Apr
01
2007

Tribe Announces US Online Poker Network

April 1, 2007 — In yet another demonstration that a law’s passage can result in unforeseen consequences, the passage of the UIGEA has generated new opportunities for online poker within the borders of the United States.

The UIGEA, signed into law on October 13, 2006, specifically exempted internet bets and wagers that are made within the lands of a Native American nation or between two nations. This carve out represents a heralded opportunity for those Indian reservations that have not, as yet, been able to navigate their way through the barriers of entry for B&M casinos; an opportunity that the Michigan Manajiwin Nation is already capitalizing on.

While a number of Indian reservations provide resources for online poker companies, like the Kahnawake Mohawk reservation in Canada, most of these are dedicated server hosting facilities. The Manajiwin tribe may be the first tribe to offer both in-house and networked facilities geared toward the online poker consumer.

“We had been monitoring the progress of this bill with interest,” said Manajiwin tribal elder Jim Smallwood. “We realized that this bill had the potential to fuel economic development within our community and provide good paying technical and service jobs.”

The Manajiwin will not only be acquiring a skin from a reputable online poker provider, but they are also contracting for the software development to enable cashier, or backend, services to be performed on location. “It would seem,” said Smallwood “that we can offer a completely legal gaming service without the prohibitive expense of building a casino. Any small bingo hall can be easily converted to completely legal online gaming center.”

While the Manajiwin have not disclosed their online partner, a number of internet gaming providers are watching the Native American online gaming space. On October 16, 2006, Atlantis Internet Group Corporation (ATIG.PK) issued a press release announcing it had recently formed a joint venture to pursue hosting internet gaming from an Indian Reservation and had held several formal meetings with a large Indian Nation. “Where many see a bleak future we see opportunity; with an estimated 60% of the Six Billion Dollars made in Internet Gaming coming from the United States now cutoff to offshore Internet Gaming companies, that creates a potential Four Billion Dollars U.S. Internet Gaming market,” said ATIG President Donald L. Bailey. And clearly some of the publicly traded online gaming companies that hastily vacated the US with the UIGEA’s passage are now pondering whether the Indian exemption might not just be their passport back.

The Manajiwins already have plans in place for a large WiFi café located on tribal land near the populous suburbs of Detroit, as well as an upscale hostel facility for short-term visitors and travelers. “We are currently in talks with a developer for either a condo or time share complex, but that’s not on the front burner yet.”

The Manajiwins have spoken to a number of tribes across the US, offering them affiliate status to what would amount to a national reservation network to the online poker site. “We would like to offer this to every Indian Nation who found themselves in our situation,” Smallwood said, “but its initial scope will have to be more limited; both because of anticipated server demand and because many Indian Nations don’t meet IGRA guidelines.”

Because the UIGEA still defers to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, the Manajiwins are only negotiating with tribes that are located within states that already allow poker within their boundaries. “At least for now the IGRA allows the various tribes to operate all games that are also licensed to non-Indian businesses within each state. Should that change in the future, we would certainly look to expand this new enterprise.”

Manajiwin spokesmen believe they will have their first connectivity available to the public by early July.

By java | Posted in Online Poker | Comments Off on Tribe Announces US Online Poker Network
Oct
26
2006

Storm Front in the Blogisphere

And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
– Bob Dylan

I’m troubled by the poker blogisphere this week. While I arrived a little late to the poker blog party, many had staked their internet claim long before the economic benefits of such had been realized. Yet as the pendulum of poker blogging’s economic bounty swings the other way, it seems many are toying with Thomas Wolfe’s assertion that “You can’t go back home…to the old forms and systems of things which seem everlasting but are changing all the time.”

While I never gave the trickle-down theory of economics much sway, there is compelling evidence that the shit is trickling down quickly in our little economic world. Or maybe it has nothing to do with economics. Maybe it is just the realization that some have been writing for a long time and this may just be a good time to end the chapter. Or maybe, as is often the case, I am just overreacting – projecting my own spin and interpretation on things I know little about. But there are some signs out there in the poker blogisphere that I find disturbing in my blog-centric world.

The UIGEA introduced a lot of grief into our lives and into our blogs, but not everyone reacted quite the same way. We seem to be cycling through Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grief. Some of us are moving quickly through denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, while some of us dally. My own stages have waffled between anger and depression, so I searched for those that had found their way to less maudlin ground.

Initially I was drawn to Wicked Chops Poker. I felt that their irreverence and humor would transcend and I wasn’t disappointed. The boyz had made a ”bargaining” home for themselves; if they couldn’t have online poker, they could claim one of the carve-outs. For a whole week they defined themselves as Wicked Chops State Lotteries.

But then I came across this post, and I put them on my blog suicide watch list.

If there was anyone that could stay above the fray (unless it involved a bad floor call), it was Felicia Lee. While many have sainted her and many have scorned her, in the paraphrased words of Bridget Jones’ Mark Darcy, “I like her very much. Just the way she is.” I was craving the sanctity of one of her classic insightful poker-centric posts, but instead I found this. With Felicia it was never about “the scene” or the economics; it was always about the poker and the writing. Her journal is a testament to thoughtful introspection, candor, and some damn fine poker content – and IMHO, one of the best internet resources relative to mixed game play. She’s never half-assed or phoned in a post and she could never “overstay” my welcome. Whatever place she finds to channel her energies will be all the richer for it. She says she may continue to post from time to time – and I will be checking back – hoping.

It was bittersweet to read Whiskeytown’s post; looking forward to the WPBT Winter Classic, but speculating that it might be “our last time.” Then the death knell – he doesn’t think he can swing it. (pic is of me and Whiskeytown from last year’s EPBT) I also noticed that Michael Craig had resorted to shilling blog blackmail.

And just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, I came across this. In the words of Gracie, “Oh, the huge manatee!”
My silver lining this week is Iggy. (Btw – I have some great pictures of Iggy, but I take his death threats seriously) I thought we might lose the Iggster when he up and went corporate on us last month. I also figured that Party’s evacuation might signal the end of Iggy’s party. But for Iggy, the band plays on. He’s still keeping his fingers on the pulse of the internet and shooting off his classic uberly delicious posts. Way to buck up little buckaroo.

By java | Posted in Online Poker, Poker Bloggers | Comments Off on Storm Front in the Blogisphere
Jun
17
2006

Father’s Day

My father has been dead for many years now, but I think of him often. He was second generation Armenian. His parents came to this country to escape the 1915 Armenian genocide. If I inherited my gambling genes, he was undoubtedly the source. I don’t remember him playing poker, but he loved craps, gin, bridge and backgammon. He spent probably too many of his high school years hustling Harvard kids at pool in East Cambridge where he grew up. He described himself as the typical high school kid of his day, more concerned with the jitterbug than world affairs. That changed with WW II.

My father was a co-pilot in the 450th Bombardment Group stationed in Manduria Italy. In the picture above, he is the one on the right. He flew the B-24, nicknamed the Liberator. So much of what he became and how he defined himself grew out of his involvement in WW II. Like many of the people who fought in WW II, he was very proud of his historical contribution. Also like many of his peers who spent their youth witnessing the realities of war, he harbored few illusions about its toll.

Marvin Stock, the flight engineer for my father’s plane, dedicated his website about the 450th with these words: “Dedicated to my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. I hope you will understand the horrors of war from these few pages. May you never have to participate in any future war.” In the last few years, I’ve listened to a lot crap about what makes people patriotic. These men were patriots. They fought the good fight. They were not pro war. They knew war.

My father taught me many things. He taught me to play cards. He taught me to swear. He taught me to dance. He taught me to golf. He taught me how to invest. But most of all, he taught me the importance of defending civil rights and preserving human life, no matter how dangerous, unpopular to the majority, or politically inconvenient that stand might be. Of everything he taught me, that’s the lesson I hope I got right…or left as it is often perceived.

To George Garoian, my father, who I loved very much.

By java | Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Father’s Day