Pro Poker Player Speaks

Professional poker player Annie Duke is widely respected across the industry. That's what winning a World Series of Poker bracelet do. Duke is also related to another poker star, Howard Lederer, her older brother.

The two do not meet only around the poker table. Nor do they meet at the cash-out station, which they both often cash out at. Duke has joined Lederer, already a vocal supporter of online gambling, in speaking on behalf of the Poker Players Alliance at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on the UIGEA.

The United States policies regarding Internet gaming are highly contested and in these days, when the world is challenging the US at the international courts, they are being re-evaluated in Washington, DC as well. At least we hope they are, for the sake of fairness and the future of online gambling in the US.

In interviews and in her official appearances, Duke made interesting remarks:

Legislating Morals
When asked about her opposition, currently having the upper hand, in congress, Duke said they are only vocal, not necessarily many. She accepts their morals, but asked that they not force theirs on her. "What I don't respect is their belief that they're supposed to now legislate that moral code on me," she said, adding that legislation should be neutral enough to allow anyone to keep their own morals and live by them.

Furthermore, attaching poker with gambling is a mistake they make. "Poker isn't gambling anyway, so it's misunderstood," she said.

Electoral Power
The number of Americans that gamble online is 23 million, according to Duke who quotes figures presented by the Poker Alliance.

But motivation to consider their call for legalizing Internet gambling is greater and more fundamental. It originates from the standpoint of what the Founding Fathers intended.

When Duke says that "in a free society adults should be free to do as they choose as long as they're not inflicting harm on other people," she expresses not only her opinion, but that of the framers of the Bill of Rights as well.

Regulate, Don't Legislate
"Where there's a will there's a way," Duke has said, referring not only to the universal axiom but also to the impotence in banning. People are still going to ban, only it will become illegal. That is a brave realistic observation by Duke, one that the Congressmen and women have clearly missed.

Celebrity Power
Though Duke and her brother are vocal speakers, and are listened to by legislators and gamblers across the nation, she personally is more impressed by the non-celebrity players who cared enough to travel to Washington to speak.

"I think that when a Congressman meets his constituents who bothered to fly in from Alaska to discuss this issue, that's a big deal to that politician, she said.

For Duke too, it is all about the individual gambler's personal experience.