PPA Pres, here's some advice

[PPA President]

Thanks for your input. Sorry that the 2+2 folks feel that way. I unfortunately have spent most of my working in the halls of Congress, and less on the communicating to poker players. I always felt it was better to do something than to speak about it.

On your input:
1. I have to agree with BluffThis. Besides the fact that the PPA does not have that kind of budget, we are trying to educate both the Republicans and the Democrats about the merits of regulating on-line poker and opposing this prohibition. Our fight is about getting the right legislation in place, regulation or the wrong legisation with an exemption for poker and not the personalities involved.
2. We will look into this. I did not think that $20 was a price point that scared away members, as this money goes directly to lobbying in DC. Perhaps this is too much money to ask for to defend the game, and as it is one-time lifetime we thought that it is reasonable.
3. We are in discussion with the AGA, and look to build on this relationship. To assume that we are not is incorrect.
4. This is a good suggestion. We need to get more newsletters out, in addition to the e-mail alerts. As I have shared on other posts, we are actively lobbying congress on a daily basis, have a professional lobbying team that represents poker players on Capitol Hill, and am active in the media. To give an inside game approach is not effective for our lobbying. I have met personally with over 100 members of Congress or their staffs over the past 4 months, and our team has met with many more. Our aim is to educate them on poker and the on-line game, break down some of their mis-conceptions and lead them toward a better approach than prohibition, that of affirmative legalization and regulation. This does not happen overnight, and the growth of an organization does not happen overnight. Other interests have been at it for years, i.e. horseracing. Politics is a process and it is about numbers of active grassroot political supporters. We are stressing our policy points as we know they are right, but politics is not frequently governed by policy. So this is why we ask that poker players get active politically, and write, call and visit their representatives, and be part of an organized movement.

[mrhat187]

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Thanks for your input. Sorry that the 2+2 folks feel that way. I unfortunately have spent most of my working in the halls of Congress, and less on the communicating to poker players. I always felt it was better to do something than to speak about it.

On your input:
1. I have to agree with BluffThis. Besides the fact that the PPA does not have that kind of budget, we are trying to educate both the Republicans and the Democrats about the merits of regulating on-line poker and opposing this prohibition. Our fight is about getting the right legislation in place, regulation or the wrong legisation with an exemption for poker and not the personalities involved.

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Then for the next election you should send out emails updating PPA members on what seats are up for grabs. And if they want to help the known of opponents of senators or reps we know are against poker give them the tools to do so.....people are lazy. Too treat poker as something "bad" is basically saying our opponents are correct, need to show people we have power, and we are your average joe at the store.

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2. We will look into this. I did not think that $20 was a price point that scared away members, as this money goes directly to lobbying in DC. Perhaps this is too much money to ask for to defend the game, and as it is one-time lifetime we thought that it is reasonable.

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I think you missed my point......I'm saying take more money MUCH MORE, Me and probably 99% of PPA members could care less about a one time $20 fee, and could really care less about a $5 a month fee, hell if I thought it would make a difference I'd pay 20 a month or even 100. I'm saying change to a monthly donation/subscription program, heck you could setup a Paypal Subscription service to do the funds collection for you and place it as selling a "monthly newsletter". Boom your now making $500k a month to help poker.

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3. We are in discussion with the AGA, and look to build on this relationship. To assume that we are not is incorrect.

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This is the type of information you can mail out, we LOVE to hear this. We LOVE to hear your doing something for us, then we won't gripe on the PPA.

[ QUOTE ]
4. This is a good suggestion. We need to get more newsletters out, in addition to the e-mail alerts. As I have shared on other posts, we are actively lobbying congress on a daily basis, have a professional lobbying team that represents poker players on Capitol Hill, and am active in the media. To give an inside game approach is not effective for our lobbying. I have met personally with over 100 members of Congress or their staffs over the past 4 months, and our team has met with many more. Our aim is to educate them on poker and the on-line game, break down some of their mis-conceptions and lead them toward a better approach than prohibition, that of affirmative legalization and regulation. This does not happen overnight, and the growth of an organization does not happen overnight. Other interests have been at it for years, i.e. horseracing. Politics is a process and it is about numbers of active grassroot political supporters. We are stressing our policy points as we know they are right, but politics is not frequently governed by policy. So this is why we ask that poker players get active politically, and write, call and visit their representatives, and be part of an organized movement.

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Ok you don't need to say who you met with specifically or give details just give us PPA members something so we don't bad mouth you. It takes a strong foundation to build any house, we are your foundation feed us information. Even a simple daily/weekly EX. "Boy was busy today with some meetings, think we may have even gotten through too a few people. Simple....easy....quick.......and I would LOVE to hear such things even if it was BS. Atleast then I would be telling other players to join the PPA, instead of saying its a waste of time.


EX. "Have some more business coming up next week, email us if you want to know how you can directly help the PPA." That is simple easy and would go a LONG LONG LONG ways with PPA members I know it would with me. Hell I would do any of the above for you and happy to show you how to set it up and manage it.

[Aardhart]

What about commercials aimed at TV viewers who don't follow poker forums or politics? If everyone who watched the WSOP contacted their congresspeople, their is no way the bill would pass. The commercials don't even have to be paid by the PPA. The websites could sponsor the spots themselves (Harrah's style: we look out for you). ESPN has a vested interest; maybe they could reduce the rates for these spots. [I apologize if these are already running. I don't have cable right now.]

[Cubswin]

[ QUOTE ]
I think you missed my point......I'm saying take more money MUCH MORE, Me and probably 99% of PPA members could care less about a one time $20 fee, and could really care less about a $5 a month fee, hell if I thought it would make a difference I'd pay 20 a month or even 100. I'm saying change to a monthly donation/subscription program, heck you could setup a Paypal Subscription service to do the funds collection for you and place it as selling a "monthly newsletter". Boom your now making $500k a month to help poker.

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I firmly believe that to be successful your organization needs three things... effective lobbying, a strong grassroots base and a PAC so there is actually some weight behind your lobbying efforts. Lobbying without a PAC in this situation seems fruitless in my opinion.

Going forward, I would recommend keeping the assocation dues low while asking for a more significant PAC donation. $200 is a pretty number because it would make FEC reporting much easier and keep poker players name's anonymous. Also, by keeping the dues low you will retain a larger solicitable class for when you want to request PAC contributions.

As far as the monthly billing with regards to PACs goes, speaking from first hand experience, I say avoid it. It is a logostical nightmare in terms of keeping credit card info UTD and reporting to the FEC.

Just my .2

[Berge20]

I think you guys overestimate the amount of money that a PAC like this could generate (legally) - Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought about it and looked into it for a while and just didn't see it as a viable possiblitly.

In addition, it takes a fairly sizable PAC to have the impact we need and are looking for. Not to mention the costs associated with running one properly.

Maybe with PPAs membership list and an effective pitch to them you could raise more than I'm guessing, but the cynic in me on this one isn't sold. I just don't think the poker community is interested enough (outside of some here at 2+2)
with that level of involvement or commitment.

Unfortunately, that apathy (In my view) also translates into the difficulty generating an effective grassroots campaign.

PPA really does need clear and regular communication to its membership to help boost awareness and involvement. I think then you can take the steps toward building a more active organization, both financially and grassroots communication wise.

[Cubswin]

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I think you guys overestimate the amount of money that a PAC like this could generate (legally) - Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought about it and looked into it for a while and just didn't see it as a viable possiblitly.

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I'm sure you could get a lot of people here to pony up $200 and some of the big shots would be willing to max out at 5k, especially if one or two 2+2ers get actively involved with the PPA (hint hint PPA, im sure there are people are this board that would intern or volunteer for your cause if there were a bit more transparency and more frequent communications). With a solicitiable class of over 100k (am i making that up or did I read that somewhere?), you could easily raise some serious funds. Plus, you have the added advantage that a good chunk of poker players are internet savvy and have email accounts so there would be no need to do costly snail mail fundraising.

I don't think you need a whole heck of a lot of money for the PAC to do some good. It's not like this would be a huge professional PAC that bascially gives in every race. It would be easy to pick and choose where the money should go. Go after committee leaders and the champions of our cause. Additionally, corporate money could be used effectively for partisan communications and educational type programs... some Bally's type ad buys could draw some attention to the need to seperate poker from other types of gaming. Using PCs would be an to engage association members who say the PPA is not doing anything.

Maybe im overly optimiztic, but I think the PAC could be done and it would do some good. PAC money would defintely compliment lobbying efforts and open the ears of some politicians.

[John21]

IMHO: The on-line poker sites are "raking" in over $100k a day.
If they're not willing to step-up financially - I'm sure as he11 not.
The ball is already in motion, and it's going to be the banks who decide how this is going to play out. If the banking lobbyist's say no it won't pass - if they say yes it will.
The PPA has about as much influence and credibility as the Professional Pool Hustlers Association.

[renodoc]

Its bizzare that the sites aren't doing more. They are on the gallows and the rope is round there necks...

How bout some "PPA benefit tourneys" on the bigger sites? Even if the rake for one tourney per week went into the PPA it would be a lot more than they have now...

[Mason Malmuth]

PPA President:

I agree with the poster.

For you to have success here, you need to accomplish three things in my opinion. They are:

1. You need to explain exactly what the various bills in front of Congress will do and exactly how they will damage Internet poker.

2. You need to do a much better job explaining exactly what it is your organization does and exactly how the money is being spent for the good of poker.

3. You need to show that your organization is associated with the right competent people who can get the job done.

In the past, I've read from you that you can't really explain exactly what you're doing because it could hurt your lobbying cause. I don't know if that's a legit defense by you or not since I'm not familiar with how successful lobbying works. But if that stays your position, I think you're just hurting yourself and your organization by coming on here.

www.twoplustwo.com is the best place in the world for you to communicate and interact with the poker public. In fact, the people who post here should be a good cross sampling of the people you need to get support from to have any chance of success. But if most of them think you and your organization are a joke, I don't think you'll be very successful.

You're welcome to post here as long as you stay within our guidelines (which includes no solicitations). If you do a good job, you should be able to turn the opinion around and that will help build your organization.

MM

[SNOWBALL]

[ QUOTE ]
PPA President:

I agree with the poster.

For you to have success here, you need to accomplish three things in my opinion. They are:

1. You need to explain exactly what the various bills in front of Congress will do and exactly how they will damage Internet poker.

2. You need to do a much better job explaining exactly what it is your organization does and exactly how the money is being spent for the good of poker.

3. You need to show that your organization is associated with the right competent people who can get the job done.

In the past, I've read from you that you can't really explain exactly what you're doing because it could hurt your lobbying cause. I don't know if that's a legit defense by you or not since I'm not familiar with how successful lobbying works. But if that stays your position, I think you're just hurting yourself and your organization by coming on here.

www.twoplustwo.com is the best place in the world for you to communicate and interact with the poker public. In fact, the people who post here should be a good cross sampling of the people you need to get support from to have any chance of success. But if most of them think you and your organization are a joke, I don't think you'll be very successful.

You're welcome to post here as long as you stay within our guidelines (which includes no solicitations). If you do a good job, you should be able to turn the opinion around and that will help build your organization.


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Hi Mason,

You spit hot fire. I'm tired of joining organizations that are called "associations" or claim to be "grass-roots." Usually they just want my money. The last time I was on the phone with an environmental organization I am part of, I told them "Hey, I've been a member for more than six months, and you never call me or email me. Why not ask me to write a letter or just update me on whats going on?"

It's pathetic, and there's no excuse for this stuff. When I was a union organizer, I always kept in contact with the membership about what was going on. They were informed, and involved, and we got the job done in a big way because we had a lot of support. Also, we certainly did lobbying (not me personally), but we didn't take a cloak and dagger approach.

Best,
Jordan