The National Poker Week That Was
Sunday, July 26, 2009 - Gene Bromberg
You can be excused for thinking that once the November Nine was set and the WSOP went on hiatus till autumn that poker would enjoy a bit of downtime. Bu that wasn’t the case–the Poker Players Alliance declared July 19-25 “National Poker Week” and took the fight to legalize online poker to Washington, D.C. Thirty of the PPA’s state directors and seven poker players (UltimateBet’s Annie Duke, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Greg Raymer, Dennis Phillips, Linda Johnson and Jan Fisher) went to the seats of power in America and spoke directly to members of Congress to make the case for online poker.
And it would seem that elected officials are a bit more inclined to listen to the case for online poker. As Annie Duke said in an interview:
It’s definitely different than a year and a half ago. Then, it was a lot of education and telling people what the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is. Now, I think people are much more familiar with the legislation’s problems. They realize that it’s a piece of legislation that doesn’t work. It’s fortuitous timing with the health care reform because you get to talk about how it’s going to get paid for. When you point out that internet gambling can bring in a conservative estimate of $3 billion per year, they listen.
The events of the week generated quite a bit of interest in your traditional poker news sources, and as several of my poker-media friends were in Washington it was quite amusing to hear about them putting on power suits and trying to tie a Windsor knot for the first time in a decade before marching on the Capitol. But in addition to poker-centric outlets National Poker Week got a lot of play in the mainstream media as well. To start with, PPA Chairman Alphonse D’Amato went on the Howard Stern show and, after chatting with Stern about why he’s so passionate about poker, Howard announced on the air that he’d become a member of the PPA. After the show D’Amato had this to say about Stern signing on:
“I can’t think of a more fitting way to kick off National Poker Week than having my friend, Howard Stern, become a member of the PPA. I thank him for having me on his show this morning and for supporting the PPA’s efforts to protect the freedom of American citizens to play the great game of poker at the time and place of their choosing – a freedom Congress voted to take away… With Howard Stern as a member of the PPA, it shows Congress and the public that protecting Internet poker is about more than just poker – it’s about protecting Internet freedom and personal responsibility.”
But that wasn’t the only time that National Poker Week earned the attention of a major news outlet. On Wednesday PPA Executive Director John Pappas appeared on CNBC, and here’s how host Mark Haines introduced the segment:
“Washington is cracking down on fun! I guess that’s nothing new…”
Pappas appeared opposite Les Bernal, who fronts for an organization called “Stop Predatory Gambling”. As if someone out there is advocating predatory gambling, sheesh. Pappas did some rhetorical ju-jitsu to start with, saying that we need online gaming legalized so that children aren’t preyed upon by unscrupulous operators and adults can play on sites that are regulated and safe. Which left Bernal in a bit of a predicament because his argument is that online poker should NOT be legalized and regulated because that’s the best way to protect the children. That argument didn’t make sense before and Bernal didn’t make it any better during this interview. Bernal also seemed to think that poker players wager money against the house, not against other players, and then he made the bizarre claim that some USB study showed that the online poker business model is “unsustainable…that short-term they made money but long-term they did not”. Uh, what? I searched the Google for that study but found nothing, but to refute Mr. Bernal’s claim I would like to introduce him to…UltimateBet, which is celebrating it’s 10th Anniversary this year. And every year more and more people around the world play online poker. Bizarre. If you’d like to see the bizarreness first hand here’s the segment, with Pappas scoring a decisive TKO:
Greg Raymer did a chat on with the readers of the Washington Post (he had a great line when asked when we could expect a repeal of the UIGEA–”Predicting this stuff is always tough, as politicians are difficult animals to deal with. Animal trainers have it much easier.”). And there was a piece on Newsweek’s site as well. But while generating a lot of media buzz is a good thing, it doesn’t necessarily translate into legislative success. There’s still no guarantee that Congress is going to repeal the UIGEA and legalize online poker, but as you can see the balance of the discussion has definitely swung in our direction. Now it’s the opponents of online poker who are being grilled about why they think law-abiding Americans shouldn’t be allowed to play, it’s Washington who wants to keep Americans from having fun. Members of Congress who perhaps were content with opposing online poker to placate a small number of vocal social conservatives now have to deal with the 1.2 million-member Poker Players Alliance and fed-up constituants who have had enough with the federal government dictating how they can and cannot spend their time and money. Dan Michalski at Pokerati published some numbers from National Poker Week to show how the PPA was able to mobilize it’s membership:
- Poker-related letters sent to members of Congress in July 2009: > 150,000
- Poker-related letters sent to Congress in 2008: 77,000
- Issues other than health care reform that have generated more letters to Congress in 2009 (including war in Iraq, recession, and gas prices): 0
- Meetings scheduled between PPA representatives and Congressional offices in a two-day period: 110
At the end of National Poker Week there was a $100 charity tournament to raise money for the USO and wounded veterans. Around 180 people played, including 31 wounded veterans and seven members of Congress. It was a rebuy tournament and many of the professional poker players there rushed around the room re-buying for the soldiers who’d busted out (Annie apparently out-rebought her brother Howard by a 15-10 score). The tournament raised around $35,000 for the USO, people had a great time, and a veteran named Bret Chevalier won the tournament and a trip to Las Vegas. Many of the soldiers who played in the event won their seats in tournaments held at Walter Reed Hospital. Wounded soldiers playing poker in the hospital…a charity tournament to raise money to help them…folks sitting around a poker table having a great time…and there are people who think this is wrong? That the federal government should BAN it? It beggars belief.
But though the passage of the UIGEA was not a shining example of democracy in action, we at least have the opportunity to fight for a repeal of that bad law. Poker players can band together, lobby Congress, and get poker legalized as it should be. Unlike, say, in Russia, where Vladimir Putin the Russian government shut down casinos across the nation this week. At first it was thought that poker, which was classified as a sport in Russia, would be exempted. Ah, nyet–all the poker rooms in Russia were ordered shuttered as well. The government says that this was done because of the pervasive influence of organized crime in the thousands of casinos scattered throughout the country, though one wonders if the Russian Mafia will have any compunctions about opening (even deeper) underground casinos and cardrooms.
The Russian government decreed that gambling will only be permitted in four zones…one of which is in Siberia, while another is near the North Korean border. Those places sound…lovely. And these areas have none of the infrastructure in place to host casinos, the roads, airports, power stations, whatever you need for a major tourist attraction. It’s estimated that 400,000 people were put out of work by this decree, some of whom probably would’ve worked the first stop on this year’s European Poker Tour, which was to be begin August 18th in Moscow. But no more–yesterday it was announced that the tournament has been moved to Kiev, Ukraine.
So perhaps this is an argument that can be used here in the United States–you want to ban poker? That’s what they do in Russia. Jingoistic to be sure, but to get online poker legalized it’ll probably take every arrow in the quiver. The House bill Representative Barney Frank has introduced won’t come up for discussion again until the Congress returns from vacation in September, and then it faces a very crowded legislative docket. In case you haven’t heard there’s talk about national health insurance, the economy still teeters and totters, there are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan…legalizing online poker is still way down on the list of priorities. But National Poker Week no doubt did a lot to keep it ON that list, and in these difficult times one would hope that Congress will take a more reasonable and pragmatic look at legalizing the game we love.
Tags: al d'amato, Annie Duke, cnbc poker, howard stern poker, john pappas, national poker week, poker players alliance, ppa
