While Cryptologic has signed new clients such as the WPT, Playboy, and Betsafe, the loss of BetFair has hit them hard. Betfair moved to their own proprietary gaming platform in Q4 2006, and as a previous significant customer was largely responsible for the hit to revenue and earnings numbers.

The company isn’t projecting a prettier picture in the near term, either, forecasting a small net loss of $1.5 million in Q2 2007. While Cryptologic wasn’t hit nearly as hard as other sites when the UIGEA was passed in October 2006 (70% of the company’s revenues at the time were generated by European players), it still suffered as nearly all companies in the industry did, a fact that has been compounded by the exit of BetFair, which is only know showing up directly in the company’s quarterly numbers.

The company’s stock was selling off sharply in trading Thursday morning, down nearly 12% in early trading.

With the 2007 WPT event in the books, most eyes in the poker world are now turning to the World Series of Poker, which kicks off in June. Players and pundits alike are curious to see what effect the UIGEA has on poker’s crown tournament jewel, as speculation has been pretty rampant as far as the number of entries to this year’s Main Event, and whether it will eclipse 2006 or fall vastly short.

“Liquidity is a big deal in this business,” said Steven Lipscomb, President, Founder and CEO of WPTE. “CryptoLogic has proven itself to be an industry leader that delivers a superior product. This deal ensures that starting with day one of our online gaming re-launch there will be a plethora of cash games and tournament offerings available for our customers on a stable and proven platform. We will launch with a look and feel unique to World Poker Tour and will work with WagerLogic to incorporate additional WPT features that will begin to redefine and distinguish our product and customer experience.”

Like all CryptoLogic licensees, the new WPT site (scheduled to launch in June) will not be open to US players, per the restrictions enacted by the UIGEA in October.

While any legislation to repeal or reform the act faces an obvious uphill battle (once in place, it’s much harder to rally support from elected officials to ostensibly support degenerate activities such as playing poker by repealing or reforming existing legislation that prohibits it), US poker players will take any glimmer of hope they can get these days.

Some poker enthusiasts looking to roll back the UIGEA believe that Frank’s approach (introducing a new, broader act that tackles the broader issue of the right of American citizens to gamble online) is slightly off-target, choosing instead to support the approach of the Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA), which has been lobbying for a carve-out for poker in the existing UIGEA legislation. While the PPA faces the same uphill climb, the theory behind their approach is that it’s much easier (and rocks many fewer boats) to get an exemption for poker and leave the UIGEA largely intact, as opposed to introducing entirely new bills to repeal or reform the UIGEA.

1. When you put money in the pot, always defend it pre-flop when you have the least amount of information about your opponents’ hands.

2. QT is the nuts, and can call any raise at any time.

3. If you fold on the river, you’ll never know what your opponent has.

4. Make bets that can’t be called by anyone, because it’s more important to get out of a hand without giving an opponent any information than it is to maximize the number of chips you win.

Trust me on these, this is gold-star low-limit poker strategy to nail the fish. I think comments have been turned off, so head over to be my personal poker blog if you can think of others.

Neteller has withdrawn from Canada. Although, online gaming isn’t illegal in Canada it hasn’t been entirely passed as legal. So, to summarize, Neteller was scared of another UIEGA being passed and decided that instead of dealing with the repercussions that they’ll just pull out now.

So, now us online poker players are forced to use Click2pay, Moneybookers or the new shilly sites that may be popping up. Thanks Neteller.
——

Press release is below for those of you who are interested.

Monday, 26 March 2007 – The NETELLER Plc Group (“NETELLER” or the “Group”) (LSE: NLR), the leading global independent online money transfer business, today announced several significant changes to its services in a number of markets.

The Group continually assesses the risk profile and status of the markets its serves. Recent actions by regulators, payment processors, and online gaming operators have increased the uncertainty around certain activities related to online gambling in some jurisdictions. The Board of Directors of the Company reached a decision, on 25 March 2007, that the risk to the Group’s ongoing business in Canada and Turkey has increased in the light of such developments. The Board has therefore concluded that the Group will no longer process transfers related to online gambling sites on behalf of Canada or Turkey resident customers.

Reduced Service to Canada

• Cessation of Canadian transfers to gambling merchants: the Group will cease processing online gambling related transactions for Canada-resident customers with effect from 12.01 AM MST Monday 9 April 2007.
• Suspension of InstaCASH transactions: As of today Monday 26 March 2007, at 12:01 AM MST, Canada-resident customers were no longer able to deposit funds using NETELLER’s instaCASH service either directly or from any online gambling site.
• Non-gambling services continue: Canada-resident customers will continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions, including peer-to-peer and pre-paid debit transactions.
• Available customer funds: Customer funds, including those of Canadian residents, are held in a pooled, segregated trust account and will be available for withdrawal by customers, on demand. Canadian customers continue to be able to use their e-wallet accounts for non-gambling transactions.

Perfect reads. Laying down big hands when I knew I was beat. Making big calls with second pair. Catching the cards I was chasing, and picking up the big hands deep in the SNG.

And, when it was over, I didn’t realize it.

Calling extra bets. Bluffing with air, out of position, against 5 opponents. Overvaluing sooted connectors. Undervaluing asshats who think K8 is worth 5 bets pre-flop.
Y’all know what I’m talking about.

Lack of discipline. Playing well, but thinking you’re lucky. Then feeling that luck will get you through when you stop playing well. Good players are disciplined. They play well most of the time, and don’t play when they show signs of losing discipline.

I’m not one of those.

Right now, I’m multi-tabling 2 turbo SNGs on Full Tilt, the crack of the poker world, while writing this post.

Don’t try this at home.

This site also boasts some of the best promotions in terms of number of points.  The Costa del Poker gives 4000 savvy points once you complete the purchase.  4000 points equates to $400 at Amazon.com.  A fairly nice little promotion (although the requirements would take sometime).

The drawbacks of the site are two fold

• You must login to view any of the poker rooms.  This isn’t a large drawback but if you don’t want to have to register you won’t be able to see the current promotions.
• The forum is fairly small and has very little traffic.

All in all this is another great poker points program.   You are almost guaranteed to find a poker room you haven’t played at at Pokersavvy.

Poker Souce Online (PSO) has 12 different promotions that you can take advantage. The requirements vary depending on the room and vary from easy(party poker) to hard (Sun Poker).

PSO also has one of the most active and informative poker forums on the internet. The information on the forum varies from support-to-hand analysis-to-casino gambling. Most of the people on the forums are helpful and great information can be found.
PSO also supports the Instant Bankroll program. This basically gives the player a set amount of money (usually $100).  This is considered your money WHEN you play a certain amount of raked hands. This works out to a really good deal and should be taken advantage of if you haven’t played at the site previously.
The best part of the PSO site is the customer support. From my experiences they provide accurate and fast customer service. If you have a question or a problem about a poker room they are able to provide an answer quickly.  As well, the process of getting your account verified (at a poker room) is usually done quickly.
PSO is definitely worth checking out if you haven’t done so already.