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Eric “Rizen” Lynch just posted on his blog that he will separate himself from the UB (Ultimate Bet) brand. The short lived tenure was less than a month and the lack of information about his departure really leaves me wondering what went wrong.
I’ve never met Eric Lynch in person. I’ve followed his career with some interest, since he’s a local boy, and he truly seems like a stand up guy. The “Internet Fame” never went to his head and his blog posts always impressed me as he placed his family first.
That’s why I was surprised earlier this month when the announcement came out that he would become a sponsored pro of UB. Given UB’s recent history of player cheating I wondered what would possess him to join up with such a damaged brand. His post on the decision was well thought out and convinced me that UB was truly committed to changing their ways and that all was right with their operation.
Now less than a month later he is leaving. His reasons for departure are as cryptic as they can be. He states that he will not go into detail on the decision at this time and goes on to thank everyone in his life, and at UB for being supportive. Personally I think that stance will damage his credibility more than help it.
Was something rotten in UB all along? Then the betting public has a right to know and anyone with that knowledge should be morally bound to disclose it.
Did he cave into anti UB sentiment? Then he isn’t the man of conviction I thought he was.
Either way if I was his agent I’d be heading up damage control, not citing respect of privacy and an unwillingness to go into the decision.
I haven’t played at Bodog Poker in a very long time. In fact I can’t even remember the last time I played there at all. Why? I hated their software.
Has all that changed? I’m about to find out. As I type this I’m downloading the newest beta version of the poker client. According to the press release it will allow for “full screen mode, resizable tables, embedded chat and game details and on-demand player tools”.
That sounds like quite a change from the software of the past. Full screen mode doesn’t sound like something I, or anyone else for that matter, would be interested in. Resizable tables are a must for any modern poker client and a welcome addition. Embedded chat, meh, I don’t chat much anyway. Game details and on-demand player tools, sounds intriguing.
Now if I could just find that old email with my bodog account number in it…
**Update:
I found my account number. I’ve also found that the beta software with the new enhancements is only usable on the “.net” site. That makes it play money only. I see the reason for introducing the new features where money wont be involved, but since that’s the case it’s rather useless to me.
The UIGEA finally forced out the only real online banking provider for U.S. poker players. That was ePassporte. Now Cake Poker is touting a new provider called eWalletXpress. A quick perusal of their terms & conditions along with the fee structure revealed that they are not a feasible replacement.
Within the Withdrawls section of the T&C I found the following:
We may limit withdrawals and require additional information from you depending upon your location (Canada, U.S. or international), credit rating, and other factors deemed necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion.
Excuse me but if it’s my money, you damn well better give it to me when I want it. Not if you deem me worthy of having it.
They’ll let you deposit $150 for free during the registration period and then they will gouge you after that for $10 a pop. To get your money out it’s a nice chunk to the tune of 10%.
In recognition of RSS awareness day I want to point out the RSS feeds for my current blogs/projects. That amounts to a total of three right now but come late summer I’ll be launching a few more projects.
They went and made the nonsense official. As was rumored Harrah’s and ESPN have decided to destroy the greatest brand in poker.
The World Series of Poker will pause play on July 14th when the event is scheduled to be down to nine players. Those nine will return on November 9th to play out the final table. The next day the final two players will play heads up to determine the eventual “champion”. Capping things off ESPN will air a two-hour showing of the final table on November 11th.
That’s right. The final table will be delayed 4 fucking months so that ESPN can air a two hour shove fest. So what the hell changes here? At least make it interesting and show the damn thing live. If ESPN isn’t going to change the format of it’s telecast then what’s the point?
I covered my arguments against this a few posts back so I won’t rehash it here. I just can’t believe they went ahead and followed through with it.
When it comes to remaining anonymous on the Internet, the reality is not a reflection of perception. In reality being anonymous on the Internet is an ideological fallacy for 99% of the population. They either lack the knowledge or simply do not take the time to cover their tracks. Perception tells them that if their name or address aren’t available, nobody can identify them.
Perception allows the weak minded to act without regard for personal responsibility. The loss of personal responsibility leads to a lack of accountability. Acting with a false sense of impunity these people adopt a standard of behavior far below that of acceptable social norm. They are the poster children for what’s wrong with the Internet.
While certainly the most thought of, it is not only the weak that fall victim to the lure of anonymity. Many people from all walks of life open up and share something that they shouldn’t. Not because the thing they share is bad in a broad sense, but because it may have negative connotations in their daily life. The stories are not uncommon. A job lost, a relationship destroyed. Yet the lure of anonymity leads people to continue to jeopardize these things even with the knowledge of consequences.
Is it the thrill of the rush? The lure of being able to get away with something? A simple pleasure in being bad? The answers are as varied as the personalities involved.
Human Nature
Opposable thumbs are not what separate us from every other animal on earth. It’s our capacity to feel hatred and jealousy and envy. Of course there are a whole range of emotions that are unique to mankind. Unfortunately all of these emotions are harmful to complete coexistence. All that is good in man is shared throughout the animal kingdom. The capacity to love and nurture is not our own. The capacity to kill for pleasure is.
Evolution has not yet worked its magic on the human need to destroy itself. This is not a concept held unto the Internet itself but you will find a greater concentration of such behavior there. That behavior again stems from anonymity.
There will always be people who will act against the social norm whether they are anonymously on the Internet or not. The key is that those who would not exhibit such behavior in their daily interactions outside the Internet, will give into their urges within the Internet.
We’ve all done it, myself included.
Solution
Their is no cure all for the societal failure on the Internet. Although I believe eliminating anonymity would go a long way to alleviating the issue, I also believe it shouldn’t be done. It’s nice to dream about an Internet where everyone is accountable for their deeds, but it’s just not feasible. It’s up to each person to rely upon their own moral compass for guidance. Just try to remember that just because everyone doesn’t know who you are, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to improve society instead of tear it down. Remember that your friends and co-workers may some day know what you have written. Outside of extreme cases if it’s something you can’t tell them now, then don’t tell it on the Internet.
Has anyone rented movies at those redbox kiosks you see stationed in McDonalds locations. I’ve rented a few whenever I receive free coupon codes. Not a bad deal at $1 per rental per night.
Anyway I received a disturbing email from them:
To Our Valued Customers:
A few days ago redbox detected and removed an illegal credit card skimming device at one of our 7,400 locations. At the same time, redbox also discovered evidence of skimming attempts in two other locations. Skimming involves the placement of an illegal device above the credit/debit card reader on a vending machine, ATM, or in this case a redbox. These devices are used to illegally read or store personal credit card information.
Even if your redbox was not targeted, it never hurts to pay a little extra attention and check for any unusual activities or changes at your local redbox. If you suspect your redbox has been tampered with (click this link to see pictures of skimmer devices: http://www.redbox.com/creditcardsecurity/ ) please call 866-REDBOX3, e-mail alerts@redbox.com , or notify the store/restaurant manager of your concerns immediately.
Although there is no evidence currently that these skimming attempts were successful, consumer security is a top priority for redbox. Reviewing transaction records, there is a possibility that up to 150 customers may have been affected. Although only a small percentage of the millions of customers who use redbox each month, redbox has notified the major credit card companies so that they can monitor the situation. The redbox team is also working with local authorities to investigate the incidents and ensure your security.
Skimming is not new (click this link for more details: http://www.uboc.com/ ). It has been attempted numerous times on ATMs, gas station pumps, and now redbox has been targeted. Redbox has been aware of these industry threats and has spent significant time and resources to prepare for them. The 7,400 redbox locations are visited frequently by redbox associates to maintain smooth operations and an optimum customer experience. In this case, a redbox associate found evidence of skimming attempts and initiated the actions in the team’s response plan (including this e-mail message).
Redbox greatly values our customer relationships. As a result, redbox is open and direct in our communications about this type of situation. The redbox team also utilizes industry-leading technology to ensure you have a safe shopping experience and aggressively combats attempts by criminals to defraud customers. Please see the questions and answers below for some additional details on skimming and how redbox ensures the safety of your account information.
Sincerely,
Trina Graham-Hodo Director, Customer Service
Bill Caputo Director, Security
Even though it sucks that people are out there doing this sort of thing, it’s very cool that the company responded in this way. It would have been easy for redbox to keep this all on the ‘down ‘low but they didn’t. This type of corporate responsibility is refreshing to see. Now if only all businesses (government) would be this open we’d be all set.
The good Dr. Pauly recently had a guest post from poker reporter BJ Nemeth in regards to the WSOP 90-day delay. If you haven’t read it do so now and then come back.
I admit I agree with some of the things Mr. Nemeth has to say so I’ll limit myself to only the items that I don’t agree with.
3. How Live is “Live”?
I find it interesting that some critics complain that this delay would compromise the “integrity” of the tournament, yet have no problem with card cams. Showing a player’s cards is without question the biggest threat to the integrity of the game as it is traditionally played, and a lot of players (including Erik Seidel) argued strongly against them when they were first introduced. But card cams played a pivotal role in the recent poker boom, and most of those critics now admit that the upside was much bigger than the downside. I think that’s the case with this new proposal as well.
I deleted most of what he said here but I have to hammer in that this delay does in fact alter the “integrity” of the game. Not because of hole cams, or a player dying. It’s because they don’t play for 3 months. The World Series is a marathon. If you put the delay into the final table every player gets to start fresh, well rested. Even putting a single day off before the final table alters things. Aside from getting lucky and catching cards a player also has to endure days of long hours sitting in a chair. This can often be the biggest factor in performance during the final table. That factor would be gone.
1. The WSOP Becomes a Television “Event” Worth Watching
With this one change, the WSOP on TV becomes a live “event” that far more people will be excited to watch. Nobody will know the result, which is critical to the success of sports television. NBC ran into problems a decade ago when they broadcast the Nagano Olympics on an 18-hour delay, and it really affected the ratings because many people learned the results ahead of time from other media. (And that was when the internet was still relatively new.) If CBS rebroadcast the NCAA championship game between Kansas and Memphis tomorrow night, nobody would watch it, because anyone who cared would already know who won.
Ummm, no. This may bring more excitement to the viewers who were going to watch it, but it’s not going to bring new viewers. Poker on U.S. television has already reached it’s nexus and is heading back down into the numbers that will represent the hard core fans. These fans will watch whether they know who won or not. The experience of watching poker on TV is not ruined by previous knowledge like a sporting event is. Their is no real edge of your seat rooting going on for one contestant over another. Your comparing apples to oranges here.
2. The Unknown Players Are No Longer Unknown
Equally as important, poker fans will have learned enough about the unknown players to develop a rooting interest, either for or against them.
The players also get to learn about eachother. Poker is a game where observing your opponents is important. Giving the players time to study will change the game dramatically. Rooting is based on table antics, and God willing, there won’t be any this year.
If an Australian makes the final table (or an Irishman or a Scandinavian), it won’t take long for most of their countrymen to know his or her name and backstory. Even here in the States, players will likely receive plenty of coverage from their local news (TV, radio, magazines, newspapers) playing up the angle of “local player has a shot at the biggest cash prize in sports.” A regional interest gives more fans something to root for.
This is the argument that should have been used in #1. This may in fact bring more foreign viewers.
3. Big Ratings Are Good For Everyone in Poker
See my reply to #1.
4. Better Opportunities for the Final Nine
I agree with this yet fail to see how it’s better for the poker industry.
5. Long-Term Benefits
Higher ratings than poker has ever seen can bring side benefits.
Your basing your entire argument on increased television ratings. Like I said, I just don’t see that happening. I will concede that the novelty of the idea may increase ratings for the first time. After that it will be business as usual.
Those are my thoughts. Join in the conversation and let me here yours in the comments.
In the past I’ve searched for that all-in-one solution for organizing my reach across the web. None of them has ever lived up to the hype, until now.
Digsby is an information Swiss Army Knife. It keeps your various IM accounts, Email accounts, and Social Networks in one easy to use place. My installation is keeping track of five email accounts, facebook, and twitter messages.
Four of those email accounts are on gmail. Digsby allows me to go straight to the inbox or message for any of them without having to logout of one account and then into another. In the past I tried to use an imap client for organization and really felt it was more trouble than it was worth. This program allows me to keep them separate, but with central notifications. This has been much easier for me to work with and fits my workflow better.
Whenever a new message is detected a configurable popup displays the subject and who its from. By clicking on the popup your taken directly to the email message. I’d prefer to be taken to the inbox since the gmail message view doesn’t allow deletion without going to the inbox first, then back to the message. One thing Digsby does do in regards to this is allow you to single click on the icon in the system tray for that account, and delete the message without visiting the host. This can be very handy if you never intend to read the message anyway.
For IM Digsby really is on par with the other multi account IM applications out there. I have accounts on both Yahoo! and Microsoft Live so it’s nice having them together in one interface. Honestly I don’t use IM much so I can’t speak to this program being better than any other for this feature. They advertise the ability to handle simultaneous downloads across networks but I haven’t utilized this feature at all.
The Social Network integration is well done. My only complaint is that it doesn’t act as a push client for twitter. It checks for messages every few minutes which isn’t bad but I’d much prefer instant reception. That said, I like the way it handles the messages and I’ve been able to quit using my other desktop twitter client. I’m new to Facebook but it seems to handle the < as there from ease with>
If your looking for an all-in-one client I would encourage you to give Digsby a try. It’s still in beta (isn’t everything nowadays) but it’s a polished and well executed solution.
When the average blog writer thinks of a software company that is innovative and offers tremendous free products, Microsoft is not usually the first that springs to mind. In fact, I would venture to claim that Microsoft would never spring to mind.
All that can change now. I present Windows Live Writer. Claiming this piece of software is perfect may sound like a stretch, admittedly it probably is a bit of a stretch, but since I’ve been using it I’ve found lots of Pros and no Cons.
Windows Live Writer is part of the new Windows Live initiative. This includes several productivity products all of which seem to be pretty darn good at what they do. Live Writer is designed to be a blog posting tool capable of posting to the most popular blogging platforms. These include Spaces, SharePoint, Wordpress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, Moveable Type, and others. I have personally used it to post to Blogger and Wordpress blogs without any issues whatsoever.
The feature that pops out at you the most is during the initial setup of Live Writer. When adding a Weblog to Live Writer for posting, the program asks for permission to auto detect your theme. This is a killer feature as it makes Live Writer a WYSIWYG editor for your blog. This is complete with background and text coloring. When it comes time to publish you’ll see that all of your previously used categories are available as well as tags and other advanced options. Inline images and video are also part of this experience.
Do you want to write html code into your post? You have that option. There are several view options including web preview which places your post right into a layout of your actual site. Writing posts is as easy as writing in any other word processor application. There is a toolbar for easy formatting and everything is intuitive and straight forward. A sidebar offers quick links to previous posts and drafts. This is where you will use another excellent extension of the program.
That extension is plug-ins. These plug-ins range from incorporating images directly from flickr, to streaming silverlight applications. The Plug-ins can be written by anyone with the desire to do so, this can lead to some being better than others. Pay attention to the comments of other users and you should be able to avoid the bad ones.
There is more to experience with this program but I encourage you to download and try it for yourself. Once you’ve had a chance to use it let me know how it works for you.
. It keeps your various 
