Two Straight Days Updating, The Federal Reserve and the UIGEA

I can't even believe it myself. I'm updating again. I'm still running unreal good which helps, but I'm more updating because I'm a little bit scared about what the Federal Reserve may do in a here in a couple weeks. They want to finally enforce the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and force banks and other financial institutions to stop partaking in transactions with known "gambling" sites. I'm not really an expert on the whole subject, but here is the way I understand it. The legislators who penned the UIGEA tacked it on to the end of a Safe Port Act during the end of a Congressional Session in 2006. It was passed just as Congress was breaking for the 2006 election, and the UIGEA section was probably not read by many Senators or House members. This act essentially prohibits transferring funds (read, your own money) to an internet gambling site. Barney Frank along with Ron Paul attempted to pass a bill in 2007 to overturn this act stating it impeded on people's freedoms, and furthermore, we're losing valuable tax money in the process. That didn't go through, and now we're here today. They're now attempting to define what is considered gambling and where it's illegal to put your money with this enforcement.

I have a lot of feelings about government which I won't really get in to since I consider this a poker blog. Suffice it to say that I voted for Ron Paul in the primaries and wrote his name in for the actual election. I know he ran as a Republican and is a Republican Senator from Texas, but he's pretty much a Libretarian in modern terms. I guess that makes me one too. I'd prefer to not really give it a name and just say that I am a strong advocate of freedom. Freedom to spend your money and live your life the way you want as long as you aren't harming someone else; that's what I'm about.

Anyways, I'm frustrated that it seems more and more likely that one of my hobbies is going to be taken from me for reasons that are beyond me. People don't need to be protected from themselves. It's true there is a very small percent of people that are problem gamblers and they will lose their money if allowed to participate in online gambling. The vasy majority of people should not be punished for this small amount of people. That's the way our government works unfortunately.

I've made my comments on The Federal Reserve's website and can only hope that enough people do the same.

As stated at the beginning of this entry, I ran really really good again last night. I've doubled my bankroll and up to about $500 now. I played 18 games last night and cashed in 13, winning 7. I feel kind of dumb for getting so angry during my run bad times that weren't really even that bad. I had a couple of small losing days and one really long break even day. All I needed to do was check my game for leaks with a fine tooth comb and keep on plugging away. I don't believe that I was pushing light enough when in the SB and late position with less than 10BBs. After loosening up a little bit and getting a little bit of run good from the poker gods, I had a great couple of days. Hopefully I can keep up this hot streak and make a little bit more moneys before they tell me it's illegal to do so.