Player sells less bang for his buck -- a lot less

Isaac Haxton placed second in the 2007 World Poker Tour PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winning more than $862,000. (Julio Rodriguez / Card Player Magazine)

Frustration settles in as players try to cash out their money from poker sites indicted by the FBI mid-April, as previously reported in this blog.

Isaac Haxton is among those players. But he's not exactly what you call the casual player. He claims to have $300,000 in limbo in his Absolute Poker account and is selling it for 20 cents on the dollar, he said in a forum post under the alias "Ike." He, among other former players, are trying to get some of their hard-earned money back which some believe will never see the light of day again.

"Personally, I wouldn't give him $35 for it," professional player Daniel Negreanu wrote in his weekly column for Card Player Magazine two days after the offer was made. "I feel bad for anyone who has their money tied up there, because the prospects of ever seeing a dime of it are very slim."

Negreanu, who is currently signed with Absolute Poker's rival, PokerStars, continues saying the owners of the Absolute Poker "cheated their customers [and] stole from their investors."

Absolute Poker had been involved in a cheating scandal in 2007 but managed to keep from going under then.

MSNBC reported Wednesday that Absolute Poker was nearing bankruptcy, however, according to a press release issued by parent company Blanca Gaming, Absolute Poker would “continue to operate their non-U.S. facing business around the world.”

As to anyone taking Haxton's offer, one poster offered to buy for a measly 10 cents on the dollar.

Moving away from the virtual felt

Poker rooms across the nation are expected to fill up with former online players.

Poker Players Alliance spokesperson Carolyn Kemp estimates that 8 million to 10 million Americans were playing online poker before the crackdown two weeks ago. Kemp told the San Francisco Chronicle that most of those players are now looking for games.

Due to strict licenses that limit the number of poker tables in California, floor managers can't just add more. They've resorted to opening up the amount of players allowed to play in tournaments.

However, the biggest disadvantage moving from online to live play is playing one hand at a times. This idea may sound far fetched, but it's very common for online players to play up to four tables at the same time. One player broke the Guinness Book of World Record two years ago by playing a total of 62 tables winning $23 -- just imagine how much money could have been lost.

Even professional poker player Daniel Negreanu -- winner of four World Series of Poker bracelets and two World Poker Tour Championship titles with estimated earnings of $3.6 million -- has been forced to play live only.

"My plan leading up to the [World Series of Poker] was to workout, golf, and then play online in the evenings," Negreanu wrote on his blog. "Well, I can't do that now."

Image: Courtesy of Howtobuyfacebookpokerchips.com.

Funds no longer in limbo

PokerStars announced Wednesday that US players will be allowed to withdraw funds as soon as a "suitable processor is found," the website said.

PokerStars made an agreement with the Department of Justice a few days after the top three poker sites were shutdown. "This publically [sic] available agreement," as stated on the website, "includes assurances from the DOJ that player cashouts can be processed safely. Cashouts for US residents are expected to be available within several weeks."

Full Tilt Poker has also reached a similar agreement.

In response to the recent actions by the federal government, Los Angeles-based poker player Mark Anderson said players are considering of moving away from the US.

"If you go to those online forums, they're all talking about moving," Anderson told NPR. "And they're serious because they'd much rather try to find a way to move to Canada, where it's perfectly legal."

However, moving to Canada isn't as easy as it sounds. Adults 18-years-old and older must have lived in Canada for at least three years for the last four years, but due to the international popularity of poker, PokerStars isn't in such of a big pickle. According to PokerNewReport.com, traffic was down only 24 percent considering Texas Hold 'Em, PokerStars' most popular game, was founded in the United States.

PokerListings.com reports that only three poker sites currently allow US players to play for real money: Cake Poker, Juicy Stakes and Fugu Poker.

Image: Jonathan Duhamel of Canada poses with prize money and bracelet after winning the World Series of Poker final in Las Vegas, November, 2010 (Photo courtesy The Guardian).

FBI shuts down top three poker sites

Full Tilt, Poker Stars and Absolute Poker, three of the biggest online gambling sites around have been charged with tricking banks into processing illegal gambling funds, according to Reuters.

The Internet domains of these companies have been shut down by the FBI for two counts of alleged illegal Internet gambling. "This domain name," a notice posted on each of the three websites states,  "has been seized by the FBI pursuant to an Arrest Warrant in Rem obtained by the Unites States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York."

"I think online poker should be legal for all American Adults," Poker Players Alliance member and 2004 World Series of Poker champion, Greg Raymer, said on Fox Business to talk about the legalization of online poker.

The notice continues to say that criminal penalties include up to five years imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000. No one wants a prison sentence, but for an online poker site where players make millions of dollars and wager amounts unreal to most of us, $250,000 isn't going to faze the eleven owners charged. If anything, it's probably just a fraction of a someone's bankroll.