Las Vegas

Gillian Epp wrote an editorial piece the other day over on Ivey Poker that urged today's poker pro to be more social friendly. If you haven't already read it, click here to read her thoughts. Her piece, and the recent announcement that Harrah's Tunica was closing, had me thinking about my first time playing live poker down in Tunica, MS. The very first circuit event that I played, I was seated with two well-known players on the live poke circuit.

I was about to pack it up for the night, but the following tweet was too good to pass on: found this guy @Bay101Casino[https://twitter. com/Bay101Casino] today pic. twitter. com/cl8cdCRKc9[http://t.

Believe it or not, I think the recent cheating scandals have been a good thing for poker. Below are a few other quick takes in my first installment of "Good for Poker, Bad for Poker. " *Recent Cheating Scandals - Good* I'm sure I just raised a few eyebrows there, but I truly believe that the recent cheating scandals are good for the game. First, it gives concrete evidence that tournament officials are keeping a close eye on events and ensuring a certain level of integrity in the game.

With online poker now legal in the state of Nevada and Ultimate Poker becoming the first site to go online, it seemed that another casino would get their site online in short order. The seemingly obvious choice for this seemed to be Caesars as many figured that WSOP. com would come online just prior to or during 2013 World Series of Poker. The WSOP is now well into the Main Event and real money gaming is still not being offered on the website.

In an unexpected turn of events, it now appears that the Barton bill will not only come up for a vote, but may actually pass. Sources close to Capitol Hill reveal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed and Rep. Joe Barton have been in negotiations with key leaders in Congress over the last two weeks and have even met briefly with President Obama on the bill. As sources have reported, recent jobless news has helped to change the minds of many Congressmen that were on the fence regarding the bills.