Life in a post-UIGEA world. What's the word on the street?

Posted Nov 3rd 2006 2:22PM by Wil Wheaton
Filed under: Bloggers, Odds & Ends, Online Games, Legal Matters

In the immediate aftermath of the UIGEA's passage, there was a lot of confusion, anger, depression, and resignation from players and bloggers . . . but now that we've lived in this Brave New World for a month, what's the reality on the ground?

With Party Poker pulling out of the US market, Full Tilt and Poker Stars have exploded, and I've heard from lots of people that the games are incredibly easy to beat now, even on PokerStars, which has a reputation for tougher competition and stronger players. Anyone experience this firsthand?

I wrote that the UIGEA would adversely affect more than just players, including bloggers with affiliate links and authors. Dr. Pauly, who is our generation's Andy Glazer and Hunter Thompson rolled into one, has one of the most popular poker blogs on the Internets, and even he lost sponsorship in the wake of Frist's pandering. Is anyone else losing income, too?

I will admit that when I took a bit of my bankroll out recently to do some shopping (it's my anniversary next week) I was a little nervous that I'd get flagged and enjoy a visit from some Goons. Is anyone afraid to play online, or cash out?

I haven't had much time for poker since Bill Frist rolled back the clock to 1920, so I haven't been able to experience the new online poker world firsthand, but I'm sure some of you have; how has it affected you?

Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. I expected the same. Oddly, I've had more inquiries regarding sponsoring the blog than ever. Strange, but I'm not complaining.

Posted at 6:52PM on Nov 3rd 2006 by BSN

2. Wil,

I would consider myself a very slightly above average player who plays quite a bit on Poker Stars. I went from treading water at about $20-30 in my account to a little over $100 in the past week. I've also noticed a marked difference (lowering) in the quality of play. It is painfully easy to spot the Party Poker refugees.

This has allowed me to put very easy reads on people (and so far have only been wrong twice.) It's also led me to play a VERY conservative game in the $5/$10 SNGs and wait for quality hands or wait until I hit a flop huge. About 50% of the time, I will double up on one of those hands.

Too short a timeframe to see if it isn't just random variance, but I don't think I'm playing much differently and I'm winning a lot more.

Posted at 11:04AM on Nov 4th 2006 by Jeff D

3. Wil,

I hadn't been playing online for several months, having been so discouraged by the number of bad beats I experienced at the hands of fence sitters and downright idiot plays. Nevertheless, I put $100 into my PokerStars account a couple of weeks ago and have built that up to near $2000. Why? I can only guess, but I think it has something (a lot?) to do with the influx of new fools from Party. So many are now chasing flushes, waiting for the rescue on the river, and thinking their middle pairs will hold up against a board with 2 or 3 overcards. Keep 'em coming.

Posted at 11:20AM on Nov 6th 2006 by Chuck

4. Yes, but what about moving money in and out of poker sites? Is NETELLER still taking transactions from US customers?

I can only assume its just as free and easy to fund a poker account now as it used to be if the other two sites are booming.

Posted at 6:50PM on Nov 6th 2006 by Nijle

5. I haven't been playing for cash in a bit, but I have no qulams about putting money into my Stars account. Neteller is still working for US customers and I'll continue to use them until the rescind this stupid bill (yeah....that will happen)

Hopefully I'll find some time to join you in one of the WWdN tourneys in the near future.

Posted at 7:11PM on Nov 16th 2006 by Kevin

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