Poker Players Alliance Announces National Poker Week

In a press conference at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino on Monday, the Players Alliance unveiled several new initiatives as part of a build-up for this year’s National Poker Week, set for July 19-25, 2009. In addition to debuting several new online sites designed to increase players’ participation in the political process, the conference also announced plans for this year’s PPA “fly in” to Washington D.C., where dozens of high-profile professionals and state PPA representatives are expected to lobby on the game’s behalf.

The midday conference included participation by several major PPA figures, with PPA Executive Director John Pappas opening the meeting and returning to detail several new PPA programs. In between came brief but energetic speeches from PPA Chairman Alfonse D’Amato and U.S. Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV), plus short appearances by PPA board members Linda Johnson and Greg Raymer. D’Amato, who also took part in Monday’s Seniors Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker (his first-ever WSOP appearance, photo shown), detailed some of the history of the legislative fight over online poker and Internet gaming in his talk. Berkley, who after her appearance gave the traditional “Shuffle Up and Deal!” command to the Seniors players, outlined the manner in which the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was shoved through Congress, attacking the act’s insertion into an unrelated “must pass” port-security measure as a blatant attempt by then-Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) to buttress his own presidential aspirations, which fell apart only weeks after the UIGEA’s passage.