Tuff Fish's proposal cleared by CA Sec. of State for petition circ.

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www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_6506278

Poker jokester creates stir with petition drive

Player wants to create Internet gambling agency

By Steve Geissinger, MEDIANEWS SACRAMENTO BUREAU

Article Last Updated: 07/31/2007 02:34:47 AM PDT

SACRAMENTO — An online poker player well known as a jokester in the Internet gaming community is wheeling and dealing for state government to set up an online version of the popular card game, with a huge pot on the table — Californians' pocketbooks.
The secretary of state's office late Friday cleared Anthony Sandstrom of San Diego, known as "Tuff Fish" in YouTube poker comedies, to circulate petitions putting his proposed initiative on a statewide ballot, where voters could create an Internet poker gambling agency.

By Monday, as they said in the Old West days of the game, the stakeholders had knocked over the table and were drawing their (political) six-guns over the proposal.

Fellow Internet poker enthusiasts were divided, with comments on numerous blogs ranging from "good work" to "give me a break."

Flatly opposed were card rooms in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay Area, anti-gambling-expansion activists and educators, who fear diversion and loss of lottery funds.

Sandstrom acknowledges his initiative isn't aimed at solving some big social problem.

It would mostly allow Internet poker gambling at a time when federal law has thrown the activity into a legal gray area, posing a possible court challenge in which the state would have to defend Internet gambling.

"I am just a guy who wants to play poker at home when I don't feel like making an hour drive to a card room or casino," Sandstrom said on his initiative Web site.

"I am going to make a mighty effort to make safe, legal, and accessible online poker possible."

Sandstrom, who did not respond to attempts to contact him directly, says the proposal also would provide money for repair of potholes on city roads.

"A pox on the initiative," said Fred Glass, a spokesman for the California Federation of Teachers, whose members depend partially on the flow of funds from state-run lottery.

Analysts were cautious over whether Sandstrom could collect the required signatures — about 430,000 — by Christmas. One cited the kickoff day for recalling former Gov. Gray Davis, when most experts said the initiative didn't have a chance.

The wild card in the game is the Internet. Sandstrom is trying to collect the signatures via the Internet, where he's better known as "Tuff Fish." Supporters can download the petitions for gathering of signatures.

Numerous Web sites addressing Internet poker and the "Tuff Fish" initiative included players asserting that his version of the game to be placed before voters is so flawed it would not be self-sustaining.