Poker Players Alliance Hosts Charity Poker Tournament

Published: Sunday, July 26, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

Wrapping up the National Poker Week in the USA on the 25th of this month the Poker Players Alliance hosted a charity poker tournament to benefit the USO of Metropolitan Washington. $35,000 usd was raised, which included a generous $25,000 donation by the PPA. Those who came out to support the troops were three influential Congressmen from Capitol Hill. Peter King a republican from NewYork, Lynn Westmoreland a republican from Georgia, and Steve Cohen a democrat from Tennessee.

Cohen from Tennessee said in an interview by PocketFives.com. "Poker players around America like playing poker. It's a voluntary thing. We need revenue and if poker is something people like to do that is fun, doesn't hurt anybody, and is a game of skill, then we ought to make it legal. We should let people tax it and allow it to be played."

Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland said when asked why he had come to the tournament said, " I'm here to support the troops. Westmoreland went on to say,"We want to wait and see what the legislation looks like. We think that poker is a game of skill and not necessarily a game of chance. I think things have to be separated first before a piece of legislation can actually come up. If you're going to gamble on horse racing or other things, then gambling is gambling. Poker is a sport of skill. If you don't believe that, you need to watch some of the tournaments on television and understand that these are very talented people. They can win a hand with a lot worse cards than anybody else. It is a game of skill and not just what cards fall."

Congressman Peter King from New York spoke to PocketFives about being on the other side of the House of Representatives, " Barney and I are in different parties and basically have different political philosophies, but we work together on a number of issues and this is one of them. It's really an issue of individual freedom. It's an issue of not imposing beliefs on someone else when no one is going to be hurt by it. Some have legitimate concerns and I think we can address them. We're making a lot of progress towards that. I think we're in good shape if we keep working at it."