Wednesday, July 27, 2005

Great Explaination on the Indian Gaming Law

For anyone who wants to understand what is going on between the Cherokees and the state of North Carolina should read this:

http://www.rgtonline.com/Article.cfm?ArticleId=58392&CategoryName=Gaming

It explains the history and working of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act that allows gambling on Indian land.

Saturday, July 23, 2005

Pub Poker Report

Angry Ale's 7/21/05

It was a good run, but it was not to be. I played tight boring poker most of the night winning a few hands without ever having to show for the first 2/3s of the night. One memorable hand with 3 table left and I had QQ on the button. I raised 3x on the button and the huge stack on the BB called. The flop is like T, 8, 6 rainbow. Check, check. The turn is a 9. Check, check. The river is a 2 with no flush possible. He pushes and I call saying “If you’ve got a seven, it is time for me to go home” and I turn over the ladies. He mucks, the damn thief.

Tighten again and hit a nice little run just before they broke into the final table. I hit that table with a nice middle stack.

I continued to play tight peeking (calling) at a few hands without hitting and start getting really short. With 8 players left and me at the #3 position, it’s called around to me and I push with Ah6h thinking steal and get a all in with half my chips from the BB with AA. One heart on the flop and hearts on forth and fifth street and I’m good to go. That dude was not happy. I don’t blame him.

After a drought of cards, I’m short stack when we get to 3 players left. I steal a few blinds and win a couple hands when my cards hit. I’m on the button with 66. I push with 20k not caring whether I get a call or not. Small blind calls (he had 24k) and the big blind folds (blinds were 2k,4k). After much confusion counting the chips, he turns over JJ which holds up. Had that hand come through, I would have had no problem with the 2nd stack.

So I ended up 3rd out of 50. I feel pretty good about my play and the outcome. Only the winner goes to the city tourney so I have next season to look forward to. Comments on my play are welcome.

Special K

BTW: We were only playing for pride. Too bad.

Friday, July 22, 2005

5th Street Ent. is takin' it to the man

Charlotte company sues to affirm legality of no-money pokerAssociated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A company has sued five law enforcement agencies that say poker tournaments run without money wagers are still illegal.
Charlotte-based 5th Street Entertainment LLC, which organizes poker tournaments, said the agencies have cost it business by declaring the games illegal and warning that restaurants or bars that host them could lose their state liquor licenses. The tournaments have been forced to stop awarding prizes.
North Carolina's gambling statute "requires that something of value be bet in order to be considered gambling. This is merely a game people get together and play," company attorney William Bunting said.
The Graduate, a downtown Charlotte restaurant, runs poker games two nights a week, but does not offer prizes, general manager Chris Sheridan said. The games are "a really good promotion for us" and no one has told him they are illegal, he said.
"It's just for fun," he said.
The lawsuit said the Guilford County District Attorney's office broke up a game 5th Street Entertainment organized at a restaurant. Mecklenburg County Alcoholic Beverage Control officials said places hosting the tournaments "would be cited for alcohol violations and could lose their ABC licenses," the lawsuit said.
Both agencies said they acted after receiving an advisory opinion from the state attorney general in February that said such poker games were probably illegal.
That opinion cited a state law that reads any "person or organization that operates any game of chance or any person who plays at or bets on any game of chance at which any money, property or other thing of value is bet, whether the same be in stake or not, shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
The company filed its lawsuit last month in Mecklenburg County Superior Court against Attorney General Roy Cooper, Guilford County District Attorney Stuart Albright, state Alcohol Law Enforcement director Mike Robertson, Mecklenburg County ABC law enforcement chief William Cox and the state of North Carolina.
The case asks the judge to declare that poker tournaments organized by the company do not violate the law and to reimburse the company for legal expenses.
The attorney general's office this month asked the judge to dismiss the case. Previous cases have established that poker is illegal in North Carolina, the motion said.