Foreign Banks and the UIGEA

I took my first withdrawal from the poker account last week, and by the time it hit my bank, three or four intermediary banks had taken a piece and I had lost $32 of the $250 I transferred. Pretty much sucks. I'm pulling out another $500 via paper check, and we'll see if that works better (if slower).

One of the reasons that I don't want to keep all of my winnings online is the murky nature of the poker/banking laws, and my fear that the U.S. government might choose (again) to start seizing online poker accounts, essentially freezing the funds. So, from now on, I will only keep online enough to withstand a bad session loss, and no more.

Speaking of poker laws, this week congress delayed enforcement of the UIGEA act until 6/1/2010, which is great news for poker players. If you don't know, the UIGEA was a last-minute bill thrown into effect by GW Bush right before he left office, basically making it illegal for banks to accept transfers from 'gambling', including horse racing, poker and anything else. For a while, this made sites turn away U.S. players and threw the whole prospect of playing poker online into muddy waters. With this six-month delay, that allows time for Barney Frank and his cohorts to push through their challenges to UIGEA and hopefully get it repealed altogether.

Now if we could just do something about Chris Gregoire...

Chad Reaches Level 5!

I've reached level 5 of my bankroll plan, with four days to spare. This is despite having put in tons of extra hours in my day job and not having as much time to play lately.

Level 5 is going to be serious, with a goal of $3,000. It's starting to feel like if I stay on track, my dreams could become realities sooner rather than later.

I'm going to take $100 out of my bankroll for a celebration dinner and start the new level at $1,500 (I'm actually over $1,600 now). That will give me a chance to enjoy the moment before I buckle down to attack the next level.

Here are my latest progress and daily profit/loss charts...click to enlarge:

Reward and Level Change

I've decided that when I reach my next level ($1600). I'm going to take $100 out and treat the family to a nice dinner out. Then I will start the next level at $1500, going to $3000. This will give us a nice reward for the hard work, and make the levels even amounts from here out. With a profit today of $69, I can almost smell dinner!

100 Profit Days, Nearing Level 5

Been on a good streak lately, and am hoping to wrap up Level 4 of my plan on schedule, or at least close to it. The next level has me planning to earn $1600 in two months, quite a jump - but the same earning ratio as always, double the bankroll. I'll be starting $20 games when I hit the new level, to try to reach that goal.

Kat is doing great! She's already tripled her bankroll in 6 weeks. She's actually more addicted to the game than I am right now. If she stays on this pace, we'll have a nice double income by next year.

Chad Plateaus, Kat Reaches Level 2

Interesting week for our poker journey. I mostly spun my wheels, having four sessions in a row where I had a small loss or small gain - mostly due to numerous suckouts, losing with QQ vs JJ, KQ vs Q3, AA vs 66, AA vs J8, etc. Today, I got back on track, posting my biggest session profit so far of $73. I'm exactly on target for my goal date of Nov. 22, having earned $500 out of the $800 I need for my level, with three weeks to go.

Meanwhile, this week, Kat reached Level 2 of her poker plan, making it over the $100 mark in her bankroll. When she reaches $200, she will probably start playing the $5 entry games. I've added a progress summary for her, under mine, so y'all can see how she's doing as well.