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.