Online Poker Players Bluffed After Industry Bust
Some players merely play for fun, others player to win, but it is rarely heard of the small underdog who makes a difference through the ingenuity and skill of poker. Online poker has provided a good outlet for some and also a profitable opportunity for others. Whilst the percentage of major winners is not necessarily a large one, there are still those who can make a reasonable amount from their skill and ability in playing the game and the other players.
Paula Barros, a poor actress struggling to land gigs and also a Florida International University Graduate, found it difficult to manage in the world which resulted in her turning to online poker as a means of coping. Since she originally signed up for the popular online poker site, PokerStars, back in 2009, she found herself using the website as both an outlet for her disappointment at a lack of acting schedules as well as a way of recouping the losses brought on from this lack of employment opportunity. Whilst this would have been a loss for some, it was a profit for her. Her skill and ability in the game saw her consistently winning almost every pot in the games that she participated, and whilst it was only $20 per game, she managed to grind out 4 to 5 wins before morning.
“If I didn’t make an audition or get a part, online poker would give me the extra cash I needed for the week,” Barros says.
By 2010, her exploits had moved her to a higher stakes rooms amongst players that were still unable to match her skill level, she had refined her game to not only pick the best moments to play but also the best players to challenge; the Donkeys, the players with lots of money but little skill to back it up.
Between the months of February and April, she had managed to obtain more than $1000 all by playing the game intelligently, accompanied each game by her boyfriend playing PlayStation.
“It was awesome,” Barros says. “Poker supported my acting career. I could get to auditions instead of working some day job.”
This was seemingly short lived, as by April 2011, she logged onto her account to reveal a message: Your account is unavailable because your government doesn’t allow online poker.
The $2.5 billion industry was shut at the height of the recession as a result of an obscure provision that was eased into the spending bill without anyone else’s notice until it was too late.
It was the push of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, passed in 2006, which had helped to further the illegalisation of online poker. This was mainly fuelled by the intentions of casinos and moralist not wishing to allow the sport to overrun the country and divulge profits from their businesses.
Many players are still reeling over the impact of the loss of their beloved sport. Many are hoping for the push towards legalisation of online poker and the joy that it will bring back to their life, but this is still being stonewalled by political uncertainty and misleading assurances of “wanting to get it right”.
Source: Miami News Times
