While some of the largest poker tournaments and prize pools ever are taking place at the 2008 World Series of Poker, the situation was not as rosy at a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Wednesday in Washington, D.C. The Payment Systems Protection Act (HR 5767) proposed by Barney Frank and Ron Paul would have forbid the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve from implementing the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas explains what happened on this week's edition of the PocketFives Podcast.
San Jose, Costa Rica (PRWEB) June 27, 2008 -- Wednesday was a dark day for online poker, as HR 5767 - which would have eliminated the regulations of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act - was defeated in the House Financial Services Committee. After an amendment proposed by Republican Congressman Peter King ended in a 32-32 tie vote (which means it's defeated) largely along party lines, an oral vote on HR 5767 was unsuccessful. One of the men pushing for HR 5767 was Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas, who joined this week's installment of the PocketFives Podcast.
The argument from the Republican side focused on protecting children and teenagers from exposure to gambling. Pappas explains: "As our opponents continued to debate this issue in the Committee, they never really spoke about the merits of the UIGEA or enforcing it. Instead, it was all about the perceived societal ills associated with gambling. The debate moved squarely away from the UIGEA regulations and into a moral discussion. As you can see, the vote went 32-32 and because of that tie, it was defeated. I think we have a number of Republicans that are eager to support us, but over the past couple of days, these emotional arguments have won out."
Meanwhile, PocketFives.com members had a tremendous showing in this past Sunday's major online poker tournaments. "The_R3aLde4L" took down the PokerStars Sunday Million for $158,000 and "Ramzi" won the Full Tilt $750K Guaranteed for almost $133K. Australian Steve "stevoL" Leonard had an outright victory in the Full Tilt Sunday Brawl for $64,500 while "whitE_mAmbA" earned $45,500 for his win in the Full Tilt Sunday Mulligan. Long-time member "plzlemmewin" won $45,000 for his victory in the UltimateBet $200K Guaranteed and Gary "GB2005" Bogdanski won the Absolute Poker $150K Guaranteed Weekly on Saturday. Big name PocketFivers Matt "ch0ppy" Kay and Alex "AJKHoosier1" Kamberis took second and third, respectively, in the UB $200K tourney for $27,000 and $18,500.
This week's online tournament rankings update shows Steve "gboro780" Gross moving up five spots to #14 following his outright victory in the Absolute Poker $150K Weekly for $37,500. Steve is in his early 20s and hails from Glassboro, New Jersey. He has already impressed many of his colleagues with his skills at the table. Former PokerStars Sunday Million winner Brian "SN8WMAN" Hawkins moves up six spots to #15 after taking down the Full Tilt $33K Guaranteed. Brian's $278,500 score earlier this year on Stars made online poker headlines; not bad for a player who began playing poker on a $5 transfer. Australia's "rkruok" is up 14 to #60 thanks to placing third in the UltimateBet $200K Guaranteed for $18,500 and Denmark's "Klausen" reached the PartyPoker $300K Guaranteed final table and won the PokerStars $25K Guaranteed.
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