Daily Archives: January 18, 2020

Chris Selley: Preston Manning’s cachet had faded, but there is no one to replace him – National Post

Posted: January 18, 2020 at 11:26 am

Preston Mannings retirement as head of the Manning Centre, which will occasion an unlikely rebranding exercise at the Calgary-based think tank-cum-political training school, feels less like the end of an era than the belated acknowledgment of an eras passing. The annual Manning Centre Networking Conferences in Ottawa used to be an electromagnet for conservative leaders, would-be leaders, pundits, strategists, ambitious youngsters and rank-and-file supporters. In recent years, it very noticeably lost its pull.

There used to be big-name keynote speakers. In 2013 those ambitious youngsters went absolutely nuts for Ron Paul, the libertarian ideologue in a land of so very few, and almost as nuts for Nigel Farage, the grinning anti-Europe gadfly. The whole audience did, really, despite delivering messages that had absolutely no relevance (and were in some cases anathema) to Canadian politics. In an age where the constitution is untouchable and a four per-cent disagreement on small-business tax rates counts as a major policy difference, those ambitious youngsters couldnt ever hope to deviate from the mean half as much as Paul or Farage. But they could dream. Manningstock was, in part, a sort of conservative fantasy camp.

The conference used to award significant cash prizes to people with innovative conservative ideas. There were hospitality suites from various conservative think tanks and advocacy groups, with canapes and booze not from the lowest tier on the catering menu. Manning Rocks the Capital was an actual event on the Friday night, and it lived up to its billing. Jamming yourself into a bar full of people you cant hear over the band isnt my idea of a good time, but it was for a lot of ambitious young conservatives. The grownups would drop by after Hys and shake their heads good-naturedly at the bacchanal.

There were policy sessions too, but they were often a bit perfunctory, and they were never the point. The conference was designed as an annual family reunion a place where differences could be set aside, relationships formed and mended, and the conservative movement reinvigorated as a whole.

Its not like that anymore. In 2019 in particular, the event having moved from the Shaw convention centre to the smaller boardrooms and theatres of the adjacent Westin Hotel, Manning did not rock the capital. Manning made the capital a bit sad, if anything. It was a shadow of its former self.

Manningstock was, in part, a sort of conservative fantasy camp

Preston Manning wasnt just about networking. He had ideas, too. And they certainly didnt help sell tickets to his conference. For years he tried to push carbon pricing as a natural conservative approach to climate change, concern for which he packaged as a natural result of conservatives concern for environmental conservation. What little progress he made went straight out the window when carbon pricing became a signature Justin Trudeau policy, and no amount of reason is going to bring it back inside.

At a time when free speech and political correctness have become leading preoccupations within the conservative movement, Manning has continued to preach from his hard-won lessons as leader of the Reform Party. His message, basically, is to muzzle anyone with controversial opinions as best you can, and throw them under the bus if they wont keep quiet. Dont rock the boat, or the media will tip it over. It may well be good advice, but people dont want to go to a conservative conference to be told that their big, controversial or particularly conservative ideas arent welcome.

No doubt, in part, its just generational: Reform ceased to exist nearly 20 years ago. But Manning clearly doesnt command the respect and attention he used to as an elder statesman. And there doesnt seem to be anyone waiting in the wings to replace him someone more associated with the conservative movement and the reformed conservative coalition than the parties that currently represent them. Indeed Manning was never a capital-C conservative; he founded a whole party based on Western disdain for what passed for conservatism on Parliament Hill in the late 1980s. For that reason, he made all the more compelling a figure of unity in a movement, a coalition, that only reformed 16 years ago.

Potential leadership candidates like Erin OToole and Rona Ambrose might play unifying roles within the party in the short term. But after a campaign that left a lot of questions open, not least where and how social conservatives fit into the conservative coalition, Manningstock in its heyday would have provided an excellent chance for everyone to step back from the horserace and discuss these existential questions, in friendly environs, a little more in-depth.

Parties dont need figures like Manning, of course. The Liberals dont have one. But Canadian capital-l Liberalism isnt a movement; its a tool for winning elections. But with its endless boutique tax credits, milquetoast balanced-budget targets, shameless pandering to Quebec nationalists even when they attack individual and religious rights, and just plain dumb ideas like ending clean-needle distribution in prisons, the Conservatives 2019 platform looked a heck of a lot like a tool for winning as well.

It didnt win. It might next time. Whether that left conservatism any further ahead in Canada would have made a good panel topic at some future Manning Networking Conference.

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It is time to call out the intolerant woke’s racist double standards – Telegraph.co.uk

Posted: at 11:26 am

Sadly, militant reductionists have no time for nuance.

The scourge of identity politics also means that examples of racism against white people are overlooked. Take the child abuse scandal in Manchester. This week, a detective claimed that a grooming gang, predominantly men from Asian backgrounds, was free to roam the city and abuse young girls because police officers were told to find other ethnicities to investigate. This is disturbingly reminiscent of cases from Rotherham to Telford, where the abuse of white girls by ethnic minority males was ignored, as shrugging sexism collided with crushing political correctness.

How did it come to this? Things looked promising when the baby-boomer generation, who grew up more accustomed to non-white faces than their parents, came of age. But then something interesting happened. Communism collapsed and the Lefts struggle shifted, for the sake of its own survival, from the collective to the individual. What has to be done? morphed into Who am I? The result is Manichaean navel-gazing.

One particularly toxic subplot is the medicalisation of victimhood. It was, after all, a professorof counselling psychology at Columbia University, Derald Wing Sue, who invented the term microaggression. That he was partly inspired by RD Laing will surprise few familiar with the baleful maverick who famously asked whether mental illness is a sick response to a healthy situation, or a healthy response to a sick situation.

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We have rights and freedoms that are the envy of many – Medicine Hat News

Posted: at 11:26 am

By Letter to the Editor on January 17, 2020.

The squeaking wheel will always get the grease.

Sadly those who make the wheels squeak are often malcontents with thin skin who take offence needlessly. In that regard they take to social media to air their perceptions. As a result they get others to sympathize and soon they get laws that dilute our freedoms. The end result is political correctness which is slowly and incrementally driving our country to pass laws that, if we dont stop this nonsense will drive us to the same level of intolerance of opinions as countries like Iran, China, Russia and others that use intolerance to muzzle free expression. Our brave warriors would turn over in their graves if they knew the direction we are going.

In this country we have rights and freedoms that are the envy of many people in the world. However, if we keep watering down our rights like the saying of Merry Christmas we will soon our rights to think or speak our minds because of a few who will feel slighted at the smallest utterance. Get over it and learn to use common sense, reason, patience and understanding. Learn to see how others around you live and open your hearts and minds. Malcontents, will, sadly, look at the negative side and never see the sunny side of the street.

Canada is the most welcoming country I know of. We welcome all newcomers from different cultures and speaking all languages. I would not have it any other way. Let us all count our blessings.

We must continue on a path of forward thinking to reinforce our rights and freedoms.

W. Korzyniowski

Medicine Hat

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TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing and goofiest digital platform, but should we fear it? – The Spectator USA

Posted: at 11:26 am

In November last year, an internet video made by a 17-year-old American went viral. The video was less than a minute long and began with its creator, Feroza Aziz, looking directly into the camera and talking viewers through a makeup tutorial. The first thing you need to do is grab your lash curler. Curl your lashes, obviously. Then youre going to put them down and use your phoneto search up whats happening in China, how theyre getting concentration camps, throwing innocent Muslims in there, separating families from each other, kidnapping them, murdering them, raping them, forcing them to eat pork, forcing them to drink, forcing them to convert.

The words gush out not in fiery anger but in the slightly bored instructional tones of all makeup tutorials, while she continues to curl her lashes. To end, Aziz flashes a cutesy, knowing smile: Please be aware. Please spread awareness and, yeah, so, you can grab your lash curler again As subversive political messaging goes, it was a masterpiece. One of the first truly consequential videos to be made using TikTok, the worlds fastest-growing and at its best most creative digital platform.

Though it launched only two years ago, TikTok already has more users than Twitter and Snapchat combined. It hit that all-important one billion mark last year, while its rivals spent triple the time reaching the same figure. Its parent group, the Beijing-based ByteDance, is estimated to be worth $75 billion, the highest-valued tech startup to date. TikTok is also the first Chinese-owned platform to become the most downloaded app in America, and what its dominance might mean for the future of the internet, entertainment, music and society are questions that people are increasingly interested in and worried about.

Shortly after Aziz posted her video about the maltreatment of the Uighur Muslims, TikTok temporarily took down her account. They blamed this on a human moderation error relating to another post. Many including Aziz werent buying this. TikToks dominance, until that point, had been achieved without the political controversies that have dogged platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. In fact, much of its content, generated by its predominantly teenage user-base, seemed decidedly apolitical and harmless certainly when compared with the rest of the internet.

In September 2019, the New York Times set its art critics the task of reviewing TikTok and they immediately commented on the platforms goofiness. The most popular videos captured a sense of novelty and innocence that had disappeared from platforms such as Instagram (which had become dominated by the glamorous lifestyles of influencers) and YouTube (which had been ravaged by Trump-esque culture wars). What thrived on TikTok were videos that were fun to make and to watch.

At the time, the platform was driven largely by its video challenges viral events in which users won over fans by bringing their humor and creativity to a pre-agreed video format. These crazes were part ice-bucket challenge (the now-ancient viral Facebook stunt from 2014) and part Oulipo, the oddball literary collective who believed in uber-restrictive forms as a way of unleashing true creativity. The best ones were surreal and smart such as the videos of girls dancing to their exs abusive voicemails and soon spawned thousands of user-generated video responses from across the world. And with almost everything set to pop music, the whole thing seemed like a giant interactive music video.

TikTok launched a whole wave of young creatives, seeking to become TikTok famous. Unlike Instagram celebrities, though, there was no requirement to be photogenic and glamorous; instead the most successful TikTokkers were often the funniest and most creative ones. When I spent a week on TikTok, I was impressed by sadmuslimgirl a hijab-wearing teenager who used TikTok to make comedy videos about her life as an American Muslim. The target of the jokes varied. Sometimes they would attack media stereotypes of Muslims a common topic for professional comics; at other times they were much more novel and original. Though the jokes were often about the difficulties of fitting in as a teenage Muslim, the videos were never angry or provocative, nor did they obsess over complicated notions of identity politics and political correctness. They were just well, fun.

I was impressed, too, by how easy it was to make TikTok videos something that removed the entry barriers for those who might otherwise find it difficult to make art. I spoke to Amy Hayward, a 25-year-old supermarket worker from Essex whod had tens of millions of views for her comedy videos (many of which deal with her unglamorous day job). She told me shed always been the funny one in her friendship circle but had never really applied her talents to anything creative before. But TikTok, which provides a free-to-use video-editing suite and hundreds of millions of potential viewers, had made it easy for people like her to produce these little films. The most money she had spent was on a small lighting rig to improve the quality of her videos and even that came to less than 200 ($260). Now her videos were seen by millions of other TikTokkers.

But while TikToks popularity is driven by the creativity of users such as Amy, behind the scenes lies another of the apps distinguishing features: its pioneering use of artificial intelligence to curate users viewing experiences. Compared with previous platforms, TikTok is ruthlessly efficient in gathering data on its users behavior and preferences and in using this information to direct them to videos that were most likely to entertain them. The end result is a lightning-quick scrolling experience, in which users move effortlessly from one 15-second video to the next, creating a convincing feel of creative anarchy. All the while, though, the experience is shaped by ByteDances algorithms, continuously using the data to refine and improve the computations. According to tech experts, the system is making billions of calculations every second to work out exactly whats driving viewers attention.

With tens of millions of willing volunteers every day, TikTok might just be one of the most sophisticated artificial intelligence endeavors in the world. Given this technology was developed in China, where tech companies have been asked to hand over their data to the government, you can see why its caught the attention of US senators, some of whom have declared TikTok to be a counterintelligence threat, and even the Pentagon, which has banned American soldiers from using the app.

Take facial recognition technology: with most TikTok users starring in their own videos, ByteDance has probably acquired billions of images of users faces worldwide. Yet similar technology is routinely used for surveillance in China, including to keep tabs on Uighur Muslims. Elsewhere, corporates are developing software to predict who might be a shoplifter by monitoring how people move around a store. Could TikToks vast database on human poses mined from hosting innocent dance challenges be used to accelerate this technology?

When Jia Tolentino, a writer for the New Yorker, asked ByteDance how it would keep its data safe from the Chinese government, it pointed out that users data was always stored within their home country (reassuring, perhaps, for American TikTokkers, but not so much for the platforms 400 million Chinese users). But a former Facebook developer told a different story. The only thing that mattered, he said, was the location of the platforms coders and engineers: Everyone else is a puppet paid to lie to you. And where were TikToks engineers based? Largely in Beijing and Shanghai.

The impact of TikToks algorithms are already being felt across the world and in ways that are reshaping and redefining popular culture. The ubiquitous use of pop music in TikTok (with the same 15-second snippet often used from one video to the next) has already played havoc with the singles chart which, since 2014, has taken account of the amount of times a track is streamed online. When an unfashionable or obscure song becomes the soundtrack to a viral challenge, it can amass millions of streams in a day making it appear more popular than it really is. Now pop producers have cottoned on and begun writing songs that are geared for TikTok success. One hit songwriter Kamille admitted to an obsession with TikTok in an interview with the Guardian recently, tailoring tunes to make them meme-friendly: I think about [adding] weird production parts, because that tends to really work on TikTok.

Like Facebook and Twitter before it, TikTok is slowly but surely molding society to its meme-generating ways and, under the cover of goofiness, honing AI tools that will have repercussions far beyond the charts.

TikToks inner workings remain highly secretive, meaning that while it might avoid the blunt step of removing politically sensitive content or feeding information to authorities it can easily tweak its algorithms to divert viewers away from certain videos, or distract them with something else entirely.

For TikToks billion-strong fanbase the platform has become a byword for freedom, creativity and fun. Many will have no understanding of the complex artificial intelligence that drives their viewing experience. By contrast, the platform is quickly understanding more and more about them. And that could have massive implications for all of us.

This article was originally published inThe Spectators UK magazine.Subscribe to the US edition here.

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Disgusted by the Corruption in Albany, Courageous Black Man Runs for Governor – Artvoice

Posted: at 11:26 am

By Teresa Reile

Something definitely can be done about it.

After witnessing the destruction of the state that he loves so much, Derrick Gibson card carrying conservative and black man decided that enough is enough and that he can and will do something about it.

I simply cant stand by and let the great state of New York go by the wayside by these criminals in office Gibson states.

When asked about the criminals in office he replied, The NYS legislature. Namely, Cuomo and his counterpart in the City Bill DeBlasio. Both of them are criminal elements and they can not be allowed to destroy our fair state under the guise of help anymore. Since they have been in office, taxes have gone up, people are leaving NYS in record numbers, the city which was very safe and clean under Guiliani is now crime ridden and dirty.

When Derrick says he is going to do something about it, he means it. He has just put his hat in the ring to run against Cuomo for the Governor of NYS.

He just might make it. He is driven. He is persistent and knows what he is talking about.

Born in Jamaica, Queens NYC, Gibson was raised by a Christian mother who taught all seven of her children the difference between right and wrong.

Born in NYC, but raised in Georgia, Gibson became well versed in everything that had to do with survival. He learned how to fish, hunt, grow a garden and be a gentleman.

In high school he became interested in the industrial arts and auto mechanics. He was quite good at it. So good, in fact that he landed a full scholarship to South Georgia Technology College in Americus Georgia where he graduated with a degree in automotive technology. After graduation, he was employed in the automotive industry where he gained valuable knowledge and experience which he used to open his own auto transmission shops.

Being young and inexperienced in life in general, instead of using his success to further his business, he blew his money on silly things such as cars, and recreational vehicles.

Undeterred, he realized that he was a bit foolish, but also learned the value of the dollar and because of his foolishness early on, he learned to be even more successful.

He went to college and got his degree in criminal justice. He has seen both sides of the justice system and agrees that it can be unfair, but he is determined to do something about it.

Growing up a black man in the south with a Christian upbringing and 6 siblings, his mother ran a tight ship. She brought her children up right. This was the only way she knew. He had a very spiritual childhood and attended church regularly. His mom encouraged a strong adherence the concept of right and wrong and taught her children the meaning of the word integrity.

Life hasnt always been easy for Derrick, but somehow, he always manages to see the bright side of everything. Andhe perseveres. He never gives up. Today, he too is a proud father who has brought his children up the same way that he was raised: the right way.

He thinks that morals and values have a place in the world. He does not believe that the decline of society is ok. Quite the contrary, he believes in the upholding the Constitution of the United States. And with that, he will tell you that he thinks that Political Correctness has been the start of the decline of America.

At the tender age of 18, Gibson became interested in politics. He paid very close attention to what was going on politically and how these things were affecting his lifestyle. He saw many things that did not align with his Christian upbringing and he decided then and there, that someday, when the time was right, he would run for office.

That time is now.

After serving on Bush Advisory Board in the small business sector, he decided to move back to NYC as an adult and what he is seeing in the state of New York is appalling to him.

NY has left the interest of its citizens behind in favor of vested interests and back room deals, says Gibson, it has got to change.

He has been seeing politicians running rampant with power, going against constituents wishes, being bought off by vested interests and stripping the rights away from the people of NY. Taxes have gotten out of control and that is the first thing he wants to change.

Gibson is running for Governor. He is bound and determined to do it. He wants to see an end to the criminality of the politics as usual in Albany. He has a slogan Axe the Tax, and he promises to do just that when he is Governor.

We wish you all the best Mr. Gibson.

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Some of the Things That You Should Know About Poker – Pokerfuse

Posted: at 11:25 am

If you are familiar with casinos then, you will be familiar with the different types of casino games that you can play, where you can play and more. One of the most popular casino games to play is poker and this is because it was one of the first casino games invented and there are competitions you can enter and compete in. In this article we will discuss some of the things that you should know about poker so, if you are interested then, keep reading for more information.

One of the first things that you should know about poker is the rules of the game and you should also make sure you know how to play poker. It is important to know the rules of poker before you play because if you dont then you will not be able to play the game properly. If you are not sure about the rules of poker then you can find plenty of information about this online so make sure to have a look.

One of the other things that you should know about poker is that to play this game, you will have to play in groups. Poker is better played when you have a group of 3 to 7 people but, you can even play poker with as little as 2 people or more than 7 people if you want to. Sadly, this makes it trickier for people to play this game.

The next thing that you should know about poker is that not only can you play this game in a casino but, you can play it online. This can be more convenient for you because if you play online poker then you can play at any time that you want to and you wont need to worry about finding a group of people to play with. If you are looking to find online poker then take a look online and see what you can find.

Do you know that the main competition in the poker world is called WSOP, the World Series of Poker? In this tournament, there are a number of poker games are played every year in Las Vegas since 2004. Each year thousands of poker players enter into the tournament where they can win thousands and even millions if they happen to play a good game. To enter this tournament, you will need to make sure you have experience playing poker and, you will also need to make sure you have money to spend to enter this tournament.

Overall, there are a lot of things that you should know about poker and, in this article, we discussed some of the different things that you should know. As well as reading this article, make sure you do your research and keep this in mind and use it as a guide to finding out some more information about poker that you might have not known before.

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One Year In, Phil Galfond’s Run It Once Poker Just Getting Started – PocketFives

Posted: at 11:25 am

As Phil Galfond prepares to embark on an ambitious series of heads-up Pot Limit Omaha challenges against six competitors, PocketFives Managing Editor Donnie Peters talked to the three-time WSOP bracelet winner. In the first of two features, Galfond candidly discusses the challenges of running an online poker start-up and how poker prepared him the business world.

They say that poker is a hard way to make an easy living, but that didnt stop Phil Galfond from chasing his dream, relentlessly, and rising to the top of the game. In fact, his life got so easy that he had a custom-made stainless steel slide installed in his multi-million dollar New York penthouse pre-Black Friday. Those days are very much in the rearview mirror, though. Now, Galfond spends his days trying to build an online poker site and its community, not break it.

Galfond has spent the recent years of his life dedicated to his upstart online poker site, Run It Once Poker. If his poker life became so much of a breeze that it can be likened to a cant-stop-me-now, smiling-from-ear-to-ear, Im-never-going-to-grow-up trip down his old slide, his time on the business side has been the opposite, as he tries to work his way from the bottom to the top by climbing a slippery, curvy slope with little to grab onto. One wrong move can force a slide back down to the bottom to start over, only this time the sliding doesnt come with the same excitement.

I always knew it would be difficult, but it has definitely exceeded my expectations, Galfond said. While software development has been our biggest challenge, that was one that we knew would be going in. The main difficulty with launching a new site that I didnt quite appreciate is that youre always paddling upstream with regards to traffic and liquidity. Until youve reached critical mass (whatever that actually looks like) at certain games and stakes, your product is at a disadvantage. Even if you have the best software, the best pricing, and the best game quality if people show up and there arent games available for them to play all the tables they want to play, the product isnt complete.

About a year ago, Run It Once Poker opened its virtual doors, but the idea had started long before. About three and a half years ago, Galfond penned his now-famous blog post called A Poker Site Should and the idea was thrust forward.

A poker site should value poker players, the first line read.

If you didnt read any further, or if the remainder of the post was clipped from visibility, you still had a very good sense of the direction Galfond wanted to take. In a time when online poker sites, most notably PokerStars, seemed to be detaching themselves more and more from valuing its players, Galfond set out to fill the void for a player-first platform in the online poker marketplace.

For as much praise as Galfond received and belief that if anyone could do this it could be him, Galfond will be the first to tell you that it hasnt been easy.

The biggest difference between poker and business, according to Galfond, is that poker is very much an individualistic journey, whereas building a business takes more than one person. Not only that, but all parties involved have to work together.

Id say that understanding risk is integral to running a business and playing poker professionally, but beyond that, there arent a ton of similarities, Galfond said. Playing poker is an independent endeavor, and running a poker site is done by a team. Selecting the right team, giving them what they need to succeed, trusting and relying on them to handle decisions that youd normally think to make yourself these are all more important than what I can do for the company as an individual.

It has taken me a long time to fully learn that especially the part about not trying to weigh in myself on each and every decision. I have come a long way since we started the business, definitely, but I wouldnt consider myself anywhere near an expert in any area of running a business, so my business abilities are very far behind my abilities as a poker player.

Although he says playing poker and running a business dont have many similarities and admits to not being an expert in running a business, one can connect the dots to see that Galfond is drawing from his time as a poker player to set himself, and his business, on the right path.

In order to become a successful poker player at any level, not just at the nosebleed stakes that Galfond once dominated, you have to be willing to want to improve. That comes with allowing yourself to be vulnerable to the fact that youre not the best and there is always room for growth. Whether its in your weekly home game or at the final table of the WSOP Main Event, how many times have we seen poker players believe theyre the best, get ahead of themselves, and then be nowhere to be found? In poker, and in business, the game will always find a way to humble you.

When it comes to his team, thats what Galfond says he is most proud about with Run It Once Poker, and he didnt hesitate in pointing this out. He also didnt hesitate in saying that theres still a long road ahead for the group he describes full of awesome, passionate, dedicated people who have worked insanely hard. Galfond mentioned that many members of the team, himself included, have stepped into new roles during their time with Run It Once Poker and that its been really cool to see all of the development.

A more specific challenge regarding Run It Once Poker that Galfond pointed out involves attracting current online poker players that have spent most of their time playing at other sites, and this is something he didnt fully expect.

One other surprise has been the stickiness of pro and semi-pro players to their current poker site of choice, Galfond said. I knew that our mission would resonate with online poker enthusiasts, all the way from the frequent recreational player to the full-time pro, but Ive been surprised by how much easier it is to get recreational players to make the jump to Run It Once Poker than it is for pros. Recreational players arent primarily playing for income, so the fact that we have fun-feeling software, great rakeback, and a mission that they believe in has led to a lot of sophisticated recreational players coming over to play on Run It Once. Pros, on the other hand, are deterred by game availability (they want to 4-12 table) and seem to be more resistant to things that are different than what theyre used to. Splash the Pot (one of our two rewards systems, which drops money onto the table for players to fight over) was a great example of this a number of pros are worried about playing a format that they havent studied. Sophisticated recreational players see free money landing on the table and a fun new dynamic added to the game.

Rome wasnt built in a day, nor was it fully built in a year. While many players may be reluctant to jump ship from whatever site theyre playing on and make Run It Once Poker their go-to platform, Galfond recognizes that its going to take time, even if the obstacle is a little bigger than he originally thought.

The selling points for Run It Once Poker are what Galfond has mentioned. The site has a good base of recreational players, inviting software, and creative promotions that aim to benefit players as much as possible. Although he doesnt claim to be an expert at building a business, it evident Galfond has already checked off some of the most important elements to starting a successful venture build a solid foundation and put together a hard-working team of like-minded individuals who believe in what youre doing.

In theory, the pros should eventually come over and play. Its just going to take time. Lets face it, its hard for people to change their ways. But if other sites continue to stray further from the core values that Galfond is trying to adhere to, then Run It Once Poker has the potential to become a clear choice for players.

Its no secret about how Galfond feels about PokerStars, but does he feel the same about other competitors such as partypoker and GGPoker? Although theres no mistake that partypoker and GGPoker are competitors to Run It Once Poker just like PokerStars is, its hard to miss the player-first vision that these three sites, albeit separately, have in common.

Im a big fan of Rob Yong and partypoker, Galfond said. He cares about the game and is trying to do what he believes is best for it. GGPoker, Im less familiar with as a player because the PLO rake is crazy, but I think theyve done a fantastic job with their software and a number of other innovations.

Honestly, I believe that Run It Once will be the best of both of those companies if we can grow and reach our goals innovative with fun and user-friendly software, and mission-driven, making decisions that are in the best interest of the future of online poker and our players. I say, if we can grow, because our software, while user-friendly, innovative, and fun, is still in its infancy. We havent yet added tournaments and a number of the other (exciting) ideas weve got. Were already player-friendly, doing things that we believe are best for online poker and for our players, and I think that if you talk to our players, theyll echo that sentiment.

If a player-friendly atmosphere and fun, entertaining gameplay isnt quite enough to put you over the edge, take a look at some of the promotions Run It Once Poker is running. The site offers great rakeback and Galfond and his team are willing to go right at the competition with promotions such as the Stars Become Legends one running in January that is directly targeting PokerStars cash game players with increased rakeback, added bonuses, and even a Run It Once training offer. Its promotions like these that Galfond hopes can help Run It Once Poker achieve its number one goal for 2020 to grow its player base.

Were always working on big improvements and additions to the product, Galfond said for whats on the horizon for Run It Once Poker. Our next very big addition will be SNGs, which I was hoping would be out now, but you know how that goes!

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One Year In, Phil Galfond's Run It Once Poker Just Getting Started - PocketFives

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After Another Down Year, New Jersey Online Poker Poised to Rebound in 2020 – Pokerfuse

Posted: at 11:25 am

Bruce Emmerling, Pixabay

Online poker in the state of New Jersey generated $21 million in revenue for operators in 2019, making it the lowest year on record in the market, according to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

With the exception of 2016when the worlds leading online poker provider, PokerStars, made a big splash with its return to the US following Black Fridayonline poker revenue in the state has been declining from the high of $29 million it posted in its first full year of operation.

In fact, eight times last year monthly revenue from online poker sunk to a new low for that particular month.

However, the decline of 2% in 2019 easily ranks as the smallest drop of any of the declining years, with the next smallest being 8% in 2017 and all of the other down years posting double digit declines.

In addition, what appears to be a year of stabilization comes at a time when competition for disposable income in the online gaming sector is at an all-time high, following the launch of online sports betting in the state during Q2 2018 and amidst the most successful year for online casino games.

Still, at a tax rate of 15% on gross gaming revenue plus an additional 2.5% earmarked for Investment Alternative Tax Obligations, online poker put more than $3.5 million into state coffers last year.

Additional insights can be gleaned from examining the performance of the three online poker networks operating in the state.

2019 was the first year that the online poker rooms operating under the Caesars license (WSOP.com and 888poker) as part of the All American Poker Network (AAPN) captured a bigger share of the market than any of its competitors.

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With $8.9 million in combined revenue, the rooms on the AAPN accounted for 42% of the market in 2019, the highest percentage achieved by any network since PokerStars joined in 2016 to make the market a three-way competition.

Revenue in 2019 was also the highest for the network since it brought in $10.7 million in 2015, the second year of operation of online poker in New Jersey and prior to PokerStars joining the market.

November was the low point for the market as a whole in 2019 and also for the rooms on the AAPN who generated just $619k during the month. However, the competition was only able to surpass AAPNs lowest point three times throughout the entire year, demonstrating the dominance of the new market leader.

Still, AAPN posted year-on-year declines in four months during 2019, but not only did the gains outpace the declines (which never reached 8%), but four times during the year, annual increases surpassed 40%.

To understand the success of AAPN, one need only know that it is the only online poker network that is currently able to allow its players in New Jersey to play with and compete against players in other states.

The AAPN shares liquidity with its poker rooms in both Nevada and Delaware under the MultiState Internet Gaming Agreement (MIGA), but currently no other New Jersey poker operator has a presence in any of those other states, leaving AAPN with a distinct advantage in the market.

While PokerStars is the market leader in almost every other jurisdiction it operates in, its world-class software and operational expertise are only good enough to carry it to the number two position in New Jersey.

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Though PokerStars NJ was the market leader in 2017 and 2018 (and 2016 on a prorated basis), 2019 was a down year in New Jersey for the worldwide leader with just under $7 million collected in rake and tournament fees.

Every month last year, PokerStars posted lower revenue than it did in the corresponding months of 2018, with declines in the first four months of the year ranging between 18% and 30%. That trend carries on from 2018 when PokerStars posted lower year-on-year revenue figures in all but one month.

2019 also saw PokerStars continue its paired back guarantee for its popular NJCOOP (New Jersey Online Poker Championship) series. The operator lowered its series guarantee to $1 million in 2018 (from its $1.2 million guarantee in 2016 and 2017) and continued with its $1 million guarantee in 2019.

But PokerStars is far from giving up in the US. In November, it became the first legal and regulated online poker room to open in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania. And once Pennsylvania joins New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware in sharing liquidity, we will likely see renewed efforts to recapture the market lead by PokerStars.

The online poker rooms operating under the Borgata license on the partypoker network posted the lowest revenue of any online poker network in the state.

Borgata Poker, partypoker and BetMGM Poker (which now appears to be the top brand being pushed by network management) comprise the network and combined to generate $5.1 million in revenue last year, the lowest amount by any network in the history of the market.

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In nine of twelve months, the group posted lower revenues than it did the year prior. While such a performance can be viewed as an improvement on 2018 when the network saw every month fail to meet the revenue amount it generated in 2018, total revenue in 2019 was down 10% from 2018.

In fact, not a single time in 2019 did the group exceed $500k in revenue. To put that into perspective, only three times since the market opened has a network other than the partypoker failed to post more than $500k in revenue.

The partypoker network used to host the premiere online poker tournament series in New Jersey, but the Garden State Super Series (GSSS) was noticeably absent from the 2019 schedule as management for the network completed its transition to Roar Digital, a joint venture between MGM Resorts International and partypoker parent company GVC.

Even though 2019 was by most measures the low point for online poker in New Jersey, there are reasons to believe that 2020 will bring good news for online poker operators in New Jersey.

As mentioned earlier, the rate of decline for online poker revenue in the state slowed dramatically in 2019, and that could be an indication that the market is at or near its floor.

There is also the possibility that partypoker could open an online poker room in the state of Nevada. They have been approved by state regulators and circumstances indicate that a Nevada launch may be in the works even though company officials have tried to tamp down rumors stating that an online poker launch in Nevada isnt a priority at this time.

But perhaps the most significant event that will have an impact on online poker revenue figures this year is the fight between the New Hampshire Lottery and the US Department of Justice over the Wire Act.

The case that will likely clarify if the 1961 law prohibits online poker operators from combining their players in multiple states at the same online poker cash games and tournaments will make its way through the appellate court process this year.

And though a persistent DOJ under the Trump administration could push the matter all the way to the Supreme Court if its appeal is rejected, a change at the top of the US executive branch resulting from the current impeachment proceeding in Congress or the November presidential election could put an end to the single biggest obstacle standing in the way of the growth of online poker in America.

Should the revised DOJ opinion of the Wire Act be shelved for good, it is very likely that we will see Pennsylvania join MIGA which will allow at least one New Jersey operator to begin sharing liquidity across state lines, a factor which will undoubtedly boost revenue in the Garden State.

Additionally, such a seismic event could also encourage operators and regulators to launch online poker in West Virginia. The state legalized online poker last year but has yet to roll it out, likely due to the limited potential of operating in a state one fifth the size of New Jersey.

Michigan also legalized online poker in 2019, and a favorable resolution to the Wire Act case could also serve to motivate operators to launch in that state, knowing that the it will be clear to join the other states that have legalized online poker in MIGA.

Then there are states such as New York and Kentucky which look ready to legalize online poker this year. While it is unlikely that they would also be able to launch their markets in 2020, the passage of legislation in those states would likely cause online poker operators to invest in their curt markets as a way of preparing for what may turn out to be a new online poker boom in the US.

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How to Think Like a Poker Pro (River Strategy Analysis) – PokerNews.com

Posted: at 11:25 am

January 17, 2020PokerNews Staff

Over the last couple of weeks we've been sharing an interesting street-by-street discussion of a no-limit hold'em hand by poker coach Gareth James of MTT Poker School. The analysis was inspired by a recent blog post from poker pro Jason Koon in which he discussed the complex decision-making often demonstrated by players in high-stakes games.

After applying Koon's ideas to both the flop and turn in this particular hand, James has continued through to talk about the river as well. As before, when addressing what to do on the river James applies many of the questions Koon recommends players ask when trying to determine which action is best to take.

To recap where we are in the hand, the Villain had opened from the cutoff and the Hero defended the big blind by calling with . The flop came to give the Hero two pair, and the Hero check-called a continuation bet. Then the turn brought the , and this time Hero checked again, Villain bet again, and Hero called once more.

You can review those discussions here:

The river then brings the , making the final board to counterfeit Hero's two pair. Hero checks, and Villain pushes all in. Now what?

Once again, there are several questions Hero wants to answer in order to make the best decision about what to do on the river:

As before, these are a lot of different questions to answer in a short amount of time. But by studying situations like this away from the table, you'll be better positioned to make smart, informed decisions relatively quickly.

Take a look:

By the way, here is Koon's original blog post for the partypoker blog: "It's the same game, but it isn't."

Gareth James coaches at MTT Poker School where his new MTT Game Changer modules are now available. He is also the co-author with Dr. Tricia Cardner of Purposeful Practice for Poker.

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Prompted by Jason Koon, Gareth James shows how to "think like a poker pro" when playing the river.

Hand analysis: Gareth @gazelligpoker James analyzes a tricky river decision facing an all-in shove.

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Who Are the Most Popular Poker Players On Twitch? – Poker News Report

Posted: at 11:25 am

Twitch is an online streaming platform that mainly focuses on gamers. Ever since it started operating, its popularity has been rapidly growing. Although video game streams still make up the majority of content on the site, other industries saw an opportunity in the platform as well.

It was only a matter of time when some poker players and lovers would discover Twitchs potential.

Nowadays, theres an entire poker community on Twitch, with thousands of active users. Some of them are also very active when it comes to creating poker-related content. In fact, poker has its own category on Twitch at the moment.

Therefore, if youre a poker enthusiast, following some important streams is very useful, and, above all, very entertaining.

However, to find the best content, you need to know who makes it. Therefore, heres a list of some of the most popular Twitch poker streamers.

Jaime Staples is perhaps the most important poker streamer on Twitch at the moment. PokerStaples is the most popular channel in the poker category, as Staples streams five days a week.

Apart from his content being frequent, it is also very educational. Needless to say, Staples is able to hold your attention as his poker content is rather entertaining as well.

Staples has had moderate success as a poker player, with more than $800,000 in winnings in online tournaments. However, after he started twitching in 2014, that became his primary occupation. Right now, he has 125,000 followers on Twitch.

Jonathan Little may not be as popular as Staples, but the quality of his videos is great, mainly because he streams educational content. Apart from that, he also owns a website that trains poker players and has released a couple of books.

Little is not only a great tutor but a great poker player as well, as he managed to earn approximately $6.5 million in live tournaments. If youre new to the world of poker, Little is the best entry point for you. Right now, he has almost 8,000 followers at Twitch.

Lex Veldhuis has had quite the success in playing online poker. He goes by the name of RaSZi and is quite popular in online circles. Apart from being a great player, he is also outstanding at streaming live poker-related content.

The high-stakes player is experienced in this type of work as he already appeared on numerous poker TV shows.

Right now, Veldhuis is focused on streaming poker on Twitch and has approximately 182,000 followers.

Parker Talbot is known on the web as tonkaaaap and currently has more than 97,000 followers on Twitch. He has managed to earn more than $3 million in poker tournaments and is still actively playing the game.

Apart from being an active player, he is also an active poker streamer on Twitch. Players who are interested in watching an entertainment type of content related to poker will find Talbot very amusing.

Right now, Jason Sommerville is considered the most popular Twitch poker personality. He is the one that started the whole streaming thing and was the initial creator of the poker community.

Due to his success on Twitch, he also started the Run It Up poker series, named after his channel. Right now, Sommerville has more than 230,000 followers on his channel and continues to dominate the poker world of Twitch.

His content is best for all poker enthusiasts who want to learn more about the game and have fun while watching it. Therefore, his channel is a perfect mix of entertaining and educational content.

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Who Are the Most Popular Poker Players On Twitch? - Poker News Report

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