Thanks for the response, I'm going to try and answer each point.
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So I looked at the About Us page, where the Board of Directors is listed, and this is where I'm confused; no one on that board derives their income from playing online poker.
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I do...over 50% of my annual income is from online poker.
Also, I believe Howard Lederer, Chris Ferguson, and Greg Raymer all make decent money playing online. I don't know the percentage of total income for any of them, but I imagine they'd notice if they could no longer play.
come on, i don't believe that is true at all. I thought Howard Lederrer essentially stopped playing poker. I have never seen him on Fulltilt, and would surmise that there is very little chance that he made greater than $1,000 from online poker this past year. Combine this with his $millions from Tiltware, and online poker is essentially nothing. Chris Ferguson is doing his "challenge," which is essentially just short-stacking and hit-and-running, but his income from online poker is nothing compared to Tiltware. Greg Raymer I know less about because I don't play much on PokerStars, but considering he has a 7-figure deal from PokerStars, makes money from other ventures, and plays in bigger NL games that I don't think he's a long-term winner in, I'm assuming his online poker income is neglible as well. So all of these people are profiting from online poker, not through it.
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But it never states anything specific whatsoever as to what it wants to achieve.
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PPA acts as an advocate for all poker, online and B&M. The goal for online poker is explicit legalization. PPA is advocating the Wexler bill, IGREA, and the Study bill. This effort includes lobbying, generating letters from members to Congress, media relations, etc. They also participate in court cases that have potential to get poker declared a game of skill. They're also active at the state level in Mass, where the governor just proposed a bill that outlaws Internet gaming (even for players). There are a number of other areas the PPA works on as well.
Okay, still vague and representing of a large group, but this sounds pretty good.
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So, while online poker players and online poker sites have some common goals, can someone explain to me why I should believe that the PPA has my best inerests as a poker player in mind?
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It seems to me their interests of the PPA align well with our interests as players. I check my inbox every day and I have yet to see a lot of members asking me to get PPA to change their focus. I post here very regularly and work to ensure our views are represented by PPA, and I've had no trouble with that at all. That's why I'm there, so ensuring we're represented is something I'm passionate about.
I think more of a reason that you don't get flooded with requests and emails by members, is that most of them don't really care. I'm making another assumption here, but can you honestly tell me that greater than 50% of the PPA's members signed up with no promotion and reason to do so? So not by signing up for a PokerStars or Fulltilt freeroll, or to get a deposit bonus at Fulltilt? Because when I look at that 800,000+ members, and remember all the incentives to join, I feel like this number is extremely misleading as a very large percentage joined for a few dollars in free equity. If I had to think about what a Poker Players' Alliance would do, I would think it would work for the better welfare of the players. Maybe monitoring poker sites, doing regulation. For instance, with Absolute Poker, where was the PPA? There are still numerous players who are short money owed to them from Absolute. Shouldn't the PPA be working to get these players all of their money back? In addition, there are a lot of accounts that have been hacked by a few individuals. The PPA could work to help bring about criminal prosecution of them. Also, while I pretty much trust the sites in their taking steps to lock players' accounts for using bots or other illegal actions, having a board of online players being able to see the evidence to ensure that it is legitimate should be something that the PPA does. Also, the question about taxes is asked a ton of times and it is overall a very gray area. The PPA could research the tax code and come up with suggestions tax filings. It could also recomend CPA's who are well-versed in online poker tax filings.
If you could list some areas where you think interests diverge, I'll try to address them. If you want me to bring something to PPA, feel free to PM me. You can also post questions on the
PPA Forum.
Also, what type of online poker does the PPA want? I saw Tuff_Fish's trip report, and that was kind of what got me interested. His idea of what online poker should be is extremely different than mine. If I was forced to play just 1 table of online poker, I would quit as I would find it way too boring. I remember reading his plan to get poker legalized in California, and thinking that if I had an opportunity to vote for it, I would vote NO. I think the PPA has an image problem as well which would be much better helped by getting some younger members. I don't have statistics of the age breakdowns, but at least for the one forum I mostly post in here, MSNL, just about everyone is 18-25.
Rich Muny
Member, PPA Board of Directors
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I actually don't even think that I'm a member of the PPA. I never wanted to waste my time playing in the freerolls. About me, I'm a 20 year old college student. Although I'll be taking a hefty paycut, I don't plan on playing professionally when I graduate.