Internet Data-deletion Debate Heating Up

The European Parliament is worried about your data sitting dormant on websites of all kinds and last week began formal discussions to further regulate personal data on the Internet. Greek Member of the European Parliament Stavros Lambrinidis is preparing a report for a plenary session in Strasbourg calling for “more stringent and efficient means of user data protection.” Australia, China, Singapore, and Japan also had similar legislative stirrings in recent weeks.

The industry spent a dozen years fighting US Congressman Ed Markey’s (D-MA) efforts to regulate the Internet. Markey, though, just passed the chairmanship of the House Subcommittee responsible for telecommunications, technology and the

Internet to one of the House’s most tech-savvy Congressmen, Rick Boucher (D-VA).

As the 1960 boatlift Cubans in Miami claissically lamented, “We prayed for the overthrow of Batista; then we got Castro!” High on Boucher’s list of priorities is a bill to regulate privacy of Internet users. Of most concern to online gaming businesses will be a specific “opt-in” clause for users before data can be shared with other providers.

Why the sudden activity? Congress, Parliament and most governmental bodies seize their opportunities from headlines. This has been quite a few weeks with scandals providing fuel. NBC News reported recently that a back door existed in many popular music file-sharing programs that could allow hackers into one’s computer to download tax forms, university applications and personal bank account information.

Recently, Minnesota Senate candidate Norm Coleman’s website allowed anyone to download his entire donor database, including addresses and credit card numbers. MSNBC’s interviewed data security expert Adria Richards, who found the security issue and reported it on her blog. The Coleman gaffe could crimp his plans to continue his challenge against Al Franken for that long-disputed Senate seat. Could you imagine a solicitation letter for Coleman’s legal challenge fund including the line, “Sorry, please send more money and by the way, you need to get a new credit card?”

Elsewhere, Facebook was thrown into a crisis over a minor change in its website Terms and Conditions (T&C) allowing them to keep your data indefinitely — mostly because it is too difficult to erase from 115 million users. So loud was the uproar that they changed it back to their original terms.

This type of change could affect your poker/gaming sites. What can you do to protect your data already out there on the Web? If you cease doing business with a gaming site, make sure to delete your account and all personal info. Write to the company and ask them to delete your account and all personal information. Same for the payment agencies they use.

No matter where you play, change and update your info regularly. Don’t automatically store passwords; use a simple password saver program and auto-generator.

Examine what data is stored on your ‘my account’ page and is no longer needed and can be deleted. I’ve left five or six online poker sites during the last three years and never thought much about the issue of data protection; my personal info, including a faxed copy of my passport’s main page, sits in one site’s office.

Also, check your computer’s msconfig file periodically to see what programs start automatically and run all the time. Aside from improving speed and performance of your machine, there is no need for a lot of these programs to run 24/7 and some of these are where trojans and other malware programs can attach themselves and compromise your files.

A change of this magnitude could, conceivably, affect security on the operator side, making it more difficult for sites to find bots, colluders and multi-accounting players, and thereby make it more difficult to keep the online game safe and fair for all. In the UK, data-protection laws are interpreted with such strict, minute detail that even trying to arrange a furniture delivery, if my wife purchased it, is impossible, because, “They must speak to the person who placed the order.”

With the US, EU and Asia looking independently at the issue, any result will have little impact on those who steal data for a living; they will simply find another way. It could, though, create a confusing maze of tougher standards for all and would be difficult to maintain and implement.

For an industry deeply involved in a fight to overthrow UIGEA, this issue is among the thorniest. Since Congress, Parliament and regulators are not known for taking smart action, this is one fight to watch and weigh in on early.

Editor’s note: Contributing columnist Denis Campbell brings an independent and experienced eye to poker’s political scene. Campbell has worked closely in the past with former Cabinet Secretaries in the Carter and Clinton administrations, Ambassadors and members of Congress. He offers commentary on US and UK politics for the BBC and Huffington Post, and is currently the editor-in-chief of UK Progressive Magazine. Here, Denis offers his insights on matters affecting poker. Denis’ views do not necessarily reflect those of PokerNews.

Poker News Cup Alpine Begins

Satellite play began yesterday and action kicked off today in the first event of the PokerNews Cup Alpine in Salbaach-Hinterglemm, Austria, near Salzburg, a destination famous for its world-class skiing but playing host to a different sort of world-class competition for the next week. Hundreds of players are expected to be on hand for several of the events, with a complete overview of the PNC Alpine offering.

The schedule of events is highlighted by a “high rollers” pot-limit Omaha tourney on Tuesday, March 24th, which features a €4,700+300 buy-in. The PNC Alpine Cup Main Event (€1375+125) begins on Wednesday, March 25th and runs for three days. A number of high-profile players have already confirmed their attendance, including Marcel Luske, Sandra Naujoks, Noah Boeken, John Duthie, David Saab, Tristan Clemenceau, Markus Golser, Erich Kollman, and of course, PokerNews’ own Team Captain, Tony G.

Live coverage of PNC Alpine events at PokerNews.com begins tomorrow and will run through the duration of the event schedule. For more information on the structures of the various events.

The complete 2009 PokerNews Cup Alpine schedule of events:

Day/Date Starting Time Event # Title (Buy-in)

Sat 3/21 6:00pm #1 NLHE Welcome Event (€100+10)
Sun 3/22 2:00pm #2 NLHE w/ rebuys (€50+5/€50 rebuys)
Mon 3/23 2:00pm #3 NLHE w/ bounties (€100+10)
Mon 3/23 7:00pm #3b NLHE Sat. to Event #5 w/ rebuys (€100+10/€100 rebuys)
Tues 3/24 2:00pm #4 PLO (€270+30)
Tues 3/24 4:00pm #5 High Rollers PLO (€4,700+300)
Wed 3/25 2:00pm #6 NLHE Main Event Day 1 (€1375+125)
Thurs 3/26 2:00pm #6 NLHE Main Event Day 2
Fri 3/27 2:00pm #7 NLHE (€100+10)
Fri 3/27 2:00pm #6 NLHE Main Event Final Table

Poker Pro Alan Goehring

There are two basic types of big-money tournament players in the poker world: those who play for the money, and those who play for fun. You can safely file Alan Goehring away in the latter category. The Henderson, NV, resident is a retired junk bond analyst and trader who doesn’t need the big cash that major tournament prize pools offer in order to live. For Goehring, competition is the big draw. For the last 7 years Goehring has been playing in big events on the poker tournament circuit. While one could call him a professional player, that would imply that he lived off his earnings from poker tournaments. He’s more like Paul Phillips than Chip Jett - comfortable thanks to his previous career, he now pursues the game of poker as an intellectual challenge.

Goehring’s tournament record is an impressive one. His first major cash came in the $3,000 no-limit hold’em event at the 1997 World Series Of Poker, which featured 217 entrants and other accomplished money finishers such as Kathy Liebert, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, Dan Harrington, and Bill Gazes. His next cash also came at the WSOP, when he finished 13th in a field of 112 at the $5,000 no-limit hold’em event of the 1998 WSOP. It wasn’t until the 1999 WSOP, though, that Goehring truly gained a reputation as a great player. That year he finished 2nd in the $10,000 Main Event to Ireland’s Noel Furlong. His runner-up position was good enough for over $768,000 in winnings.

Though he had proven his mettle, Goehring gained a reputation as someone who couldn’t win the big tournaments. While he made final tables regularly, he didn’t have any major wins to his credit. That all changed in 2003 when the  broke onto the scene. At the inaugural WPT Championship at Bellagio, Goehring bested the entire 111-man field to take home over $1 million in prize money. He also outlasted a tough final table that included the likes of Phil Ivey, Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, and his heads-up opponent, Kirill Gerasimov. Goehring could no longer be considered an also-ran - he was now officially a champion.

After Goehring’s big win at Bellagio, it would be another three years before he would claim another major title. There may have been plenty of doubters, but with the WPT title under his belt Goehring had plenty of status in the poker world. In the meantime, he had good showings at a variety of tournaments on the circuit. In 2004, he took home over $375,000 with top-20 finishes in four different WPT events and a 2nd-place finish in a preliminary event at the Five-Star World Classic at Bellagio in December. 2005 was also a solid year for Goehring. He cashed in three WPT main events, including a final table at the Grand Prix de Paris, and also cashed three times at the WSOP. That marked the first money he’d won at the marquee poker event since his 2nd place finish in the 1999 Main Event. In all, he took home over $257,000 in winnings over the course of 2005.

In early 2006 Goehring finally broke his winless streak at the LA Poker Classic and took home nearly $2.4 million. His win was truly a wire-to-wire performance - he finished in the top 5 for the first five days of the tournament. His victory catapulted him to 12th on the all-time money list and 4th on the WPT all-time list, and brought him near the $5 million mark in career earnings. That’s not too bad for a guy who only plays big tournaments for fun - and not for the money.

Vanessa Rousso Poker News

Vanessa Rousso can speak three languages. She’s a citizen of two countries, graduated from Duke in two and a half years, and one look at her academic resume (debate team, business club, mock trial, volunteer work and the Alpha Delta Pi sorority) conjures an image of an overachieving young woman not unlike Election’s Tracy Flick. Rousso has a knack for achieving her goals in record time and her rise in the poker world came on just as quickly. With less than three years of professional play behind her, Rousso has already earned close to $2 million playing tournament poker both live and online — all while earning a law degree on the side. Not bad for a 26-year-old.

Vanessa Rousso was born on February 5, 1983 in White Plains, NY. She grew up in Paris, living there until she was 10, when her parents divorced and her mother decided to return to the United States. Vanessa went with her and after moving around the east coast quite a bit, they finally settled down in Wellington, FL, where her mom worked as a high school guidance counselor. In high school, Vanessa showed advanced academic aptitude and graduated as her class valedictorian, earning a full scholarship to Duke University.

Rousso majored in economics and minored in political science at Duke. Several courses in game theory also drew her interest. She began playing backgammon and chess to apply the skills she’d learned in the classroom, but soon found herself taken with the mathematical and psychological aspects of poker. On track to graduate three semesters early, Rousso began playing online while she was applying to law schools. She was accepted to the University of Miami, and was offered a full scholarship. While at law school, Rousso turned 21 and was finally able to play live. The Hard Rock Seminole Casino was a short trip down the freeway and Rousso began making frequent trips, building her bankroll and gaining experience by playing $65 single-table sit-’n’-goes.

After completing her first year of law school in May 2005, Rousso traveled to New Orleans to play in a WSOP Circuit side event. She ended up finishing seventh in the $200 no-limit hold’em event, earning about $6,400. Buoyed by her success in the Crescent City, Rousso decided to hit up the World Series of Poker that summer. She cashed the ladies event in 45th place, and picked up an extra couple of grand when she won one of the Palms’ daily tournaments. In the fall she returned to law school, but played poker whenever she had a chance—either online or traveling to small buy-in tournaments on breaks. She made three cashes and two final tables in early 2006, her biggest score coming in the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em Event at Atlantic City’s WSOP-Circuit stop where she banked $17,550. That’s when Vanessa Rousso got a funny idea in her head — she wanted to play in the $25,000 World Poker Tour Championships.

To buy in directly would have nearly leveled her bankroll, so Rousso sought out backers, selling shares of herself to a number of friends to come up with the $25,000. With nothing more than a dream and a whole lot of chutzpah, Rousso sat down amidst poker’s elite and much to everyone’s surprise, she ground her way to a seventh-place finish and a $263,625 score, busting on the TV final-table bubble when her A-K fell to James Van Alstyne’s A-J. Her breakout performance at Bellagio put her on everyone’s radar, and soon she was signed to a sponsorship deal as a member of Team Poker Stars Pro. It’s also where she met the man who would become her fiancé, Chad Brown, who finished the tournament right behind her in ninth place.

Rousso cashed three times at the 2006 WSOP, her best finish coming in $5,000 Short-handed No-Limit Hold’em, where she finished eighth. She cashed the 2006 WPT Legends of Poker in 42nd place and appeared on the WPT’s Ladies Night Out IV, where she finished fifth. Returning to the east coast in September, Rousso ended up taking down her first major event, winning the $5,000 No-Limit Hold’em event at the Borgata Poker Open. The win was Rousso’s largest-ever live score, at $285,540.

In the two years that followed, Rousso added three WPT cashes, three WSOP cashes, and two WSOP-Circuit cashes to her growing C.V. She also made her largest tournament cash ever – via an online event – when she finished second in the PokerStars WCOOP Main Event for $700,000. Rousso also made several appearances on NBC’s “Poker After Dark,” winning $120,000 in a six-handed, winner-take-all sit-’n’-go with the theme “Gus and the Ladies” featuring Gus Hansen, J.J. Liu, Erica Schoenberg, Beth Shak, Clonie Gowen, and Rousso. She also started traveling on PokerStars’ Latin American and European Poker Tours, notching a tenth-place finish at the 2008 LAPT-Punta del Este and a 39th-place finish at the 2008 EPT London. It looked like Rousso was headed for her first WPT final table at the 2009 Southern Poker Championship in Biloxi last month, but she ended up with another break-your-heart seventh-place finish, bubbling the televised final table once again.

When she’s not living out of her suitcase on the tournament circuit, Vanessa Rousso lives in Las Vegas with her husband-to-be, Chad Brown.