say I've been pissed is an understatement. Plans right now obv include Vegas for the summer to play as many WSOP events as possible, then re-assess finances, job opportunities etc after the main event & then GTFO of the States for the forseeable future. Being able to play online poker is just a bonus, but my main motivation here has much more to do with my own conflicted feelings towards my country right now. Idealism ftw baybee
Speaking of online poker & conflicted feelings, I want to address the issues specifically involving my former sponsor, UB. There are 2 very polarized groups involved here, those who have been fixated on the past scandals at UB/AP that are (rightly so) some of the biggest arguments we have as an industry for regulation & transparency, and another group who believes that despite the wrongdoing & mismanagement of the past, the company was for all intents and purposes on the right track now & headed in the right direction; I've obviously been in this latter camp for the better part of the past several years. Between these two groups lie the majority of players who have decided to play or not play on the site for their own personal, financial & ideological reasons.
I don't think anyone in either polarized camp would disagree with the fact that the scandals (on both sites) involved around the time period of the transition of Ultimatebet to the new Absolute Poker owners (and the subsequent gross mismanagement of the initial release of information on these scandals) were not handled in an appropriate manner. At the time I was primarily a tournament blackjack player & was traveling extensively playing those events as well as shooting several TV series & moonlighting on an international card counting team that had me in every corner of the globe. So while I was aware of the events from afar, I was not an active online poker player cuz i simply didn't have the time.
But by late 2008 when even more information was out & I was approached directly by UB for sponsorship, I definitely did my due diligence on these issues before signing. Specifically, the biggest drama bomb concerning the Russ Hamilton allegations had recently surfaced & there was no way I was entering into something with UB without 1st understanding exactly what was going on. Ownership of the brands had recently changed as well, and Paul Leggett had just taken over the reins as COO. The Cereus platform was about to be launched, built specifically with enhanced security in mind, & tens of millions in player refunds were being issued. And it certainly helped that I had an insider's view into these positive & proactive changes from my friend Annie Duke, whose confidence at the time in the new direction of the company (as well as Phil Hellmuth's, who stayed to support what he, too, believed was a new beginning for the brand) was something I certainly didn't take lightly.
So I made the reasoned decision when I signed with the company back in 2008 to accept the sponsorship based on what I considered to be good faith efforts of the company to do the right thing and make good on the mistakes of the past & move forward. My ultimate deciding criteria was that I was convinced that none of the former people involved in the cheating scandals still had any connection to the company, very serious efforts had been put forth into ensuring the site going forward would no longer be vulnerable to physical security compromises (the recoding of the entire software platform was certainly encouraging), and players who were affected by the scandals were refunded their losses. I was satisfied that this new company was taking the mistakes of the past seriously & despite the controversy surrounding them, had demonstrated a commitment to moving forward in a responsible & transparent way.
Over the nearly 3 years I spent with them, there have certainly been many challenges to this initial 'honeymoon' period, but I always held firm to my belief that no matter what further revelations were made into the state of the company BEFORE I signed with them, my experiences with current management & the new UB continued to be above-board and in time, I was given the freedom to develop a whole new tournament blackjack platform for them (that after over a year and a half in programming and development, was literally 2 weeks away from being launched when Black Friday hit). Cuz lets face it, despite some solid success in poker, there are a shit ton of poker pros with more commas in their 'win' column than me. I get it. But despite being signed specifically as a poker pro after my 1st breakout year in poker in 2007, a lot of my draw obviously had to do with the multiple tv shows I had running at the time, my new book, and of course the blackjack credibility for a site that also had a fledgling BJ tourney platform.
Of course there were troubling pieces of news along the way that challenged my initial views on the company, but as most of these came from those who looked at every possible shred of speculation or 'evidence' in its 100% worst possible light to justify a foregone conclusion that I did not share, my beliefs certainly remained plausible to me even in the face of such constant doom-and-gloom. And as more criticism mounted, it became easier to just focus on developing the blackjack platform I was so passionate about & let others whose job it was to focus on the PR side of the business go to battle with the detractors.
Over the past few weeks, as fallout from the Black Friday indictments raises some pretty big questions about the true nature of UB ownership, I find myself in a really tough spot. There are a ton of truly awesome people involved in this company, in every single department... from marketing, affiliates, product development, scheduling, player support, and yes, even management. A lot of these people I consider my friends, and have witnessed firsthand how very much they care about not only the brand, but the players & one another in general. I've experienced a true sense of family working with these people, so it is especially difficult to read some of the twitter comments, forum posts, and other negativity about this company that seeks to paint it as evil, corrupt, full of awful people, etc etc. Its simply not true. I would take any number of UB employees over the majority of 'internet heroes' currently tapdancing all over the misfortune of others in a rush of self-righteous i-told-ya-so's. Fucking grow up.
But at the end of the day, its all about who's pulling the strings, isn't it? Signing the checks & calling the shots from behind the curtain. And its a question that I'm not so sure I know the answer to any longer. The DOJ indictments don't "prove" the naysayers right about UB any more than they "prove" anything about Full Tilt... another company whose 'true' ownership remains shrouded in eternal speculation. But while, even in moving on from UB, I'm unwilling to throw the company under the same bus as certain hatemongers who seek only to turn any remote shred of information into further "proof" of corruption, I am willing to concede that this may be more due to my own personal relationships with such a wide cross section of those people involved with the company than what appears to be such a black and white issue to others. So little in this life can be viewed simply as a series of Good vs Evil absolutes, and I think there is little to be gained from continuing to try & reduce this discussion to such a level.
That said, love it or hate it, I've attempted to be as open & honest as possible with my feelings on this subject here in my blog. Thanks to those of you who have supported me over the years & know that I am moving forward stronger & wiser for it all, with every intention of making the next chapter even bigger than the ones that have come before. I still have a kickass online blackjack tournament platform completely fleshed out just waiting for a new home, a few TV pilots & another book/script in development, and oh yeah -- did I mention that in the past month I outright won 2 live poker tournaments (Venetian Deepstack HORSE & Borgata HOSE), as well as final table the Caesars WSOP Circuit event in Vegas? I guess I can play this poker thing a bit after all ;)
I'm still quite a young man & I promise you, I'm not quite done yet! Rock on, people. On to the next adventure --
Recently I was in Vegas for the Blackjack Ball, the annual secret gathering of the world's most notorious blackjack pros. I've been getting invited since 2005, after my 2nd place finish in the World Series of Blackjack & have somehow managed to stay on the list. I've done my fair share of damage in the blackjack world -- both on all the televised tournaments like UBT, WSOB & King of Vegas, as well as on the international blackjack team I was a part of a few years back. But at this annual event, the REAL legends of the game hold sway.
Unlike in the poker world, the big blackjack pros have to hide their true identities for fear of being outed & 86'd from the casinos they need to play in to make their money. As a result, most big pros have had to adopt fake names & identities in order to continue playing. Most of best books you can buy on the game, written by some of the most recognizable names (like Stanford Wong & Arnold Snyder, for instance), are actually all pseudonyms.
Imagine in poker if casinos threw out the big pros because they considered it 'unfair' to let them play against amateurs. I could fill a book with all the backoffs & harassment I've gotten in my years playing the game, but at the Blackjack Ball, those types of stories are just par for the course. Which is honestly my favorite part of going -- listening to all the crazy stories from the 70's and 80's, big teams getting run out of town, told by the players who lived thru it. Like the movie '21' come to life :)
Entrance to the Ball is open only to blackjack pros invited by the host, pro Max Rubin (another pseudonym), and invitees are required to bring a comped bottle of premium champagne with them to gain admittance. Not only a traditional social event & a lavish dinner, at the Ball we also induct one new member into the Blackjack Hall of Fame each year. A ballot consisting of about 6 names nominated by the living members of the Hall is distributed to the 100 or so people in attendance & speeches are given on the merits of each nominee. Once voting is completed, a new member joins the ranks of the legends of the game. This year, Zjelko Ranogagec made the cut, one of the world's biggest gamblers. Phil Ivey may rock a craps table, but this guy can rock a whole country's GDP: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news10319.html
After the voting, the real action begins. A huge competition ensues amongst all the pros in attendance, starting with a 21-question quiz of obscure gambling trivia & mathematical knowledge of the game, the highest 5 scorers of which move on to a series of gaming trials such as speed counting a deck of cards, team signaling, and other advantage plays designed to crown "The Best Gambler in the World" for the year. And of course, a contest such as this one wouldn't be complete without first giving everyone in attendance a chance to gamble on the outcome by 'buying' other pros in a huge calcutta. I went for about $400 this year, but some of the biggest names go for well over $1000, with the 'owners' of the top 3 players in the games winning all the money raised in the calcutta. This year's winner of the competition was none other than the Wizard of Odds, Michael Shackleford -- with the guy who 'bought' him making nearly $10k off his winning wager!
The Ball takes place in an off-strip country club location, far from the prying eyes of the casinos. Talk about trust -- if any member of this annual party leaked its location to any number of surveillance networks, a well placed camera man could snap some serious million dollar photos & end the careers of some of the most notorious advantage players working today. After the Ball itself winds down however, the festivities have only begun, as we adjourn to a private residence to party til the sun comes up!
Its here at the afterparty that you really have a chance to have some really great conversations with some of the smartest & most ambitious players in the game. Socializing is one thing, since most of us only see one another once a year, but some serious plans are also hatched to truly bring the pain to the casinos. Not only in blackjack, but in other exploitable games as well. Card counting may sound like magic to those not versed in it, but at the Blackjack Ball, its purely remedial science. There are so many cutting edge techniques & skills being employed today to get a very legal but very real edge in many casino games that it makes your head spin.
Obviously I can't divulge any of them because all it would take is tipping one casino off & their leaks would be fixed overnight. And so it is, a game of cat and mouse that continues, year after year, each side constantly tweaking and improving and evolving their edges in the games we all love to play. And I for one am damn proud to be in the company of such intelligent cats!
Here's to sticking it to the mice all year long --
