by Wendeen H. Eolis

Add the New York Times to the list of venerable mainstream media outlets that have bungled material facts and succumbed to confusing messages that emanate from the US Government’s crackdown on online poker.

An Editorial: By Stanley R. Sludikoff

Six score years ago a vibrant American gaming industry was erased from the scene by a scandal.  It was the second time that happened in US history.  This one was due to a corrupt Louisiana Lottery that was national in scope.  The operators were a gang of crooks.  The result was a series of laws by Congress that pretty much killed gaming for nearly 5 decades in this country.

It took a long time for gaming to come back and it has now grown to massive proportions with the majority of states having lotteries and casinos.

Grrrinders.com officially launched its US based, UIEGA-compliant poker site located in Sparks, NV and is ready for players. Grrrinders offers more than 750 monthly freerolls with cash prizes, weekend getaways, and entries into live poker events throughout the US All tournaments are free to premium members with a monthly membership as low as $19.95.

‘ISILDUR1’ IDENTITY REVEALED

One of poker’s mysteries was recently solved when the identity of ultra-high-stakes cash-gamer “Isildur1” was confirmed to be Sweden’s Viktor Blom. The 20-something Blom had long been rumored to be the player behind the famed handle, with the “Isildur1” screen name figuring in all ten of poker’s all-time largest pots, some reaching seven figures. Blom’s brief career began with a $2,000 online bankroll and has already experienced several meteoric highs and lows, including overnight swings that exceeded $1 million.

There was a time, not too very long ago, when if you were not standing along the rail, you would have no idea what was happening on the felt until sometime later as you were regaled with the poker version of some old fish story, a mix of truth and elaboration about what went down.

I’m excited! Mike Caro's Poker1 is reborn! And I’ve played a part in it.

One for mankind!" (after winning a hand against Polaris) -Phil Laak, Man versus Polaris Poker Competition, Vancouver, Canada, July 2007

Which is better, online poker or live poker? It's an ongoing debate in the poker world.

This column will contribute to this debate on the side of live poker. Nothing beats having your opponent sitting in front of you when you're playing. Online poker is a great training lab, but online poker is no substitute, now or at any time in the future, for live poker, especially at the championship level.

Recently, I began using a piece of software called Table Ninja (found at www.tableninja.com) when playing at PokerStars. Table Ninja allows you to set hotkeys to execute actions by hovering your mouse over any part of a table's window and pushing the appropriate key. These actions range from "fold" to betting custom percentages of the pot. Table Ninja's functionality goes beyond helping in-hand play. I have hotkeys set to sit out the next big blind and to close tables.