The events of last Friday kind of made me think... will online poker players remember the exact moment or place they were at when the news broke that the DoJ closed the doors of FTP, UB, AP, and PS? I'm hardly trying to compare the events to a historic tragedy like 9/11, JFK, or the Challenger, but the event was probably significant enough that poker players will remember that day for the rest of their lives. So where were you?

Twitter-verse and the poker world have been ablaze with people feeding news nuggets, both factual and speculative, as well as blips of advice. US players have been chomping at the bit to get their funds back into their bank accounts (I can't blame them) and hundreds of foreign players have been reducing their cashiers in fear of bankruptcy or lack of liquidity by the major sites.

It's been pretty interesting to read and monitor all the news and thoughts from some of the notable names in the poker world. Individuals like Tom Dwan have been entertaining some questions on Twitter while Daniel Negreanu has blogged about tackling the games at Aria. Some online pros have been talking about taking a vacation to escape the madness and others are starting to look for new jobs. Whether you are a $50NL recreational player or a $1kNL pro, it's pretty amazing the various responses to adversity.

Some guys have upwards of six-figures online locked up and frozen but are trusting faith and goodwill to pass the time. They expect the sites to be fully accountable for players' funds and view this as a small little speed bump. Meanwhile some players who may have a few hundred dollars online are freaking out as if the government committed armed robbery.

While I don't have the answers, I think that this is a very good learning experience for everyone. I'm dumbfounded by the number of people who have talked about having 80%+ of their liquid net worth online. Not only is this fiscally irresponsible but it also exposes you to much unneeded stress and heartache (in the event something catastrophic occurs). Hopefully when all the dust settles, hundreds of people will realize the importance of diversifying their money and avoiding the placement of all their eggs in a single basket.

With that said, if you haven't checked out some of the content that we've published at CR, please do so. We've gotten some great interviews with formidable guests who have experience in the legal /poker industry and it should give an angle from multiple perspectives. I also released a video today covering the options for US based players who may be considering joining a poker room that is still taking Americans. Hopefully it's useful for everyone. Lastly, Lana did a good interview/podcast with Joe Kelly, a business law professor who has made appearances at CR in the past

Keep your head up guys and just stay informed of the news. There isn't really much we can do at this point aside from being proactive in raising awareness and keeping a professional attitude. As tempting as it is to drop slurs and profanity on the Department of Justice's Facebook page, it'll do more harm than good. Stay tactful and stay involved.