"An attempt to ban booze in America, called Prohibition, was by most accounts, a failure. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was evenually repealed in 1933"

Top hit on google search of 'prohibition act'.

 

Let me start off with a big ol' "wtf"?

My dozens of readers may have noticed a slight drop off in my postings over the past few months.  My excuse is valid – I've taken a new job that entails finding the cure for cancer.  That may sound like a joke but it is not – it's what I do.   The transition from a former somewhat leisurely life of an academic researcher to a soldier in the battle against cancer has taken a bit out of me.  My time spent on poker, the playing, writing and reading thereofabout (it should be a word!) has taken a hit.

So for the reading part, I've had to resort to using weekend mornings to catch up on my blogline feeds of my favorite poker blogs.  This morning was quite a surprise.  On-line poker in the US has apparently lost its murkey legal status, but not in a good way.  In a move that reinforces my disgust with American politicians, an anti internet gambling bill was attached to a port security bill.  What do the two have to do with each other?  The port security bill is about 4 years overdue in protecting American citizens from the malicious efforts of religous zealots.  The anti internet gambling bill is the deluded effort of religious fundamentalists (does the term 'family values' mean something else to you?) to protect American citizens from themselves.  So, uh, yeah – of course they should be part of the same decision making promise.  Perfectly sensible, don't you agree? (damnit, my sarcasm font tags aren't working again!).

Several sites cover this story – I have to leave out many good ones, but I'll mention a couple that give a concise report of what is happening.  The news-savvy trio at UpForPoker  and April's coverage at Pokerblog.com are worth your blogreading time if you haven't hit them up already.  I'm sure we will see more writing from other sites in the days to come.

Iggy has also been following the issue for a while on his blog.  I'd always found his postings a bit on the chicken-littleish side but now it appears that sky has actually fallen.

Or has it?

There will be changes, obviously.  But with the number of American based on-line players probably in the millions, I can't see this thing lasting.  Gambling, regardless of the skill level involved, is an integral part of human nature.  Sure, not everyone does it and for some people it is a life degrading problem.  Nonetheless – making decisions based upon incomplete information and risking non-trivial amounts on uncertain outcomes is common both to gambling and real life.  One way to look at gambling is that it is practice for situations when the stakes really do matter.  It is also a lot of fun.  My favorite definition of a gambler is someone who's second favorite activity is losing money – the implicit point being that both winning and losing are part of the thrill.

Now here comes the tie-in to my title and opening quote.  Every known society has found a way to intoxicate itself.  What am I talking about?  Drinking, drugs, or whatever it takes to get yourself out of your everyday mindset.  It is human nature – no law can stop it.  The US government lost its war on trying to eliminate alchohol from the American lifestyle and is currently waging a losing war on eliminating the availabilty of other intoxicants.

And so too will Uncle Sam lose this war against on-line poker play.  The barriers to getting involved will likely be raised, but the game will not go away.  I'd welcome any effort to keep minors out of the system (sorry underage readers, but your time right now is better spent learning more important things than when to check-raise!) and the elimination of collusion, welshing and other forms of theft from the system.  Who knows?  Maybe this little shake-up will prove to be a good thing.  But ask me if I am worried about losing the chance to partake in something I really enjoy and my answer is an emphatic 'no'.  The current administration appears to have tabled a winning hand, but one hand in one game does not equal long term success.  Any good player knows that.  So to you Mr. Frist I say 'nh' and congrats on the victory – it will not last.