The United States has postponed meetings with the European Union which were scheduled for this week concerning online gambling. The EU wants to talk about the UIGEA, and how they feel it discriminates against European operators. The issue is that the law excludes offshore businesses, while local gambling like horse racing is permitted to operate.

This isn’t the first time this law has caused problems. A World Trade decision ruled in favor of Antigua and Barbuda, but the US opted to compensate the two countries and withdraw online gaming from its commitments to the WTO.

Remote Gambling Association made the original complaints, and the EU issued a formal questionnaire into the matter. U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab denied any form of discrimination against European operators, and charges were not based on nationality.

There has been no reason offered for the delays, and no other dates have been set for future meetings.

If Barack Obama becomes the next president, can he legalize online gambling? First off, online gambling is not illegal in the U.S., except for a couple of exceptions like Washington State and a few others. The laws against online gambling are aimed at the banks that do business with online gambling sites, not the sites or the activity itself. So if he does change things in the future, he would be making it legal for banks to do business with online gambling sites.

He won’t be able to do it by himself, but he will be able put it to Congress. A Congress that is predominantly Democratic. It wouldn’t take too much persuasion on Obama’s part to make online gambling completely legal. However, it would be in his best interest to gauge public opinion more, before making a move that the Republican government could use against him in the future.

Players that have just started playing poker almost always have a ton of leaks in their game. It takes years to become a really good poker player, despite the common opinion of new players that they are already good. The most common mistake that new players make is that they play too many hands. They don’t yet understand starting-hand winning percentages and think they have an equal chance to win before every hand.

The other common one is to call too many bets when all they have is a draw hand. Novice players believe they will hit their draw too much because they don’t know the probabilities of the draw hitting. They don’t understand pot odds, and that calling large bets with drawing hands puts them in a negative wagering situation. And novice players play their cards too much, and not the player, which is rarely enough to win.

Whether you classify an event as a late-night poker tournament all depends on where you live and log-on. European players, for example, have all the North American daytime tournaments occurring at night. If you’re in North America though, here are my Top 5 late-night tourneys. (All these times are EST.)

1. PokerStars has its $20,000 guaranteed no-limit holdem tournament every night at 1:00 am. The buy-in is $109.

2. Full Tilt Poker has a nightly $12,000 event starting at 3:00 am. Buy-in is $109 and the game is no-limit holdem.

3. Bodog Poker has a $10,000 event starting just past midnight at 12:15 am. The buy-in for the no-limit holdem tournament is an inexpensive $55.

4. Hollywood Poker’s $108 buy-in late night event is at 4:00 am. It usually is only guaranteed for $4000, but can be much bigger.

5. PokerRoom also has a nightly $3000 no-limit holdem tournament at 5:00 am for $54, if you’re still going that early.

1. Pause on the river – that usually means strength. If a player pauses on the river and then bets or raises, they usually have the goods. It’s the online version of “Hollywood”.
2. Quick raise – this move usually means weakness. The player sets the auto-raise to make it look like they’re strong. This is often a bluff.
3. “I have to leave” – when a player writes they have to leave and goes all-in, they often have pocket Aces and are looking for action from medium strength hands.
4. Delayed check – this player is trying to get a free card by trying to appear strong, like they’re taking time to set a trap for you. They usually have a weak drawing hand.
5. Delayed bet – this move is usually a sign of strength. The player is attempting to appear like it’s a tough decision whether to bet out or not.

I’ll leave you with an informative Poker Tells video from stonecoldbluff.co.uk. Enjoy.

1. PokerStars is the biggest with the most action in any form of game.

2. Full Tilt Poker offers a wide array of games and heavy traffic for tournament play.

3. Party Poker has round-the-clock action at ring games and tournaments.

4 Titan Poker offers lots of freerolls and satellites. Tournament action is growing big.

5. Pacific Poker is known for its juicy games and great promotions. Lots of high-level action.

6. Hollywood Poker offers promotions with celebrities and first-class graphics.

7. Player’s Only Poker has the best sign-up bonus there is and they’re having a WPT Freeroll tournament in January.

8. BodogLife Poker has juicy games that are a worthwhile spillover from its top-notch sportsbook.

9. Sportsbook Poker has great small-stakes games on the new Cake poker network.

10. Noble Poker is a part of the iPoker network. Great sit-and-go tournament action.