Doomsday: Black Friday (Part 1 of 3)

One year ago yesterday I lost my job.  I wasn't fired or laid off.  I didn't decide to quit or go back to school.  My job just simply ceased to exist thanks to the United States government deciding to crack down on the horrible evil that is online poker.  It was April 15, 2011, a day that would henceforth be known to poker players as "Black Friday."

I woke up at the usual hour, around 11 am, determined to finish painting our beer pong table before we hosted a party later that night (an ambitious goal that wouldn't come to fruition for another month).  I painted for a few hours before heading back downstairs to take a quick shower before getting some lunch.  As I was about to step into the shower I heard a vibration from behind me and grabbed my phone to see a text message from a poker friend of mine, Austin: "Poker sky is falling, seriously this time."  Suddenly the shower could wait.

"The poker sky is falling" was a long-running half-joke in the poker community.  For two years leading up to Black Friday depositing into and withdrawing from online poker sites had become increasingly difficult.  No longer were the days of instantaneous cashouts or wandering over to Wal-Mart to pickup a few thousand from the cash counter as Poker Stars and Full Tilt were forced to cycle quickly through payment processors with the U.S. government tightening their grip.  We could obviously still cashout within a reasonable amount of time, but the gradually lengthening timeframe was a constant point of concern, especially with Full Tilt.  While it wasn't illegal for us to be playing online poker there was always a fear that the government could put the kabash on it.

So I slid over to my computer and hopped on the poker forums and Skype to see our worst fears had really come true.  Going to fulltiltpoker.com or pokerstars.com still tells part of the story, although the FBI has changed from what it originally had, and what we opened these websites to on the afternoon of the 15th:

The image still angers me to this day.

The United States Department of Justice had, overnight and without any warning whatsoever, shut off the major online poker superpowers Poker Stars, Full Tilt, and Ultimate Bet to American customers.  Along with that, all player money held in online accounts was frozen as the DOJ had simultaneously frozen the accounts of 100+ payment processors.  (For the poker players reading this, my apologies for calling Ultimate Bet a superpower, I hope you didn't choke on anything as you read that)

I stared at my computer screen in disbelief.  Skype flashed with a constant stream of orange as the entire world I knew was thrown into chaos.  How could they do this to us overnight?  Our expectation was always that if online poker was to come to a complete halt it would be via new legislation and we would have plenty of time to prepare for it.  Think again.

April 15 just so happens to be tax day and earlier that morning my accountant e-mailed me to inform me that she had submitted my tax payment for 2010.  My tax payment was for approximately $18,000...I had $18,500 in my bank account.  $21,000 was now locked up on Poker Stars, another $17,000 was tied up on Full Tilt, and another $3,000 was on Ultimate Bet.  In hindsight it seems incredibly irresponsible of me to ever have that kind of money online when the games I was playing really only required 10-15k but I had been regularly cashing out money for a month and intended to continue to do so for the next month.  Additionally, in my naive mind poker sites were just as safe as my bank account.  With absolutely no idea when this money would be unlocked and a strong desire to feed and shelter myself in the upcoming weeks, I fired off a panicked e-mail to my accountant:

Hi Paula, I'm not sure if you have heard the very recent news (as of like 2 hours ago) but the FBI just decided to crack down on all 3 of the major poker companies.  This really couldn't come at a worse time for me as I have been working for the last month on just getting enough money liquid to pay taxes and was planning on continuing to cashout from the poker sites for another month to restore my bank account.  As it currently stands, they have seized 75 different payment processors and it looks as though cashouts may be impossible for the time being.  We haven't heard anything from the poker sites yet and really have no idea, but as of right now I have the tax payment covered in my bank account, but only by about $500.  Is it possible for you to delay the electronic payments we have filed?  I don't know what the situation is going to be and I don't want to leave myself completely screwed.

She replied within a half hour and gave me the unfortunate news that there was nothing she could do from her end once it had been filed but there was a number I could call to attempt to cancel it.  The problem was that it was a Friday and it required two business days notice to be cancelled and the payment was to be processed on Monday.  I quickly dialed the number and within 15 minutes was explaining my situation to another person who notified me that not only was he unable to cancel the payment for me, the payment wouldn't even show up in their system until 7-10 days after it was processed.  #useless.  Desperate, I shot over to the bank a half hour before it closed to see if there was some way I could cancel it from their end.

Yet again, there was nothing they could do to cancel the payment.   Intrigued by my desire to suddenly cancel my tax payment at the last second, the bank manager started asking a few questions.  For those of you unfamiliar with U.S. law concerning online poker, the legislation detrimental to the online poker world primarily focused on making it illegal for U.S. banks to knowingly move money in and out of online poker sites.  Banks did very little (or in my case nothing) to actively investigate where the money was coming from, but the general consensus was that there was no good reason to offer such information.  I, however, have a horrible tendency of wanting to tell people the truth.  As the words "online poker" left my mouth for the first time in a banking establishment I studied his face.  I expected a furrowing of the eyebrows as alarm bells rang or the eyes to widen as he realized I was one of those customers turning his bank counter to the law.  What I saw instead was his eyebrows raise and his intent gaze was replaced with a look of amusement and interest.  Perhaps he didn't know, or did he not care?  Did I not entirely understand what the law (UIGEA) dictated as a bank's responsibilities concerning online poker?  Surely a bank manager must know of UIGEA and it's implications.  For whatever reason, it was readily apparent that my occupation was merely a source of interest for him and not concern.  My heart slid back out of my throat as the manager's questions followed along the lines of those of a girl I meet at a bar rather than a lord whose realm has been threatened.  Before I knew it I was hitting on him and he said he needed to go to the bathroom and never returned...

In actuality, he was intent on being as helpful as he could possibly be.  We decided my best course of action, as had been recommended by my accountant, was to withdraw all of the money I had in my account and bounce the check I had written to the IRS...always a fun best option.  Once the check had bounced he would give me a call to let me know I could re-deposit the money and he would waive any fees associated with the check bouncing from his side.  He gave me his business card and told me that if I had any other issues or needed any advice concerning the issue just to give him a call.  Score the digits.

I drove back home, virtually my entire net worth sitting in check form on the seat next to me, slightly comforted knowing I could keep on eating for a while.  Time to prepare for a party.

Beer.  Beer pong.  Mike on the grill.  Anti-government sentiment.  Poker explanations.  More beer.  Plenty of empathy.  Outdoor table games.  Good party.  #movingon

Over the next few days very little news came from the poker companies.  The online forums were flooded with conjecture to fill the void of concrete information.  Full Tilt was adamant they had done nothing wrong, denying the accusations of money laundering and bank fraud levied against its CEOs.  Tensions heightened as panicked cashouts from the 15th were manifested by a return to our previous Full Tilt and Poker Stars online balances instead of an increase in our bank accounts.  Sure nobody expected this money to hit our accounts, but we hoped.  The companies e-mailed us to assure us that customer funds were safe but set forth no timetable as to when we would actually see them.

For many it was time to make a decision.  One thing was pretty clear: to continue playing poker for a living would require moving out of the country on a semi-permanent basis.  The alternative many faced was to finally enter the dreaded real world.  Personally it was pretty clear to me that continuing to play poker was my best option but I wouldn't need to make a decision immediately.  I had already finalized plans to go to the World Series of Poker in June where we had rented a house for myself and 5 friends.  A decision concerning my future in poker could wait but I began considering a few options for a move out of the country.

For weeks, 24" monitors across the country were simply vacant space.  One screen after another would go dark as we found spacing Skype and Mozilla across two screens to be a pointless endeavor.  Poker chat groups on Skype morphed into Risk chat groups as an entire community was left with nothing to do with their time.  Pale white faces peaked out behind doors and winced at the sheer brightness of sunlight.  Call of Duty players witnessed a new onslaught of players bearing inapplicable poker aliases or the occasional "TripleBarrellShotgun"s of the world.  Personally, my day-to-day life didn't change all that much as it really only freed up about 20 hours a week as I was a lazy son of a bitch with poker a year ago.  You never know what you have until you lose it.

Finally, after a couple weeks of waiting, we saw some light at the end of the tunnel.  Poker Stars and Full Tilt announced that they had signed an agreement with the U.S. DOJ to payout American players as they exited the U.S. market.  Additionally, the websites confirmed that they would be available to U.S. players who relocated outside of the United States.  Within a few days of this announcement Poker Stars had made cashout options available to U.S. players and I received my $21,000 in late May.  Full Tilt was expected to sort out their payment processors in the upcoming days and I would at least have financial security if not a job.  Ultimate Bet was assumed to be bankrupt but all things considered I could handle that.

I prepared for my road trip out to Vegas excited for a great World Series and optimistic about my future in poker.

(End of Part 1)

This song may not really fit the general mood of the blog, but that's not really the point of my music anyway.  Also, for those of you wondering how poker has gone since my last update, I had a huge finish to Australia and ended up having a pretty profitable trip.  A few more blogs are upcoming, for real this time as I'm back in the U.S. and without poker for the next 2.5 weeks.