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Card Player and Politics
Card Player is about poker. Should we even be speaking of politics? Almost always, the answer should be no.
It turns out that since we are by far the largest poker medium, we must pause on any huge stance we take, as poker has become so mainstream and almost any position is bad. The easy way is to be neutral on everything.
By far the greatest amount of e-mail I have ever received has been in the last few months about our political stance - or lack thereof.
Until yesterday, I was widely criticized for not rallying poker players to help affect our U.S. legislation as it relates to poker.
Yesterday, I was widely criticized for making Card Player a political forum, although another group was upset that I acted too late. Click here to read yesterday's article.
Dipping our toes into politics is not something that we take lightly here. The only other political stance we have ever taken was that I was a strong proponent of no-smoking poker rooms well before it was in vogue. Indeed, to the best of my knowledge, Card Player Cruises (which I owned at the time) had the first public nonsmoking poker room anywhere that wasn't required by law.
My personal writing role these days is to write about the world of poker. Because of my position, I have some unique access to information that some find interesting. I have many friends who can explain how to play Q-Q vs. A-K just as well as I do, and many more who actually can play the hand better than I.
For better or worse, the electorate has spoken, and we will work within the system on all issues. The only issues that are relevant to Card Player are poker issues, and we will continue to use our resources to educate readers - players and politicians alike - about those poker issues.
POSTED ON: Nov 25, 2006
PLEASEW TELL TRUTH the alliance was started by poker players who get paid by these off shore sites who went to Washington Dc. AKA lederer ,ferguson,and raymer, all them paid empolyess of fulltilt or part owners the home of the 50$ freeroll and poker stars rep greg raymer tell the truth and Mr.Shulman why dont you push for our casinos in the USA to start running online poker where the millions and millions of dollars a year would do some good and the poker players can still play too and all would be happy why should these outsiders get rich off us isn,t oil, cars, electronics, and all other kinds of products we buy away from our borders enough let the MONEY STAY HERE FOR PETES SAKE or and Mr. Shulman probally the dollars you make from these online sites would dry up so are your opinions from pocket book or what???????????
POSTED ON: Nov 24, 2006
Hi Ronald, I agree with you totally--you are absolutely RIGHT! I applaud you for stating this. I have posted blogs on Card Player here (see previous two articles, and most of the next in this series)--to see what I am doing. I would welcome working with you. Please contact me directly by E Mail, Ron. Working together we can do so much more. Thanks again, and keep up the good work. I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Jeff JEFF SINGER E MAIL js121840@yahoo.com Mention PPA in the subject line to be sure I catch it. Thanks Again
POSTED ON: Nov 16, 2006
I feel cardplayer and its contributers should a done more to organize against this law. This isn't politics this is poker that you are fighting for. The internet is the school for the poker industry. With it being crippled the growth of poker slows. So then we all lose thanks ron van atta
POSTED ON: Nov 09, 2006
Okay now the democrats have control of the house and the senate..does this mean poker is better off?? does this mean I as an internet & casino poker player can now take joy in their embracing me into their bosom..the political petulum swings from far right to left ..much like my bankroll..but in the end who wins ? You ? Me ? probably not but the politician who will use you & me or anyone to get re-elected next time and that my friends no matter which side of the political aisle you stand will still be A BAD BEAT!! and thats Poker & politics so lets get back to having interesting POKER articles instead of political rhetoric in this magazine..cos I guarantee the politician really doesn't care ...unless they are getting part of the rake..!!
POSTED ON: Nov 09, 2006
I tend to be mostly R but I don't like Frist. He's gonna run for Prez and he better not win. My R primarty vote is likely going to Guiliani Wow Bear got us all talkin and involved..that's a good thing :)
POSTED ON: Nov 09, 2006
I grew up in a very Red state (Kansas), and have voted Republican my entire life. My grandfather was a close friend of Bob Dole, if that gives you some indication of the conservatism of my household. On Election Day, I voted straight Democrat for the first time in my life. This is because for the first time in my life, I felt the Federal Government come into my home and tell me what to do with my time and money. I hate paying my taxes, but I do it because I understand that it goes to pay for things that are needed, like roads, law enforcement, etc. Once I pay my part of the bill, they need to leave me the hell alone. Further, their unbelievable hypocrisy in exempting lotteries and horse racing just shows how out of touch the Republicans really are. Did they think we wouldn't notice? Look, I understand that civil liberties have been under attack since the Passage of the first Patriot Act. However, the attack of personal freedom has never entered walls of my home until the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act. The Republican party I was a part of was one that rose from the ashes of Nixon and Watergate by putting forth a platform of hands off economics and small government. Then the religious right took over the party. Give them credit, they can mobilize and organize like nobody's business. Tuesday, moderates finally got tired of it and voted out the Republicans who had become so beholden to the Evangelical political machine. I know that Democrats voted for the stupid bill as well as Republicans. What made me the most upset with my party was Frist tying it to the Safe Port bill and the fact that all the proponents (Goodlatte, Leach, Kyl) of the bill were Republican. When the party of my family gets back to small government, personal liberty as their platform, I will be back. As an aside, didn't every newspaper in the country run an editorial section that probably took a position on a candidate or party, Democrat or Republican? Mr. Shulman can do the same with his newspaper. Again, personal freedoms should carry the day in regards to his article. You all have the personal freedom to bash him for it, or ignore his article.
POSTED ON: Nov 09, 2006
Freedom of the Press, thankfully we still have that right. Barry Schulman's view was right on target. If Bill Frist is so worried about the "Morals" of what is on the Web, why not target the porn sites that lure our youth. Regulate poker, but banning it?....All Former Senator Frist is looking for is a platform to run for President and garner the votes in the "Bible Belt" states. Freedom of choice is what our country was built on and not dictated to. I formerly worked for a U.S. Senator and 99% of the time during elections, all politicans are dependent on their political stragitists...well whoever has given this man advice has given him bad advice! The brunt of the banning will fall on the financial instuitions and I feel quite confident that it will be a controling nightmare and cannot be resolved in 270 days. Again, poker is a game of skill not chance which was also proclaimed at the Supreme Court level. Keep your editiorals comming Barry, you are supported by many of the poker players of the United States and the world. Encourage all the players to contact their representatives...Power is in numbers and the Senators and Congressmen do listen to the masses.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
As I said yesterday, I agree with Barry's viewpoint (although I am obviously in the minority) and feel strongly that Barry SHOULD express his opinion on this topic. Like Jason Dada said below, "yesterday's article was simply a man speaking his mind, he just happened to be in a position where many people would listen." I also agree that anybody who was so offended that they won't ever buy a magazine or come back to the site is acting like an idiot. We've all heard this a million times, but what makes this country great is that we can all have different opinions but together we can pull together and do what's right and make a difference. As Richard Beardsley said below, "there's nothing wrong with criticizing Barry for his political views, it is your right to do so, but complaining about the fact that he spoke his mind on politics is just absurd. In light of yesterday's election, I hope everybody understands how an issue (such as the war in Iraq) was important enough to PEOPLE (not just democrats or republicans) that traditional party lines were crossed in order to make a change. I applaud the registered republicans and independents that stood up for what they believe is right and voted yesterday to give the power back to the democrats.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
Barry, I support, and agree, with everything you said, and especially with your right to say it. I would like to see CardPlayer run an ad for Poker Player's Alliance in every issue. That is how I learned about the organization.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
The last time I checked freedom of speech was still allowed. I don't think the Republicans have officially taken that one away from us, yet. There's nothing wrong with criticizing Barry for his political views, it is your right to do so, but complaining about the fact that he spoke his mind on politics is just absurd.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
I can't believe how ridiculous the threads were regarding Mr. Shulman's little rant over the last couple of days. All media outlets have an political agenda. Every single newspaper, magazine, and TV news station have a stance. The difference is that they paint the picture they want you to see day after day little by little. I think it is safe to say Cardplayer has no such stance, yesterdays article was simply a man speaking his mind, he just happened to be in a position where many people would listen, in this case read. Good for him, cardplayer is a great resource for poker players. Anybody who was so offended that they will not be coming back is an idiot. It's unfortunate that we have to live in a society where nobody respects the opinion of another.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
I agree with Bill - your first article wouldn't have gotten nearly the amount of criticism if you had just kept the focus of your opinion on poker and not gone off on other issues. Poker is a universal game played by people from both sides of the political aisle, and your column last night was unabashedly biased against the Republican party for reasons that went beyond the card table. However the results of last night's election turned out, you as a publisher should have known better than to alienate such a large portion of your readership like that.
POSTED ON: Nov 08, 2006
The criticism was not about a Card Player article taking a political position on poker. The criticism was on an article about the scary religious right misrepresenting the general feelings of the entire nation and freedom. It was about converting surpluses into deficits. It was about debating what types of torture should be legal. It was on a call to vote out all Republicans in favor of Democrats, regardless of where either stood on the issues of poker. Mr. Shulman, publisher of Card Player and author of the article now says that the only issues relevant to his magazine are poker issues. I hope that this is accurate.