We have two important pieces of news to report this month. The first is that our annual Two Plus Two Party, which we hold at the beginning of the Main Event at the World Series of Poker every year, will be held at the South Point Hotel & Casino on July 6. We expect to serve a buffet at 6:00 pm, but the official starting time is still not yet finalized because we’re hoping to have a special activity before the buffet. As we know more, we’ll be posting in the RSVP thread and elsewhere on the forum.

There should now be an RSVP thread in our Las Vegas Lifestyle forum. So if you plan to come, and yes you can bring a friend, please let us know in this thread. By the way, for those who don’t know, South Point has a beautiful poker room and after meeting with the South Point people, we’re confident that it will be a terrific party.

Our second piece of news is that our latest book, Applications of No-Limit Hold ‘em: A Guide to Understanding Theoretical Sound Poker by Matthew Janda is now available. We also hope to have an ebook version available around the middle of the month. For those who want to know more about this text, and initial reaction has been quite positive, there are a couple of threads about it on our Books and Publications Forum. Our author, Mathew Janda has been participating, so all questions about Applications of No-Limit Hold ‘em have been getting very good answers.

Finally, for those of you who will be coming to Las Vegas and participating in the World Series of Poker, we at Two Plus Two wish you the best of luck. While I’m not much of a tournament player, I do expect to be playing some, mostly in the evening at The Bellagio. So if you see me, please feel free to say hello.

An important part of the Poker Players Alliance’s mission is organizing the poker community in our fight for our rights as players. To this end, we traveled to Henderson, NV last month to meet with Mason Malmuth, Mat Sklansky, and Mike “Professionalpoker” Minkoff. I am pleased to report that we had a terrific meeting.

A great deal of poker grassroots activism is generated through poker forums like those at Two Plus Two, which is just one reason we participate daily on the Two Plus Two forums. Additionally, as Mason is a noted author of several seminal poker books and is a well-regarded leader in the poker community, we are pleased to avail ourselves of all opportunities to meet with him and his team.

As we at PPA are good stewards of donations we receive, we are also happy to share that we were able to secure a couple of room comps for the trip while keeping other expenses to the bare minimum. And, as you can see, we were all there to work, sleeves rolled up (for those of us even wearing sleeves, that is):

Rich Muny, Mason Malmuth, and John Pappas

We wish to thank Mason for taking the time to meet with us and for his generous support for PPA over the years.

The Poker Legislation Forum, Brought to You by the PPA

Following the great meeting we had with Mason and the Two Plus Two team, it was decided to merge the Poker Legislation and Fight for Poker Rights (PPA) forums into a new forum – The Poker Legislation Forum, Brought to You by the PPA.

The Poker Legislation Forum, Brought to You by the PPA is the 2+2 forum for discussion of various poker-related laws and steps players can take to push for better laws. This new forum continues to feature vigorous debate and is largely unchanged in style from the old Poker Legislation forum. The primary difference between the old Poker Legislation forum and the new forum is that there is more flexibility to share PPA-specific information.

Many regular posters on the new forum are experts in their fields. They are excellent writers and know the ins-and-outs of legislation and litigation like the backs of their hands. This forum has been and will continue to be an invaluable resource in the fight for our rights.

We encourage everyone to check it out.

New Evidence on the UltimateBet Superuser Scandal

Back in 2008, an infamous scandal — the UltimateBet superuser cheating scandal — rocked the poker world. This cheating was uncovered by several diligent Two Plus Two forum posters who observed, documented, and applied statistical analysis to an extensive hand history database. PPA released a statement at that time by our chairman, former Senator Al D’Amato, condemning the scandal (read here).

In mid-May, new evidence on the depth of the cheating came to light with the release of two lengthy sound files and a number of screenshots. With this new evidence, PPA again calls for a full investigation by U.S. law enforcement officials into these disgraceful acts and for all perpetrators to be punished criminally and civilly to the fullest extent of the law. PPA is working with our attorneys to bring full attention of this new evidence to appropriate law enforcement officials.

We are pleased that this new evidence has been made public, and we call for all remaining undisclosed information to be released immediately. It is by the purifying light of the truth that our game will continue to enjoy a high degree of trust and integrity.

Scott “ElevenGrover” Bell, an expert on this issue, wrote a nice piece detailing the new evidence. We encourage you to read his piece here.

PPA at the World Series of Poker

PPA will once again be attending the World Series of Poker for the largest gathering of poker players worldwide. We will have a booth at the Rio Convention Center during the weekends of 5/31-6/3, 6/21-6/24, and 7/5-7/9 (the opening days of the Main Event). Please come by the booth to talk about the latest in the push for poker legislation, find out what you can do to get more involved, renew your membership, and pick up a PPA patch to show everyone at the WSOP that you are proud to advocate for our rights as poker players and enthusiasts.

Make sure to check the PPA Facebook page and Twitter feed for up-to-the-minute info on everything we are be doing at the WSOP, to see great pictures, and to follow our real-time take on all that is going on at the WSOP.

Federal Legislation to License Online Poker Imminent

PPA has learned from Capitol Hill sources that federal legislation to address licensing of Internet poker and Internet casino gaming will be introduced soon. While details of the legislation are still being negotiated, we expect the bill to look similar to legislative efforts put forth by U.S. Congressman John Campbell (R-CA) and former U.S. Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA). As in the past, this poker/casino gaming bill will likely be introduced with bipartisan support.

Over the past several months, the fight for online poker has shifted towards the states and we have earned victories in those battles. New federal legislation is a result of state activity and a growing concern among Washington lawmakers that a state-by-state approach will leave consumers with a patchwork of laws, rules, and regulations. Undoubtedly, federal lawmakers are also eyeing the ability to raise much-needed revenue for the country from online poker.

PPA remains fully committed to pushing for legislation on every front: state, federal, and elsewhere. We welcome federal action and look forward to advocating for this in conjunction with current efforts in several states where legislation is pending or being considered. It is our hope that prospects of federal legislation will push state action, while imminent state action will propel the federal bill, resulting in a race to the top.

We will share the information we gather as we learn the details of the final bill.

PPA at the Global Internet Gaming Summit and Expo 2013 (GiGse)

The Poker Players Alliance once again made the annual trip to San Francisco for the largest and most influential Internet gaming conference in North America. This year, GiGse attracted nearly 700 participants from across the globe. From the largest U.S. gaming companies to small start-up technology firms that specialize in iGaming software, GiGse was the place to be last month for those with a stake in the future of the U.S. Internet gaming market.

John Pappas was a featured speaker at the conference as PPA once again took a leadership role throughout the week.

John Pappas at GiGse

The week was filled with informative sessions about the future of Internet poker in the United States. GiGse brought together divergent interests like U.S. casinos, state lotteries, Indian tribes, and European online operators to discuss matters like the potential for state and federal legislation, the feasibility of interstate compacts, and the growing interplay between social gaming and real money gaming.

The undisputed highlight of GiGse was the Licensing Suitability panel to discuss legal and commercial rationale of excluding off-shore operators. John Pappas, Jan Jones-Blackhurst of Caesars Entertainment, and Mike Rumbolz of Seminole Hard Rock were on this panel.

The GiGse Licensing Suitability Panel

The discussion was described by some as “lively” and “heated” but, in reality, it was a substantive discussion about who should be eligible to serve U.S. players. Pappas took the position that U.S. gaming regulators, the gold standard for determining the suitability of operators, should maintain their role of examining applicants and issuing licenses to those which meet the suitability requirements. Pappas also added that in the specific case of PokerStars, players from across the country have spoken very clearly that they support that company being part of the U.S. market, either as a direct operator or a partner with an existing U.S. gaming company (tribal, commercial, or lottery). PokerStars’ presence would increase competition, raising the bar for operators to offer consumer-driven products.

The opposing view on the panel was that companies that took U.S. wagers after the enactment of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006 (UIGEA) should be completely ineligible to seek licensing or to partner or sell their software to anyone seeking a license. This would strip regulators of their traditional, independent role of determining suitability and would, instead, place this in the hands of politicians.

While many factors should determine whether a company is suitable to operate in the U.S. Internet gaming market, we feel using the enactment of UIGEA as a barrier to entry does not have legal merit. As most educated poker players know, UIGEA did not make any form of gaming illegal. This fact has even been supported by the American Gaming Association in their white paper entitled, Online Gambling Five Years After UIGEA, where they say “Congress has enacted no legislation that squarely addresses the legality of online gambling.”

Further, the Department of Justice opinion from December 2011 and subsequent court rulings such as DiCristina vs. United States, add even greater credence to the legal argument that Internet poker does not directly violate federal law. Given these facts, it is difficult to understand why an operator should be excluded simply because they accepted Internet poker play after UIGEA was enacted, especially if that company has not been found to have violated the law.

Suitability should be about “good character, honesty, integrity and financial suitability.” These factors have been sorted out by gaming regulators for decades and it has worked very well in the brick and mortar environment. It is PPA’s position that regulators should maintain their role to make these determinations and should be able to do so independent of external political or competitive pressures. This will ultimately result in the strongest market for the consumer — an open, competitive market filled with suitable operators to provide us with the best products possible.

Poker Daily Action Plan

The Poker Daily Action Plan was created by Rich back in 2007 in response to UIGEA. This predates his PPA membership and was initially a humble David vs. Goliath effort. It has been gratifying to see the entire poker advocacy fight grow so strong since that egregious attack on our liberties.

You can participate in the action plan on the Two Plus Two forums (here) and at the new Facebook site focused exclusively on the action plan, at facebook.com/PokerDailyActionPlan. We encourage you to “like” the page and take actions for our game each day. It takes just a few minutes a day.

Thank you in advance for helping the poker community win this fight.

Join PPA

A 2013 PPA member is the smartest bet for the future of our game. Join today for only $15 to receive the great benefits of membership and to help us continue the fight for our rights as poker players.

John Pappas is the PPA’s Executive Director.

Rich “TheEngineer” Muny is the PPA’s VP of Player Relations.