Daniel Negreanu is back with a 'Lederer Files' rant

Daniel Negreanu is back with a 'Lederer Files' rant
Daniel Negreanu, poker's most popular and outspoken personality, has released his first "rant" video since the World Series of Poker, and this one is by far his best yet. This time Daniel focuses his attention on Howard Lederer's interviews with Poker News and Two Plus Two podcasters. Drawing from sources across the pokernet, he analyzes the story as told by Lederer, pulling in snippets from many other podcasts and articles by poker journalists and bloggers, including former Full Tilt Poker employees.

Howard Lederer a no-show for Diamond Flush interview

Howard Lederer a no-show for Diamond Flush interview
Howard Lederer, the former president and board member of Full Tilt Poker, has backed out of a promised interview with DiamonFlushPoker.com, stating the "whole interview process has been 'much harder on [he] and his family than he expected.'"

TwoPlusTwo interviews Howard Lederer

TwoPlusTwo interviews Howard LedererThe folks over at TwoPlusTwo.com sat down with Howard Lederer for an extended interview with the beleaguered former owner of Full Tilt Poker...

Howard Lederer ends his silence about Full Tilt Poker

Howard Lederer ends his silence about Full Tilt Poker
On September 8, 2012, Howard Lederer sat down with Matthew Parvis of PokerNews for a marathon 7-hour interview. Originally intended to be published as one or more print articles, Lederer agreed to an on-camera interview "so nothing would be lost in translation."

Pokerstars settles with DOJ, announces purchase of Full Tilt Poker

Pokerstars settles with DOJ, announces purchase of Full Tilt Poker
Press releases from both Pokerstars and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York confirm a deal has been struck to settle the Money Laundering and Forfeiture Complaint against Pokerstars. Included in the deal are terms ensuring the repayment of funds to former Full Tilt customers worldwide. In addition, the settlement allows Pokerstars to return to the U.S. market once a regulatory framework is established at either the state or federal level.

Judge Kaplan displeased with SunFirst vice chairman John Campos plea agreement

Judge Kaplan displeased with SunFirst vice chairman John Campos plea agreement
Poker news highlights from March 2012, published March 29th, included a report regarding John Campos, former vice-chairman and part-owner of SunFirst Bank. His trial was to begin April 9. Instead, Mr. Campos reached an agreement with the DOJ to plead guilty to a single misdemeanor charge to settle the case. Without the agreement, Mr. Campos would be facing six felony charges. At the time of that report, the plea had not yet been presented to the judge...

Poker news highlights for March 2012

Poker news highlights for March 2012
Ever since Black Friday (April 15) last year, poker news has been a somewhat depressing experience for the players. In the last week, though, a few things have happened worth noting.

Latest developments surrounding Full Tilt Poker

After all the reassurances, Full Tilt turned out to be a flimsy house of cards.

Latest developments surrounding Full Tilt Poker
On November 17, 2011, it was widely reported in both the poker media and to a lesser extent the mainstream media that the Groupe Bernard Tapie and the DOJ-SDNY had reached an agreement regarding the purchase of Full Tilt Poker. Essentially, the agreement consists of the following terms...

This week has been a bust, pun intended

With poker site offices being raided in Costa Rica, the news does not look good. Props to QuadJacks for their coverage. Special thanks to DrPauly, Chuck Kidd, et al.

Live poker this week has been rough. I'll do the official results tomorrow, but it's not looking good. I've been coolered and drawn out on constantly (constantly in this case means 6 coolers over 19 hours and 4 suckouts in pots of 100BB or more). Feel okay with my play for the most part, with just two exceptions--neither of which was for a lot of money.

All that being said, I'm down just 145.5BB for the week, which in the scheme of things is not all that bad. Shit happens, it's just my turn to have it happen to me. Time to take some soap and a stiff-bristled brush and scrub the shit off, that's all.

I didn't get as much time on the felt as I'd planned, either. I had to re-plumb my bathroom. My house was built in the 1950's, and everything is lead and steel. Thankfully the plumbing is accessible from a crawlspace, and not encased in cement. But it still kicked my ass trying to cut out the old trap and replace all the pipes with new PVC. On the plus side, I should only have to do it once.

/end whine

Correct me if I'm mistaken, but didn't FTP announce last week that they would have an official announcement this week about cashouts? I've looked but I can't find anything. Did I miss it?

M

Why the indicted poker sites will not return to the US market

Whether or not we want to admit it, the indicted poker sites skirted the law in places.  Unless the DOJ allows a settlement without an admission of guilt, the indicted sites will not be returning to the US.

Why the indicted poker sites will not return to the US market

The bottom line is that these sites, while providing and protecting their customers with a poker room of the highest possible integrity, conducted their back-office business dealings without regard for the Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, or the Anti-Money Laundering laws included in the Patriot Act of 2001. The DOJ in its press releases has made it clear that these companies are no longer welcome in the US. And just as we cannot have a convicted felon voted into public office, the US will not allow a convicted fraudster access to US banks.

My opinion, and others', on the Black Friday charges

Online poker: the charges and argumentsLet's say that you and I decide to flip coins. Every time it lands on heads, you pay me $1. Every time it lands on tails, I pay you $1.25. While we are both gambling, you should expect to make a profit in the long run. Now let's say for integrity's sake, we hire a third person to do the flipping, at 5 cents a throw. This third person has no interest in the outcome. He's just there to make sure nobody cheats, that the game is played by the rules, the results are judged accurately, and that the victor is paid his winnings. Is this third person gambling? Is this third person operating an illegal gambling business? Well, that's the question the courts will ultimately have to answer...

Speculation on the future of online poker

The future of online poker in the USLast night I visited the Hard Rock poker room in Catoosa. When I arrived, there were two tables of $1/$2 NLHE running, and I was first on the wait list (tip: always call ahead and put yourself on the list). The evening tournament still had two tables going, and players busting out were added to the list. As it worked out, before a seat could open up, they spread a new table. This turned out to be the liveliest table I'd been a part of since high school, when eight cards were wild and five aces won every pot. In this case, the first eight hands saw five all-ins called. As a Limit Hold'em specialist, I am rarely witness to that much action when a game has just started and players have full stacks...

Local and Online reactions to Black Friday

I take a look at poker community reactions to Black Friday, both locally and online.

The online poker community is in turmoil
Two days after the announcement from the US Attorney of the SDNY, the poker community is still reeling. Full Tilt and Pokerstars, the two largest online poker sites in the US, have suspended both real money play and cash withdrawals for US account holders. No official statement has been made yet from Absolute Poker or UB.com (both operating on the Cereus network), the third largest US-facing poker site...

In Tulsa, it's poker business as usual
With the pullout of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the US market, US players are left with few choices--none of them particularly attractive. UB.com (now doing business as UBPoker.eu) is still allowing US players to sit and play at their real money tables, but cashouts are restricted--so what's the point? While I don't have the Absolute Poker (now doing business from AbsolutePoker.eu) software installed to verify personally, I presume AP is conducting its operations in the same manner as UB, since they share both ownership and management. Other online poker choices include Bodog, Doyle's Room, Sportsbook Poker, Players Only, Lock Poker, Everest Poker, and a slew of smaller sites I'd never heard of before...

Pokerstars and Full Tilt suspend US real-money play, withdrawals

Naturally, in response to the DOJ's indictment, they're suspending US operations.

PokerStars suspends real money poker for US players
Less than twenty-four hours after the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York unsealed its indictments for 11 online poker executives, PokerStars has suspended its "real money poker services" to US players. CardPlayer.com reports that Full Tilt will soon follow suit. The press release from the US Attorney's Office of the SDNY regarding the indictments can be read here...

Full Tilt Poker suspends US players from real money games
As reported by CardPlayer and other news media, Full Tilt Poker has suspended US players from access to real money games and tournaments. In anticipation of the FBI's seizure of the FullTiltPoker.com domain, operations have been moved to FullTiltPoker.co.uk...

Full Tilt restricts US players from withdrawing funds
US players with real money accounts at Full Tilt "will temporarily be restricted from withdrawing" funds. Account holders are directed to contact support@fultiltpoker.co.uk with any questions...

Final results for April

I'm going to take the rest of the month off from online grinding. I may give other sites a try, I may not. Either way, I just renewed my CardRunners sub through September.

Since that means my current stats are the final for April, I'll go ahead and post them. Only half a month and still broke all my personal bests in terms of winrates and volume (pro-rated).



I'm going to take advantage of my local card rooms for the remainder of the month, but I'll still be active on CardRunners. I'm fortunate to have other venues nearby where I can play (one table at a time, 30 hands per hour, dammit). I hope all of you survive the storm unscathed and prosper despite the current legal debacle.

To Bill Frist: this is why the UIGEA should have been debated in the first place. A failure to define "illegal gambling" is the reason why we're here. Thousands of people, families, and billions of dollars all in jeopardy for failure to define this simple term. Well done, sir. Well done.

M

Black Friday -- online poker indictments?

It's all over the web. 11 online poker executives indicted. Two arrested so far. Too sad for words.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/04/three-largest-online-poker-sites-indicted-and-shut-down-by-fbi.html

http://money.cnn.com/rssclick/2011/04/15/news/economy/online_poker_indictments/?section=money_latest

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/founders-of-top-poker-web-sites-indicted-2011-04-15?link=MW_latest_news

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hxQXSRuLjxYniiKqet38bKwBV18w?docId=CNG.0d9a23b647ebc53de077adf8cd2bb6a0.541

Forget about the curve ball Ricky, give him the heater

LHE RUSH. After struggling all March long, I'm finally hitting hands and holding up (most of the time). LHE graphs don't have an EV line, but if they did, I'd bet my profit line would be above it; and all I can say is it's about time.

I tweaked my game a little bit to plug some leaks. I played a little tighter (26/18), played fewer suited connector hands below QJ, C-bet 85%, and folded earlier and more often in marginal spots. The biggest payoff has been how I've played against donk bettors. You really need to know what donks are betting into you with. Take notes. If you know what a player will donk with, basically you own him. You know with relative certainty what you're up against and the optimal way to play the hand.

Results? Glad you asked. 9.83 pt BB/100 over 3400 hands.


I've been playing this new style for 2 days now, and while I know this is a small sample and I am running good, I'm sticking with it until I have a reason to change it.

Mid-month update...My win rate has doubled for the month from 1.15 to 2.37 pt BB/100. I hope this continues. I would like to take some shots at 1/2 next month.

Good luck at the tables!
M

Getting love (and money) from my opponents

I have been running hot tonight in 25c/50c LHE RUSH so I put in a longer session than usual, much to my opponents' dismay. One in particular has nothing but love for me. Fairly standard, imo. But correct me if I'm wrong.


Full Tilt, $0.25/$0.50 Limit Hold'em Cash, 6 Players

Preflop: Hero is MP with A 7

UTG folds, Hero raises, 2 folds, SB 3-bets, BB folds, Hero calls


Flop: (7 SB) 7 3 6 (2 players)

SB bets, Hero raises, SB 3-bets, Hero calls


Turn: (6.5 BB) A (2 players)

SB bets, Hero raises, SB folds

SB : you fish again
SB : lolidiot
SB : hope you will have a deadly accident

Results: 8.5 BB pot (0.4 BB rake)

Final Board: 7 3 6 A
Hero mucked A 7 and won 8.1 BB (4.1 BB net)

SB mucked and lost (-4 BB net)

Rough day but still in the green

Great hole cards, few good flops, lots of bad rivers. Gave my fold button plenty of exercise and fought my way back to even--three times...

Cheers!

M

It's April Fools Day but the joke's on them

I finally have a nemesis. He plays LHE 6-max rush, .25/.50 and 1/2 and he put a bunch of beats on me tonight. AQs vs A6o, board runs out ATxx6. JJ vs A4, flop AKT, I call his donk bet on flop & turn and fold river, finally convinced. QQ vs A2, flop looks good but he spikes the A on the turn and I let it go. Saved 2 bets on a cooler. KK vs AA. I raise from BTN and the BB 3bets and I flat. Flop 227. I raise his flop bet and he calls. Turn A and I check behind. River comes another 2 and I call his value bet which I expect him to make with plenty of worse hands, but this time he has the nuts. Oh, well. Starting off April at 7BB/100. Wouldn't it be nice if I end the month with this average? Oh, baby...



Cheers!

M