I put that name in all caps, because apparently any mention of her attracts readers. I don’t get it, myself, what’s so awe inspiring or interesting about her. Lots of bloggers with real writing talent seem to be wasting time on various gossip about some girl in Vegas who’s messed up. Then again, maybe this post is an epic failure of sorts as well, given that I’m mentioning her. I dunno.

In other, actual, news…

Iggy seems intent on getting everyone to renounce Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet because of their shenanigans. (And, honestly, that’s a much better way for him to spend his time than to stoop to the Entertainment Weekly level with all the Brandi-posts he’s been making.)

Now, although I’ve posted before to this effect, I’ll say it again: I encourage readers of this blog not to play at poker sites that have knowingly or otherwise compromised the security of their players. We know for a fact that this is the case with AP, and it seems increasingly unlikely that this is the case with UB. I won’t play at either again. I hope you won’t either.

There are plenty of sites out there that, at least as far as we know, keep their players safe from this kind of crap. There’s no reason to give money to sites that don’t. The only - ONLY - power of the consumer lies in the choice of vendor. We can write all the angry blogs we want, we can send angry emails, we can talk to our congressmen or whatnot. But unless we actually stop buying the crack, the dealers will stay on our street corners.

A lot of people are upset that the PPA - the Poker Players’ Alliance- aren’t doing anything about this. I’m not surprised they don’t, and I’m frankly surprised that a lot of people are surprised they don’t. Many - myself included - have serious doubts about their legitimacy to begin with, but even if you accept that they’re actually there to try to change US law to allow online poker and not just take advantage of people who want a change of law but has nowhere else to go, then calling out potentially harmful poker sites is not a part of their agenda. It’s not going to happen.

Some have brought forth the idea that the reason the PPA is quiet about this is because they’re trying to make online poker look all cute and cuddly, and any mention of cheating or irregularities might cast a shadow on their stated agenda, and might be something that opponents of online poker will harp on. This is ironic, because it’s precisely for events like the AP ones that we need to have these poker sites better regulated. The scandal is not an argument against regulating and legalizing online poker, it’s an argument for it.

But what do I know.

Edit: The “unlikely” should of course have been a “likely.”