As this author was heading back from a week away, playing some poker in International waters, and visiting the Bahamas, a country where citizens may play poker online if they like, the DOJ back in the U.S.A. was taking down the Big 3 of online poker sites - Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker, and Ultimate Bet. If you're on a U.S. IP, and visit one of the websites of these online poker houses, you'll just see the following image, as their primary domains as been seized by the FBI as a part of the crackdown:
From Jess Wellman's article in Bluff Magazine:
High stakes pros and young 21 year-old grinders may have a multitude of options before them, but others don’t really have any options at all. Devin Porter is a 27 year-old poker pro from Utah who actually converted from being a live pro to an online grinder so he could stay home and spend more time with his wife and two-year old son. For six years, he has paid his bills, supported his family, and played full time. Now, he doesn’t see much of a way he can continue living the life he’s made for himself.
There is plenty of solid coverage of the event out there, so we at Chicago Poker Club have opted to be the source of the source.
- There's plenty to view and read on the Poker Player's Alliance website - http://theppa.org/special/doj-seizure/.
- One of my personal favorite sites, Mashable, did a bit on this - http://mashable.com/2011/04/16/online-poker/.
- Jess Wellman, a favorite of ours at Chicago Poker Club, wrote a great piece for Bluff Magazine on what this means for online professional players - http://news.bluffmagazine.com/the-morning-after-players-speak-on-the-online-poker-shutdown-20172/
- Change100, the girlfriend of CPC's good friend Dr. Pauly, and accomplished journalist in her own right, wrote this awesome joint, a personal experience - http://potcommitted.blogspot.com/2011/04/end-of-poker-world-as-we-know-it.html.
- And finally, Jared Hubbard, a professional online player, penned this interesting stream-of-conscious - http://jhub3000.livejournal.com/90426.html.
There's lots more out there to read, but this will get you started.