Live data from Hacker News

FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

forumserver.twoplustwo.com

271–280 of 402 posts

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#271

Note to self: all future domains I buy won't have a .com extension.

I'm using .is from now on. Sure, it's more expensive, but there are no fucking "domainers" there – even two letter domains are still available. And I have a hard time thinking of something Iceland would shut down (except for child pornography, obviously).

I tried to register a two-letter domain with few registrars found by googling: it seems that one isn't allowed to register a two-letter .is domain anymore; a very common policy in domain names.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#272
They're resolving to normal web sites for me in California. It takes six hours for DNS servers to resolve? I checked whois and it looks perfectly normal. Also, you can ping the domains to get the URL, e.g., http://77.87.179.116 Is this story true?

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#273
post #268

The indictment from the DOJ with a list of the charges: http://www.justice.gov/usao/nys/pressreleases/April11/schein...

To be fair, most of these charges are probably true. What I'm not sure is how they can prosecute Canadian citizens living in Ireland or Canada.

Extradition.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#274
post #7

Reagan is the one who signed "asset forfeiture" into law. I remember at the time reading newspaper articles claiming this was "just going to be used to keep drugs off the streets" and how "law enforcement are outgunned and now can defend themselves against drug dealers". It was obvious to me then that this was a violation of due process. Also, it is not authorized by the constitution, and thus every act of seizure un…

Hear, hear. We are supposed to be a nation of laws, not of men. We have allowed our government to create a separate ruling class that is above the law. Any honest reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution will admit that the government was meant to be more restricted than the people.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#275

I'm happy to see this featured so highly in hacker news. As a professional poker player, the biggest concern right now are players balances. I know players with 250k+ bankrolls that are extremely concerned about the status of their money online. Right now it's entirely unclear the relative size of the seizures. If anyone has any questions from someone in the midst of this, fire way. I'll be up all night.

Can you explain why someone would leave that much money in there? Are there tables that you can bring 250k to? Do these sites pay interest? How do you trust these sites? A casino in Las Vegas will get huge fines if one of the employees rips off players. How do you know some internal IT guy isn't cheating you?

> Can you explain why someone would leave that much money in there?

For someone in the US, it can be difficult depositing and withdrawing money. It's often easiest to keep your entire bankroll 'online' (in poker sites such as pokerstars or full tilt) rather than in banks or online wallets (such as moneybookers).

250k could be a standard poker bankroll for a high stakes professional poker player. My bankroll that I keep onlien is 50k USD and i don't consider myself a high-stakes player.

>>> Are there tables that you can bring 250k to?

It's 2.5 buyins for 500/1000 NL. There have been +1 million dollar pots heads up - http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/37/televised-poker/1-1-mil....

Although one doesn't normally sit with their bankroll. However due to the friction (time hassle, exchange rates, withdrawal fees) it is sensible to keep multiple buyins online at one time. I play from 5-10 to 25-50 limit and need 50k online spread across 8+ sites so I have enough to keep in action.

>>> Do these sites pay interest?

No.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#276

I'm happy to see this featured so highly in hacker news. As a professional poker player, the biggest concern right now are players balances. I know players with 250k+ bankrolls that are extremely concerned about the status of their money online. Right now it's entirely unclear the relative size of the seizures. If anyone has any questions from someone in the midst of this, fire way. I'll be up all night.

Do you have a large proportion of your wealth at stake here? Do you use many sites or just one or two?

>>> Do you have a large proportion of your wealth at stake here?

Approximately 30-50%.

>>> Do you use many sites or just one or two?

Personally I have money on 9-10 different networks/sites. FT and pokerstars were the biggest 2. I kept about 50% of my bankroll on star as I trust them the most.

Because I don't reside in the US I have a much wider selection of sites on offer. However I know many, in both the US and Europe, who play on exlusively one site, often due to loyalty (sites offer favourable terms if you put a lot of play on one site)

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#277

I'm happy to see this featured so highly in hacker news. As a professional poker player, the biggest concern right now are players balances. I know players with 250k+ bankrolls that are extremely concerned about the status of their money online. Right now it's entirely unclear the relative size of the seizures. If anyone has any questions from someone in the midst of this, fire way. I'll be up all night.

Can you explain why someone would leave that much money in there? Are there tables that you can bring 250k to? Do these sites pay interest? How do you trust these sites? A casino in Las Vegas will get huge fines if one of the employees rips off players. How do you know some internal IT guy isn't cheating you?

There are tables where you can play 250k in one hand. Not for me ever but I have a much much smaller balance.

They make more money by being trustworthy than not.

It has happened but it has usually been detected by players noticing unusual patterns in a players actions/win rate.

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your rant is misguided and childish. The law is dynamic because it must be applied in areas where no prior written text has a straightforward conclusion. A simple example is wiretapping laws. Because of historical stare decisis interpretations of the Constitution, it is ruled a violation of the 4th Amendment for the government to wiretap a citizen without a court order. Nowhere in the Constitution is this protection…

> you seem to hold the Constitution as the preeminent law of the land To the contrary, my point is this document is ambiguous and subject to interpretation. So, who interprets it? The judges of course! The very people this document is supposed to protect me from. Seems a bit circular. Fast forward to year 2012, and judges say it's OK to seize domain names. How can the constitution defend my right to free speech and a…

yes, who watches the watchers?

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#279
post #267
post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I won't attempt to argue that the Liberty Dollar wasn't a misguided enterprise. Even when the law is on your side, the fact that the government controls the courts assures that you'll never get a fair trial. You're misunderstanding the constitution and what the "right to create currency" means. There are many currencies in circulation, and there have been many state and even private currencies over the years. Even to…

I listened to a lecture by the author of "The Creature from Jekyll Island" where he made some outrageous claims about the ownership of the Fed. I was trading US Govt. bond futures at the time and we went to some pains to understand the federal reserve system and to say he erred in fact is being generous. It was full of slavering nonsense, often with anti semetic overtones. As a side point paper money is obviously ext…

Can you cite some specific claims where the lecture was wrong?

Re: FBI seized PokerStars.com, FullTiltPoker.com, UB.com,... domain names

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain why someone would leave that much money in there? Are there tables that you can bring 250k to? Do these sites pay interest? How do you trust these sites? A casino in Las Vegas will get huge fines if one of the employees rips off players. How do you know some internal IT guy isn't cheating you?

There are tables where you can play 250k in one hand. Not for me ever but I have a much much smaller balance. They make more money by being trustworthy than not. It has happened but it has usually been detected by players noticing unusual patterns in a players actions/win rate.

>> There are tables where you can play 250k in one hand. Not for me ever but I have a much much smaller balance.

To my knowledge the highest stakes spread online are FT NL/PLO games of 500/1k (so buyin is $100k) and 2k/4k limit (you could theoretically buy in for what you like but the largest you could play in a pot would be 24 + 84 = 48k

>>> They make more money by being trustworthy than not. >>> It has happened but it has usually been detected by players noticing unusual patterns in a players actions/win rate.

Not sure what you mean here.

Post reply on HN