Programmers, help fight the UIGEA from the bottom up.

[VP$IP]

Please describe the mechanism by which the players would transfer money from the loser(s) to the winner(s). Would it be like the current commercial system in that they transfer money to the host first and keep it there indefinitely?

[Tuff_Fish]

[ QUOTE ]
Please describe the mechanism by which the players would transfer money from the loser(s) to the winner(s). Would it be like the current commercial system in that they transfer money to the host first and keep it there indefinitely?

[/ QUOTE ]

A decent question, and one that would have to be answered if GWB were to stand on the Capitol steps and issue an executive order that online poker was as legal as buying Christmas toys.

In an ideal world of online poker, the player would be able to fund his play by doing an instantaneous transfer from his bank account to the poker site. Probably No CC's because the banks aren't going to deal with the issues.

If the player (fish) wins, he would be able to send the money back into his bank account then and there. Then he could run down to his local atm and make a withdrawal that very evening and take the old lady out to dinner with his winnings. This particular aspect of live B&M play makes up a crucial part of the fun of winning for the rec player. Instant gratification when he wins. Walking into the B&M with $200 and walking out a few hours later with $300-$400.

I am really pondering how to duplicate this.

For now, we are probably stuck with some varient of the Neteller model. Some third party hold our funds and moves them around in accordance with our wishes. I would hope we can work out something more responsive than Neteller.

Tuff

[freecard4all]

[ QUOTE ]
I am really pondering how to duplicate this.

[/ QUOTE ]

hmm, I liked your "free rake site" idea more. P2P is good when you handle your "free data" (aka warez) but I don't think it's good when you want to handle your "free dollars".
If I send my money somewhere I always give them to a concrete person that I know. No way I'm going to send it through some Kazza software.




More over you should target on one thing first. You wanted your own site. Now you want your own money processor. What's going to be next?
Own ISP? Own computers (I meant that AMD/Intel are awfully overpriced and restrain you from a cheap maintenance aka restrains you from a free site). Own laws (cause the layers aren't cheap)? Own police to force the laws (and force the losers to pay their loss)?

What about your own economy with your own monetary system.
KISS !!!

[Phil153]

No offense but this is stupid.

I'm only saying this to avoid wasting your time. Keep up the good fight though.

[jukofyork]

[ QUOTE ]
No offense but this is stupid.

I'm only saying this to avoid wasting your time. Keep up the good fight though.

[/ QUOTE ]
I have to agree, but I think the idea of P2P poker is quite an interesting one. Ignoring all the problems about playing for real money then how hard would it be to make an "uncheatable" system? I mean "uncheatable" in the sense that no player can know the other's cards nor be able to influence the RNG in their favour.

Juk [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[_dave_]

distributed authority systems such as FreeNet / Tor may be required... but I've not really thought about this properly (lol UK citizen here - wtf does other countries think this is illegal aments)

Also probably required is a bi-tt-orre-nt (sorry, irrational censorship) distributed tracker system to maintain a "super-lobby" of all currently available "home-games"

[_dave_]

Tuff:

It may be a far more workable idea to just incorporate as a Ltd. company / host in the UK, then challenge any US DOJ action in court via WTO if they try and shut you down / restrict US citizens access to your gaming services.

What the US is doing is (globally) illegal, this is not in doubt.

[Phil153]

If the players were technically knowledgeable and sufficiently motivated it might be feasible.

The main problem is obviously guaranteeing that a non-hacked version of the software is running on the server. This means each client would need some secure way of validating the internals of the software it's connecting to.

You're a much smarter guy than me so maybe you have some ideas. I can't think of any way to query a system to guarantee the integrity of its parts, when the server owner has complete control over it and access to the source code.

I can't think of any existing code that does this. There's a validation protocol in a p2p app that I'm not allowed to mention, that's required for it to connect to a certain third party network, but it's hackable.

[_dave_]

dude, mention it.

This subject is not related to the (misguided) reason reds censor such things, and in fact proves it's validity for discussion IMO.

I've already mentioned Tor and FreeNet, so I presume it is not one of these...

[VP$IP]

If you look at the functions that are currently performed by online casinos, they include:
-provide the server software
-provide the client software
-provide the physical internet servers in some legal location
-provide an "escrow service" to hold all the deposits
-advertise the site to attract new players and their money
-provide an authority to resolve disputes, limit cheating, detect fraud, etc.
-probably some others I haven't thought of

In return, they usually charge a rake, "manage" the enormous "float" (which is all the money deposited by players).

The other essential function is the mechanism by which players transfer money to and from the online casino, which has been made more difficult by recent U.S. legislation.

Any replacement poker system would probably need to duplicate most of these functions. Most of these are not "fun".