Poker Players Lobby Washington For The Right To Play With Real Money
from the full-house dept
Back in 2005, there were a few stories circulating about people funding their startups and college educations by playing online poker. The passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 pretty much put an end to most of these plans. The act prohibits banks and credit card companies from processing online gambling transactions. However, even though the exact details of the law are still yet to be flushed out, banks are already blocking such transactions out of fear that they might fall under its prohibitions. So, while it is still legal to play poker online, players have to jump through hoops to fill their accounts with money, effectively crippling the entire online poker industry in the US. This week, the Poker Players Alliance, which represents 800,000 worldwide poker enthusiasts, marched on Washington with 100 of their members, including famous poker stars Howard Lederer, Chris Moneymaker, Annie Duke, and former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato. Poker enthusiasts argue that poker is a game of skill, and therefore, should not be banned under the gambling act. Not only do they think that poker should be allowed, poker enthusiasts go as far as to claim that poker is educational and aids in cognitive development. Well, whether or not poker is educational is still up for debate, but there's no doubt that online poker was big business in the US prior to the ban. And, with the lobby already spending $640,000 in the first six months of this year, they are betting big on getting back into the US market. Hopefully for them, it's not a sucker's bet.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: poker
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I'm sure they'd outlaw poker completely if they could, and still might yet.
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It could happen
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That being said, I think online poker should be legal if they can get a handle on money laundering issues.
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#4 Not right?
Short of a foolish all-in no pro is going to lose over and over again enough times to cost the game. What makes them pro is the ability to read you, your style and the overall situation and adapt accordingly.
Yes luck is a big part of what cards they get vs. what you get,m but it's the skill of the players that determines what each does with those cards.
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Look at the World Series of Poker. The pros there say that there won't be another professional player that becomes champion. They say that. What does that tell you?
I think it was Dan Harrington who put it this way when asked the question would he win the WSOP going into the final table. "You said I am the best poker player in the world. I have 13% of the chips remaining. If I am the best in the world, then I probably have a 20% chance of winning."
I agree, over the long term, the pro will end up with all the money. On any given day? Not so much. Tiger still beats me every day.
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Gambling is a SIN...PERIOD!
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another joke at our expense
I still wanna know what gives our gov the right to tap my phones, read my mail, tell me what game I can play and where I can purchase my software. Oh lets not forget this past week of not telling about the fire i'm surrounded by. Did someone say "it's all good"?
ps: yeah, you can beat em in tourneys, cant you? :)
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As for banks holding funds for foreign payments, that probably isn't because of online gambling, more like anti-money laundering measures. Those won't be affected by the PP Alliance either way the laws go.
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And again, you can't judge a person's skill by one tournament. How many other final tables has Varkoni made? What about Moneymaker? Just like all of the random players that pop up at WPT final tables, these guys, while not outright horrible players, ride their luck to short success, but they soon fade in to obscurity.
That's the nature of poker. That's why you don't see the pros get too distressed when some random amatuer beats them for a pot or a tournament. They know very well that poker isn't a game of single hands or tournaments, and that they'll eventually be counting their chips while the other guy's luck runs out.
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online gambling
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