Cashout

There’s a continuing debate in the poker world over the advisability of playing online poker on unregulated sites in the US. Of course, there’s not much of a debate in Oregon—or most of the rest of the country—since the only regulated online markets in the States are limited to Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware. Every dollar you put somewhere outside the reach of US law, you might be kissing goodbye (then again, Wells Fargo).

That said, of the two larger sites available here in Portland since Black Friday—America’s Cardroom and Bovada—I’ve mostly played on the latter, and haven’t had any trouble with cashouts in the past. So, after moving a small amount of money over to Ignition Casino in the middle of August after getting the notice that they were going to be taking over Bovada’s poker operations, I was interested in finding out how smooth the cashout process would be, after cashing a couple of Thousandaire Maker tournaments early last week.Here’s the timeline so far.

I ordered a $500 cashout by check just after midnight on Sunday night, a few minutes after the tournament ended (technically, early Monday). I got an email immediately, saying the request had been received. No surprise there, it’s auto-generated.

Early Wednesday morning, after I’d written last week’s Planner (but before it was posted), I received an email saying the payment had been approved. That took approximately 50 hours.

Just after 2:30 that same afternoon and just over 62 hours from the time Ignition first acknowledged my request, I got a text with a package tracking number.

According to the delivery track, the truck made it to my house at 9:30 Thursday morning with the check.I was at work, and it required a signature, but I went by the house at lunch and grabbed the delivery slip off the door, then picked the package up out on Swan Island about 6:30 Thursday evening.

Popped the check into my bank Friday at lunch, and the full amount was in my account on Saturday, less than a week after the request. The ATM check reader at my bank won’t process checks from outside the US, but I haven’t had a cashier even mention it (unlike when I tried to just deposit my paycheck for working at the WSOP).

All in all, a pretty smooth first experience. I did experience some angst on Saturday night when after logging into the client, I saw that almost no tournaments were running, and cash tables were shutting down, but that was during the shutdown of the Bovada system at the end of September. Since then, things seem to be running as normal.

That’s not to say that something couldn’t happen yet. The check could come back as unpaid. They could be paying out early withdrawals extra fast in order to make it look like they’re solvent when they’re not. I certainly hope that’s not the case, because I’ve got some money on there I’d like to run up.

Neither a Borrower Nor a Lender Be, Particularly That Lender Part

What do you do when you go out of your way to help someone out with a $400 poker loan after you’ve hit a decent score, they pay you back half, then after they don’t pay you the other $200 for ten months, they score way bigger than you did and are still kind of relaxed about paying you back for several weeks?

Asking for a friend. At least my “friend” didn’t get dunned by the Global Poker League’s Alex Dreyfus; then again Dreyfus not only paid it back faster, he paid interest.

VIP Poker Club

If you’re on the west side of the Portland Metro area, the VIP Poker Club is operating at several venues five days a week, including—as of last Wednesday—The Game on SW Barbur. Other venues are Pyzano’s in Beaverton, Dublin Pub in Portland, Hanko’s in Lake Oswego, The Jungle Room in Cornelius, and The Hubbard in in Hubbard.

Deal of the Week: Heads Up at Full House

Notice is a little late, but Full House Poker in Eugene is running another Heads Up tournament 15—16 October. You can not only enter into the tournament multiple times, but you can potentially cash multiple times with multiple entries (no fair playing with yourself!)

No idea what the payout structure is, but presumably the folks at Full House can clue you in on that. Prices are $200 per seat, $350 of you buy two entries, and $500 if you buy 3.

This Week in Portland Poker

It’s the first weekend of the month, which means I finally have something out of the ordinary schedule, even if it is on the monthly schedule. It’s time for the Final Table First Friday $20K Guarantee. I know I’m eager, especially after missing Friday’s weekly $10K there and the weekly $10K at Portland Meadows at noon on Saturday.

Only a Day Away

• The Wynn Fall Classic‘s $400K Main Event is this weekend. It’s a $1,600 buyin three-day tournament, with starting flights on Friday and Saturday.
• Heartland Poker Tour has an $1,100 Main Event with entry days on Friday and Saturday at the Peppermill Casino in Reno.
• Deepstacks Poker Tour Casino Yellowhead finishes off with a Main Event (C$1,100 buyin) that has a C$300K guarantee and starting days on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
• Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are three more entry flights at the Bicycle Casino for the SoCal Poker Championship $3M guarantee. You can also buy into Day 2 directly on Sunday for $4,500. Monday is the first of four entry days to a $150K guarantee with a $180 buyin.
• The Venetian‘s October Weekend Extravaganza starts Thursday with a $250 buyin $80,000 guarantee and other events.
• Next Thursday, the HPT  moves to Thunder Valley.
• Kennewick, Washington is the host of the Tri-Cities Poker Championship next Friday through Sunday at Lucky Bridge Poker. It’s a $250 buyin, two-day event, with $2,500 added to the prize pool.
• That weekend is also the Full House Heads Up Championship (see above).
• WPTDeepstacks San Diego opens at the Oceans 11 Casino on Saturday, 15 October.

Remember to keep an eye on the #PNWPokerCal Twitter hashtag and the PNW Poker Calendar for upcoming events!