Donations

In order to support the legislation and regulation of online poker here in the U.S., I am pledging to donate money to the Poker Players Alliance (the PPA).  The PPA is the lobbying group for professional and recreational poker players alike. The organization is dedicated to getting poker regulated, licensed, and taxed here in the U.S.  It boasts over 1 million members and more are joining every day. 

Until regulatory changes are made in the U.S., I am going to donate:

           

             1.       2% of my online poker winnings, capped at $4k

-          Includes the value of any frequent player points (FPPs) I earn while playing.  FPPs are given to players by PokerStars as a reward for playing on their site. The points are given proportionally to how much rake is paid on a given table. Therefore, the more hands of poker you play and the higher stakes you play, the more FPPs you earn.

-          These FPPs can be used to purchase various rewards including poker books, PokerStars clothing, electronics, cash, or even a new car. 

-          I use my FPPs pretty much exclusively for cash and receive a $4k bonus for every 250,000 fpps earned.  This will be the rate I use in determining my donation size.

           

           2.       $1 for every Facebook “Like” I receive on this blog, capped at $1k

-          This is one very easy way all of you can help support poker.  Just use the “Like” button on the right side of this blog and I’ll donate $1 on your behalf to the the PPA.               

           

           3.       $5 for every new person who joins the PPA and writes so on the wall of this Facebook page,

-          If you really want to support poker (or just support me!), joining the PPA would be a huge help. The more members we have, the more likely it is that our voice will be heard in congress.

-          You can join the PPA by following this link. It only costs $20 to join and it would really mean a lot to me.

-          After you’ve joined the PPA, just write on the wall of this Facebook page, and I will donate an additional $5 on your behalf to the PPA.

You can track my donations via the three chip stacks on the right of this page.  I will try to update these numbers once a month with my additional earnings, Facebook likes, and Facebook wall posts.  

After a very rough start to the month of June, I ended up playing something like 215 hours in 17 days and made $13,459.60 after cashing in my FPPs. There are currently 5 “Likes” of this page and 0 new wall posts. This brings my total pledged donation up to $274.

Introduction

I graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2009 with a B.S. in Biology and an MBA in Corporate Finance. I am also studying for the CFA and passed part I last June.  I started playing poker in high school with friends, never thinking it could turn into a profession. It was just a fun (and inexpensive) activity for us to do on a Friday or Saturday night. In college, I started playing online and realized how much more strategic depth there is to poker than I originally realized.



After graduation, I decided to pursue poker professionally and haven’t looked back since.  Over the course of the last two years, I’ve built a 6 figure bankroll and established myself as one of the better mid-stakes to high stakes grinders. I play 12 tables at a time under the name “bballjm” on Pokerstars ranging from 2/4 NL to 25/50 NL depending on the strength of the games. Due to Black Friday*, I am currently living in Toronto for the next 6 months to continue playing poker. My current plan is to return to Chicago at the end of the year and hopefully transition into a career in trading. 

 Image courtesy of http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip/mspaint-online-poker-players-before-after-1023686/index2.html

In the wake of Black Friday, it is more important than ever that poker be considered a respected hobby and profession, not just by those in the poker world, but more importantly, by the typical American with a cursory understanding of poker.  As poker players (both recreational and professional) that want online poker to be licensed, regulated, and taxed in the U.S., we face an uphill battle. We face opposition from a small, but vocal far right-wing group that condemns poker as gambling and equates poker players to coke or heroin addicts. I think it’s safe to say that no amount of logic will convince this group of poker’s merits.

However, the bigger problem we face is that the typical American neither knows nor cares about online poker.   To have any chance of getting online poker regulated and taxed in the U.S., we need at least some of the non-poker playing public to care enough to stand up for our rights to play.



In the aftermath of Black Friday, this blog will be my attempt to promote awareness for online poker.  I hope to write on a poker topic once every couple weeks, and in between, will probably write on other things that I’m passionate about.  I definitely encourage any readers to ask questions, bring up their own opinions, and generally discuss the poker topics.  I’m also open to suggestions for future poker topics.  If anyone qualified wants to do a “guest blog” where they write on a topic of their choosing, just let me know and we can work something out.



At its best, this blog will be an instructive (and hopefully entertaining) source on the nuances of poker through the lens of a successful mid to high stakes pro.  At the very least, it’ll be a therapeutic means for me to deal with losing my career and a game that I truly grew to love.  And if I convince even a few people to join the fight for the regulation of online poker, I’ll consider this blog a big success.




Poker topics I plan on talking about in the future

• How poker is fundamentally different than casino games like blackjack, roulette, craps, and slots
• Why poker is theoretically a game of skill in the long run
• The role of short-run “luck” in poker, sports, and just about everything else
• Empirical evidence of the skill in poker
• Comparison between the poker industry and the trading industry
• The skill set needed to be a professional poker player
• Ways online poker creates value to society despite being a zero-sum game

Non-poker topics I will likely talk about in the future

• My opinions on various NBA players
• Restaurant reviews of various places I try
• Book and television show reviews (particularly Game of Thrones)
• Crossfit results (the workout program I do

*For information on Black Friday, check out these links:

The PPA

NY Times Article

CNBC Insider Breakdown

Poker Player Newspaper: Winners and Losers

PokerNewsDaily