Black Friday

I am not a lawyer, and even if I were a gaming lawyer, I wouldn’t feel comfortable in expressing an opinion on a detailed, complex case without knowing all of the facts. I will, however, pass on some of the comments that I’ve heard made in relation to the government’s recent action toward the main online-poker providers.

“Everyone agrees that poker is a game of skill but has an element of luck. Unfortunately, many public poker complaints, discussions, and commentaries often focus on the luck, and it is only in specialized publications like Card Player that there is a lot of discussion of strategy. This creates the perception that it is a game of chance.”

“America is supposed to be a free country. Why does the government want to deprive me of the freedom to play my game of choice in my house with my money?”

“I know a lot of people who have deposited a few hundred dollars or less on an online-poker site. They hoped to win. They expected to improve. They were entertained and intellectually challenged. And they all knew that losing their deposit was a possibility. I know some other people who used their life savings to make a down payment on an expensive house with a big mortgage. Now, their savings have been wiped out, and they are deeply in debt and fighting foreclosure. They were not entertained and they were not intellectually challenged. And they never had any idea that losing everything was a possibility. Who should the government be indicting, poker providers or mortgage providers?”

“The U.S. is trillions of dollars in debt, and the online-poker industry wants to be legalized, regulated, and taxed, unlike GE, which hired hundreds of lawyers last year so that it could have a $14 billion profit and not only pay no taxes, but get a tax credit. Whatever happened to common sense?”

“I hope that the sites don’t refund the money to U.S. players until the game is legalized and charges are dropped. Next year, there will be a close election, and perhaps 10 million p.o.’d poker players will express their outrage at the polls.”

“The FBI seems to think the poker sites ‘tricked’ the banks. While we all know that there are some stupid people working for credit-card companies and banks, they aren’t completely naïve, and knew what was going on. Shouldn’t they be the ones in big trouble?”

“I guess the government wants to ensure the dumbing down of America. It cut back on education, and prefers that people play the
lottery instead of poker.”

“I like playing poker online. I can play Texas hold’em in Dublin, but not in Dallas. I can play Omaha in Norway, but not in Nebraska.”

“I’ve been looking for a reason to move to …” There are many variations on this theme, with the most common being London, Paris, New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand.

And finally, here’s the most frequently heard comment, which, again, comes in a variety of flavors: “What is wrong with our government? Don’t they have anything better to do? They should be focusing on …” I’ll leave it to you to fill this one in with whatever items you think should have priority. ♠

Steve “Zee” Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. He can be found at many major tournaments and playing on Full Tilt, as one of its pros. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A — Nice Guy Eddie’s at Houston and Doc Holliday’s at 9th Street — in New York City.