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Poker.co.uk - Poker News Archive
Thursday 25th October 2007 Dukes up for to fight online poker ban
Poker legend Annie Duke has thrown her hat into the ring on the US ban on online poker games, visiting Capitol Hill to try to persuade congressmen to lift prohibition on poker.
Queen of the 2004 World Series Of Poker Tournament of Champions, Duke argues that poker is primarily a game of skill rather than chance. She certainly has a point, seeing as most people wouldn't gamble with a $2 million income in their career, which is what she won at that event.
"What I do is not gambling," Duke insisted. "Poker is a game that is deeply complex. But the complexities don't reveal themselves until you know a lot about the game."
She compared poker to options trading, where brokers have to think on their feet and make quick decisions under pressure and uncertainty. The game is an "incredible intellectual exercise" she argued, using mathematics, psychology and economics.
Duke pointed out the hypocrisy of the law allowing online bets on lotteries, which are games of pure chance, but banning internet poker games, which must involve more skill.
The poker pro was not alone in her protest, as a crowd of poker enthusiasts joined her on Capitol Hill, to lobby Congress, as instructed by the Poker Players Alliance.
Republican Robert Wexler conceded that the online ban was just old-fashioned thinking. "It's a national pastime, and the idea that we would prohibit adults from playing poker on the venue of the 21st century is illogical," he said.
Wexler agrees that poker should be considered a skill game and the government could gather tax revenue from it, which he has proposed in a bill awaiting consideration in committee.
Source: Direct News
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