No Pain, No Gains

.... OR if it don't hurt, it don'work etc etc

Damn, it's tough not playing poker. 2 days so far, going to re-buy on Friday - a day early, I know, but husband is away and would be foolish not to make the most of that.

Someone else who hasnt been able to play games he'd like is Barrow boy Craig Metcalfe. Craig won a seat at the Copenhagen EPT in Noble Poker satellite. Noble Poker, bless 'em, had decided against actually booking any places at the event, so it was a no-dane-go for Craig. Good work, Noble - it's not as if it's a competitive market place.

.... it's been swings and roundabouts for the biggies in the online poker world. The weekend before last saw record activity at Stars, UB & Bodog. Then came the news that Neteller was pulling out of actvities with US customers and a lot of sites saw a steep downward swing. Hankies at the ready guys... the neteller boss, arrested last week, is so darn wadded that his bail was set at $5m. That'll be the exortionate charges on withdrawls and transfers then. I know loads of people rely on neteller for cross-site BRM, the rates attached to it have always struck me as criminal in their own right.

No organisation is considered beyond the reach of current scope of investigations led by the US justice department. Unable to go after the online companies themselves -- as they're based abroad --- the yanks are targetting the investors. Big Wall St players - including Deutchebank, Credit Suisse and HSBC (all of which underwrote online gaming co's when they first became public listingsin the UK) have been issued with supeonas as part of an increasingly active campaign.

Don't ever let anyone tell you this has anything to do with american right-ist puritanism. Wait til the biggest players in the US online gaming market are the likes of Harrah.com and talking to me about protectism instead

ho hum. off to re-read harrington in preparation for my storming return to the tables. counting the hours....