Just had this email from PartyPoker

"As of today no fees will be charged for withdrawals on Visa, Mastercard, bank wire transactions Kalixa Pay, goplay prepaid, MasterCard and PayPal. However note that withdrawals made via Skrill, WebMoney and NetEller will still incur standard fees."

A step in the right direction.

The $20 trick does work but know what you want and ask for it.  Simply ask "do you have any complimentary upgrades to...... I am happy to tip for any help you can give me".  Be realistic, you are not going to get a suite for 10 nights but you might get the next room up.  The longer you stay the harder it is for them to give you are room upgrade so maybe you would like a fridge (normally $20+ per day)?  Be confident, they know the drill and will help all they can. 

The biggest tip I can give you is don't offer more than a $20.  It doesn't open up some magical next level of upgrades; they can only offer what they can offer regardless of the tip and they will do that for $20 as much as they will do it for $50 or $100.  Sure if they have gone above and beyond give them a little extra but don't go in with that as your opening gambit.

As for pool parties its Wet Republic all day long.  If any of the resident stars are playing like Calvin, Aoki, Hardwell etc and you are getting general admittance tickets rather than a table or cabana then get them in advance on their Website you will save a fortune.

Restaurants: Not often mentioned but STK @ The Cosmo is a must for me.
Shows: MJ One and Absinthe.

Not specifically referencing any of the two situations being talked about, but clearly some of these scams that come to light are criminal in nature i.e. fraud.  Why are they never dealt with as such?  Are they so prevalent because the worst that ever happens is you are shunned by the 'community'?

Looks good, however if the purpose of the Ladies event is to encourage more to play live then I do wonder about the £330 entry price being a barrier.

Is this a bad beat story or Mikey being thin?

My understanding is that a new deck had just been introduced so likely a manufacturing fault rather then anything more sinister.  Not ideal but i'm sure all of them have played enough hands to know it can happen and how its dealt with and all seemed to move on without much fuss.  My only surprise is that nobody insta spotted it when it flopped.

There is another angle to this in that a lot of people had bracelet bets with Hastings this year - did he disclose that he had been playing (and crushing I understand) the big mixed games on Stars?

In addition it looks like a number of PS Team Pro must have known that Hastings was behind the NH account.  Did they have an obligation to report this knowledge to their superiors at Stars (without a doubt imo), and if they did and failed to do so what sanctions should they face for being complicit?

Arsenal Invincibles AINEC

Edit: Just watched the video again and see they are already included.

What a daft question. Do you have a current or previous employer?

Someone who has been playing poker since they were 16 could answer yes if they had a paper round and give the address of their local newsagent.

https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta/

Anyone can look at form here without completing it

Surely they are looking for people who might try and work illegally here and not for poker players.  Saying you have been unemployed for 10 years seems the worst answer?  Think I'd go self employed poker player, though can't be sure it is right.

I think its quite important to have in mind that they are using this information (and the rest) to risk assess likely over stayers/those seeking illegal employment.  However it will just be one of many indicators that are risk scored and would suspect things like country of residence is also taken account of.  Those that score 'high' they may want to interview at the border to explore their circumstances further before allowing entry.  Remember ESTA is permission to travel, not permission to enter.  That all said it is obviously much worse to not tell the truth on the ESTA and be discovered at the border.  I suspect that would only lead to being popped back on the next flight 99.9% of the time.

Why are you doing the promo?  If it's to increase player numbers you must have some idea about the extra profit generated?  Do you really think that you will get significantly more players by offering a £1m prize than a £100k prize?

This is the key question surely rather then what the odds are.  If we are talking a £200k insurance premium then you need to generate at least this in extra rake for a freerole.  If you predict an extra £250k rake then you are in profit by £50k and if you only predict £150k extra rake then you are down £50k.  I am calculating this all in reference to the cost of the policy as I don't see any business wanting to take this risk uninsured unless you are talking significant extra profit (i.e. rake increases by at least half the cost of the BBJ).  When you start to look at it like this we are talking some significant numbers.  

Also, I'm not sure of your role in this but reading between the lines I am assuming you are the card room manager/supervisor.  If you do convince your employers to assume the risk uninsured and the BBJ drops (despite the apparent long odds these things can happen!) what sort of heat this will bring to you and your position?  Worth considering when you put your neck on the line.  That's not to say don't take risks, but always consider the risk v reward for you personally.

I had assumed the answer would be marriage when I opened it. 

Definitely will do my best to attend to put a few faces to names.

We must have shared the same table. Were you the dashingly handsome chap?

I was indeed but alas there must of been two of us as it was after Marcel moved from your table after second break.  However was able to see the fun being had from my seat and was hoping for an early seat move to join in!

Played the UKIPT Notts PLO tourney on Sunday and was at Marcel Luske's table when the manual payout was passed around by the dealer.  He definitely wasn't happy with it but couldn't work out if it was because it was too flat or not flat enough (and didn't ask) and he went to speak to Simon (I think) about it.  Busted before I found out if anything got changed.

Stars to Neteller is pretty much instant.  To Bank is around 5 days in my experience.