Bang, bang, bang…10 bangs, 10 more nails in the coffin of the US online gaming industry went in Monday 23rd.

But we hasten to your free online poker games at NoPayPOKER are USA poker legal and NOT at risk due to the fact that NoPay does not and in fact cannot accept any money deposits…money laundering, lol, chance’d be a fine thing! So to all you US poker players out there, come play with us, OK you may not make big bucks but at least you can play poker online free and at no risk.

2 online casino businesses, Thrill X and BMX Entertainment have been indicted with conducting an illegal gambling business and money laundering.

These 10 domain names were seized:
Bookmaker.com, 2Betsdi.com, Funtimebingo.com, Goldenarchcasino.com, Truepoker.com, Betmaker.com, Betgrandesports.com, Doylesroom.com, Betehorse.com and Beted.com.

When you go to any of them you’ll get a banner saying that the domain name has been seized by order of the court.

From the official Department of Justice press release: Core issue is in blue

Internet gambling operators rely upon the U.S. banking system, and more specifically, money-processing business generally called “payment processors,” to facilitate the movement of funds to and from their customers, the gamblers. Typically, an internet gambling operator directs the payment processor to collect funds from individual gamblers which are used to wager with the gambling organization. Those gambling proceeds are transferred to an offshore foreign bank. The internet gambling operator then sends a check or wire transfer from an offshore bank to the payment processor, directing the payment processor to distribute the money to gamblers for their winnings.

The affidavit filed in support of the seizure warrants alleges that Homeland Security Investigations in Baltimore, Maryland opened an undercover payment processor business, called Linwood Payment Solutions. Linwood allowed undercover agents to gain person-to-person contact with top managers of gambling organizations to discuss the Internet gambling business, to negotiate contracts and terms of the processing, and to handle the intricate movement and processing of collection and payment data from the gambling organizations to the banks.

The affidavit alleges that on November 12, 2009, a Maryland-based online gambler and cooperating informant confirmed that he/she frequented gambling sites, opened accounts and gambled in Maryland. The gambler agreed to set up online gambling accounts and was provided $500 to place bets on gambling websites. The gambler created an account on a BetEd website and placed several bets. On March 30, 2010, BetEd used Linwood to wire transfer $100 in winnings to the gambler’s bank account.

Linwood allegedly processed gambling transactions since 2009 for BetEd, K23 and other gambling organizations using banks located in Guam and Charlotte, North Carolina. According to the affidavit, between December 2009 and January 2011, Linwood processed over 300,000 transactions worth more than $33 million, including transactions for individuals in Maryland. Between February 2010 and March 2011 alone, BetEd directed Linwood to wire transfer over $2.5 million of collected gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Panama; and between February 2011 and April 2011, K23 directed Linwood to wire transfer over $91,000 of gambling proceeds to bank accounts in Portugal and Malta.

These indictments are seeking the forfeiture of the bank accounts used to process the gambling transactions, along with the domain names of websites used by the defendants.

The defendants in this case face a maximum sentence of five years for operating an illegal gambling business and a maximum of 20 years in prison for money laundering. As of the time of this story, a court appearance has not been scheduled.

–END–

NoPayPOKER as we say is immune to this nonsense but we do think it’s sad and motivated more by special interests that any notion of  “defending the public” from the oh so vicious and evil online gambling dons…after all if it were just about gambling (the evil of) can someone please explain Vegas?

So to you players from the USA, our assurance that you can continue to enjoy free poker games with us – and to all other members, no need to worry that the games will stop…only dodgy servers do that

What do I mean by a maniacal snow-shover? I mean someone who moves all-in every turn.  Here at NoPayPOKER because we’re running free online poker games you’ll find a lot of all-in-all-the-time players so, unless you are one of them it’s well worth taking this free poker games guide in so that you know how best to combat this type of play.

Once or twice you can meet them in short-handed Sit and Go tournaments. When the blinds are high (the average stack is just ten big blinds) they move all-in every hand and the others fold. If they succeed in consecutive turns then they can achieve a big chip advantage.

Maniacal snow-shovers are hard to beat. First, when they move all-in, because they do it so frequently, you do not know what they are holding. Sometimes it could be 7-2, sometimes 5-5, sometimes, even A-A. When you decide to call them, it’s one of these. And ‘one of these’ usually means, ‘I don’t know.’

In five-person Sit and Gos, dealing with maniacal snow-shovers is easy. When they shove all-in every hand, there are three others, one of whom may have a good hand (or excellent hand) to call with. The MSS will be eliminated if this happens. (If I have a perfect calling hand I would be the one to do it.)

Or the MSS, with some stroke of extraordinary luck, may knock out one of the other players. The other players will have a hard time dealing with the MSS who now has a pyramid of chips to throw bricks with, and I can now afford to play conservatively. I will wait until I have A-A, K-K (or even just A-K or A-Q) so I can double up through the MSS. Or I will wait until the MSS is knocked out by the other players, or until the MSS knocks out the other players, then we will be heads up with the MSS.

What I’ve been saying is, play super-tight and aggressive poker. Because almost all action here takes place preflop, forget the connectors and weak Aces. Forget small pairs which may be underdogs against the K-10 or Q-9 the MSS may plunge unto you. Wait for a hand where you are at least a 70% favorite preflop (tight) , then once you get it, put your chips in the middle (aggressive).

When you are down to the final two (you and the MSS, which usually happens when you play tight and there is an MSS in play), the MSS usually is leading in chips. Heads-up, your weak Aces (A-8 below) and even K-x will be effective. Your K-x is just as powerful as A-x when the MSS decides to call you with Q-x.

You can’t afford to wait for the big hands because here, the blinds are overeating you now. Shove even with 5-4 or with 10-7. If you get called and you are the underdog, you still have two live cards. Against an MSS heads up, play like an MSS, but fold obviously weak hands. If you fold those weak hands, on average you have a better hand range than your opponent, so you have the better chance of winning even if you start with the smaller stack.

Remember, it takes time to learn how to play poker online or offline at a level above the unthinking, uneducated “chip flinging” seen at many tables.

The good news is that so many players do the maniac all in things so once you learn to play poker good you can take a lot of money from them. As ever practice makes perfect so read, understand and then practice on the free online poker sites to get it nailed.