Update Friday, September 29th

[obi---one]

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And you guys export democracy...

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so true, what a joke. those %%%% sucker republicans telling me what i can and can't do all the time, what is happening with our country??

[Ron Burgundy]

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If this bill passes (still trying to think positive, you never know), I will cash out all of my winnings, just to make a point to each site; you dumbf-ck poker sites should have put some money into protecting your interests. I hope everyone else does the same. I'll take a month or two off. Then I will slowly redeposit all of it to say [censored] you to these [censored] politicians and show them that their retarded attempts to thwart online gambling will never work.

I am so pissed off right now.

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That's pretty silly, and the only person that would negatively affect is you.

[chrisptp]

I think there's a critical point being made in this thread about the need to resist panic or fatalism.

There is no bill that can wave a magic wand and make online poker explicitly illegal, forever and ever, amen, starting tonight at midnight. However...

Over-reaction to a bill can do far more harm than the bill itself. A mass cashout, for example, can spook investors and rooms, and possibly crash a small room or two, leading to a mass-player-hysteria that fuels even more cashouts, more rooms going dark, stock prices of remaining rooms depressing, and so on. These events will, of course, be picked up by the mainstream media and run ad nauseum, creating even more of a cloud over online poker / gambling, until it gets to the point where the common player / investor / webmaster decide it's not worth the risk and effort.

I think it's pretty important for individuals to hold the line on this one and not let a panic ensue. I think we all have a responsibility to pass along word of this legislation calmly and in context, as opposed to mass emailing everyone we know and saying 'NO MORE ONLINE POKER WTF.'

This battle always has been, and remains, a perceptual one. If enough people bail as a result of this legislation, the actual content, standards, enforceability, etc of the law become irrelevant - the industry will wither for a lack of funding and interest.

I'm generally a lurker, but I wanted to post my .02 and also to thank mr. k, berge and others for the timely updates - bad news still beats wondering what's going on.

[whitepotatoe]

Don't forget the %%%% sucking democrats who can't even make a stand to keep a port security bill clean.

[Leader]

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Just cashed out large portions of my roll, thanks for the heads up all.

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Haha - that's not necessary. We'll have many months before the laws take effect, and even after that you'll still be able to find ways to deposit and withdraw.

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Maybe this will work out and all the overreacting sharks will stop playing.

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That was the exact thought when the first person suggested cashing out.

[IHateCats]

Prima is already notorious for slow processing, I woulnd't panic yet. Though in the long term keeping substantial $ in the sites is unwise, these are coporations not banks, there really is very little to keep them from deciding the company is no longer viable without the US market, creating a bunch of paper losses and then keeping the deposits, especially the smaller non publicly traded sites.

[whitepotatoe]

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That's pretty silly, and the only person that would negatively affect is you.

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Not really, I don't make a living at poker. I am super busy with other things right now also.

I didn't say it was a logical thing to do. But I am an emotional person, and I and [censored] pissed right now, and will continue to be for months.

[SoftcoreRevolt]

Seriously. Everyone needs to calm down. Who knows, maybe the bills backers have seen their difficulty in getting this thing through and castrated the language just to get a win and not look like tools.

Even if the language is harsh, it won't go into effect for months. And even then the chances of the government wiping out internet poker in the US is pretty remote.

[xxThe_Lebowskixx]

The best thing to do right now is to create as much panic as possible. Tell everyone you know about this, and how they will be in a jail cell with Bubba, cashout all your funds too.

[niquewon]

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And you guys export democracy...

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so true, what a joke. those c o c k sucker republicans telling me what i can and can't do all the time, what is happening with our country??

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The Republican Party decided to break away from real conservative values and instead has decided to pander to religious zealots.

I appreciate the heads up in this thread, I made my phone calls this afternoon and atleast feel a little better knowing I put forth an effort to prevent such action. Hopefully people remember such legislative actions when it's time to vote in November.