Las Vegas Review Journal – The Supreme Court will not disturb the criminal conviction of a New York man whose underground poker game ran afoul of a federal anti-gambling law. The justices on Monday rejected an appeal from Lawrence DiCristina, who said his twice-a-week games of Texas Hold ‘em should not be covered by the federal Illegal Gambling Businesses Act. DiCristina said the law targets games of chance, like lotteries, slot machines and dice, but not poker, which is a game of skill. Bridge and Scrabble players weighed in on DiCristina’s behalf, worrying they could be targeted under a federal…

Atlanta Journal-Constitution – Fifty-five million Americans play poker, but now the Supreme Court could weigh in on whether your basement poker game is a federal crime. Under Georgia law, betting on hands of poker, even around your kitchen table with friends, is illegal. Robert Costner regularly hosts poker parties for as many as 100 people in Virginia, a state where it’s legal to play for cash at home. “Why does the federal government care?” said Costner. “It’s not organized crime. It’s not the mob, it’s just some guys getting together having fun.” But the Supreme Court could soon step in….

In his second show back from a long summer off, Jon Stewart took on the “Groundhog Deja Clusterf@#k” that is the debate over military action in Syria. Stewart had a particularly good time ribbing Sen. John McCain for his unabashed iPhone poker play during yesterday’s Senate hearings. “Hey, man, is this possible global conflagration interrupting your video poker time?” Stewart asked McCain. “You know what, Senator? Go. There’s a rascal scooter and a bucket of quarters with your name on it over at the Golden Nugget… Instead of playing pretend poker in the actual Senate, go to an actual casino…

From Poker Fuse – Stake Me To Play is looking to coral some new horses for their soon-to-launch poker staking stable. The new company, based in Essex, UK, is set to open its doors later this week and is currently accepting applicants on their website. Stake Me To Play seeks to mentor young grinders and partner with experienced winners looking for bankroll relief. While online staking is not new, Stake Me To Play hopes to do it a little differently by offering its players one-on-one coaching, access to their headquarters in Essex, free subscriptions to online training sites—even a guaranteed…

On Friday, April 15, 2011, the American Government shut down online poker sites over the ambiguity of the legality of poker. They branded its operators criminals. But is this still the case? The answer to the above question is yes and no. One of the main problems with passing new laws is that they often have unintended consequences. The clearest example of that is the Volstead Act of 1919. The ostensible purpose of this – Prohibition – was to save Americans from the demon drink; in practice, it created an era of lawlessness. The current drug prohibition laws – worldwide…

The great investment thesis behind Zynga was that it would eventually turn its play-money Zynga Poker game into a wildly lucrative online poker business, rivaling even the most established players in gaming. There was a time when an idea like that wasn’t too far-fetched. Zynga Poker has around 36 million users every month on Facebook with around 6 million of those on the site every day. The problem is that online poker isn’t legal here in the U.S., so this huge user base hasn’t translated to a significant profit. First-quarter revenue dropped 18% and the fickle nature of online-game players has…