Wall Street Journal

I am traveling today and at some hub airport out there somewhere I picked up a used copy of the International Edition of the Wall Street Journal and saw a full page ad about poker! The ad is linked to hearings today in Washington D.C. I am still traveling so I will give you what I have.

The ad was run by Prime Table Games, a Las Vegas company; the headline is Who Will Face the Issues? Here is a summary of the highights of the ad:

"It is well known that there are off-shore based Internet gaming operators who are engaged in deceptive practices with American consumers and international players, and there is no adequate system in place to ensure full and appropriate regulation," said Derek Webb, founder of Prime Table Games. "Congress needs to take action soon, or these practices will only get worse."

The House Subcommittee on Domestic and International Monetary Policy, Trade and Technology will be addressing issues involving Internet gaming on April 2 at 10 a.m. EDT. Prime Table Games' published statement encourages Congress to adopt specific regulatory strategies for consumer protection in Internet gaming.

These regulatory strategies include limitations on solicitations and incentives to gamble, such as bonuses and cash backs; prohibition of affiliate relationships; standard player verification procedures. Players also should be able to self-exclude from Internet gambling sites, and those requests should automatically apply to all sites.

In addition, Internet gambling debts should not be legally recoverable, and the site operator should bear the responsibility to ensure identity verification and that the player can afford to gamble at the level played. A player not paying gambling debts should automatically be placed on an exclusion list from all Internet gambling sites.

"Internet gaming, by its very nature, has great potential for abuse," said Webb. "Site operators also should pay fees towards problem gambling treatment and research."

There was a very interesting poker article in the Wall Street Journal today. I have excerpted some of it here and added some comments.

CAMBRIDGE , Mass. -- Four-time poker champion Howard Lederer makes a plush living playing cards. His scholarly calm at the table has earned him the title "The Professor," along with $3.3 million in tournament prize money.

Just don't call him lucky. To describe poker as anything but a game of skill, he says,

"...is just wrong."

[Notice that the article begins on the theme of poker as Skill vs. Luck]

Now poker fans in academe are jumping in to help prove that point, most recently with a daylong "strategy session" at the Harvard Faculty Club bringing together poker pros like Mr. Lederer, game theorists, statisticians, law students and gambling lobbyists.

"The purpose of this meeting is to legitimate poker."

said Harvard University Law School professor Charles Nesson.

To do that, Prof. Nesson and his fellows hope to show, statistically, philosophically, legally and otherwise, that poker is a game in which skill predominates over chance.