4:44am: Everyone can agree that there’s a specific course of events in poker that would cause them to “tilt”. For each person, that course of events and the threshold for tilting are different but the lowest common denominator is that we all tilt in some, way shape or form. Let’s be honest, we’d all be winning players if we could learn to control our emotions and not tilt, right? It’s a good thing I don’t have to answer that question because tilt will always exist for a couple of reasons (a) losing money never feels good, and (b) there is so much injustice in poker.

“How on earth can I stop from tilting?” That’s the magic question to which we’d all like a magic bullet. What is the secret to not getting angry after a bad beat? How can one reasonably be expected to control his/her emotions after a runner runner disaster for a large chunk of their bankroll?

If I could answer that question with 100% confidence, I wouldn’t need to play poker because I’d set up shop in a nice little office and play counselor all day long. My client list would be nearly infinite, as you could imagine. But seriously, I will do the best I can to put it into perspective for you and help you avoid the downward spiral, mind consuming seige that is tilt.

First off, in order to answer the questions above, we need to establish a concrete definition of tilt. For all intents and purposes, we will define tilt as “a state of mental confusion or frustration in which a player adopts a less than optimal strategy.” In fact, it almost helps if you define tilt as a temporary illness. Much the same way doctors diagnose a disease, we must diagnose the symptoms of tilt. The key here, however, is to diagnose these symptoms in the early stages so that these feelings don’t permeate into your game. This involves you being brutally honest with yourself and identify when you’re in a state of tilt. If you find yourself checking just three of these ten symptoms, then you’re probably tilting:

- An immense feeling of frustration and anger towards both the player and the game itself
- Strong desire to exact revenge or spite your opponent
- Complete loss of patience in the game you’re playing
- Trying too hard to win each hand dealt
- Second guessing every single decision made
- The concepts of table image and logic have gone totally out the door
- Chasing draws without proper odds
- Sudden bursts of unexplained and illogical aggression
- Overvaluing marginal hands
- The inability to press the fold button

All of these things can be detrimental to your game, or even worse: destroy your bankroll, or even — depending on the situation — ruin lives.

So let’s put a stop to it already, or at least try. Here are five simple suggestions from me to you that will help you stay off tilt:

1. Always, always think long term. Poker isn’t about winning the battle. It’s about winning the war. If you’re a winning player, there’s absolutely no question your results will return to form over time. Why is this so hard for people to see at the time? If that is the million dollar question, then the million dollar solution is: TRUST THE MATH. A good example of this is the swingy phenomenon of coin flips. Literal coin flips, that is. If we flip a coin 100 times, it’s completely within reason that it lands on heads 75 times out of 100 when of course the odds are exactly 50%. Let’s take that same coin and flip it 900 more times, totaling 1,000 flips. This time, heads is only slightly ahead of tails (513 to 487 - 51.3% to 48.7%).  Going even further, let’s flip the coin 10,000 times. This time, the number of heads outcomes are eerily close to the number of tails outcomes — (5,023 to 4,977 - 50.23% to 49.77%). Point being, as the number of flips increases infinitely, the closer the percentages will gravitate towards either other, eventually totally leveling out at 50 percent within fractions of decimal points.

It’s important to just recognize that when you’re running bad you are just caught in one of these deviations (see the first 100 flips), and that it will eventually come to an end. Like we’ve discussed before, the best solution is volume. But equally as important as volume is maintaining your composure during these times and realize that mathematics doesn’t always take the same path, but it always, always leads to the same point — no matter how you slice the pie. Put every single ounce of trust left in your body on the mathematics of poker. I promise it will even out for you over time. When? It could take a while, but hang in there. That’s why long term thinking is the key to success.

2. Learn to let go. You need a break. It’s extremely important to recognize when you’re in the beginning stages of tilt so to avoid anything totally devastating happening. I can’t tell you how many times (in my past) that I ignored this advice, and found myself thinking “things can’t get worse”. Things can always get worse, and I cannot stress that enough. A good friend of mine once told me (and it’s so true): “when you play to get even, you get even worse”. It’s time to let go and swallow your pride when you feel even three of those ten symptoms creeping in. You’ve lost, get over it. It’s perfectly normal to lose.

3. Find a healthy way to express your anger. Some of this might sound a little crass, but that’s only because we all have different ways of expressing anger. Get a punching bag. Masturbate. Go punt a football 40 yards outside. Cry, if you have to. The idea here is to not keep the anger bottled up and to express it in a way that’s not going to hurt anybody physically or mentally. If you keep these hostile feelings inside, you’re going to feel a permanent resentment towards poker (which is where I believe the term “perma-tilt” came from.)

4. Be happy you got the money in good (if bad beats are causing you to tilt). Fish pay your bills. I know that it’s a very pride swallowing thing on nights where you constantly get the money in good, only to lose to runner runner and miracle cards over and over and over again — only to have your -35% roi opponent (who think he’s a genius) taunt you in the chat. Rejoice during times like these. Don’t get angry. Be happy that (a) poker is still a very beatable game because (b) people keep putting their money in bad. And for re-assurance about when that will turn around, see point #1.

5. Remember that it happens to everyone. You lost $300 tonight, and it seems like the complete end of the world, right? To that, I say: no it’s not, and misery loves company. Open up a $200/$400 NL cash game table and watch people lose Plasma TVs, Cars, and even HOMES in these games. Seeing someone lose a $140,000 pot on a two outer on the river suddenly puts things into perspective for you. Maybe things aren’t that bad? Like I said before, it can always get worse. Always.

6. Detach yourself from the results. This is perhaps the hardest of the six suggestions, but it’s completely necessary in order to avoid going on tilt. Everyone likes to win, and most poker players are very competitive people, but there comes a point where winning can mean TOO much to you. We hear the term “results oriented” a lot, and this is where that phrase comes into play. Don’t worry about the outcome of one particular hand. Worry about the outcome of the same hand ran 100, 1000, and 10,000 times, which ties back into long term thinking. Complete emotional attachment might be asking too much, but I definitely think it’s completely reasonable for you to not care AS much when you happen to get unlucky. It’s just a game.

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Another suggestion is to look up some bad beat videos on youtube (there’s tons). One of the most important things to remember when you’re on tilt is that you’re not alone — thousands of people are having the exact SAME problem as you at the exact same moment. Yes, they are getting two outed. Yes, they took a runner runner beat tonight. And yes, they keep getting counterfeited when they flop two pair and their opponent calls them down. Watching videos of this happening to other people re-assures that it’s not just some conspiracy against you and your account. Variance in poker is real, and it happens to everyone. No exceptions.

Someone once told me that it’s the little things that count so here are a few small suggestions in order to avoid falling into the downward spiral: (a) if you have a gym membership, go work out. Kill two birds with one stone: improve your body and get the pent up frustration out of your system. (b) a very cold/hot shower — very underrated as a means of refreshing your mind set. (c) surround yourself with people who ground you and are a calming force in your life. It’s important not to be alone during these times, because when this happens sometimes you spend too much time in your head instead of in the presence of other human beings.

I could literally go on all night, as this is a topic that I’m very familiar with. While these suggestions aren’t for everyone, hopefully I’ve put a creative spin on at least one thing that you will take from this article that will take you one step closer to solving this huge problem that many people have.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

(PN) The United States abruptly announced a postponement in scheduled trade talks with representatives of the European Union that were to discuss online gambling and the stance of the current US administration, which in the EU’s view is in violation of World Trade Organization treaty.

The trade talks, scheduled for early August, were put on hold with little advance notice by officials of the US Trade Representative’s office. This was the same federal agency that sent a curt two-page rebuttal to an extensive EU fact-finding inquiry that attempted to probe the exact reasons for the US’s stance against international online gambling, including the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and the US’s unilateral withdrawal from its related WTO commitments. While the USTR was only one of several government agencies contacted about online gambling, its response seemingly superceded that of other agencies approached by the EU.

For its part, the USTR office is increasingly under siege from several quarters regarding its trade stance. The USTR’s recent talks with online-gambling haven Antigua & Barbuda ended in an impasse, and the agency has not yet responded to Congressional calls to release the specific terms of earlier agreements made with the EU, Canada and other countries related to its previous WTO battle with Antigua. All this comes as the UIGEA itself has floundered amid its own undefined terminology and the increasing and bipartisan pressure against the unfunded mandate on US businesses called for by UIGEA rules.

Start a Clean Slate at a New Room, a New Sharkscope, and Keep HFL Free in the Process

6:46am: (P5s) The U.S. government recently seized $24 million from bank accounts linked to Bodog, the giant, illegal-under-U.S.-law Internet gaming operation founded by Canadian tycoon Calvin Ayre.

Federal filings make very clear that a serious criminal investigation of the Bodog enterprise is ongoing. At a minimum, word of the seizures is likely to rattle the confidence of U.S.-based online gamblers that they will receive their winnings, not only from Bodog but from the industry’s other remaining participants.

Detailed in court filings in a Baltimore federal court, the Bodog-related seizures from such well-known institutions as Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ), Bank of America (nyse: BAC - news - people ), SunTrust Banks (nyse: STI - news - people ) and Regions Bank, a unit of Regions Financial (nyse: RF - news - people ), increase the possibility of criminal action against Ayre himself. There already has been published speculation in his native Canada that he is under secret indictment somewhere in the U.S.

The U.S. attorney’s office in Baltimore, which launched the two lawsuits to take the $24 million, did not respond to a request for comment.

The flamboyant Ayre–media reports often call him a “playboy”–is now believed to be in Antigua and Barbuda, a country in the eastern Caribbean. He has denied being on the lam. A request on Wednesday for comment from Ayre, sent through the Web site of his Antigua-based Calvin Ayre Foundation, was not immediately returned. Nor were call and e-mail messages sent to public relations contacts listed on Bodog’s Web site.

In early 2006 Ayre rocketed to international prominence–and the cover of Forbes magazine’ annual issue on the world’s billionaires–for his stewardship from Costa Rica of Bodog Entertainment Group and his open flouting of authorities in the U.S., his major market. The story headline: “Catch Me If You Can.” The operation was said at the time to be handling $7.3 billion yearly in poker, casino and sports event wagers.

But since then, Ayre has been the subject of law-enforcement raids abroad and growing regulatory scrutiny, especially in the U.S. In late 2006 President Bush signed a law strengthening the prohibition on online gambling. Ayre fell off the Forbes worldwide billionaires list after just one year, amid a decline in his industry’s fortunes.

In overall actions against the industry, federal prosecutors in New York have charged executives of Neteller with illegally processing online gaming transactions. This summer, Canada’s ESI Entertainment Systems, an Internet payment business, entered into a “deferred prosecution agreement” with the same prosecutors. The company admitted to criminal wrongdoing and agreed to disgorge $9.1 million in criminal proceeds for its role in processing $2 billion in Internet gambling payments for hundreds of thousands of U.S. customers. Criminal cases have been started against various online gambling shops.

Ayre has been trying to put legal distance between himself and the operation he founded in the 1990s. For years its business was run through Internet servers belonging to Mohawk Internet Technologies, located on the Kahnawake Reserve Indian reservation in Quebec, Canada. In September 2007 Bodog said its North American operations would be licensed to Morris Mohawk Group, also located on the reservation and run by tribal chief Alwyn Morris.

Three months ago, Ayre, now 47, said he had transferred ownership of Bodog itself to Morris Mohawk Group. “It’s true; I’m packing it in,” Ayre wrote on a Web site.

Court filings in Maryland say that in January and February a total of $14.2 million was seized from accounts in the name of JBL Services and Transaction Solutions at Wachovia, Regions Bank, Bank of America and Sun Trust Bank. In July, filings say, another $9.9 million was found in eight accounts at Nevada State Bank, a unit of Zion Bancorporation (nasdaq: ZION - news - people ), in the name of Zaftig Instantly Processed Payments, doing business as ZipPayments.com. The companies are described as helping to facilitate parts of the Bodog operation.

The court papers detail an elaborate international structure put together to allow Bodog to collect money and write checks to winning gamblers in the U.S. One affidavit by Randall S. Carrow, a special agent with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division, said that $248 million involving entities linked to Bodog was processed through Wachovia Bank, from which $11 million of the $24 million was seized.

In a statement to Forbes, Wachovia said the bank cooperated with law enforcement, doesn’t knowingly allow Internet gaming operations to open accounts, and the funds ending up at the bank were in accounts of a third-party credit card servicer. The statement also hinted that various accounts might have been kept open at the request of investigators to aid their efforts.

According to Carrow’s detailed sworn statements, the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division started looking at Bodog in 2003 and opened a formal probe in 2006. The extensive sleuthing has involved close examination of public and bank records, the enlisting of unnamed cooperating witnesses and informants, and undercover efforts to make bets on football and collect winnings.

Ayre, says Carrow’s statement, is president of Middleton Financial, a Nevada corporation described as a key cog in the U.S. Bodog machinery, as well as Stratham Finance, said to be based in Malta. Other entities linked to Ayre in the court filings are Gateway (nyse: GTW - news - people ) Financial Services, EBanx Ltd., Gregor Financial Ltd. and Calvtek Industries. The filings list dozens of businesses involved in processing Bodog transactions.

The ongoing federal pressure to disrupt Bodog’s financial transactions may be bearing fruit. Carrow’s affidavits say several checks issued from Bodog to its undercover gambler bounced.

A break in the inquiry came in May, one of Carrow’s affidavits says, when an undercover operative for “another state’s gambling commission” received a check that didn’t bounce from an account at Nevada State Bank, which is headquartered in Las Vegas. That led to the $9.9 million seizure this month. The bank had no immediate comment.

Carrow’s affidavits were filed in connection with the U.S.’s successful efforts to get a federal judge to authorize the seizures. But to keep the money permanently, federal prosecutors must file a civil lawsuit and allow a challenge by anyone with a claimed interest. No one fought the $14.2 million seizure, and it was ordered forfeited to the feds. The lawsuit over the $9.9 million–its official name is United States of America v. $9,869,283.05–was just filed.

Even before the advent of Bodog, Ayre carried considerable baggage. Close family members were convicted of drug trafficking. (Ayer himself was never charged.) In 1996 Ayre was banned for 20 years from the British Columbia securities industry for stock market offenses. By that time, he was already moving into online gaming.

“One of the things that drives me is the excitement that I could fail,” he told Forbes in 2006. “What better buzz can you get?”

(PN) The growing chorus of voices calling for an end to the ban on internet gambling has just added two unexpected members – associate professors Kathryn LaTour, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and June Cotte, from the University of Western Ontario in Canada – but not because these self-described non-gamblers support internet gambling. Rather, they see lifting the ban as a necessary precursor to the implementation of effective regulation of the industry.

LaTour and Cotte co-authored a report, to be published next February in the Journal of Consumer Research, entitled “Blackjack in the Kitchen: Understanding Online Versus Casino Gambling” in which they recommend the full legalization and regulation of online gambling in the United States and Canada in order to reduce some of the activity’s harmful effects.

The two did not expect their study to yield such a result. “If you told me I was going to come to that conclusion at the start of research I would have laughed,” said Cotte. But, after interviewing 20 regular casino gamblers and 10 regular online gamblers, they found differences which they found troubling and which led them to their conclusion that online gambling needs to be legalized so that it can be regulated. According to their study, online gamblers gambled more frequently and aggressively, gambled for longer hours at a time, and had a less accurate idea about their losses than their casino-playing counterparts.

For the researchers, the current ban on internet gambling is not the answer. “The horse is out of the barn,” said Cotte. Indeed, the non-gambling professor was shocked to find the industry was already bringing in $12 billion to $15 billion a year. “There is a huge amount of people who are already doing this,” she said. Instead of maintaining the ban, which only serves to move internet gambling off shore, the study suggests ways in which the industry could be regulated to deal with some of its potential for harm.

“You could require the North American online casinos to have things like cooling-off periods, where if you run out of money you don’t instantaneously hit a button and upload some more. In a casino, if you run out of cash, you at least have to walk to an ATM,” Cotte said.

Other suggestions include the implementation of a pop-up notice on a site to alert the user that they have crossed a threshold in the amount of money lost and/or the amount of time spent at the site. They also recommended increasing the size of the wins or losses on the page so that users could more easily track their transactions. On-line counseling, information of treatment for problem gambling, and strict age checks could also be added to the regulations of the gambling sites. In addition to integrating safety features into legalized online gambling sites, both researchers thought regulating the industry could lead to increased revenue. “There are a lot of tax dollars out there that could be collected,” LaTour said.

2:01am: (PN) Congressman James McDermott (D-WA) has taken a second stab at creating a federal revenue/tax-generating mechanism for online gambling with the introduction of his “Investing in our Human Resources Act of 2008.” Formally designated as HR 6061 (House of Representatives Bill #6061), McDermott’s new measure would allocate up to $40 billion to provide educational and job-training assistance to current and former foster care participants, along with workers trapped in declining market sectors. The $40 billion would be generated by US federal taxation on internet gambling.

It’s not the first time McDermott has eyed online gambling as an untapped source of potential federal tax revenue. McDermott was the author of the 2007 Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act (IGRTEA, HR 2607), which was pitched as a “companion” bill to Rep. Barney Frank’s heavily considered Internet Gambling Regulation Enforcement Act. McDermott even distributed copies of a report constructed by auditing and assurance company PriceWaterhouseCoopers which claimed that the US government was missing out on between $8 billion and $42 billion in unregulated internet gambling revenue, the latter figure of which is roughly the same high-end figure cited by McDermott in his most recent proposal. McDermott’s original IGRTEA languished as the more prominent IGREA bill championed by Frank failed to clear a powerful Congressional committee.

McDermott’s bill, however, carries the stipulation that it would only go into effect if what Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas termed a “Frank-style bill” were passed. Indeed, the PPA was one of the first organizations to comment on the new legislation, and a complete copy of the proposal is available on that site. Said Pappas: “McDermott is on the tax writing committee in the U.S. House of Representatives and he’s been an advocate for extracting revenue from internet gambling. The PPA hasn’t had an opportunity to review his proposal thoroughly, but we like the out-of-the-box thinking to be able to connect the benefits of legislation to a worthy cause.”

4:13pm: Annie Duke opened up recently to PokerNews.com regarding the whole UB/AP ordeal, and also the direction of online poker in general. Whether or not you support UB/AP, the one thing that cannot be disputed is that the company running these two sites has made some mistakes. Are you ready to forgive? Annie Duke is, and here’s why:

2:13pm: This is an article featured on P5s, which is finally some good news from a legislative perspective regarding poker. Let’s hope this momentum keeps charging forward.

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On Friday, June 20, major news broke from Capitol Hill. The House Financial Services Committee announced that it will mark up HR 5767 to tomorrow, June 24th, at 10:00am ET. Now dubbed the “Payments System Protection Act” according to the Committee website, the bill is co-sponsored by Congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX) and would prohibit the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve from enforcing the UIGEA. In the mark up session, amendments will be added to the existing text of the legislation and any revisions can be made and discussed. It’s been a long time coming since a Committee hearing back in April. PocketFives.com sat down with Michael Waxman, Spokesperson for the Safe and Secure Internet Gambling Initiative, and John Pappas, Executive Director of the Poker Players Allaince, about the latest news.

Waxman was elated that the Committee was set to mark up the bill next week: “This is an acknowledgement that there’s no way, given the freedom of the internet, you’ll be able to stop people from gambling online. Millions of people continue to do so. It’s an acknowledgement that it is a burden to turn to the U.S. Financial Services industry to be the police and stop people from gambling online. Back in April, we had a hearing where representatives from the Financial Services Committee said that this would be a burden and it’s unlikely that we can stop people from gambling online. Regulators said they didn’t feel that this would be a law that is enforceable. We’re encouraged that Congress is taking the next step to change course and develop a smarter approach.”

Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas, whose lobbying group has been hard at work fighting for the rights of online poker players on Capitol Hill, commented to PocketFives.com: “We are pleased that the Committee will have a serious discussion and vote on the merits of the UIGEA. The PPA and others have continued to say that UIGEA was poorly written public policy doomed for failure. It is now becoming even clearer how unworkable and burdensome this law has become. Stopping UIGEA in its tracks is the right first step towards responsible regulation of Internet poker. We hope the full Committee will vote unanimously for H.R. 5767.”

HR 5767 is up to 20 co-sponsors, including Neil Abercrombie and Stephen Lynch, who signed on June 19th. Here’s a look at the current roster of co-sponsors along with the Congressional district they represent and the date they became a co-sponsor:

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 6/19/2008
Rep Ackerman, Gary L. [NY-5] - 4/24/2008
Rep Baca, Joe [CA-43] - 5/15/2008
Rep Berkley, Shelley [NV-1] - 4/24/2008
Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 5/15/2008
Rep Carnahan, Russ [MO-3] - 5/15/2008
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 4/24/2008
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 5/22/2008
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 4/24/2008
Rep Gonzalez, Charles A. [TX-20] - 5/15/2008
Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 4/24/2008
Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 4/24/2008
Rep King, Peter T. [NY-3] - 4/24/2008
Rep Lynch, Stephen F. [MA-9] - 6/19/2008
Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 4/24/2008
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] - 4/24/2008
Rep Paul, Ron [TX-14] - 4/10/2008
Rep Perlmutter, Ed [CO-7] - 5/15/2008
Rep Rothman, Steven R. [NJ-9] - 5/22/2008
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 4/24/2008

Waxman added, “I believe that Chairman Barney Frank has brought this bill forward because he believes that there is support for the legislation. At the hearing, we saw members on both sides of the aisle asking good questions. We hope that they’re in a position to address their concerns.” The length of time that the bill would take to reach the House floor is up in the air. With 2008 being an election year, there is a limited amount of time left until members adjourn to begin campaigning.

11:28am: From PokerNews.com:

In a closely watched case that could have significant consequences for the online gaming industry, a King County judge on Thursday upheld a Washington state statute that outlaws Internet gambling. But Lee Rousso, the attorney who brought the case seeking to have the law overturned, has vowed to continue the fight. He promised an appeal saying he will take his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary.

The 2006 statute at the heart of the case was an amendment to the 1973 Washington Gambling Act, which had previously only banned the “receipt or transmission of gambling information” through such means as the radio, phone and telegraph. The amendment broadened the law to include the Internet. The amendment also upgraded a violation of the law from a gross misdemeanor to a felony, and made violations of the law subject to seizure and forfeiture.

Rousso, the Washington State Director of the Poker Players Alliance, filed a lawsuit on July 1, 2007, seeking to have the amendment declared unconstitutional. Rousso contended that the new law discriminated against interstate businesses and, thus, violated the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. He argued that the law was enacted to benefit the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos and card rooms, at the expense of Internet gambling companies, noting that the law arose from a bill sponsored by Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, whose district contains the benefited casinos and card rooms. State Assistant Attorney General Bruce Marvin countered that Congress gave to the states primary authority over their own criminal laws and that Washington’s law bans online gambling regardless of whether a company operates in or out of state.

On May 16, 2008, State Court Judge Mary Roberts dismissed Rousso’s complaint, finding that Rousso had not proven that the state law unfairly protected gaming interests inside the state at the expense of interests outside the state. She also stated that the state’s historically strict prohibition on gambling influenced her ruling. However, Rousso countered that the law was hypocritical and blatantly discriminatory. “The state loves gambling, it’s a gigantic business. It’s just the state protecting its turf.”

Rousso, who earlier this year aborted his plans to run for governor of Washington, spoke after the ruling to his supporters gathered outside the courthouse and urged them to lobby politicians to change the law. He encouraged them “to continue to fight the good fight.” Rousso added: “We are going to win this battle. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday soon.”

Among those outside the Kent county courthouse supporting Rousso’s lawsuit were poker pros Andy Bloch and Barry Greenstein. Greenstein argued against the state ban, saying, “the politicians are dictating what you can do in the privacy of your own home. Makes it look like a pretty backward place.”

12:35am: A lot of people were hesitant to deposit on Cake Poker because they didn’t know if they would get their money in a quick fashion. I can put some of your fears to rest. On the Cake client, it tells you that checks could take up to 28 business days. However, that is obviously an extreme over exaggeration, as I personally have received my Cake Poker check in just over 10 business days.

I absolutely love the heads up sit n gos on Cake, however I pulled a good portion of my money out when EPASSPORTE withdrew from online poker. With payouts speeds comparable to PokerStars and Full Tilt, I now have to put the money back - as I look forward to playing many a session in the near future on Cake.

The checks are issued from Nevada State bank, and just like every other site - no where on the check does it say anything relating to online poker. There are very few reported problems with depositing paper checks from online poker sites, so I can say with confidence that Cake Poker is a safe and quick choice for deposits and withdrawals with your hard earned money.

10:33am: If you found this blog with a search engine, odds are you typed in something about Epassporte to get here. It would only seem fitting then that we now address what to do now that Epassporte is gone. What are the alternatives? Are they safe? Are they fast? Are they reliable? If these seem like questions you need answered, read on.

The UIGEA prevented you from using your credit cards directly to fund and receive cash outs from poker sites. To circumvent this, we needed a “middle man service” that didn’t directly link online poker with our credit cards — also known as an e-wallet. Epassporte was an e-wallet service, as it acted as an intermediary between your actual wallet/bank account and the poker site that you play on. Unfortunately, they voluntarily pulled the plug on servicing US customers recently, leaving us to fend for ourselves in funding and withdrawing from our beloved online poker sites.

First thing you should know is that it’s only a matter of time before another e-wallet service steps up and takes the place of Epassporte. There is simply too much money in the industry not to pique someone’s interest from a business standpoint, even if only temporary. There is no question that Epassporte made a killing in between the time Neteller went under and now, before pulling out of the U.S. market. In fact, they are still making a killing as everyone who had money in Epassporte made the mad dash to the ATM to withdraw all their funds. So why did they stop? It appears they just decided that it wasn’t smart business to continue to rely on these funds, so they cashed out while they could.

Fortunately, there are other options while we wait for the next e-wallet service to emerge. The easiest available option is eChecks. eChecks are available on both Full Tilt and PokerStars. An eCheck is an electronic check which allows you to make safe, secure and immediate electronic fund transfers (EFT) directly from your bank account to your Full Tilt/PokerStars account. eChecks work the same way paper checks do. When you deposit using an eCheck, the amount of your deposit is requested from your bank just like when a paper check you’ve written is deposited. Once the check clears, the funds are transferred from your bank account to Full Tilt/PokerStars.

Funds deposited via eCheck are immediately available in your Full Tilt/PokerStars account even though the funds aren’t received from your bank account instantly.

As it can take up to 10 days for the funds to be received from your bank, your deposit is in an ‘uncleared’ status at Full Tilt/PokerStars for 10 days after you make an eCheck deposit. While a deposit is uncleared, you may not cash out or request cash transfers unless you have a balance that is greater than the total of your uncleared eCheck deposits. Any portion of your balance that is more than the total of your uncleared deposits may be used normally including cashouts and transfers.

If an eCheck deposit is not honoured by your bank and is returned as unpaid, other restrictions will apply to future eCheck deposits including not receiving your funds instantly and instead only receiving your funds once your eCheck deposits clear.

How secure is eChecks?

eChecks is a highly secure and widely used method of electronic funds transfer. eChecks is compliant with strict processing rules. The security measures include ID verification, 128-bit SSL encrypted communications and industry standard data encryption of your personal information.

What about my cashouts?

Until an eCheck deposit has cleared, the amount of your eCheck deposit cannot be cashed out. eCheck deposits clear 10 days after the date of deposit.

However, once you’ve made an eCheck deposit which has cleared, you may choose to receive your funds credited back to your bank account on the Cash Out screen. This option will be available to you on Full Tilt/Pokerstars after they’ve credited all cashouts back to other methods you may have used to deposit which require automatic processing.

What will it cost me to use eChecks at online poker sites?

There are no fees for using eChecks at Full Tilt/PokerStars as long as your eChecks clear when they’re deposited. Players are responsible for any fees charged by their banks as well as fees incurred for eChecks that don’t clear due to non-sufficient funds.

If you’d like to get started playing using eChecks, start here.