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Relocating Professional US Online Poker Players - Is Canada The Best Option? |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 23 June 2011 09:31 |
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After the Friday 15th April closure of PokerStars, FullTilt, and you know the story…We have been hearing what professional online poker players have to say regarding their options to remain professional plaayers. Some have expressed the desire to play in more live games; but the competition is stiff and it’s a lot easier to make a living online. Some have expressed a real desire to relocate and we have seen, Europe, Costa Rica, the Caribbean and Canada mentioned more than a few times. But is Canada the best option – heck, is relocating the best option?
One professional poker player we have heard of is an accountant. He makes a little extra money during tax season; but after playing live poker games for a while, found he could make a really good living playing poker online. He left his day-job to play high-limit cash games online at both PokerStars and Full Tilt. A 2010 tax return revealed he earned $180,000 playing poker – twice as much as the full-time career he had been originally trained for. The fact that he was declaring his earnings was also something.
Playing poker online is his chosen new profession; but for him to continue playing and earning a good living; he has no choice but to leave the USA. He depends on PokerStars and FullTilt for his living, and no new-start-up site in the US (in the case of legalization) would have the same liquidity as either of these sites. Less liquidity, means less opportunities to win and smaller prize pools. These two sites are essentially his tools to make a living, and as we all know, they are no longer allowed to offer games to US players. Any online poker site in the world which believes it is going to cash in on the US closure of these two huge operators in this industry are going to be sadly mistaken. PokerStars is still regularly hosting up to 200 000 poker players simultaneously and massive volume such as this, means massive liquidity too. In essence a lot more money to go around!
Relocating for this player - if he wishes to continue enjoying the same lifestyle and earning opportunities; is the only option. He is not sure where to go, but being close to home and with no language barriers; Canada is his first choice. It seems almost ridiculous to change the country we live in just for the sake of a job, but if the work that you do is banned, then what would you do? For example; if cars were banned off the roads in this country, auto-mechanics would have to go where the cars are.
The system is blocking proxies, and players have to be able to prove to PokerStars and FullTilt, that they are not in the US and have an external bank account. We also have to remember that these sites are being overseen by DOJ appointed auditors, or whatever officials they use to make sure no US players are given access. Twoplustwo has even listed a series of countries which might be suitable for poker players to relocate…and we shall continue with this article…. |
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Nevada passes a bill to regulate online gambling licenses |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 02 June 2011 16:40 |
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Just weeks after crackdown on the online poker industry in the United States, Nevada’s state Assembly passed a bill proposing a licensing process to regulate online poker operators. The measures contained in the bill can only become effective after (and if) online gambling is legalised on a federal level. Experts describe the online gambling industry in the U.S. as a legally grey area which fact gave rise to so many controversies and eventually lead to a seizure of the biggest poker websites, a move no one previously believed could actually happen. The new bill is also backed by PokerStars who allegedly donated money to sponsor political campaigns in Nevada, however, local lawmakers insist they were unaware of PokerStars being based outside the U.S. as a company and say the money was returned. |
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Taylor Von Kriegenbergh won the WPT in Florida |
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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 05 May 2011 10:00 |
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The $1.1 million top prize from Florida’s first ever World Poker Tour event went to Taylor Von Kriegenbergh who already started from a position of a mighty chip leader. Although he lost a significant amount of chips during the game several times, finally he managed to eliminate everyone who was standing in his way to victory. The final line-up looked as follows, respectively as they won: Von Kriegenbergh, Curt Kohlberg, Justin Zaki, Abbey Daniels, Allen Bari, and Tommy Vedes. The WPT continues to the Bellagio in Las Vegas. For Von Kriegenbergh, this victory is his fourth in quite a short span. His recent victories include NAPT Mohegan or the Bounty Shootout. Meanwhile, Rupert Elder won the EPT tournament in San Remo scooping a prize of €930,000. |
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Romanello won EPT in Bratislava, Dragomir holding the lead in Berlin |
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Written by Administrator
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Wednesday, 06 April 2011 09:52 |
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The European Poker Tour continues and this time there’s an event taking place at the Spielbank in Berlin. A total of 315 players have turned out and paid the €5,000 buy-in for Day 1a, with 151 surviving into the following day. Day 1 winner is Cristian Dragomir, who pocketed 205,500 chips for his first place. In the meantime, the EPT wrapped up in Bratislava, Slovakia, where 211 were competing for the title. 27 best players shared a prizepool of € 488,935 and € 140,685 went to the Colombian player Roberto Romanello, who eventually won the tournament. Romanello started as a chip leader and kept that position until the very end of the tournament. Following after him went Jesper Hoog, falling 61,000 chips behind Romanello. |
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