In spite of fish play and bad calls, it is possible for a bad player to outdraw a good player in an ongoing succession. It almost seems like math: lots of players with a bad hand = 1 player with a good hand.

Its one of the great mysteries of poker that a table of bad players can be almost as hard to beat as a table of good players. If the good player played against any of these individual weak players one-on-one, he’d destroy him. Bring them together in a group though and something weirdly serendipitous happens that helps protect them.

There must be something going on here. Some equation must be at work – some principle in nature where weak units combine and achieve strength beyond their individual capacity. And there is of course – it’s everywhere in nature, from spider threads that are fragile and delicate when taken singly but strong when woven together, to the cohesion of water droplets above the rim of the glass [each droplet weak on its own], to the concept of the herd where a single animal can be picked off by a predator, but sticking together in a large group protects them. The fact is that people who play poker poorly gain strength in numbers.

This is especially true if the group operates as a united front [example: if they all stay till the river]. Poker theorist Andy Morton called this “schooling”. It’s almost as if bad players sense it. They hang together like the citizens of a small town against the tough hombres who ride in to shoot up the place. They hang together in the face of this assault by one or two very good players. Together, they are protected. And crazy enough, in poker, it works.

What are the Poker Essentials?

It’s harder to beat a group at anything. It’s rarely the quality of opposition that gets you, it’s usually the numbers.

In short, because it’s in their best interest to act in your best interest.

And by “undergrounders”, Business Week means the private companies that continue to serve the American poker market who are currently signing up American poker players by the thousands.

Check our Best Places to Play List for a Who’s In/Who’s Out of poker.

The private companies know that this is a critical time in the development of the American Poker Market. With the apple cart upset by the UIGE Act, both public and private companies are rushing around slapping deals together as fast as they can. It is entirely in their interest to make sure that every poker player is welcomed with easy sign-ups and healthy bonuses. In fact, there’s probably never been a better time to be an American poker player than right now.

That said, there are still the nasty issues of the UIGE Act and the culture of corruption that installed it.

Jim Leach of Iowa, one of the underhanded politicians responsible for this mess was defeated in the recent election. We’ll just have to wait and see what the rest of the new political landscape brings in the new year. Killing the UIGE Act will take more time and effort. And with 50 million American poker players working at it, it will be killed - dead.

As SportingBet’s Nigel Payne put it - “Do you think the Internet or gambling is going to disappear in the next ten years?”

No, it won’t. In fact, it’s growing every second of every minute of every day. That’s why the “undergrounders” are there - to serve you, the poker player, and the ever growing American Poker Market.

Talk Poker. Play Poker. Because Poker is America.

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You sometimes hear the statement made, usually from someone who’s losing, that “This game is 90% luck”.

The way the person says it tells you they don’t realize the difference between a game that is 90% luck and a game that is 100% luck.

The two things are not the same. In fact, a skillful player eagerly anticipates a game that is 90% luck, because he knows it will seem like it is all luck to his opponents – making them believe they have a chance. At the same time, he can use the 10% skill factor to gradually grind them down without their knowing what is happening. In fact, in a game where skill is more of a factor, his skill might become too apparent to them, and they’d quit.

“Given enough time, the skillful player knows how to work around this thing called luck.” ~ Louis Asmo, Poker Player

Skill is the deciding factor.

Two more casualties of poker prohibition announce their departure from the American market while, at the same time, poker play in the USA continues to peak and peak and peak.

Doesn’t seem to make any sense.

Friday, Tribeca Tables Network said it would be pulling out of the U.S. and gave it’s brand members like Scarlet Poker and Doyle’s Room six months to find an alternative supplier. Pamela Anderson also threw in the towel on Pamela Poker with a brief on her website.

On the other hand, the good people at Casino City confirm that poker play just keeps on growing and growing in America.

So business keeps leaving and customers keeping growing. You don’t need a roadmap to see this opportunity, or national schizophrenia.

For the latest list of the Best Places to Play, always check Poker Patriots

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This is a common trap some players fall into.  They expect their superior game over bad players to emerge in a single session, and they become angry when it doesn’t.  Unfortunately, as we have seen, expertise emerges over the long run in the game of poker.  In fact, the structure of the game is set up as a kind of ‘safety net’ for the bad player.  He has to make a ton of mistakes in order to climb out of this net - and he will, eventually.  But it will often allow him to hang on for a surprisingly long time before his mistakes catch up with him.

So you’ll be in games where it’s obvious you’re the better player, and yet, no matter what you do you can’t get it into the game you’re playing.

Don’t force it – that usually backfires and makes matters worse.

Play your game.  Good players always come out ahead in the end.

Seems like our neighbors to the north are taking to poker like a polar bear to water. Welcome to the wonderful world of poker, eh? But an article from the Canadian Press notes that people are at risk of becoming problem gamblers.

Who knew that American Poker could be as addictive as watching television 6 hours a day, everyday?

For those of you who may think your loved one has a problem – answer the 20 Questions provided by Gamblers Anonymous:

1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?
2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?
3. Did gambling affect your reputation?
4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?
5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?
6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?
7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?
8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?
9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?
10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?
11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?
12. Were you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures?
13. Did gambling make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?
14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?
15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry or trouble?
16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?
17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?
18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?
19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?
20. Have you ever considered self destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?

Most compulsive gamblers will answer YES to at least 7 of these questions.

After that, if you think there’s a problem, try talking about it first. And of course, there is always outside help from Gamblers Anonymous.

Play your game. Don’t let the game play you.

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1. Play as well as you can every session and enjoy the people and the game.

2. Never mock a new player or acquaintance in poker because in six months you may find he/she is a very good friend.

3. Most long-time players agree: that if I never won another dime in the game of poker, that the people I have met through the game have made the whole experience worthwhile.

Play Poker. Talk Poker. Because Poker is America.

For the latest list of pro-American poker sites, check out the Best Places to Play

With the Democrats taking the House - and possibly the Senate - in yesterday’s mid-term elections, a clear message was sent to the Washington insiders and special-interest groups: Don’t Mess With Texas Hold’em!

Jim Leach [R-IA], one of the architects of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, lost his seat in Congress to Democrat Dave Loebsack. So thanks Iowa! Good on you for standing up to this self-proclaimed “moral arbiter.” Unfortunately, Rep. Bob Goodlatte [R-VA] and Senator John Kyl [R-AZ], two other architects of the UIGE retained their seats, but Bill Frist [R-TN] didn’t run so he’s out [though he hopes to be President some day…].

There’s a good article over at CardPlayer and one at PokerNews as well.

Leach sat on the Financial Services and International Relations committees, so this means new people will fill his seat - hopefully those with better credentials and a broader outlook on what should be regulated and how far national powers should extend into the lives of everyday Americans.

The job is nowhere near complete - the fight must continue. We’ll continue to cover the fallout from the election and the changes it will herald.

eCOGRA [eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance], the online gambling industry’s independent player protection and standards authority, has offered consulting services to the UK DCMS [Department of Culture, Media and Sport] regarding the current move to regulate online gambling in Europe. No word yet from the UK as to whether they’re interested.

It’s an interesting move by eCOGRA. They are one of the larger self-regulating bodies in online gambling, though they were founded by and are led by the major operators in the industry including OnGame, MicroGaming and 888 Holdings. It truly is an insiders club more than a regulating body but let’s not split hairs. What they’re doing is in their own best interest, but also serves the industry as a whole. If they can assist the UK/EU in establishing regulation, everyone will benefit, including players.

eCOGRA put out a press release you can read here.

“…it would be difficult for individual countries to compel Internet services based outside their borders to stop processing transactions that are legal in the nation from which they operate.”

Translation: If your nation’s internet policies are out of step with the rest of the World Wide Web, it’s going to be almost impossible to enforce them.

As the latest article in Business Week confirms, the UIGE Act will be almost unenforceable. That’s the assessment from a new report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization based in France that develops recommendations for combating money laundering and terrorism financing. Like China trying to stop Google or Eliot Ness trying to uphold prohibition, people will always find a way to what they want.

What a waste of time, for Congress and the American people. The UIGE Act will be a bad memory in 3 years when we finally kill it. But all the effort, money and time put in to right this wrong could have been used to actually regulate and develop the online industry. It could have been used to create technology, expertise and well-paying careers – to lead the way through this growing international market.

But no, because of the special-interest politicians who un-democratically pushed it through when no one was looking, the UIGE Act will cause needless harm to the American people and damage the reputation of one of this country’s greatest traditions - Poker.

Bill Frist, Jim Leach and Jon Kyl - you will be held accountable for your corruptive practices and un-American acts.

Because Poker is America.

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