Poker, Politics and the Truth

Happy National Poker Week to you. Or did you even know about it?

A more fitting time for this might have been last week or the week before, as the World Series of Poker Main Event was in full swing. But this designated week seems to have another purpose.

The National Poker Week web site is focused on a petition drive "to help keep America's most popular game legal...." The home page has been revised since we first saw it a few days ago, to make clear what that means. It's a drive in opposition to the seizure of accounts from big-time poker web sites.

But the way this web site words the issue is quite misleading. In fact, it's in the "editable text" of a petition you can send Washington:

I am not aware of any federal law that restricts my right to play poker online....

In fact, the seizure of those accounts has not restricted that right. People still can play poker online in the U.S. Only they do it at sites which are free, with no entry fees. Readers of this blog know we've done it at two different locations. The payouts and prizes may be smaller -- but hey, we won $20 on Sunday.

We're not going to take a stand on the bill being promoted by the National Poker Week web site. But we will take a stand against how this venture is worded. It's misleading hyperbole -- as poker remains legal in free games across the U.S., and many web sites as well.

The promoters do what Acts 20:30 warns against, in the context of the Church. "Even from your own members men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them." (We noticed the National Poker Week web site allows you to sign up for an "action e-list.")

At the surface, the effort exaggerates the truth about poker in the U.S. We're even tempted to say it acts like many poker players in a game -- making a big-time bluff. Issues can be pursued without going to such an extreme.

"I speak the truth in Christ -- I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit...." - Romans 9:1.