January 2011

Federated Sports and Gaming announces the creation of a new player friendly poker league.  It is stated the new poker league will be comprised of the world’s top 200 players and the events will be rake-free for poker professionals and feature generous prize pool overlays.

Sounds good to me.  No idea if I will qualify but hopeful that I fit into whatever they come up with as the selection criteria.

May 2011

FS&G announces the roster of the 218 players eligible for the initial season.  They will be offering $2.6m in added money and freerolls in the first year.

Feel fortunate to be on the list.  Looking forward to hear the details.

Later that month FS&G announces first ever Standards & Conduct Committee in poker.

Now this is something I can get behind.  Much more important than the league itself, poker has been long overdue for a Standards & Conduct Committee to clean up the game and help to produce a more marketable product for the masses.  The committee listed consists of Eric Baldwin, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Joe Hachem and Nick Schulman, Matt Savage and an independent professional ethics advisor, Stephen Martin.  Well done with their representatives from the poker community.  If done right, this committee will set standards not only for the new poker league but for all other leagues around the world.  I can’t describe how excited I am for the possibility of this entity taking the game and business of poker to the next level.

June 2011

FS&G unveils the name of the new league:  The Epic Poker League

July 2011

Epic Poker League announces it will be broadcast on CBS and Velocity Network.  The Global Poker Index is launched.

TV situation sounds good.  GPI is clearly better than any of the current ranking systems.  Impressed with everything to date.

August 2011

Inaugural $20k buyin Epic Poker League Event is held at the Palms in Vegas.

137 players attend.  1st place is $1m.  With 14 players left I flop a set for a chip lead pot and Chino fixes me right up.  I exit in 14th for $43k.  Chino goes on to win the event.  Must be nice.  GFY Chino!
Don’t get the wrong idea, GFY = Good for you.
Couple weeks later the Standards & Conduct Committee decides to put Chino on probation for “violating the league’s Code of Conduct, after allegedly failing to pay back debts owed to other poker players.”  Seriously guys?  Wow, I was deflated.  Had big hopes for the S&C Committee.  But getting involved in the personal business of players is just a huge mistake.  Simple unnecessary overstep.  I was pretty vocal about my disappointment which will come into play in the months ahead.

September 2011

2nd Epic Event held at the Palms.

Only 97 players attend.  Bad timing with the European events going on at the same time.  But no big deal.  It is not a rake based model anyway.  They don’t need huge numbers in the way of entrants.
12 players left I decide to get involved in a race with Erik Seidel.  Not a good idea for anyone to do in 2011.  I bust 12th for $46k.  To think we just had dinner together the night before and then he does me so dirty.  Must be nice to be Seidel in 2011.  GFY Erik!
Don’t forget, GFY = Good for you.
This second cash in two events puts me in great position for the 27 player $1m freeroll tournament at the end of the season.

Michael DiVita incident with the Epic Poker League.  Totally on board with not letting him play in the event.  Only bad publicity can come from him being involved.  But not to give him his $20k as compensation???   Made a phone call to a league executive wanting to get an explanation.  I was basically told it was Nevada Gaming Commission that says the seat has no cash value and the EPL has no responsibility to pay him the $20k but they are refunding him his $1500 he used to buy in the Pro-Am event.
I was very vocal that this would come back to haunt them.  It is just a bad business decision that should have been avoided with just some common sense.
I found out later that the S&C Committee had decided in this matter for DiVita to receive his $20k but after their meeting adjourned league executives determined it wasn’t a committee issue after all and decided to give the guy just his original $1500.
http://www.onlinepoker.net/poker-news/poker-law-industry-news/michael-divita-compensated-18500-epic-poker-league/14121

October 2011

I join the Standards and Conduct Committee. http://www.epicpoker.com/news/blog-pages/2011/10/letter-to-annie-duke-and-the-standards-conduct-committee.aspx

Even though I had been very supportive of the league from the start, I voiced my displeasure loudly when things didn’t seem right.  To the credit of league executives, rather than ignore me or try to pacify me, they asked me to join the S&C Committee.  Even knowing it would be a thankless job I was willing to commit to this responsibility only because of the benefit a committee such as this can be to poker if we get it right.  http://www.epicpoker.com/news/blog-pages/2011/11/the-need-for-a-standards-and-conduct-committee.aspx

December 2011

League executives explain to the committee there are scheduling conflicts for the fourth event and also the freeroll event previously scheduled in February.  We approve of pushing the last two events back to an unknown date.

At this time we as a committee had no knowledge of any financial troubles with the league and no good reason to suspect.  I can not go into details but I also firmly believe Annie Duke, the Commissioner of the Epic Poker League, had no idea of upcoming financial troubles at the time.  When she sent out a letter to all members of the league describing the scheduling conflict reasons for the delay of the final two events I believe it was in good faith.
Let me be clear:  I am not interested in defending or attacking anyone in this writing.  I am just being objective based on what I saw.

January 2012

Rumors rampant about Epic Poker League financial troubles.

Not really thrilled about the rumors, but generally don’t put much weight in them and since seemingly so many people in the industry would like Epic to fail I chalk it up to wishful thinking by the haters.

February 2012

Federated Sports and Gaming files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Rumors were true.  Ugghhhh.  Why does it seem like the bad stuff in this business never ends.  I still have hope.  It is Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy and at least not Chapter 7.  Wow, this sucks.  http://www.mattglantzpoker.com/blog/2012/03/01/epic-3rd-and-long/

March 2012

Looks like the Epic Poker League might not be able to fulfill its promises made to the players who supported the league.  It is hard to now see how they are going to get new financing to run the fourth event with $400k added and the $1m freeroll event.

There is no useful information at this point going from league executive to members of the committee or the league.  Basically we are receiving the usual lines about how they are working on resolving the financial issues of the company and can’t comment further.
This is unacceptable to me and as a member of the S&C Committee representing the players I feel a responsibility to the players to get answers.
The Standards and Conduct Committee was formed to make sure the participants of the league were upholding to the highest of standards.  With the unfolding of recent events I feel it is necessary at this point for the committee to investigate if league executives were doing the same.
It was a long process through the entire month of March trying to get answers.  It was no surprise that league executives did not appreciate my attitude with these matters.  They had a ton of their own problems to deal with at the time and I was just one more to add to the troubles.  I pushed and pushed only because I felt a responsibility to the players of the league.  If my name is going to be attached to any entity in poker I want all players to know that I am always doing my due diligence to make sure things are right.

April 2012

I resign from the Epic Poker League Standards and Conduct Committee.

After several weeks of back and forth between league executives and I they do agree to answer my questions and see financials reports if necessary but under the condition of a Non-Disclosure Agreement.  As we negotiated on the NDA it became clear that what I wanted was not going to be possible.  I understood the sensitivity of the information I was going to receive and was in no way intending to share it with any competitors or possible financiers.  But I wanted to be able to look through the books and and get the answers I needed to be able to comfortable relay my general findings to the players of the league.  I wanted to be able to share with the players whether we have a case of unfortunate business circumstances here or something more sinister.  My gut tells me it was the former.
I believe from the little that I do know is that there were issues between the league and their major investor.  When the investor pulled out unexpectedly it put the league in a very dire position.  I would expect to see lawsuits in the future and I would assume at that point we will find out some of what actually happened.
I truly hope the EPL finds a way to survive.  It is good for poker if the EPL can be successful.  And conversely it is another in the long line of black marks on poker when a large company goes down.

The most important of our listed responsibilities as a member of the committee was:  Functioning as a league and player resource for establishing and maintaining the credibility and integrity of the league.
This is what I was trying to do.  But in the end it became clear that my understanding of that responsibility was different than that of our league executives.

Oh and by the way if it comes out eventually that Epic executives acted appropriately then GFY Epic executives.  But if not, then really Epic, GFY!

Today the parent company of the Epic Poker League; Federated Sports & Gaming filed for Chapter 11.  This is certainly another dark day in the poker industry which is something that has become all too commonplace over the past year.  While this filing is clear evidence that the EPL is in financial trouble, we can take some solace in that they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and not Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The short version of the differences between Chapter 7 and Chapter 11:

Chapter 7 bankruptcy = Liquidation bankruptcy.  This is what you normally hear about in the news when a company is actually going under.  In this case a company will be forced to sell off any un-exempt assets in an attempt to pay off all creditors.

Chapter 11 bankruptcy = Rehabilitation bankruptcy.  This is what the EPL filed for today.  In this case no debts are absolved and it allows for the company to reorganize its debt.  This is typically done to allow the company to pay back its debts from future earnings rather than selling off its own assets.  If the company is unable to keep up with its debts after some reasonable amount of time then the company will be forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

So, I am in no way trying to say this filing is a good thing for the prospects of the EPL.  It is still important to understand they are not necessarily finished as a business, even though it would seem difficult for them to attract an investor or a partner that is willing to put up an outlay of $1.4m in the very next event(s).  $1m freeroll + $400k added to the the 4th event.  In talking to Dan Shak today, who has a great mind for these things; he suggested the EPL forget about the 4th event and just run the $1m freeroll event as a $750k freeroll to save half the cash they are scheduled to give away to finish their first season.  I believe this is a first-rate idea that would show a reasonable amount of good faith to the players and enable the staff and media to continue their work for the EPL to finish out the season.  I think this could satisfy all parties involved.

This story of the EPL is nothing like Full Tilt Poker.  They are not holding player funds.  They took nothing from the players in the form of rake or any other expenses.  The players who took part in the league have benefited in the way of $400k added to the prizepool for each of the first three events.  The players were treated royally in the way of “all expenses paid”.  The EPL did make a commitment to the players in the way of a final $1m freeroll that they probably won’t be able to keep, but it never seemed to me that they have had any malicious intentions.  The EPL is/was a startup business that had every intention of being successful but like many businesses out there it is having trouble keeping afloat.

I gather from reading twitter and listening to some friends in poker media tonight, my opinion might differ from most.  But, I do not feel that I got slighted by the EPL even if they never have another event after today.  I played in all three events with the $400k added.  I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would do it all over again next year even if there was no added freeroll promised in the end.  Sure, it would be great for me personally if they still had a freeroll coming up since I am currently one of the top 27 on the list, but I am not going to try and say that is the main reason I played in the EPL events.  I didn’t play in the EPL to support Annie Duke or Jeffrey Pollack.  I played in the EPL because I wanted to support something that is good for poker and at the same time might be slightly profitable.  And I know a majority of my colleagues felt and did the same.

This is not a Full Tilt situation.  Should the poker community really be so harsh on the people who attempted to build something that if successful was so undeniably good for poker?

It’s been two weeks since my last blog about Full Tilt Poker.  As expected, their public silence has continued.  But, I can tell you since then I have been in contact (both directly and indirectly) with a number of the FTP shareholders.  It was surprising to me that only one shareholder told me not to post any of our conversation in the blog and I will certainly respect those wishes.  However, the other shareholders seemed to be in contact with me mostly to explain why they can’t speak publicly in response to my last blog.  There was also a disconcerting amount of trashing of other shareholders and their actions.

The common theme is anyone making a public statement from the inside will be “at risk” in being blamed for the Tapie deal falling apart.  This is why nobody is speaking publicly.  Let me clarify:  It is not because they are worried about the deal falling apart.  It is because they are worried that if they say anything they will eventually be blamed for the deal falling apart.  Even though most of the insiders seem to conclude that there is almost no chance of this deal going through at this point, they don’t want any perception that their words caused the deal to fail.

One key shareholder involved in the negotiations did assure me that to this day the deal with Tapie is still a favorite to happen and even if that deal collapses there are still more viable options past Tapie.  I do hope this is the case, but I cannot help to think he is being overly optimistic and somewhat self-serving.  He goes on to explain that this is FTP’s best chance to get the players paid back in full and that everyone, shareholders included, would serve best to stay silent on the matter.  Anything said publicly will be neutral at best and negative at worst with regards to affecting the deal.

It’s important to note that this blog is my opinion.  These are not facts.  It is based on my conversations with members of Full Tilt Poker.  I am piecing together what I can to produce the most accurate assessment of the situation.  I am tasking myself with the idea to filter out the agenda driven statements among the actual facts.  This is intended for the benefit of the thousands of players tied up in this debacle that deserve to have the information that to date they have not been given.  I decided it would be inappropriate and unfair to relay the dirt that specific shareholders told to me about their own partners.  One reason is that I don’t think it will benefit anyone.  But, the most significant reason being that there is no way for me to know if what I am being told is the complete truth.  I am going to stick to FTP as a whole and the Tapie deal.  This is what’s important when it comes to the players getting their money back.

Without Tapie buying FTP there is little hope of the US players ever receiving their funds in their entirety.  There are likely no other buyers on the horizon.  Unfortunately I feel based on their recent actions, I believe it is inevitable that Tapie will be backing out.  It looks to me that for whatever reasons they have no real interest in acquiring FTP.  The reasons why they are hanging around giving the illusion that they are still interested are unclear.  One can assume that Tapie has some ulterior motives for staying involved and they are just using the vulnerability of FTP to serve other purposes.  They might think the publicity of them being a possible White Knight is positive for their own shady reputation.  They also might be trying to use the publicity in the upcoming months to promote their stadium tournament in Europe, an event they have been working on for years.  They have been publicly trashing the individual players who allegedly owe money to FTP.  The truth is that some if not most of the players Tapie has outed do not have the money to pay the company back and it is not going to happen.  One can assume that Tapie is only doing this to save face, so when they officially back out of the deal they will have public names to blame.

There is a ton of inner turmoil inside Full Tilt Poker now which can be expected from any company going through what it has in the past year.  The company has divided into two distinct factions and some would say three.  This became solidified when Ivey filed his lawsuit against the company last May in which some shareholders took this as a move to poison a likely deal the company had in place to sell itself.  It was said that Ivey had his own potential buyer in place at the time that would serve Ivey’s interests better.  Whether or not that was Ivey’s true intention, other shareholders feel as though this was the worst move any shareholder could have made at the time for the likelihood of a sale and thus for the players getting paid back.  I am only referring to this one specific matter because the lawsuit in in the public record.  I don’t know how as a group they will be able to get anything done and thus I fear the complete failure of FTP is inevitable.  It’s going to be tough going forward for FTP and seeing the company fail will be no good for anyone.  The legal troubles they face will be ongoing for many years to come.

There are many of you who have funds on FTP.  While I think the company should have provided guidance at times to what players can expect back at some point, I will do my best with the information I have to bring some sort of clarity.  Unfortunately, I personally do not expect any deal with Tapie to happen based on their recent actions.  Tapie has had several months to perform due diligence.  The Dept of Justice cleared the way for Tapie to take over the assets of FTP over three months ago.  Also, with their latest leaks and public embarrassment campaign of poker players involved, it just seems implausible for them to move forward.  These are not the actions one would expect from an impending or serious acquirer.  I expect the company to shut down and for the US Government to eventually disperse the assets under its control.  A reasonable expectation under the circumstances is for the players to receive between 20%-40% of their account balances back from the government somewhere down the line.

There is also a remote chance that the U.S. does not treat this situation like a poker site and sticks with its original assertion that it was just a Ponzi Scheme.  In this case the account balances won’t matter.  You would only get your deposits back.  Any money won on the site would be fake profits from the government’s perspective.  I doubt they would do this because it would open up the possibility of any losing players in the past to recoup funds from winning players civilly and would create an even bigger legal mess.  But just like FTP, and Tapie, the U.S. Government has its own agenda and you never know what that may produce.

I truly hope a deal magically happens and the entire community is paid in full.  However, based on the information I received, I have put together my view of the entire situation.  The public has received enough 3rd party announcements in the past year that have given thousands of players false hope.  I do see all the hatred out there in blog responses and forum posts.  I am recommending that these players move on as if the their funds are gone.  Think of any money you may receive back from the FTP debacle in the future as found money.  If you start to look at things from that perspective you will hopefully feel a much needed weight lifted off your shoulders.

We can all hope that my opinion on the subject is completely wrong and there is some great or at least salvageable result that comes of this mess.  As a fully invested member of the poker industry and a voice for the poker community I am certainly rooting for a positive outcome.  I have spent a considerable amount of time on this difficult issue over the last few months in an attempt to find answers for all of you that have been so sorely neglected in this post Black Friday process.  It needs to be stressed once again that this entire blog is just my opinion and not hard facts.  Unfortunately, this is as informed as you will be on the situation because the only people who do have the facts are unwilling or unable to talk publicly.

We are coming up on a year now since we hit Black Friday within the online poker world.  Since then, PokerStars has done everything right with regards to its players.  In contrast, Full Tilt Poker has been nothing but a black hole of silence.  For almost a year now, we have heard nothing from Full Tilt Poker as it continues to imprison a significant portion of funds from the worldwide poker economy.

To my friends at FTP:

Through your tough times I have been one of your few defenders, both publicly and privately.  I find it impossible to take that stance any longer.  Your continued public silence is a disgrace.  It is not only irresponsible, but also thoughtlessly unfair to the thousands of poker players who have money tied up in your ongoing debacle.  Friendships aside, I feel it would be disingenuous to defend the persons involved any longer.  At this point, there is nothing short of full disclosure regarding player funds that would change this opinion.

Look, I get it.  Things happen that are out of our control.  We all make mistakes.  I can understand losing money.  I can even fathom someone in the operation deceiving the rest of you and causing this massive meltdown.  What I can’t understand is this continued disrespect to all the players who helped build your business to what it was just a year ago.  The complete lack of information coming from the owners of FTP to the player base is shameful.

To make it clear, I don’t have any funds personally tied up on FTP.  I feel very fortunate about that.  But I know from many poker players in the community that this lockup has forced changes in their lives that are no fault of their own.   What makes it worse is that with no communication coming from FTP, these players are being held hostage – not knowing if they will ever be receiving their money back in full.  In some ways, by not releasing any statements at all, it is worse than if you just tell these players not to expect anything back.  At the very least, if you produced some concrete guidance to what is going on with the money these players could move on with their lives in one direction or another.

It is obvious that your lawyers are advising you to say nothing publicly and that is totally understandable, but you should be directing your lawyers to make a public statement with regard to the players’ funds.  How you or your lawyers have not done that by now is astonishing.  For the sake of the players, you need to make a statement or direct your lawyers to make a statement for you.  To see that the players get paid is most likely out of your control at this point.  But the deafening silence is a choice each one of you individually continues to make.  You have given your company and your friends more than enough time by now to do something resembling the right thing.  I am hoping that one of you reading this will realize that breaking ranks to speak out is the honorable thing to do.  Just a little statement to direct the players on the situation will give them the necessary info they need to proceed.

To my friends at FTP, I am embarrassed for you and I am ashamed of you – not due to the player funds being lost or held.  I am embarrassed and ashamed because of the continued lack of communication to the thousands of players who have been waiting hopefully for this increasingly long amount of time.:

Another in a series of guest blogs by valued members of the poker community who possess information or insight they desire to share for the benefit of the collective audience.  Any poker player who wants their voice to be heard, feel free to email me at Matt.Glantz@Cardplayer.com .  So long as your writing is in good taste and serves a purpose to the community, I will gladly post it on my website.  It is my hope this site can be an outlet for those of you who find the forums a bit unfocused and occasionally frustrating. I feel this will be an extremely positive endeavor and thank you in advance for your submissions.

Dan O’Brien is one of those guys on the poker circuit that everyone knows and everyone likes.  He is also one of the most respected minds in poker when it comes to politics and business and how they relate to the poker world.  Dan has always been an outspoken individual who is never shy to share his thoughts.  You can usually find Dan traveling the tournament circuit with his close friends Jason Mercier, Allen Bari, and Brent Hanks.  As my friend, I have asked Dan to edit some of my writings in the past.  His talents are impressive in this area and you can see the evidence in this superb piece on Dan’s opinion of the political landscape.

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Poker Politics: Why you should vote for Ron Paul

Written by:  Dan O’Brien

This is an opinion piece. Unlike most political opinions however, mine is rooted in information and logic. A full analysis of each candidate’s policies and their effects on the country is beyond the scope of this piece. I will do my best to keep the subjects relevant to the poker world.

Stance on Online Poker

This is clearly the most important issue to a lot of online players, so I’ll start here before getting into some of the subtleties. After reading Jennifer Newell’s article about the Republican candidates’ views regarding online poker, it seems to be a two-man race for the poker vote. Romney spoke out against it, so he’s cut. Gingrich and Santorum have yet to take a side, but we can make some educated guesses.

Gingrich is a loose cannon so it’s hard to predict what he’ll do. My gut says that he’s against it to appease his conservative base. However, with his quests to increase federal spending, incite wars with any country he sees fit, and inhabit the moon all while balancing the budget, I think he’ll be open to online gambling as long as he gets a big enough cut to make it worth his while. I still don’t like his chances for pushing for it in any way, and again, I’d bet he’d push against it in the early going at least.

Santorum is a no-brainer. “This is a country of morals”, and he believes that his God-given morals should be the law of this land from sea to shining sea. I don’t see God directing him to “let my people gamble” any time soon. I may have overused the quotes here just a bit, but I just don’t believe that any mortal has the authority to deliver God’s will to me.

I’ve heard that Obama was “for” online poker, but is he? In his first three years in office, the only change we saw in online poker was its complete shutdown. More recently, the DOJ redefined its interpretation of the Wire Act and states are gearing up to start their own online poker industries. This is clearly a step in the right direction, but mixed games were hard enough to get going when the whole world was playing. The lack of liquidity in intrastate poker will make all but No-Limit Hold’em pretty tough to find. It is apparent to me that Obama has no real feeling toward the poker community. Now of course, he has bigger things to worry about, but three years is a long time to make something happen. His big-government initiatives make him more likely to be looking for tax dollars anywhere he can find them, so there is hope on that front. However, I’m not overly optimistic about the next five years with him in office.

Ron Paul actually wants online poker legalized. This should be no surprise, since he wants the government out of just about everything. Unlike other candidates and congressmen, his support does not revolve around tax dollars. Paul believes that we should be free to play online poker because, well, we’re supposed to be free! Sure, there are downsides to gambling: most people will lose, a small percentage will become addicted. But, there are downsides to everything, and we’re all adults here. His core beliefs that we don’t need to be supervised by a paternalistic government will drive him to legalize online poker, and he will do so far more swiftly than Obama might or a desperate-for-money Gingrich maybe possibly would.

Marijuana

I realize I may have the order of topics wrong. Many of you would put this first over online poker. While I rarely smoke, this is an important issue to measure a candidate’s logic and reason when it comes to legislation. Ron Paul wants to legalize marijuana because it’s far less dangerous than alcohol, it costs the U.S. billions in enforcement and incarceration, it creates a black market and fuels gang wars, it fuels drug cartels outside of the country and adds to immigration troubles, it has legitimate medicinal purposes, and most importantly, we’re adults and we can make our own choices. He goes so far as to pinpoint the roots of marijuana prohibition in his book The Revolution: A Manifesto, blaming it mainly on anti-Mexican sentiment and misinformation. Which other candidate would take a stand like this on such politically foreign concepts as logic, reason, and factual information? Obama has been in office for three years and medical marijuana clubs in California are still being raided. I don’t see any of the other Republican candidates taking on this issue either.

Taxation

Every candidate says that he wants to cut taxes. Even Obama claims to want to cut taxes on the lower classes, while raising it on the wealthier. However, no one wants to cut them all that much, because there is a massive federal government to support. Only Paul wants to ultimately eliminate the income tax. That’s right, 0% income tax. Imagine what you could do with all that extra money, and the time saved on preparing a gambler’s income tax form with all of the wins and losses and deductions. It may sound like a fairy tale, but it isn’t. Before the 16th amendment was ratified in 1913, federal income tax was illegal. Even then, it was only 1-2% on the wealthiest Americans to support World War I. In The Revolution: A Manifesto, Ron Paul states that if federal spending were reduced only to 1996 levels in real terms, we could fully eliminate the federal income tax. Now, he won’t be able to fully eliminate the tax in year one, and probably won’t come too close in his first term, but it’s a great path to be on. In addition, there’s always a possibility that taxes on gambling could be wiped out sooner, much like they are in England and for non-professionals in Canada.

Even if you’re in a low tax bracket, or you keep your cash-game winnings under your mattress, you are still being heavily taxed. Government spending is itself a tax, and no matter what the tax rates are and whether or not you’re paying them, you are indirectly paying for government spending. Spending amounts to a plethora of hidden taxes, but the most deceptive tax, and the one that crushes the poor and middle classes in our country, is inflation.

Inflation

This subject is too complex for this venue, so you’ll have to trust that a lot of research, reason, and logic based on sound economic theory has gone into my brief synopsis. Inflation is the bane of the lower classes. They handle the money last, so to speak, and have the least ability to protect against it. As more money is created out of thin air to pay for astronomical deficits, the value of each dollar before it is diminished. There is some dispute over whether the massive money printing will cause high inflation, but the smart people, in my opinion, are betting on the timing and the severity of it.

High inflation will be especially devastating for gamblers. Since it’s a cash business, and typically a large percentage of one’s net worth must be kept liquid in order to make more money, it will be more difficult to protect ourselves and our wealth from inflation than just about any other profession. A less likely, but all too possible, scenario if the status quo continues is hyper-inflation. The instability this would create would crush poker, making paper money so undesirable that even gamblers would be forced to tie up as much of their wealth as possible in real assets. I can’t see poker surviving in this type of environment. Although, it might be fun to play the nosebleed stakes for a while, albeit with worthless hundred dollar bills.

The only candidate with any real understanding of the monetary system is Ron Paul. He understands that sound money is paramount to a healthy economy and fair to the lower classes. It is impossible to stop or even slow inflation without cutting down the size of government. As long as the country continues to rack up enormous debts paying for welfare and warfare, the risk and coming severity will only increase. Ron Paul is the only candidate on either side of the aisle with any genuine desire to decrease government spending.

Summary

There are countless other avenues I’d like to discuss here, but these are the most important and relevant to poker and poker players in my opinion. I encourage all who are reading to do some independent research and look at the policies of each candidate. You’ll find that Obama, Romney, Gingrich, and even Santorum are about 98% aligned on policy decisions. It may be time that we as a nation stop arguing over the 2% of differences, and fight for a real choice.

Now, I’m very aware that Paul is unlikely to win the nomination. Some voters would say, “I’d rather vote for someone who has a chance.” However, once you realize that Obama and Romney are really mirror images of one another, the lack of meaning in that so-called choice becomes apparent, and the importance of voting for Paul becomes clear. If Paul isn’t the Republican nominee, and doesn’t run as a third party, I won’t be voting in November.However, if you’re an online poker professional and you’re looking for a recommendation, AND Paul isn’t on the ballot AND there’s no space to write him in, I suppose Obama would be your best choice. Just make sure you research investing in gold and other inflationary hedges.