Poker Blog & Poker Forum

If I didn’t feel that poker players needed to know/think about this, I’d rather not be writing it at all. In the world of inter-ballers, degens, math geeks and the like normal life functions easily take a back seat. The following is everything I’ve learned about poker and divorce. Take what info pertains to you, and I hope it helps.

Brief synopsis: I separated a little over a year and a half ago. Divorce was vicious and ended unfavourably for me; due in large part to the Ontario court’s perception of gambling.

Quentin Tarrantino moment:

Approx. 3.5 years ago I began playing hold’em, I was good at it, and enjoyed the challenge. My husband encouraged me to play more, and bought me some books. Pretty soon I was making a lot of extra spending money and he encouraged me to consider it as a part-time job, I happily agreed.

Despite his love of spending the money I was making, he started setting a double standard…both encouraging me to play; even signing me up for tournaments without asking; while being angry as I was no longer at his beck and call. I imagine this is a pretty standard adjustment to make when a housewife goes to work, but we never found a balance.

obv for this and other reasons the marriage deteriorated.

My former partner, like so many future divorcées, became an adversary hell bent on ‘winning.’ To this end, was willing to pull out all the stops in divorce court, and in a few spots, outright lie and manipulate. In my trial-by-fire I learned a lot, and much of it too late to correct the original errors.

MISTAKE #1

Not getting something in writing from my partner when it became clear that poker was going to be part of my life.

I’ll leave the specifics to you, but off the top of my head; recreational, part-time and full-time players should sit down with their partners and clearly lay out what to expect. Some ideas are, loss limits, Bankroll, cash out points, Times/Days that you can play, and max session lengths and clear voicing of partner’s support of your decision to play. I did discuss this with my ex, but I did not write it down. This was my first serious error.

MISTAKE #2

Not getting in the mud with my ex immediately.

For all the popular talk about taking the high road this was one of my largest errors. I trusted the system to make an unbiased decision, but the reality is that in custody issues in particular, one is essentially guilty until proven innocent. So when my ex husband made claims like ’she’s a degenerate gambler’ I needed to prove that I was not, and unlike if he claimed I was a drug user…I couldn’t just submit to tox. screens to prove I was sound and making good decisions.

MISTAKE #3

St. Mary’s gambling counseling: I went to an agency that handles gambling addiction and voluntarily submitted for screening, I answered the questions and interview honestly and was assessed as being a ’serious social gambler’ a non-problematic diagnosis.

I trusted this report, and the professional input to be enough to quash the absurd claims my ex was making regarding my alleged addiction.

The reality is that because this is ’self reporting’ it is not worth the paper it is written on to the courts.

MISTAKE #4

Not keeping careful timelines and perfect records while playing.

These over a significant period of time could have helped to verify the information given in the assessment. Paying your bills on time and having money saved will NOT be enough, you NEED records.

MISTAKE #5

Assuming that I could explain away the stigma associated with poker (hold’em esp.) to average non-players in my life.

I believed that people like my parents and neighbours (with whom I was friends) were intelligent enough to understand the game when I explained it to them.

The reality is that people are stupid, and the preconceived notions about ‘poker’ are insurmountable to the average person.

Both my parents and neighbours swore affidavits when asked by my ex-husband, stating that my ‘gambling’ 20hrs a week was problematic, for it’s own sake: it didn’t matter to them that I was paying my bills, meeting my family obligations, not exhibiting the behaviour of a true gambling addict (eg: gambling to escape, out of depression, or for a ‘high’)

• I was, in their eyes, problematic simply because I played cards at all.

• Their affidavits surprisingly had weight in court and were damaging.

My advice is to be very selective of who you share your intent to continue playing cards with during divorce.

My last suggestion is to remember that poker will be perceived as a black mark so you must be more than flawless in all other aspects of your life. In divorce there is much to be lost based on an inaccurate and unfair perception of what ‘poker’ is.

Protect yourself.

Thanks to Kristy Seabrook for this great article and insight on the world behind the poker scene! Kristy is a freelance poker writer, so please contact her if you would like her to write for your site.

Many poker blogs and poker sites are going around toting “year of the pro” posts in their blog about this year’s WSOP as if they are suprised. Come on, are we really that shocked that professional poker players are actually winning in the Holy Grail of poker tournaments, AKA the World Series Of Poker.

After all, if the professionals aren’t the ones winning then I think that says a lot about the game that we have all grown to love?

Sure, in the past there have been a lot of wins by amateurs, but I think back in those days there were hardly near as many “professional” players. After all, what is a professional poker player nowadays anyway?

I consider someone a professional poker player if poker is the main source of their income and they spend at least 30+ hours per week playing. I think that a lot of these “amateurs” of the past actually fall into this category, the only thing that makes them an amateur vs. pro is they are not sponsored by any site.

Another factor that goes into the increased number of “pros” is poker sites are signing players at record speeds nowadays. If a player does well in one major tournament sites are at their beck and call to get them to play for them with their logos.

Sure, there have been a lot of cashes by well-known poker players, but is this really much different from years past? Or is it that we are comparing it to last year where it seemed to be more “year of the Joe” as there were a lot of unknown winners.

So basically what I am trying to say is WAKE UP PEOPLE… are you really that shocked that the professionals are winning or are you implying that poker is a game of luck?

To me, the 2008 WSOP is still just: “The year of Potrippers dad“

We have been working hard on creating a ton of information for American poker players today, which includes deposit options, listing sites available to Americans, then ranking them in a Top 5 Poker Sites for Americans list.

Our rankings are based on our knowledge of the online poker world (which is pretty extensive… might I add).  There are a couple of sites we think should also be listed as the “best poker rooms for Americans“, but haven’t added them just yet.  They are Cake Poker and Carbon Poker, but we are still working on doing full reviews of these rooms.

So, here is where you come in.  We really can’t do this all alone as some of our opionions may be off, and there may be some site out there that we don’t know about.  We would love some feedback on whether you agree with our list, think there are better sites for US players, or think the rankings are out of whack.  So, what we would like, if you could take the time to check out our US Poker Sites page and tell us, what is missing in the comments box below.  Here is a link:

$10,000 is A LOT of money to be spending on a poker tournament. Could you imagine ponying up this kind of cash, only to go out on the very first hand?

Well for former/pre-scandal Absolute Poker pro, Michael “the grinder” Mizrachi and best friend Eugene Todd this turned out to be a reality. Both showed up for day 1 of the $10k Heads Up No Limit Championship hoping that one another would finish deep in the tourney. Unfortunately the draw for players had a bit of a “twist of fate” and the two drew one another for the very first round. Since the two were such good friends they didn’t want the game to have any impact on their friendship and decided to go all-in blind preflop on the very first hand.

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In a blog post titled WSOP and Golf Update, Antonius, who is the most recent pro to join Team Full Tilt discussed his new endorsement deal with Full Tilt Poker and recapped the events he has been playing in during the World Series. What made this post a little more interesting than the usual is his closing remarks.

Antonius felt the need to call out some of the best cash game players online to spar with him in a HU match at Full Tilt. From PA’s blog;

‘I would like to issue a little challenge to a few online players who have been very successful at the biggest games online the past few months. All they do is hide behind their computer screens, scared to play anyone that they think is any good. I have not played Heads Up No Limit on Full Tilt for a long time and have hardly any experience playing it compared to these guys, yet, they refuse to play me and are dodging me in all games.

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