blonde poker forum

With the exchange rate currently being $2/£1 it is clear that the dollar is extremely weak. Most of my, and probably your, online bankroll is held in $.

I like ordinarily to withdraw a sum on a monthly basis, all being well(!), to cover expenses. At the moment I don't think I should, as the exchange rate for doing so is punitive.

I would be interested to know how you deal with this...do you keep more online than you would otherwise do waiting for the dollar to recover to cash out?

Are you constantly switching into and out of netteller anyway?

do you make your decisions anyway and ignore currency fluctuations?

All thoughts welcome

Most of my roll is £ thankfully, however if it was $ it probably wouldn't change my actions too much. I cash out the excess $ on the first of each month (excess to my BR)

Even if you are talking about say 20k the hit u take is no more than a couple of hundred quid, when things go back the other way you will be making that. 200 out of 10k is no biggie, its better than paying tax.

My major concern is just this slide the $ is on, when i started playing poker it was 1.6-1 so a 1600$ win was £1k now i have to win $2k to win £1k, this is making my job a lot harder, i hope the poker sites switch to the Euro at some point! Wishfull thinking i know.

What you are doing now is effectively taking a position on the currency market, and unless you know what you are doing, you wont have much of a chance of getting it right, so the future of the currency shouldn't impact your decision too much. Its either gonna get better, or its gonna get worse for you, so flip a coin or just handle business as normal (I dont mean you as in you specifically in this instance) and if you can predict the future so accurately, get a margin account at some of these market makers and crush the currency market.

Just withdraw as often as possible while trying to build my BR at a reasonable rate.

But we can look at it in a positive way the casual players businessmen etc who play for fun and deposit say 1000 euros, now get more cash to play with, if you got $1500 dollars for your deposit instead of $1000 they may well be more likely to play higher stakes. It also makes deposits from non-US nationals of greater value than it used to and may have the same result.

And yes, the poker sites should use the euro as its probably going to be the most slow paced currency for the forseeable future.

slight diversion.

I've been eyeing up an expensive guitar i can buy from american company and with the currency differences is significantly cheaper than buying it in the UK.

Am i meant to declare that sort of purchase for tax?

I can't say I've altered my habits. I withdraw money when I think my current account could do with a boost or when I have more than I deem prudent in my on-line accounts.

It is a bit of a bugger that I now have to win 10% more in $ to get the same in £ that I was a few months ago, but when you have to factor variance into your income anyway there does not seem to be too much point in worrying about it.

I'm not an expert, though I expect I have more basis for a view than some given my career history.

In effect you are telling me to carry on as normal.

It gives me a germ of an idea though...If a business is subject to currency fluctuations it can "hedge" a certain amount of its exposure ( for a commission at a set price )...it thus has certainty over a portion of its decision making and can plan accordingly

do you think there would be a market for a hedging tool (in partnership with an online site) to guarantee players a set rate (determined on deposit) on cash out?

If I knew a poker player was using a hedging tool I would be twice as likely to raise his blinds!

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do you think there would be a market for a hedging tool (in partnership with an online site) to guarantee players a set rate (determined on deposit) on cash out?
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No - most people will not worry about FX rates and just take the money out when needed and take the good with the bad.

Yes to the hedging tool, so long as it doesn't overly complicate the depositing process.

I don't want the fish having to jump through too many hoops when they reload.

Pretty sure you would have to. One way to do it is to take a cheap guitar out on holiday with you and bring a new one back in it's place but if they catch you I think you get fined as well as taxed.

watch out at the airport for those guitar police                        ;)

the problem here isn't so much in the set-rate, more in the fact that there is no set amount to what players will withdraw, and it would be hard for the offering company to do this without knowing what their exposure would be upon delivery. I think. Interesting concept.

What Flushy said about playing with Euros would be great. If this happens in the next 12 months, unthinkable without the US ban, then that Port Securities legislation may turn out to be the best thing to happen in online poker.



Question for the economists around here, does a country's currency losing it's value increase tourism in that country?

thinking out loud

the player would get a guarantee of a set rate on a withdrawal up to twice the amount he was depositing (to create the illusion/feel good factor that he will win!) and thus the online site could go to its bank monhtly and negotiate a block rate on the total level of its exposure....the more the exposure, the greater the discount/lower the fee that the bank charges


Totalise, I'm off to patent this/talk to Poker Stars...want in? lol

I would be very careful about using a hedging tool, I used one and almost cut Mrs Red's fingers off!

economists question...yes


note how cheap things are in the US for us and how London gets swamped with Yanks when the dollar is strong

Yes you would have to declare it, yes it would be possible not to - depending on how the seller sends it!

If you ask them to tick the gift box rather than the merchandise box you would get away with it. If they don't/won't then you will automatically be billed for the tax - by the shipping company ususally.

im no economist, but I think it would increase it immensely... it makes it cheaper to visit. If it goes too far though it makes the currency worthless and that leads to political unrest and the formation of guerilla organisations ready to perform governmental coups and a frustration in lack of overseas involvement might lead to foreigners being targeted, so while you might get a cheaper experience, you might also end up with your head chopped off, which is a bad thing.

Rich,

gl with the scheme, I hope its a resounding success!

yes, it actually has a massive impact on tourism. It of course works the other way around aswell that's why I predict  that at the end of next year, if the dollar goes the way it's going and stays there, you will hear a lot of complaining from the UK tourism industry that there aren't as many tourists coming over (especially from the States)

you wont hear much complaining from the UK residents though

nope...not from me..if this keeps going you can buy into the WSOP main event for a 5'er :)

Did everyone miss this? Fcking classic.

I'm still considering being in a position to withdraw funds - It's not a concept I'm used to   >:(