jesus guys, i go away for 1 day, i get -repped for "fucking with the USA", TP and AEQ are probabaly fighting "matrix" style in the land of the superior intellect, and the rest of us are hugging.
I dont care if this is over, heres my input.
1 - the basic reason for this is money. the government wants it. they WILL find a way to get it. Just look at Oil, you guys killed about 1 trillion people per barell by now ( no offence of course, i mean the government)
2 - poker is a game of chance or a game of skill depending on how you play the game. ( hear me out now ). If you go all in every hand, there is no skill involved, its all luck and odds, you cant control this. As there is nothing to stop this, i can see where people are going by considering it 100% luck. HOWEVER, some people would call poker 99% skill. if you play 1 million hands, the variance will be tiny on the low % suck outs. If you play the game and know the game, you can win consistently. WHat i like ot do is go between these points, and find ytour average player. Lets take RobbieRobb for exemple ( just for fun). Robbie sits down at a 1/2 no limit table and wins $200. he won this by being a "luckbox", which isnt hard to believe
Then he goes to another table and loses this $200 by going all in with AA and losing to 7 2 off suit. this is where its luck. I see that clearly. Now i also agree with TP, TP is a winning player, he knows the game, as we all know, he lves the game, he wins a shitload when hes playing well. He can work out pot odds, and implied odds, and his % to hit his draw, and everything else he needs to mkae correct decisions.
3 - I live in the UK. We, and our little outlying islands, host about 90% of worldwide online poker. Why is this? Because online companies can set up in the Isle of Man, or Gibraltar, and payy a very small price for the money they make. The government allows them to do this, gets paid a small amount, but still big compared to what i earn. Because of this more new companies that are growing turn up. If the US legalized poker, called it a game of "luck and skill", an "ecclectic mix of passion and denial" or something, and charged a small amount per casino or poker room, everyone is laughing. I can move to the USA< set up www.eejit101'spokerrrom.com or something, pay them 10% of my rake, and be legal. If they did this, they make money, and noone has to emigrate to the Isle of Man, as lets face it, that island is SHIT.
4 - To be honest i care alot about this bill. If americans cant play for fear of being hung for treason by Thomas Jeofferson for treason or something, then the majority of online poker players have gone. And by a mojority its HUGE. because of this amount, a vast load of fish have gone. The game will cease to be as profitable, and will then turn completely around. This cannot happen.
Summary - get every major poker site going together, make a plan. go to the government, show them the plan. get them to like the plan. i dont really know if this is possible, and im probably going to get slated for the idea, but if the worlds online sites got together, to protect their and our businesses, instead of everyone slanging at the government from all sides, things would be done nicely, and hopfully quickly, thats EXACTLY what happened over here. We got things sorted. I dont even have to pay tax on my poker winnings, as long as i work 12 hours a week or something. Let me tell you now, 22% of $5,000 is a shit load of money to pay out, and thats just a minimum figure.
Thats the summary of the game if you play it like its your lifes work. The same players win every week because they can gather information, and use it, and decieve other players by giving out false information. How does Phil Ivey and The Grinder win so often? If its luck not skill, not possible.
There is a balance of the game somewhere, but because of the varience in players abilities, noone can completely judge the game for what it is.
TP is right, AEQ is right. Thats the whole problem. Noone can justify which one is right.
This arguament with the government will go nowhere, because simply put, they are too greedy.