East to understand....we are all screwed.

http://www.husng.com/content/important-full-tiltcom-pokerstarscom-ubcom-...Going to keep discussion in there.No real information is out there.  A lot of speculation going on of course.  I could write a small book on motives anybody with a hand in this has (DOJ, FBI, processors, poker rooms, casinos, non US governments, etc.). A lot of positive stuff for online poker in the US has been happening lately, so this may be some sort of a push back.  There are plenty of malicious, inevitable, good/bad scenarios and reasons for why this has happened.  Truth is, nobody I know and nobody posting publicly seems to really know what will happen (and maybe what will happen is not already set in stone either).Most of what you will read online now is going to look scary/fear mongering type.  This could just as easily be the "new beginning" as it could be "the end."Proof of this?  Not even a month ago Steve Wynn (created Bellagio, Mirage, Wynn, Encore, other casinos) partnered with PokerStars.  Another large casino company called Station partnered with Full Tilt.  Many other major companies have been investing time, money and other resources into online poker software, technology and other endevours, both here and in the US.There has been progress in the tax area in the US as well.In some states online poker legislation has been moving steadily through the government.  New Jersey may have been vetoed but Nevada is cruising through with a bill and Washington DC seems to have actually legalized a form of online poker just the other day (the impact should be little to none though since you may be forced to play at "internet cafe/hubs" and it's only for Washington DC residents).Reports of US politicians meeting with PokerStars representatives came out recently as well.  And there's many other poker bills or talks of poker bills going on both federally and in individual states (Iowa, Florida, Hawaii to name a few).There is certainly a lot of speculation, a lot of possibilities and so on.  I don't really have answers, I just read this stuff because it's interesting to follow and see where things go.  It is rather disgusting to see how the world operates at times though.  Reading some of the stuff opponents of online poker say, reading some of the stuff casinos that don't want online poker regulated (bc it might eat into their profits) it can be just horrendous and outright false.  But that's life.If I see anything major happen I will update with a news post here on the site.  But as of now, all that really seems to be out there is that the US government has charged Stars, FTP and UB/AP owners with a host of charges and seized their domains.  Stars and possibly the other sites are not accessible to players in the US currently I believe, but that's just what I read on 2p2. I wouldn't run to cashout or anything along those lines.  If you can cashout now and by the time a check or wire comes it clears in a week or two weeks, I don't see why that window would close.

Yea, and Full Tilt with the Station Casinos.I'd expect that though, no major US company wants bad publicity from some major lawsuit like that.From Wynn's perspective, if Stars wins the court battle they can easily repartner with them, and if they lose they won't have to explain why a company they partnered with has an owner going to prison. That's how I see it at least, subject to error, etc.  I'm not authority, I only post about it bc I follow it on the public forums (like 2p2 legislation forum) and a lot of people are unaware of what has been happening in the last few weeks, months, years, etc. aside from big stuff like UIGEA, Reid Bill and now this seizure/case.

I really hope this isn't the start of the end. I'm only a low stakes player with marginal winnings but poker provides great entertainment for me and its great that as a hobby I can make a little money off it as well. I'm really pulling for the pros out there that are gonna face drastic life changes if this is the start of something big. What are the options other than moving to a poker friendly country for most of these guys, especially the ones that make 100k plus.Taking this one step further, what effect will this have on sports betting sites such as bodog? I regularly wager there, albeit with less success than poker, but it would still be a upsetting none the less if I lost this. Not trying to freak out as this effects me way less than a lot of people but if this whole lawsuit did ban US players would we still be able to withdraw our funds?

I short term , i see a raise of the traffic on small site where they respect player and give good rakeback ...  Americain still can play on merge network and i guess the fbi have a lot of work for now .. .