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What’s one lesson that we can all learn from Facebook? That people love poker. It may not be what you thought, but it is true. The most popular page on Facebook is not Lady Gaga; it’s not even Farmville…but it is a Zynga game. It’s called Texas Hold ‘Em Poker and 7 million people flock to this page a day to play online poker, for FUN!

While many people think of poker as a gambler’s game of luck, it’s simply not the case. Poker is no longer a game just for the wealthiest, the degenerate gambler, or the consummate thief (see our post on poker in the movies if you need examples), it’s become an American pastime.

However, young people who have turned to online poker as a way to make money during the recession have been met with obstacles in making it full-time. Those obstacles are all centered on legalization. There is a debate going on within our federal and state governments right now and the issue at hand is this: Should we legalize online poker? [read more below...]

Click to view the Economic Stimulus Plan: Legalize Online Poker infographic.

Both crimes are memorable for their own reasons. One was a brazen robbery in a popular casino, and the other was a virtual robbery of virtual chips. But the criminals do have something in common: they both got caught and now face jail time.

The brazen theft happened in December of 2010 when a man parked a motorcycle at the Bellagio valet, walked toward a craps table with helmet still in place, and showed a gun in the process of demanding casino chips. He was given approximately $1.5 million, mostly in high-denomination chips up to $25K each, and the robber fled on his motorcycle without so much as a chase.

Recently, the man tried to cash those $25K chips by meeting with supposed high rollers to exchange them for cash, as he would likely be caught if he tried to cash them at the Bellagio cage. But those men were actually undercover cops, and Anthony Carleo was arrested as a suspect in the robbery. And just for kicks and reporting fun, Carleo happens to be the son of Las Vegas Municipal Court Judge George Assad.

The recent enforcement of the 2006 UIGEA against online gambling transactions delivered a major blow to the online poker industry last month when eWalletXpress was forced to shut down their US operations. Over the past few days, the feds dealt another massive strike to the online poker world by seizing $8 million in online poker bankroll funds in Washington State.

According to the stipulations imposed by the UIGEA, it is unlawful for banks to process transactions dealing with online gambling. Unfortunately, due to confusion among legislators regarding whether poker is a game of chance or a skill game, online poker is fully included in this legislation. As a result of recent enforcement of the UIGEA, many Washington poker players are now wondering why their bankrolls have suddenly evaporated.

Players have reported receiving calls from employees at Big Bet Poker stating that as of January 3rd, 2011 Big Bet Poker will not be accepting any new players. This news was confirmed when the head of poker at Big Bet made this post at PAL.

As of today, Monday, January 3rd, we are no longer accepting new signups or deposits from players. Existing players will still be able to access their account through the client and either play out current balances or request a withdrawal. The final date players will be able to request a withdrawal will be Friday, January 31st, 2011.

This comes as a surprise to many players. Big Bet Poker was on the Merge software platform, and had been around since early 2009.

It seems that the domain name could have some kind of curse on it. Another company ran an online poker site at BigBetPoker.com back in 2003, and they too went busto. The parent company obviously did not do their homework when deciding on a name for their online poker room. Had they researched it a bit more they could have realized that this brand was already burned.

As much as I like the new online poker sites, it looks like the bigger poker sites offer more long term stability.

Michael Eisenberg, a poker dealer who formerly worked at Pennsylvania’s Rivers Casino, was recently arrested for stealing poker chips from won pots. Eisenberg, who is just 25 years of age, was promptly fired from his job and is now facing theft charges.

Though there’s no telling how long Eisenberg has been performing his misdeeds, the tipping point came when security cameras at the Rivers Casino clearly showed Eisenberg removing $501 from poker pots at his own table over the course of an evening.

Security at the Rivers Casino became suspicious when Eisenberg’s tips quickly grew from under $200 per day to in excess of $500 per day. Eisenberg’s embezzlement strategy was actually quite simple. Each time a pot was awarded at his table, he would quietly grab a $5 or $1 chip from the pot as he raked in the folded cards. Eisenberg would the drop the chip into his tip jar, located under the table.