DoJ and FBI indicted top poker sites, can't access my money, everything's changed

[S1x]

Full story here.

In case you haven't seen the references and hints, I've been playing poker online for a while now to earn a quite respectable amount of money, including enough to wipe out a $4500ish bank loan in one hot month. That is also what I've been using to fuel the recent forum games I made offering real prizes, as one of the first things I wanted to do with my winnings was give a portion of it back to deserving people.

Well, not any more. In response to this seizure, the poker sites temporarily (and most likely permanently until regulation laws pass) restricted all real money play for US players. They would also likely return all player funds, but oh, the feds simultaneously took out pretty much every payment processor at the same time. So now I'm just waiting to hear when I might be able to withdraw everything I worked hard to earn while my bank account has enough to cover about 3 months of minpayments towards my student loans.

If there's one positive light in all this, I still have a volunteer job since I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket. But I didn't just play because of the money. I also really liked the mental game and the challenge. Now it feels like there's a void where all those thrills used to be. =/

[User Name]

Ugh, I'm so sorry, dude. Do we hug? Can we hug? Okay, we're hugging. *hugs*

[S1x]

Click to view video.

[ZeldaGirl]

I'm really sorry you have to deal with this, S1x. I hope things turn out well, in the end. *hugs*

[S1x]

Another site asked for stories from players to show how this affected everybody. This was my post.

I am a 22 year old small stakes grinder. I was playing sorta-professionally, balancing the game with a volunteer job. I had made enough to clear one part of my student loans back in February, and I was on track to get rid of all of them by the end of this year. I guess in this way I'm not as screwed as some people I know since I left my options open, but there's still multiple times what's in my bank account currently frozen on sites at the moment.

While I liked the money part of poker, I also liked the challenge of the game itself and how a single hand could spawn theory discussions that last a long time. I liked how you could constantly adapt to what your opponents were doing and stay a level ahead of them, just like in my favorite tactics games. Most of all, I liked the pureness of the game. The cards don't care how bad a day you've been having. They don't care about your race, gender, or age. They don't care about how much you can brag about yourself or pull of sweet lies about your credentials. If you put the effort in, you can succeed in the long run, and you earn money as a nice side product.

There is so much more depth in this game compared to (perfectly legal) things like lotteries. Obviously people will choose to stack off money they shouldn't be risking in the first place, but I don't see how cracking down on online poker is fair to the people who have created happy fulfilling lives out of it.

I was using a small portion of my winnings and giving it back to deserving people. I liked creating contests and puzzles and awarding a prize to whoever was smart enough to figure them out. I liked the idea of getting flawless service at a restaurant and leaving a 100% tip with a piece of paper on top saying "Jackpot!" Now I'm kind of in lockdown when it comes to cash without one of my favorite things in life so far.

Great country, huh?