Pros Losing Their Gigs?

Hello all,

It was interesting to read recently that Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet will stop using some of their sponsored pros in promotional releases. Pros like Antonio Esfandiari, Mark Seif and Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi would be released according to all I have heard and, while they will maintain some stars like Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke for international promotion, the players would basically be back out on their own.

This is, of course, all in reaction to the passage of the UIGEA. Doyle's Room left the U. S. market due to the threat that does exist that the government could come after the "sponsored" players or players that were promoting sites. I stated a long time ago that it could be conceivable that the jackbooted folks from the Justice Department could push the POS gaming bill into taking it against the players that promote the rooms.

Imagine the outrage that would happen should the DOJ step into the World Series this year and put the steel to Doyle? Or players such as Chris Ferguson, Allen Cunningham, Howard Lederer or any of the Full Tilt people? I lay the odds that it would be tough for the Feds to get one of them out of the Amazon room there at the Rio for something regarding the UIGEA!

It's time to overturn the UIGEA. Rep. Barney Frank has made statements that he supports a overturn of the Act, but it is going to be a tough road. As chairman of the House of Representatives Finance Committee, perhaps Frank is seeing that it is close to impossible to force financial institutions to be the guardians of the people, their customers. It would be a great idea to see some sort of regulation and taxation on the industry, rather than a prohibition. Perhaps we'll see that soon, but I am not holding my breath.

On other news, the WPT Championship starts on Saturday. I had a great three piece preview of the fifth annual championship, but I was asked to "abbreviate" it to only one article for PokerNews (www.pokernews.com). Will try to run the entirety of what I had this week.

_____________________________

On a saddening note, the violence at Virginia Tech yesterday was difficult to watch. Coming so close to the Columbine anniversary, there were too many similarities. From what I have learned, a solemn, "loner" type was responsible for this.

Many of my foreign friends have stated that gun control is the answer. Some have said that there could have been more warning to prevent the second attack. Something that I think of, after the death this weekend of one of my favorite authors in Kurt Vonnegut, is that the world is a violent place. It is truly saddening that we constantly have to have this factor proven to us time and time again. For now, let us provide our thoughts and support to all those associated with Virginia Tech.

Until later,

EB