It seems like from one day to the next, we never quite know what is going on in terms of online poker in the US. Poker seems to be the most controversial online game – it is most in the news and this is what the Poker Players Alliance wants – attention for the game! However the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) also wants Federal regulation and not necessarily intrastate online poker to become legal.

The breaking news from Washington, DC is that they have become the first city/state to legalize intrastate online poker. How this has become possible, we have no idea, it was only mere months ago that PokerStars and FullTilt pulled out of Washington State due to a landmark court decision which declared online poker in this state completely illegal. However we have to remember that Washington D.C. is in the District of Columbia, and not in Washington State – confusing, we know!! Although as far as the Department of Justice is concerned any online poker in any state in the US is illegal. The Wall Street Journal published an article on Friday, stating otherwise however; it appears this law came into being by default.

We quote from WSJ –

“The city council approved a budget last year allowing the district’s lottery to operate a poker website accessible only inside district boundaries. City officials say the window for Congress to raise objections to the law was due to expire Thursday, allowing it to take effect.”

There has been no comment from law-makers, nor the Department of Justice as yet, and so far no intrastate site has been seen. Whether this site will be launched next week, next month, next year or in 2014 – we have no idea. They do say that the lottery wants the poker up and running tests in select sites by the end of the year (2011).

John Pappas of the PPA said it is his belief that there are not sufficient online poker players in the District of Columbia to support a viable intrastate online poker business; but the fact that the legislation took place around the corner from Capitol Hill, may expedite matters more for the rest of the country. It was only a month ago that Gov. Chris Christie vetoed an online poker (gambling) bill for the gambling state of New Jersey, while Iowa, California and Nevada have been in a race against time to see if they could be the first to get intrastate gambling laws passed. Iowa believes their bill is not ready for the vote for 2011, while Nevada has held a hearing, but no vote has been scheduled. In terms of New Jersey State Gov. Chris Christie want the decision to go to referendum for the people to decide. He is of the opinion that all gambling matters in this state have been decided this way. As far as California is concerned, we are not really sure what the Governator has planned, but this Washington D.C. surprise should be flushing out some high hands post-flop.

I am playing poker for almost 3 years now and I can tell you that it is quite difficult to be on the final table every time. And, by the way, I am a lady, so playing my chips, like a lot of women; it is something I don’t like so much! What did I learn through my 3 years of experience?

- First, be patient, if you don’t have any good cards, be patient it will arrive soon!

- Be aggressive but be clever and don’t raise a lot when you have just good cards because it would be easy to guess your strategy and no one would like to play against you at this time.

- When someone raises and you have very nice cards: be worry about your cards in front of your opponent. He will think that you are waiting something else and he will raise more the next round.

- When you are the big blind and the amount is quite expensive! Observe how people are and if they hesitate during the blind raise more!  You will scare them for sure!

- Train yourself on internet, it is easy to get experience on it and you can do it from your bed. A lot of website proposes to play for free but it is more interesting to play a little bit of money because players don’t go all in every minute.

And, observe people behaviour! When they bluff they used to do the same things, touching their hair, looking at the bar, take a little bit of time!