Surf The Tsunami

I play Internet poker. I am married and my bills are paid. I am a veteran, a senior citizen, a tax-payer, an informed voter, a law school drop-out with an honors degree in political philosophy. For all that and more, the current political environment constantly threatens to make me sick to my stomach and despair for my grandchildrens' future.

I do not cheat, lie nor steal. I am not an addict. My playing poker on the Internet will not lead to increased crime. Unless it's another bad beat.

I do not much enjoy live poker. I have personal hygiene standards which are not always reached by my opponents. I am most comfortable with my dogs at my feet and smooth jazz playing in the background. I do not like to buy $4.00 gas to drive an hour on crowded highways and pay the valet to park my car and find the games I want to play are not running. I like to play four games simultaneously.

The UIGEA is bogus on several levels. OMGJonKyl.

The anti-gambling lobby is hypocritical and almost completely clueless. This beauty from the Christian Science Monitor continues to puzzle me... "[Regulation would] open the door to redistributing wealth from mainly poor Americans to mainly foreign gambling interests."

There are dog tracks, bingo, jai alai, river boats, casinos, office pools, yada yada. In Florida a thousand "sweepstakes cafes" have opened in the last four years. Locally, some wife in her 40's was just indicted for bilking her family out of their life savings. She was playing the slots - legal - at the Hard Rock Casino - legal - and won $13,000,000. Also legal. Turns out she was comped rooms and trips and meals and...- also legal - as she was losing $14 million - legal. But the money wasn't hers. Now that's a problem.

Parenthetically, I must note the governor attempted to sabotage a pill mill registry because it was 'an invasion of our privacy.' Meanwhile, 7 people die every day in just this one state from prescription drug abuse.

The government - in virtually every state - has its own keno game, aka, the lottery. Your odds of winning Power Ball are mathematically similar whether you have a ticket or not. I heard a story that your odds of winning the national lottery are about the same as getting attacked by a brown bear and a polar bear on the same day. Another example is getting struck by lightning three times. If the first homo sapiens to stand on two feet had purchased a lottery ticket twice a week since the beginning of human time, it is more than probable he still might not have won.

But, put your womens in a safe place, y'all, because Internet Poker is a dire problem from which adult Americans must be protected.

Everywhere I turn it seems there are too few intelligent adults acting in good faith. Sigh. Deep breath.

But what I have to believe - and feel compelled to teach - has been offered by the likes of Daniel 'Kid Poker' Negreanu with "Adapt, survive and thrive" & Friedrich 'ImNotCrazee' Nietzsche who offered, "What does not destroy me, makes me stronger." Make lemonade.

I can't speak for sponsored pros. Seems like the number of red pros might decline. What happens to online tournaments when the guarantees shrink? Or to a man I respect, who has a wife and three kids and a mortgage? Doubtlessly, the number of responsible adults with adult responsibilities is legion and my heart goes out to them. But for the well-heeled, the young and unencumbered, I wonder. There is a part of me which suspects, somewhere not too far down the road, something good this way comes.

This crisis doubtlessly offers a tremendous opportunity for positive change. Remember, you are gamblers, risk takers. Go back to college. Move to Vancouver. Write a book. Read a book. Get in shape. Move to Amsterdam. Play live.

Myself, I got a puppy.

It's not the end of the world, it just feels that way.

In times of crisis, we must learn to surf the tsunami.
* * *

Don't Forget To Check Out PokerHeadRush.com