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I came across this poker story tonight. Looks like Sacramento could be the first state to legalise poker.

Source

The state could be in the Internet poker business next year, if a petition drive catches on.

A proposed initiative to create a state-owned Internet poker game drew attention Tuesday from the existing gambling community — including Indian casino tribes — and support from independent experts.

“It’s silly for the state not to get into the business,” said I. Nelson Rose, a professor and attorney at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa. “Billions of dollars are being spent on the game here, and the state isn’t getting one penny.”

California is the world’s online poker capital, analysts said. The government is missing out by not legalizing, regulating and taxing it.

Rose, a nationally known gambling expert, said that “ultimately California is going to legalize Internet poker,” but said he is uncertain whether the new proposed initiative is the vehicle.

The proposal would allow Indian casinos and other gambling establishments to set up revenue-sharing deals, which would serve as an incentive to wealthy tribes to gather voter signatures needed to put the measure on the February ballot.

Initiative supporters must collect about 430,000 signatures by the end of the year to qualify the measure for the ballot.

“We will take a look at the initiative and discuss it,” said Garry South, a consultant to the California Tribal Business Alliance, made up of some of the tribes who own the largest casinos.

Even card rooms — who want to attract more players
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– have expressed interest.

Aides to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who negotiates gambling compacts with tribes, declined comment.

The proposed initiative would order the state to establish a state-owned Internet poker site within 150 days of the proposal’s adoption, lays out game rules, and restricts players to being at least 21 years of age.

The measure says “the state may enter into revenue and player base sharing agreements with other states, localities and California federally recognized Indian tribes.”

Howard Dickstein, an attorney representing several casino-operating tribes not part of the tribal alliance, was skeptical. An operation such as the one outlined by the initiative would be “an extremely ambitious and complex project,” he said.

Dickstein and other experts foresee possible court battles among gambling stakeholders. Federal law also is fuzzy on the issue of state-run Internet poker sites.

Anthony “Tuff Fish” Sandstrom, a maverick online gambling enthusiast who authored the measure, said he included what he hopes will be a further incentive for passage — a relatively small stream of money from “net revenues” to cities and counties to fix local roads.

split into 6 parts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

As you know, I recently got back from travelling. Other than a fun game at my friends last week and a free game at the pub in New Zealand in February, I hadn’t really played any poker for the best part of a year.

On Saturday night we all went out for my friends birthday and ended up at the casino….well I say we ended up there, the truth is we specifically went there on his birthday. Around 8pm I started seeing loads of poker players I kn0w coming through the doors. There was a £30+£3 buyin taking place. The ‘birthday boy’ was keen on taking part so 6 of us signed up for the tournament whilst the other 5 hit the roulette tables.

Only the top two were paid. I finished 4th out of 18. There were 4 of us left, 180,000 chips on the table and the blinds were 3,000/6,000. Im on the big blind and the button raises to 15,000. I’ve got around 50,000+ chips and he has slightly more. I think for a while and then go over the top of him and go allin. He calls. I show my pocket 9s and he showed his A8 offsuit. I suspected he had garbage as it was so close to the end and he was pretty loose. An ace hit at the turn and I was chumped out by the guy who called my 3xBB raise with 68 in early position. I wasnt too bothered if im honest, It was a good night overall and I had won some races I was behind.

What I was bothered about was how rude some of them were to my friend, specifically my mate Mark who finished 6th. It was his birthday we were out for. Mark has played poker before but he has never played live as much as I have (I used to play at the casino and poker club 3-4 times a week last year). 2 or 3 of the guys were picking him up for everything.

He put his chips in for a raise but didnt declare raise so the big blind complained and it stayed a call. He did this again and put some chips down and someone complained about stringbetting.

I know why these rules are in place for a reason but it was clear that Mark wasn’t sure what the rules were for certain things and 2 of them in particular were acting like spoiled brats. Why do some people leave their manners at home when they player live? Why cant they just explain the rules to a newbie when its clear they dont know they are doing something wrong.

I must admit I was a little annoyed by the whole thing, even more so because Mark was so apologetic when he did something wrong.

I don’t believe this kind of thing is rare. When I was in Vegas last year I came across a lot of assholes at the table, people who thought that they were allowed to be rude and impolite because they were playing poker.

Rules are important in poker and poker can bring out the best and worst of emotions during a game, thats why we all love it. I just wish some people would remember that manners cost nothing!

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Thanks,

Kevin