Is Wicked Chops Poker Headed to the NDT?

As poker’s self-proclaimed master debater (sorry Siola), I feel like I should have been the one to write this excellent article on how the PPA and other poker proponents ought to be selling online poker to the American public:

As with almost everything in politics, public perception does matter and controlling the message matters more. The overall deafening silence from the AGA (and to a lesser degree, Caesars Entertainment, who publicly can’t comment for many reasons, one of which is that they’re helping write the bill), and lack of a cohesive, consistent, and aggressive message from the PPA has created a communications void that is mostly being filled by the opposition. By failing to publicly frame the debate in the mass media as to why online poker should happen, passing the Reid Bill^TM ends up being that much more difficult, especially after January 1st when the Republicans gain control of the House and seats in the Senate.

With this in mind, we’d shape the argument around the following points (expanded on further after the jump):

1. Online poker regulation is about repatriating funds, generating tax revenues, and creating jobs.
2. Online poker regulation will stimulate business for all brick & mortars in all states that opt-in.
3. Online poker regulation protects kids and adults by creating safeguards for participation.
4. Online poker regulation protects the consumer by enforcing safety standards.

Instead, it came from Wicked Chops Poker, home of the Friday Night Parting Shot and the Girls on the Rail feature during the WSOP. What’s next? Bikini-clad models flaunting their stuff on the pages of Thinking Poker?

In all seriousness, they are spot-on about the arguments that need to be made publicly. I understand that there was a strategy to keep this under the radar, and while that may even be the way to maximize the bill’s chances of passing, I happen to believe in democracy. I think that licensing online poker is a major decision- we’re talking billions of dollars in revenue- that ought to be made as part as a public, deliberative process. Passing the UIGEA as a rider was shady, and what Reid is up to now is shady as well.

Do I hope he succeeds? I do. But if he succeeds, I will also wish that this had come about in a better way.

*For the uninitiated: The NDT is the National Debate Tournament, the premier competition in collegiate debate.

**For those who really do want to see more asses on Thinking Poker, here’s a well-known college debate coach mooning one of his colleagues after a heated contest between their teams: