Online poker and boom goes the dynamite

The Fed's went after the top three Internet poker companies and boom goes the dynamite. The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) charged PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses on April 15, 2011. The DOJ put them all in by seeking at least $3 billion in civil money laundering penalties. A good start in decreasing the national debt by the Feds delivering these internet online gambling sites a bad beat. The scoundrels at PokerStars/Full Tilt Poker/Absolute Poker likely will not refund the money to US players.

The online players are up in arms about the potential loss of money by voicing their concerns at the major poker internet message board Two Plus Two Forums. They should have known about the shady shenanigans because it is illegal to use credit cards such as Visa to deposit money under the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (also called UIGEA).

The World Series of Poker (WSOP), owned by Caesars Entertainment will certainly take a financial hit with many of the players bankrolls locked up in these online poker sites. ESPN executives must be hitting the sauce knowing they must televise the event with less interest and participants. The poker explosion is gone.

Layne Flack at WPT Shooting Star 2011

JSTAT filming Layne Flack, poker's "bad/party boy", apparently drunk knocking out 2007 World Series of Poker champion (WSOP) Jerry Yang from the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star 2011 poker tournament. Flack collected a $5,000 bounty for busting Yang. Flack had pocket aces against Yang's ace-four offsuit and they held up. Flack is heard twice in the video loudly proclaiming "God looks over drunks and fools!" after the flop. Flack went on to be the "bubble boy" which is the last player out who will not win any money. Could this be attributed to divine intervention? Men "The Master" Nguyen is also involved in the hand with Tournament Director Matt Savage announcing the poker action.