Random Thoughts, Recession Edition

THE WEEKLY SHUFFLE, 2009-03-08, by TwoGun, Ozone

Can poker rooms think of some sort of new jackpot in cash games, besides a bad beat jackpot and a high hand jackpot, just for kicks? Why always reward good hands! How about if Jack high wins at a showdown (including board), then there is some sort of jackpot. Reward people for beating a bluff with a hand that probably can't even beat most bluffs.

With the stock market down over 25% since Obama took office (undoubtedly at least in part due to fears of his economic agenda) along with unemployment and the projected deficits surging, how long before Ozone and TwoGun can say "I told you so" about Obama, the Democrats, and the US economy? End of this year maybe? Midterm elections? We'll wait as long as we have to, but like it or not, the "I told you so" will be coming!

The support Obama widely received from the poker world is comical. Everyone got caught up in the outside chance that he might overturn the UIGEA and forgot to consider that when he destroys wealth hand-over-fist, it means less money to go around in the poker world.

Okay, enough about Obama for now. We promised SwoopAE we'd take it easy on Obeezy.

Shannon Shorr's rant about not being selected for the NBC Heads-Up Championship and Shane Schleger's subsequent response to Shorr's gripe is pretty hilarious.

Speaking of that tournament, the story of participant Blandino Gines is great. But it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Blandino won't be this year's champion; Barry Greenstein squashed the hopes of a Cinderella story in the first round. That Barry. Always stepping in and killing the buzz.

If MGM, Las Vegas Sands, and Harrah's all go bankrupt, how will that affect poker tournaments?

Satellites can keep some of the major big buy-in tournaments like the WSOP alive even when the economy is in dire straits. However, events that have historically depended more on direct buy-ins could be in big trouble. A recent WSOP Circuit event in Iowa had just 67 players. It shouldn't be long before events like this have their buy-ins lowered or are canceled altogether.

Most of the non-US poker rooms, such as Titan Poker, Party Poker, Everest Poker, etc, all have their games and rake structure in dollars. Given the wild currency fluctuations, and likelihood for even more volatility, and the fact that the vast majority of their customers are Europeans, when do they finally switch their games to Euros? Will they lower the max rake (in terms of units) or try to pull a fast one and set the max rake to three euros?

We're going to give mad props to the first online poker room that wakes up and advertises poker as cheap, recession-happy entertainment. Hey, the play money games are free, and you can play real-money games for as low as pennies. In the online poker world, $20 can entertain you for hours. Take that movies, bars, and prostitutes!

My idea for a recession commercial: A man walks into a bar with $50. He sees a regular girl and calculates that $50 will last him maybe 45 minutes and all he gets is a telephone number. Then he sees a prostitute. He knows $50 just means 15 minutes. Then he walks into a casino. With a minimum bet of $25, he figures that will only last 2 minutes. He then sees a banner for an online poker room and 30 hours pops up! He grins and makes a deposit at [insert poker room here].

When will poker players finally quit fantasizing about the UIGEA being overturned? My guess is 2014. The editors of this site are pretty much "all-in" on the fact that the UIGEA isn't getting overturned. If we ever actually pan out to be wrong about this, our joy will be harshly muted by having to put our tails between our legs for at least six months.

By the way, did we mention we have a very recession-friendly $10 free offer, no deposit required, at Lucky Ace? Grind that up to $30 and share your story on our forums. We'll have a special PokerTips.org package for the first person who can grind that up to $10,000 without making a deposit. Free flight to Vegas, free room for 3-4 nights, and a free prostitute (yes, 2muchMONEY, moderators are eligible). All play must be done at LuckyAce. Proof required, sorry Ishbu.

That's it for Random Thoughts, Recession Edition. We'll see you again for Random Thoughts, Depression Edition later this year!

The Weekly Shuffle is our Sunday column with our observations and commentary on the poker world. Have an idea for an article? Leave a suggestion on the feedback page.