SINGAPORE, Oct 11 — For eight to 12 hours a day, they can be playing at as many as 24 tables concurrently, making decisions in milliseconds on whether to check, fold, call or raise with their hole cards before the buzzer goes off.
The actions of the eight other players they are up against at each table are inconsequential to them, because they are playing, in Texas Hold’em aficionados’ parlance, ABC poker — making cold decisions based solely on the mathematical odds of their hands.
To these so-called “professional grinders,” online poker is a full-time job and one which promises eye-popping rewards: In rakebacks alone — the rebates on commission operators levy on each game — they can get a Porsche in one year. Ironically, the pocket change, generally speaking, is the money they win — playing ABC poker usually gives a margin of five per cent over the long run, give or take.
And these regulars in online card rooms such as Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker are not about to let the deterrent measures — including blocking payment and access to these websites — legislated under the Remote Gambling Bill passed earlier this week smash their “rice bowl.”
They have virtual private network services on the ready to circumvent the blockade the authorities intend to impose on remote gambling websites.
“We know ways to get around technical obstacles or we will find ways,” said a 31-year-old online poker player who did not want to give his name. “If you can find ways to get past the Great Firewall in China, anything can be done.”
He recounted how poker enthusiasts got around hurdles when the game first surged in popularity here six to seven years ago. As Singapore credit cards are not accepted, they turned to buying funds from other online players to get their fix, for instance. Many also set up e-wallet accounts, such as with Skrill, PayPal or Western Union, to pump funds into their accounts with these card rooms.
While Second Home Affairs Minister S. Iswaran has said the focus is not on nabbing individual gamblers, the new law provides for six months’ jail or a S$5,000 (RM12,760) fine for those who go for a flutter on unauthorised websites.
Not that this is sending chills down the spines of all casual gamblers. A 24-year-old undergraduate who plays on PokerStars two or three times a week, each time for a couple of hours, said: “So many people in Singapore are playing, I’m just a small fish.”
The draw of online poker games, she said, is they are much faster — compared with approximately only 10 hands in an hour for actual games, online players get up to 30 seconds each to act — and available round the clock. “I don’t play at the high-stakes tables anyway, it’s just a fun thing to do,” she added.
The lure of poker tournaments, which are unavailable at the two casinos here, is another factor, said another poker fan, who is planning to open a bank account in Johor Baru and get a Malaysian credit card to slip through the cracks.
“You get to play against people from so many different countries, it’s more exciting,” said the 38-year-old, who has gone to Genting and cruise ships to take part in poker tournaments.
Apart from the prize money, a golden ticket to larger-scale poker tournaments — such as the World Series of Poker, which has been held in Las Vegas annually between June and November since 1970 — sometimes awaits the winner, he added.
Others are taking a wait-and-see approach. If it gets too cumbersome, they will unfurl the felt at home.
At some condominiums, for instance, poker enthusiasts have formed WhatsApp chat groups to organise games and even tournaments. During weekends and public holidays, in particular, there can be as many as six games hosted in different homes simultaneously.
“Most of us play poker online and we exchange stories of interesting hands during these sessions,” said a 35-year-old, whose condominium has such a group. “It’s just not the same when you’re playing with strangers. We are thinking of including many more friends of friends in our games.”
As for those into football betting, the comparatively poor odds offered by state-sanctioned Singapore Pools have long been cited as one of the reasons they choose to place wagers with online operators.
‘They can only keep chasing us’
There is also a plethora of betting options offered by these bookies, which inject an addictive thrill, they added. For instance, you can bet on the total number of corners in a game or continue punting on a handicap throughout a match on websites that are popular here, such as IBC Bet and SBOBET.
A runner said the illegal bookie he is working for is anticipating brisk business to be diverted from these websites. “We can give new proxy websites every week or something like that. It’s very hard for them to shut us down. They can only keep chasing us,” said the 33-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous.
Although they acknowledged the extensiveness of the new law, counsellors whom TODAY spoke to noted its limited impact on those hooked on online gambling.
The latest National Council on Problem Gambling statistics from 2011 showed that such gamblers have the poorest self-control, gambling longer and more frequently, as well as being more prone to dipping into their wallets to satiate their craving.
Deborah Queck, executive director of Blessed Grace Social Services, which runs a gamblers recovery centre, felt online gamblers would pull out all stops to get around the new curbs. Otherwise, they are “very likely” to seek alternatives, such as going to casinos or turning to illegal bookies.
Maximilian Koh, director of Thye Hua Kwan Problem Gambling Recovery Centre, added that these gamblers are not in it solely for the money, but also because online gambling is easily accessible.
“The excitement it brings and its easy accessibility ... also, it provides them anonymity,” he said.
The centre run by Blessed Grace Social Services has seen an increase of about 20 per cent of online gamblers this year from last year.
Queck said: “(We) need to have more help portals if they are in trouble, create more public awareness and run more campaigns to say that gambling is harmful to families and the worst scenario is it will become an addiction.”
Still, she added that the new law is an effective deterrent against those who have not tinkered with online gambling. — TODAY
