Poker Bar Tour Announcement
“In line with PAGCOR's limiting of poker games outside Casino Filipino and its start of raids of illegal poker games, the Poker Bar Tour will cut short this season to support this initiative. We will move our schedule forward to the end of April with each of the PBT's bars' 6 leg winners playing the top 14 in points for the bar Championships.”
This was the gut wrenching text/email that we had to send out after learning of the plans of PAGCOR to start their foray into controlling Poker outside Casino Filipino. First off, this message was done to explain why we are cutting this season short, it WAS NOT intended to bully, threaten or sway the underground games in any manner. If it felt that way, we apologize but our intent was to stem the SMS barrage of “Why?” that ultimately would come if we just said that the PBT’s season was going to be short.
While we were not the primary targets of this initiative of PAGCOR, I would say the UTH (Usurpers of Texas Hold'em) were the primary targets, we were still outside their comfort zone and thus we felt prudent not to expose our newer players to THAT experience of local enforcement coming down on you.
I will say this; we have read the Presidential Decree No. 1602 about illegal gambling as well as Letter of Instruction No. 816 that clarifies the PD and excludes certain prohibited games under P.D. No. 1602:
“WHEREAS, there is need to exclude . . . certain games like . . . poker, when not played with five card stud . . . and when exclusively intended for parlor games of for home entertainment . . . . And provided further, that they are not played in places habitually used for gambling and the betting is not disguised to defeat the intent of P.D. No. 1602, are hereby exempted.”
We specifically designed the PBT to be within the bounds of the P.D. and the L.O.I. but with our future plans predicated on a good working relationship with PAGCOR, we cut this season short, no worries. It doesn’t mean that there will not be anymore future seasons of the PBT, in fact we have again danced around the gray area and will be offering better prizes (trust me on this one) in the future seasons.
To all the supporters of the PBT, we just want to say that, wait for the next incarnation of the PBT. From SMB to Johnnie Walker to ??, who knows. We might just hit the jackpot and with it we would bring an experience that would get even the not so newbie players excited.
This was the gut wrenching text/email that we had to send out after learning of the plans of PAGCOR to start their foray into controlling Poker outside Casino Filipino. First off, this message was done to explain why we are cutting this season short, it WAS NOT intended to bully, threaten or sway the underground games in any manner. If it felt that way, we apologize but our intent was to stem the SMS barrage of “Why?” that ultimately would come if we just said that the PBT’s season was going to be short.
While we were not the primary targets of this initiative of PAGCOR, I would say the UTH (Usurpers of Texas Hold'em) were the primary targets, we were still outside their comfort zone and thus we felt prudent not to expose our newer players to THAT experience of local enforcement coming down on you.
I will say this; we have read the Presidential Decree No. 1602 about illegal gambling as well as Letter of Instruction No. 816 that clarifies the PD and excludes certain prohibited games under P.D. No. 1602:
“WHEREAS, there is need to exclude . . . certain games like . . . poker, when not played with five card stud . . . and when exclusively intended for parlor games of for home entertainment . . . . And provided further, that they are not played in places habitually used for gambling and the betting is not disguised to defeat the intent of P.D. No. 1602, are hereby exempted.”
We specifically designed the PBT to be within the bounds of the P.D. and the L.O.I. but with our future plans predicated on a good working relationship with PAGCOR, we cut this season short, no worries. It doesn’t mean that there will not be anymore future seasons of the PBT, in fact we have again danced around the gray area and will be offering better prizes (trust me on this one) in the future seasons.
To all the supporters of the PBT, we just want to say that, wait for the next incarnation of the PBT. From SMB to Johnnie Walker to ??, who knows. We might just hit the jackpot and with it we would bring an experience that would get even the not so newbie players excited.
posted by Poker Bar Tour at 12:31 AM
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