[CybrPunk]

Paul:

I'm with you as far as wanting to do something to ensure online poker is fair. At the same time, I also agree with other posters that airing dirty laundry in the most public of places will do more harm to online poker than good. It's a tough position to be in, yet given the choice I would prefer to protect online poker as a whole. With all of the negative press that online gambling has gotten recently, coupled with the fact that our government is currently on its own crusade to stamp out online gambling, I don't see what good your article can do towards ensuring the continued security of something we all enjoy.

As an alternative, I think we as players should make an effort to have our voices heard by the poker sites and inform them that we won't stand for these things any longer. I know there are a number of people on this forum that have contacts in the poker industry. If we truly care about the integrity of the game, then this is the time to take advantage of having those contacts and point them in this direction. It could even go so far as to gather some of the more respected names and collectively voice your concerns to the various sites, somewhat like an advisory council.

In the end it's the sites that need to revise their policies and implement safeguards to protect players. This all falls in line with arguments that our opposition use against online gambling because, in the end, the consumer is not being protected to the best of the sites' abilities. This is a huge part of why regulation of sites is important.


The bottom line is that there are alternatives to screaming fire and I think that the end result of any of them would be better for online poker as a whole. In a time where attracting new players is harder than ever and our own government is continually looking for reasons to stamp out a game we enjoy, I don't see how your crusade can have a positive effect on our efforts as a poker community.