Time zone's not really a factor except for Outcry auctions, which aren't too common, no matter what time I set the deadline on those people will still try for the last minute one up, 9 PM EST is just when I tend to be consistently available this time of year and allows me to standardize and minimize turn around time. I wouldn't worry too much about it, the number of outcry auctions is actually artificially inflated right now by me, in order to generate a decent guess-timation curve for players as to how much items are generally worth, that's why items have gone up for Outcry pretty much each phase, my table only generates an outcry on 1 in 20 bids, or about 1 per round per 5 players, they exist for the primary purpose of price setting, and thus must remain for the time until players have a firmly established feeling for value. I would avoid bidding on outcry items in your case, but it shouldn't be a significant handicap.