Bill Rini

The Perfect Storm

I was reading a piece on Bluff's website* about the "World Series Effect" on online poker sites. Generally, during the WSOP many sites temporarily lose some of their best players who opt…

Compounding Bad Decisions

Back in April I shared my thoughts on Betsson's strategy of opening a separate room on Entraction and offering rakeback . Now they have Betsson and Betsson Euro Tables. The Betsson Euro…

Image Dump - Bangkok Protests, Hua Hin, and Random Stuff

Ever since I had to move because of the protests I've been somewhat internet challenged. I could hijack a wireless signal but the speed was close to nothing. Maybe some low-level web…

What the World Series of Poker Means to Me

I want to start off by saying that I am not bitter that I'm not in Las Vegas right now. Okay, a little disappointed that the Rini Inc. private jet doesn't have enough fuel to get to Sin…

Poker Player Montel Williams Told to Spark One Up by Cop

As many folks know, Montel Williams is a poker player and he's even been trying to organize a poker tour. I had the pleasure of meeting him out in London during an affiliate conference…

Poker During the World Cup in South Africa

Tamas Nador sent me a little write-up about the poker scene in South Africa for anybody who is down that way for the World Cup and gets the poker bug. The legal situation is similar to…

Could Legalized Poker in the US Kill the Affiliate Business Model?

In the past I've written about the future of online poker but a rather well-known affiliate sent me an email recently and in my response I threw out a scenario that would not be very…

Bpauk Daeng – Thailand's Gambling Game

I swear I've never played this game because gambling is illegal in Thailand. :-) Bpauk Daeng is a Thai gambling game that is very popular here in Thailand. It's somewhat like Baccarat…

Playing the Lotto: ZOMG It's Riggedz

I was reading an interesting article about a two year old study that shows that poor people spend approximately 9% of their wages buying lottery tickets. I've always felt that this was…

Sigh: Online Poker Still Isn't Rigged

Someone just posted a comment on my 2005 post about why online poker is not rigged and I think it brings up some interesting points I haven't necessarily covered before. So instead of…

Updates, Gripes, and Misc Nonsense

Okay, so where we left off was that I was going to bail down to Hua Hin with my friends. That we did. No pics to post at the moment though because my laptop got completely hosed (more on…

Bangkok on Fire

I don't even have time to write an update before something new and crazy happens here. I hate posting all of this non-poker related stuff but people are asking for updates every time CNN…

An Update on the Situation in Bangkok

When I left you guys last things were starting to get to the boiling point here in Bangkok. Well, the pot is boiling and spilling out all over the stove. I decided to get out on…

The Future of Online Poker

I kind of get a kick out of how all so many blogs and poker news sites get so excited whenever some relatively minor development happens in regards to the legalization of online poker in…

Uhm . . . I'm Scooting For Awhile

The Thai government looks like they've finally had enough. After putting forth a reconciliation roadmap which the red shirts conditionally accepted they've grown tired of the red shirt…

How to sleep at a 5-star hotel for free in Bangkok

Signs of Protest

Some signs, graffiti, posters, etc from the red shirt anti-government protests here in Bangkok, Thailand.

UB/Absolute Wishy-Washy Multi-Account Policy

Just the other week UltimateBet and Absolute seemed to crack down on players having an account on each skin on the CEREUS network . This week they seemed to have done a complete 180 and…

More Clashes With Military in Bangkok

I know this is supposed to be a poker blog but many people have been emailing me, on Twitter, and such telling me they appreciate the updates on what's going on here in Thailand so I'll…

When Rakeback is a Bad Idea

While most of my posts typically defend rakeback and rakeback affiliates (since I am a rakeback affiliate myself) I'm also quick to point out when rakeback is a bad idea. I recently…