I’m pissed off.

At California Senator Rod Wright…who authored a legalize online poker bill…and is now seeing that it is stalled in committee.

His decision came this week – the same day that the bill was scheduled to come up for vote.

Wright said the bill needed “a lot of work” and he still had some concerns about it.

He was also concerned that the objections posed by opponents of the bill would not see SB 1485 through the vote. “For every issue, there were people who liked it and people who hated it,” he said.

Objections came from a number of parties, including the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, and even from the Poker Players Alliance itself – usually a backer of any legislation that calls for the legalization of online poker.

The Indian Gaming Association claimed that the bill would endanger jobs in California, especially among local communities which tended to employ a higher proportion of its residents in the gambling industry.

Sorry, that’s a lot of crap. The people who play online will ALSO play in person; but they’ll also be players who don’t play in brick casinos.

“Criminalizing harmless recreational conduct that typically takes place in the privacy of one’s home and cannot be practically enforced undermines public respect for all laws,” said the PPA.

Nevertheless, Wright believes that the introduction of online poker has more advantages than disadvantages for the state, particularly since the game had the potential of generating $2.1 billion a year to help balance out the growing $19 billion deficit.

“The longer we wait, the more difficult it will become to get that business back to the state as different outlets of gambling become unavailable and more entrenched.”

Ok, for the up-teenth time, I hate running press releases because they are pure spin.

On the other hand, guys, getting press releases does keep me informed about events I might not have known about otherwise.

Like the World Series of Poker Main Event Week running until June 2o on Full Tilt Poker.

Full Tilt, as I understand things, is offering up more than 200 WSOP seats all this week for its members. At least 5 WSOP Main Event prize packages will be up for grabs every day.

The finale of WSOP Main Event Week on Full Tilt Poker is the $640 buy-in 150-seat Guarantee on the 20th, at 6 p.m. ET. As its name implies, 150 prize packages to the Las Vegas tournament will be up for grabs, or the equivalent of $1.8 million.

Each $12,000 prize package includes the Main Event’s $10,000 buy-in plus $2,000 in spending money.

Prize package winners will also wine and dine with Full Tilt pros and receive access to the site’s hospitality suite at the Rio.

That’s pretty cool.

In addition, they’ll receive the option of free accommodations at the off-Strip hotel. Satellites to the 150-Seat Guarantee are running all week.

On Saturday, look for a $216 Direct Qualifer for WSOP Main Event seats. The more affordable $216 buy-in tournament awards 10 prize packages and kicks off at 18:00 ET.

Direct Qualifiers are boasting double guarantees all week.

In addition, there are twice as many Daily Shootouts being held, offering even more chances for Full Tilt Poker members to become the next Joe Cada.

Last year, Cada, a PokerStars sponsored pro, banked $8.5 million after defeating Maryland logger Darvin Moon in the Main Event. Full Tilt Poker is upping the ante by coughing up$10 million if you qualify through the site and then go on to win the Main Event.

This is in addition to your first place prize, making the payday an especially lucrative one if a Full Tilt satellite winner goes on to win the Main Event bracelet.

As another reason to play on Full Tilt, if you qualify through the site for the Main Event and go on to cash, you’ll take home a seat to next year’s $10,000 buy-in event. Other bonuses are also available.

Players have to be at least 21 years of age to enter any tournament at the 2010 WSOP.

So, you might want to check this out.

But the U.S. Congress is trying to take away all that.

I mean, with the state of the economy, doesn’t it make sense to just let us play and then tax the hell out of the site? It’s not like they can’t afford it.

Anyway, seems like the final touches of the Unlawful Gambling Enforcement Act (due to take effect on Jan. 1) are now being made.

Thank goodness Congressman Barney Frank is trying to do something about it.

Frank is calling for a special hearing on the law.

He is looking to come up with an alternative.

The Senate fooled us, Frank said.

Now they want to look into the legalization of internet gambling.

That’s more like it.

I wanna see what happens this July when the committee meets.

I’ll keep my eye on things. OK?

I play so much poker online that I sometimes forget that there are people out there who want to play but don’t really understand all the options…save for going to their closest brick and mortar casino.

So…for them, I dedicate this posting. And for the experienced players, I’ll get back to sifting through world reports about poker so that YOU know what’s happening everywhere.

First: Casino poker refers to any game played with cards; that’s different from video poker, obviously. Thanks to the many who have contributed to this posting….

When playing online, the distinction may not be quite as obvious since there are no physical cards to play with, so consider casino poker the variation played on a table, often against opponents and with a dealer.

There are a whole host of online casino poker games. Some you might have heard of. Others, not.

At many casinos, players can find games that vary in difficulty, with some games poker varieties requiring more skill than others.

Some games are more commonly found at online casinos, while some of the others players need to seek out at online poker rooms instead.

The most popular games:

1. Texas Hold ‘Em
This is one variety of online casino poker that has become especially popular.

It’s the game often portrayed in celebrity and pro tournaments that are aired on TV.

It’s a slightly simpler game than other types of casino poker, because it uses community cards.

With Texas Hold ‘Em each player receives their own 2 cards, facedown. The community cards are referred to as the flop for the first 3 cards, and then the next two dealt subsequently are the turn and the river.

Those who want to play Texas Hold ‘Em can choose between Limit Texas Hold ‘Em where the potential pot of winnings are fixed and there are maximum bets, or No Limit where players can bet as much as they want and this determines the pot.

2. Omaha Poker
Omaha Poker is not so different from Texas Hold ‘Em and it’s another really popular game with online casinos.

The simpler version of Omaha Poker is referred to as Omaha Hi; in this game players receive 4 cards of their own, and have to use 2 of them in combination with the 5 community cards for a hand. Omaha Hi/Low requires that they split their 4 cards to create 2 hands; one that’s high and one that’s low.

Like Texas Hold ‘Em the game comes in Limit or No Limit, though Limit with Omaha seems to be more popular.

3. Seven Card Stud
I grew up playing this game.

It’s classic. Here, players have all of their cards in their hand and have the option to discard some of their cards in the hopes of receiving better ones for a stronger hand

We’ll talk strategy another time. But those three games are probably the most commonly played online games these days.

Enjoy, and let me know if this was helpful.

If so, we’ll do a poker strategy posting sometime soon.

Could it be that someday…and perhaps soon… online poker will be legal?

Fact is…amazing things happen legislatively, when states are up tight for revenue. Obviously, legislators HATE to raise taxes.

Those who do lose their jobs, eventually.

So what is to be done? Tax gambling.

Well OK… here is what is going down.

A federal court (last year) said it’s OK for states to individually legalize online gambling.

[Note: any law passed would probably be fought in court by do-gooders...but at least it will be a start.]

Florida may be the next in line to give it a shot, and we say…AWESOME.

A Fla. Rep. named Joe Abruzzo has introduced legislation entitled the Internet Poker Consumer Protection and Revenue Generation Act of 2010.

Florida has been contemplating their gambling laws for some time.

Make no mistake. This is about money. Lots of money. And Florida wants some of it.

Abruzzo’s legislation would put stringent regulations in place. Not only will players be required to be 21 or older, but crime and money laundering is meant to be prevented.

A tax rate of 20 percent of the poker room’s gross win has been proposed.

We’ll see what happens.

As I said… this is all about Florida needing the revenue. So it might actually happen.