On-line poker causes unimaginable stupidity

Just about everything I've seen or read about the death of internet poker has made me long to fall asleep and hope to never wake up, or perhaps I should long for the reward of a crown of gold. The first thing I've read was from my friend bartcop who has blamed Obama for this, as he blames Obama for just about everything. Bart's a good guy, and I honestly like him a lot, but on this he's just wrong, since how internet poker died is explained here and if you don't feel like reading it, the short story is, the guy who invented the system by which the major on-line sites were flouting the laws against money transfers for gambling was stealing from the websites, they called the FBI and had him picked up, and he flipped on them and exposed there scam. Obama was not sitting in the Oval Office, gently brushing a white cat while talking on the phone demanding that internet poker be destroyed.

But Bart's very incorrect railing against Obama killing off internet poker (Ignoring that UIGEA was a bill passed by a Republican controlled House and Senate and signed into law by George W. Bush) was merely the misinformed ranting of somebody who was upset about the fact these websites had been shutdown, today Grantland posted one of the most mind numbingly stupid things I've ever read, a column by one of the producers of rounders where he states that the shutting down of internet poker, while awful, is good because it makes poker 'cool' again.

If you don't feel like clicking through, here's the true money quote of this bunch of myth making bullshit.

In a time of 10 percent unemployment, the Government has taken away tens of thousands of jobs. And good people, like online pro Shane Schleger, have lost their livelihood without warning. This is wrong on every level, and I cannot wait for the absurdity of it to be over so that pros like Shane and his cohorts, and donkeys like me (and you), can get back to playing the game we love in the comfort and privacy of our own homes. But in this dark moment, I have found one, small bright spot: Poker is, like Slick, finally back in the shadows, where, mythically at least, it belongs.

There is so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to start. First of all the internet poker sites that got shut down were, according to the charges against them, committing fraud, using dummy corporations to mask where people's money was really going. This is against the law, the idea that somehow high unemployment is somehow a reason to not enforce the law is absurd. Can you imagine some lamenting 10% unemployment as being a reason why we should stop arresting drug dealers? "In these harsh economic times, some of us need to sell a little meth on the side to make ends meet, who is the federal government to say that's wrong?"

Then he does a quick little lament for his friends who have been screwed out of their source of income, which is right of him, because these people have gotten a raw deal. Once he's done with that however, he gets back to what matters, that poker is now 'cool' again. While he does say that this is 'one small bright spot' in this otherwise awful situation, this is just such a moronic statement. He has just stated that people have lost money, tons of money, people with six figure on-line bankrolls just got shut off from their prime income stream, lives have been shattered. I as a poker dealer with lots of friends in the poker community know all about this, and well, while that's happened and it sucks, hey at the very least poker is now somehow edgier and gritter then it was before Black Friday.

The truth is poker will never be back in the shadows, it will never be 'cool' again, Jennifer Tilly will still make horrible plays, random D-Listers will still crash and burn on Day 1 of the Main Event. TV shows featuring poker will still air, the genie is out of the bottle. Black Friday was nothing but a horrible moment in the history of poker, and no amount of spin, revisionist history or longing for a yesteryear of backroom games and larger then life hucksters will change any of that.