Runnin Good, Having Fun

Played 9 Tourneys in the last week. All in the $10-30 buyin range. 3 Final tables. 1st for $810 and 2 smaller cashes for 5th and 3rd. All at Tilt, Absolute or UB.

Tearing up the low limit games at Full Tilt. It appears the Party players have found their way to better sites. Lotsa tables, ton of high VPIP players. Sat next to a 70% see flopper and a 60% see tonight. 2.5 hours was good for a +170 win +bonus +RB.

I data mined 10 tables for 2 hours (2/4 to 3/6 short limit) before playing tonight and found 3 great tables. 5 were tough so get PT and PAHUD if ya don't have it yet. The 8 tablin party pros are moving over as well so you still need to use good table selection to cut down on variance.

Up a ton in the last 2 weeks and will be playing daily now. Huge property taxes and a sweet dental bill will eat up most of it so I won't be moving up a level yet. Maybe next week.

The warden is visiting her buddy in Couer d'lene ID., this weekend so long sessions will be on tap the next 3 days. I could look up how to speel that towns name but i'm ready for the couch.

Hope you guys are taking advantage of the huge action on many sites right now.

A shout out to one of my best buddies Doug "connjure" Conn. Hope all is well brudda, keep in touch.

My cooler Bornsupreme won a MTT event with over 400 laggs this week. +500. Nice cash Matt!

True Poker blindsides Shark

True Rep responds to Sharks unhappiness with non disclosure of the "NOT FREE" freeroll. No apology or admission of doing anything wrong from this clown.

Chris at True:
Do you want to run a freeroll next week, with the same requirements as this weekendpast ?

Shark:
No.
True:
Tell your offended database that Truepoker runs Newbie S&G freerolls everyday, giving away money to players that have not made a deposit, They are welcome to return this week and try their luck there.


Shark:
Thats funny, I hope you talk that way to me when we meet in person at a convention. You might not like the result.

I'm offended that you set these up late, and didnt disclose that they were not true freerolls. As I mentioned, 4 years and 400 events with 30 sites this has never happened. You should apologize and be humble or explain why you forgot to mention they needed to deposit to play a freeroll. Instead you send this unprofessional response. You don't even mention that your setting these up late hurt my promotion of the event. It costs $$ to send emails to 20,000, are you aware of this? I sent the email on Wednesday you don't get the event up until late thursday after I emailed you asking what the problem was. You promised they would be up a week earlier. No apology on this either.


Chris at True:
If someone opted out of your database because they were asked to deposit, what was their real value ? (There is an unlimited market for FREE money, a player who refuses to make any deposit is probably in the less valuable segment of the FREE money market.)


Shark:
Your actions cost me 30 members and this is your response? Unbelieveable.
I'm not a "short term" thinker like you. Players that were only freerollers 1 year ago are now multitabling 5/10 short at Absolute for me. AP and I never alienated them 1 year ago by offering free rolls and not disclosing they would need to deposit to play. I signed up 2000 playchippers 4 years ago at Absolute. Some are now making their very first deposits. Absolute never played non-disclosure games and when they made mistakes they apologized and treated me and my players with respect.

There is nothing wrong with saying upfront: "Players, you need to deposit to play this freeroll" If we had agreed to this its an easy disclosure. But then I don't get 400-600 players to register. I only get 50 or so.

You don't GET IT. Plenty of good sites left that do. Next case.






The Shark Freeroll at new Tour stop True Poker was set up by True for depositing players only. Excuse me? A freeroll that you can't play unless you deposit?

True didnt tell me they set it up so that only depositors could play. Then, when I sent them a note they didnt even say "sorry" that they didnt communicate their little trick they pulled. Its an attempt to get more deposits. Couldnt they just be honest about it?

We got more OPT OUTS from our emails this week then we have ever had. It was because players went to True and couldnt enter for free, after I sent them there to play for free.

I've never had a site pull this (400 events in 4 years) so it was a total blindside.

I've instructed them to cancel both events. I don't feel good about promoting sites that play games. Just a "sorry, we should have mentioned, it was a mistake" probably would have appeased me.

I'd rather play less events and fewer sites than allow sites to play games with our members.

We didnt receive our first complaint about this situation until friday (email to 20,000 went out wednesday). We need players to post in the forum and let me know when things don't go correctly. Thats why we set our forum up.

Sorry for the problems,

Shark

Poker Post!

Hello Readers! (both of you)

Played 4 tourneys online last week. Cashed in two. The first was a 3rd place finish in a 200 entry (guestimate)at UB. +395. Played well and of course won a few flips along the way. The other was the Absolute Shark Event (Thursdays) where the always tough field (50) couldnt handle my late rush and I took it down. Mostly weak starters for the first 2 hours and a nice rush of cards and a few sweet bluffs at the final table. This only paid $130 but is really a true test of poker. Mine fields at every table. We have some great players.

Playing his always strong game was NL Tourney animal HokieFan816 (2nd) and a player that needs no introduction, tight aggro playa BC5457 (3rd). Another nice cash Bob!

In the future all AP Thursdays should be set-up with 2500 starting chippsters. Join us tommorrow night! Always $200 added. Always fun peoples and no ALL IN specialists (usually weak post flop players).

So a light poker week of just 4 events led to a +580 week with a little ring play thrown in. I know the real money for me is ring limit short so back to that this week.

I'm playing Full Tilt a bunch this week and feel good about my game. After 1700 hands this week i'm -$25 in play, +30 in bonus and about +80 in rakeback. Not good numbers but the cards have been mediocre. Very few flushies and str8's and thats where you make the big money in the low limit chaser games (2/4 this week). I don't like to play this low but thats the way it goes when you are rebuilding your roll and have a large nut (bills).

Quick plug for Pokertracker and Poker Ace. They are the main reason I can survive when the cards go bad. Many bad players at Full Tilt and these tools help mark your donkelicious opponents. I saw several 70-80% "see floppers" in the last 2 days. Sit to their left and raise it up when you have the goods preflop. Then watch them call to the riv. No need to slow play, most will follow with bottom pair or any draw. This is a high variance game. These bad players will hit for an hour sometimes. They almost always give it back. Stay positive and tight aggressive and you should deliver the beat down.

We have info on these software tools in our forum. Check it out.

Many reports from several Shark Vets that play is getting juicier at all the USA friendly sites. PartyPoker will be shutting down for all US players as soon as Bush signs the new law. Then look out! The site with more bad players per capita will be turning all their USA players over to Tilt, Pokerstars, Absolute and all the other sites that are not runnin' scared. Get yourself Pokertracker and Poker Ace (heads up display) now. Post in our forum if you need help with these tools. Do not try to beat online poker without having both. The rake, small % of pro low limit grinders, and variance will eat you up if you don't use all the tools. If you like Absolute Poker you need the AP Hand Grabber as well. All 3 are under $100 total I believe.

If I can find a few heaters this week i'll be back to playing full time.

Good news today from Pokerstars and Neteller. It sounds like both are staying with "bidness as usual" for the US players.

It's just about time for a Guest Post. Anyone interested? Free Shark Tee or a $15 Poker Transfer is yours if selected and posted here.

Big Lineup of Tourneys this week! Reminder email goes out tonight. If you are not on our mailing list go to www.onlineshark.com and register now.

Note: Shark rarely uses speel check and is a very good speeler.

Email to USA player dumpers

Email To Partpoker, Sun, Kiwi, Celeb, Titan and all other USA player dumpers

You are now banned from playing with Sharkey.

Regards,

Sharkey

PS: Do NOT ask for my business back when things change. I'll be too busy beating the orphan USA players (loose/weak/passives) at Absolute and UB that came over from your sites!

=====================

Reason #5 Positives from the New Gaming Law

Less advertising email from all the sites that bailed on us. OPT OUT if they continue to send you emails if you are a US player!

The Sky Is Not Falling! Positives from New Law

No More PartyPoker TV ads!

Fewer shitty sites. StingBet? Sense Poker? Metro Pokeri? Piraya Poker?

More room on your PC. You can see your desktop again.

#1!! More donks will come to mainstream sites like Absolute, Full Tilt, UB. These "fringe" weak sites were full of shitty players. Fresh blood into the shark pool!

I anticipate more consolidation in the poker business. Less sites and the strong getting stronger. UB has offered us something they never have before. Big Freeroll and buyin with huge adds. They are going to get aggressive signing orphan players from all the weak sites that ran away scared. What does UB need more than anything? BAD PLAYERS!

They have a rep of having to tuff of games. That should now change. Best software in the business, UB might become a great place to play.

Late Night Sneak Attack by Frist and Co.

Bill Frist (top right) poker players all over the USA shout "More Cowbell"

As most of you know by now, Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn) successfully piggybacked the new internet gaming legislation with a "can't miss" bill late last friday night. A weekend "sneak attack".

The U.S. is going to attempt to limit deposits and withdrawals into gaming sites. They have opted to not collect the billions in taxes and force players to get creative when depositing and withdrawing.

I don't see anyway possible to stop the flow of money into gaming sites. Sure it might not be as easy as it is now but there are so many other ways to get YOUR money sent where YOU want it sent. These sites in Australia, Costa Rica and Antigua are legal in their countries. They see us with our lotto, casinos and poker rooms on every corner and call bullshit on our hypocrite politicians. Sure some like Partypoker and 888 will run scared. Most will welcome all the Partypoker and Pacific/888 players. The software is so bad at Pacific its amazing to me they are even in business. 1 tabling only? Ha! Never have to deal with a non english speaking support person from Party again? Sweeeeeet!

It's not going to be hard to deposit/withdrawl in my opinion. Thats the nuts and bolts of this new law. Make it harder for players to deposit and withdrawal.

It will not stop players from playing. It will not stop the flow of money for those that want to play. There will be "workarounds" to dep/withdrawal all over the internet. These clowns went for a band-aid and accomplished very little. REGULATE and TAX it like you do horse racing, liquor, casinos, pokerrooms. Sure it's not as easy as writing a bill, piggybacking it on the weekend with a "can't miss" bill and hoping it works as intended.

Many states have poker rooms on every corner. Where I use to live (Washington State) there are hundreds of poker rooms, state run lotteries and state run liquor stores with the highest liquor tax in the US. They have almost non-existent help for problem gamblers. The new taxes could pay for people that need help.

I for one am happy Party is leaving US players behind. Party is just barely above AOL in my book. They suck. I stopped promoting them 2 years ago. Those players (most donks per capita on net) will be joining us at Poker.com, Titan, Absolute and other sites that go by Costa Rican or Australian law.

I'll continue to pay my taxes like a good citizen here. And i'll continue playing this great game that puts bread on my table and helps offset the HUGE taxes I pay to be a US citizen.

You want me to find a new hobby because your okay with me playing live where you can tax it, but not okay with me playing at home where you can't? Billions of tax dollars that could help our country lost. All sent to Antigua and Costa Rica.

More info will be posted here as the dust settles and we find out more info.

If you have questions please post them at here

Statement from Poker.com

Poker.com posted this on 2+2. Looks like some sites aren't going to run and hide from this bullshit. Support Poker.com and others who won't run and hide when the US decides they are pro gambling nationwide (live) but opposed to us gambling from home.

Poker.com:

Very quickly, as far as we are concerned our operations are 100% legal under international law and we follow all laws of the jurisdictions in which our operations reside. There will still be plenty of places to play poker and the industry will adapt and evolve, and survive!

I'd like to say something about the US legislative process and the integrity of these Republicans, but my mother always said if you can't say anything nice.....