R

Rack - A tray that holds 100 poker chips in five stacks of twenty chips each.

Rail - The rim of a poker table or a barrier outside a poker area.

Railbird - Someone who hangs around a poker room who watches the games and/or is looking to get into action.

Raise - To increase the previous bet.

Rake - Chips taken from the pot by the cardroom for compensation for hosting the game.

Rank - The value of each card and hand.

Rap - When a player knocks on the table indicating that he/she has checked.

Razz - Seven Card Stud where the lowest five cards win the pot.

Re-buy - The amount of money a player pays to add a fixed number of chips to his/her stack in a tournament.

Re-raise - To raise a raise.

Ring Game - A "live" game that is not a tournament.

River - This is the last card given in all games. In Hold'em and Omaha, it is also known as 5th street. In Stud games, it is also known as 7th street.

Round of Betting - This is when players have the opportunity to bet, check or raise. Each round of betting ends when the last bet or raise has been called.

Rounders - Guys who hustle for a living. This is also the name of a popular poker movie starring Matt Damon and Ed Norton.

Royal Flush - This is an Ace high straight (A-K-Q-J-10) of the same suit. It is the best possible hand in poker.

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Poker Players Alliance Drops the Ball

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) has wasted way too much time focusing on individual state cases and arguing whether poker is a “game of skill”.

Most of us already believe poker is a “game of skill” even though the British courts has declared poker a “game of chance”. Great Britain fully embraces online poker and sports betting, even though they want to tax operators to death.

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA), the leading poker grassroots advocacy group with more than one million members nationwide (nearly 10,000 in South Carolina), today lauded the ruling of a South Carolina court that confirmed that poker is a game of skill, and thus should not be considered gambling under the law.

The problem with the PPA’s approach is that they are failing to prioritize.

If you’ve been reading a few of the poker forums in recent days, you know the single most pressing issue right now is with the banking institutions being pressured to cut off transactions to and from payment processors that work with online poker rooms.

It’s a very real concern. There is one bank that has cut off ties to one such processor and others are likely to follow.

In the end, it won’t matter if poker is considered a “game of skill” or “chance” if none of us can play the game online.

The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association had tried unsuccessfully to challenge the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act, which holds financial institutions responsible for policing online gambling transactions.

The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006, rejecting arguments that the law was vague and intruded on individual privacy rights.

Now both iMEGA and the PPA must work (together) to try and solve the banking dilemma. Unfortunately, while iMEGA has shown a willingness to work with the PPA, the Poker Players Alliance wants nothing to do with any groups whose members include Internet bookmakers.

Meanwhile, the US Attorneys Office out of the Southern District of New York is reportedly beefing up its investigation into two of online poker’s biggest companies.

Costigan Media, which owns the Gambling911.com website, won a landmark decision in August when the Honorable Judge Laura Taylor Swain granted the electronic news site access to previously sealed seizure warrants issued by the New York US Attorney’s office. Costigan Media filed a Motion to Intervene in order to learn about and report more accurately on current online poker related investigations. Former acting deputy general counsel at Homeland Security, Baruch Weiss, represented Costigan Media.

Assistant US Attorney Arlin Devlin-Brown was permitted by the Court to redact certain names of individuals and companies that are part of an ongoing investigation. The decision requires that the US Attorney’s Office notify the Court of upcoming indictments.

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Casino Gambling May Increase Further With New Obama Tribal Laws

The Obama Administration appears set on helping American Indian tribes through these tough economic times. One way that may occur is by allowing the tribes to build casinos farther away from their reservations.

Already in the US, there is a major casino boom taking place. Casinos are being built at a quicker rate than at any time in the nations history, and Obama and his administration may soon help that expansion grow even quicker.

The Bush Administration created a law that claims that Indian casinos can only be built if they are in commuting distance from a tribe's reservation. The Interior Department, however, is considering overturning that directive.

In recent months, there have been several lawmakers that have come out in favor of changing the laws regarding Indian tribal casinos. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in California has been one of the most vocal of these lawmakers.

Schwarzenegger leads a state that is among the leaders in the nation with the amount of tribal casinos that is within its borders. The governor not only wants the tribe's to be able to build more casinos, but he also wants California to legalize online poker gambling.

Not everyone is excited about the prospects of changing the directive. Surprisingly, it is some tribes that already have existing casinos that are opposed to the idea of allowing other tribes to build casinos farther from their reservations.

Any change in the laws would ensure that more casinos would be built. Existing casino owners are concerned that the market is becoming saturated and any further casino development could mean doom because of the competition.

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