Readers Ask About Online Poker's Status, High Tourney Fees by Russ Scott on Creators.com

Recently

Players Reveal What Poker Has Taught Them About Themselves, Life Many poker players apply math and people-reading skills at the table. The better they do at both, the greater chance they have to beat the game. But what, in return, has poker given them? At a recent charity hold 'em tournament, I asked 10 players …Read more. WSOP Eyes More Records With Added Events and Tables for 2012 Raise your hand if you were surprised last year when the World Series of Poker broke the overall record with 75,672 entries. Yeah, me, too. The 2011 total prize pool was a staggering $191,999,010 — also the largest ever and no doubt a shocker …Read more. To Win $10,000 WSOP Seat, Inexperienced Players Need a Plan The range of poker skills at this weekend's charity tournament in Rock Island, Ill., will be as wide as you can imagine. Consider this email from Tom S., a local amateur player: "The tournament you wrote about last week seems too good to pass …Read more. $10,000 World Series Seat up for Grabs at Quad-Cities Poker Fundraiser The biggest Quad-Cities poker event since casino boats with card rooms floated into town 20 years ago is just a few days away. Unofficially, the Texas hold 'em fundraising tournament on Feb. 4 at the Jumers Casino Event Center in Rock Island, Ill., …Read more.

Readers Ask About Online Poker's Status, High Tourney Fees

The legal outlook for online poker and a card room's tournament fees are on readers' minds this week. Let's have a look.

Q: The new deadline for implementing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is about two months away. What do you think will happen on June 1? — John S. in Moline, Ill.

A: I probably have a better shot at predicting this season's "American Idol winner than correctly guessing the future of online poker, John.

Enforcement of the UIGEA, pushed through by Republican lawmakers and signed by President Bush on Oct. 13, 2006, finally was supposed to kick in Dec. 1. Opponents, led by the Poker Players Alliance, won a six-month delay.

Just the threat of the UIGEA, which would penalize financial institutions that process online poker cash transactions, created a shockwave. Some processors stopped handling transactions before final regulations were set, and some players, fearful their online accounts might be seized or inaccessible, backed away from the game.

Since then, however, the impact has subsided. In fact, some offshore online sites that ditched U.S. customers have returned, and many online tournaments have set records for participation and purse sizes.

Full UIGEA implementation on June 1 could slow that momentum if frustrated players have trouble funding accounts.

Last week, PPA Executive Director John Pappas told Card Player.com his group would again petition to delay UIGEA implementation. "We're going to work just as hard as we did for the last petition and actually twice as hard, because our opposition won't be caught flat-footed this time," he told reporter Stephen A. Murphy.

While this tug-of-war is playing out, forward movement continues on the bill introduced by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who also is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The bill, which has more than 65 co-sponsors, would regulate U.S. online poker, shelve the UIGEA and provide billions for the cash-strapped federal budget.

A Dec. 3 hearing before Frank's committee did not include a vote on the bill.

The next step appears to be a congressional markup, something Pappas is "optimistic" will happen this spring.

It's sort of like a race, John. We'll see what happens at the finish line.

Meanwhile, look for Siobhan Magnus to edge Crystal Bowersox in the "American Idol" finale!

Q: A weekly deep-stack tournament is the best thing to come to our local poker scene since I moved here nine years ago, but the house rake and payout structure are a nightmare. I've complained, but I could use your help. — Bruce C. in Cambridge, Ill.

A: As you noted, Bruce, this tournament has many positives: deep starting stacks, reasonable blind levels, 40 to 60 players each week, very good dealers and an efficient floor staff running things.

The negatives? Only about 75 percent of each $80 tournament fee goes into the prize pool. "That's way too much rake for the house," you wrote. "Second, the payouts are obscenely top-heavy, with the winner taking 44 percent of the pool. That's way out of line."

I thought the same thing when I played in three smaller buy-in events there. Magazine ads for other tournaments this size indicate 20 percent "juice" for the house is about average. So, yes, 25 percent is comparatively high. By the way, a side effect of a high rake often is smaller tips for the dealers.

The top-heavy payout structure is a throwback to poker's pre-boom days, when many tournaments awarded 75 percent or more of the prize pool to the final three players. Much more common today is a flatter payout schedule giving 25 percent to 30 percent to the winner and bigger slices to other in-the-money finishers.

Like you, I prefer a flatter payout system, but many players enjoy shooting for the bigger payoff if they win. A side effect of a top-heavy payout structure is a greater tendency to negotiate a "chop" when just a few players remain, thus ending the event faster than normal.

Poker players are like any other consumer, Bruce. If they decide the comfortable surroundings, professional staff and tournament action are worth the price, they'll keep coming. Otherwise, they'll look for a better deal.

E-mail your poker questions and comments to russ@luckydogpoker.com for use in future columns. To find out more about Russ Scott and read previous LuckyDog Poker columns, visit www.creators.com or www.luckydogpoker.com.

DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.