Lobbying in Washington is a thankless task. Time and again, John Pappas has plead his case and that of poker players across the United States to the men and women who make the laws of the land, only to find himself forced to plead again. Still, his efforts aren’t going unnoticed; his organization, the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) now boasts over 1 million members. I sat down with Pappas to talk about poker, politics and everything in between. 

Gary Wise (GW): State your name

John Pappas (JP): John Pappas, executive director, Poker Players Alliance.

GW: Where do you hail from, how old are you?

JP: I am 34 years old, born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, currently living in Washington DC.

GW: You’ve been parked at a booth outside the media room on this, the first day of the World Series of Poker. Tell us what you’re doing.

JP: The PPA today launched its poker advocacy booth. It’s geared towards allowing poker players to be political advocates to defend that game they love, the reason they’re here at the World Series. We’re inviting people to use the internet technologies at our booth in order to send e-mails to their members of congress. It takes about 60 seconds to say “I’m here at the World Series, poker is a great American game and you need to protect it.”

The other reason we’re here is to encourage people to vote. We know that poker players are somehow politically apathetic and may not be registered voters… may not be involved in the political process. We’re telling them that has to change if they want their rights restored, if they want their rights protected they need to become registered voters. They need to let their elected officials out there know that there’s a constituency out there that cares about their right to play poker, whether its online, for charity, in a bar, a tavern or card room. It takes about 2 minutes –120 seconds—to register to vote and it’s all worth your time. We’re also hoping that people learn a little about the PPA and the great benefits they get for being a part of our one million member community.

GW: 120 seconds is three hands of online poker, you’re asking people to give up a lot! Is it really as simple as it sounds?

JP: **laughs** It is. They can literally go to our website, type in poker2008.org, go to the registration page, fill out the form, print it out, drop it in the mail and that’s it. You’ll get confirmation from your secretary of state confirming you’re registered to vote. It’s as simple as that. We want to register as many voters as we can between now and Election Day because this is a pivotal year. As everyone knows, it’s a congressional election year and the presidential election year. If poker players want to have a say, they have to register to vote. That’s why we call the campaign “If you play, have a say”

GW: A lot of people out there will want to know which candidates will prove most favorable to them if elected. Any advice?

JP: We’re going to put out a candidates guide, showing where sitting members of congress have sat on our issues in the past. Also, if you become a member of the PPA, you’ll also become a member of what we call ‘the poker PAC’, the Political Action Committee for the PPA and that is going to be a more direct political advocacy organization. We have limitations on how directly we can attack or support a candidate, so we can’t give our money unless we do it through our PAC. The PPA will give money from our PAC to candidates who support poker and candidates running against opponents of poker. Closer to Election Day, every member of the PPA will get a brochure that tells them where their members of congress stand on the issues and we’ll hopefully do so for the presidential candidates as well.

GW: It seems like one problem the PPA might encounter is that a lot of players play because they want to relax…have fun. Frankly, you’re not introducing a lot of fun to their experience. How do you deal with that bias?

JP: I understand. I mean, when you sit down to play, the last thing you want to think about is politics. Unfortunately, this is a reality that’s been thrust upon us. The PPA is providing you and outlet, and by spending any amount of your time, you can be a poker advocate and then you’re not going to have to worry about this. You’ll be in an environment where poker is clearly legal, clearly safe, regulated and poker players will be in a much better position. Without your individual advocacy as poker players, we’re never going to get there. The PPA pounds on the doors of members of Congress, but if they don’t hear from the people at home, our message will ring a little hollow.

GW: Poker players are generally cynical people. A lot of them are going to ask what’s in it for the PPA. 

JP: We’re an organization representing the interests of players. We want to see the growth of this industry. There is no personal gain for the PPA, though without a regulated poker industry there will be no PPA, no one to support it. The PPA is going to benefit as an organization because we’ll continue to grow as regulated internet poker becomes an issue every state has to address. Just because Congress passes a bill saying we’re going to license internet poker, every state will have to adopt that at well because traditionally, gambling has been dealt with on the state level. As an organization, we’ll continue to grow on the state level. Monetarily, people can join the PPA and become a free member. The money helps out lobbying efforts, I assure you. It’s not free to go to Capitol Hill every day and lobby on behalf of poker players.  

GW: Have you been officially recognized by any major online sites? 

JP: We’ve received support from several online sites. PartyPoker was a big supporter of our organization. We’ve recently worked closely with PokerStars and FullTilt, who have helped us boost our membership to over 1 million people. The PPA also receives funding from an organization called the Interactive Gaming Council, a trade association for a number of technology companies and poker companies and we value their support. We believe their interests are in line with those of the broad playing community.

GW: What has all of this done to your poker game?

JP: It’s made me realize how poor a poker player I really am. Spending time with Jesus Ferguson and Howard Lederer and others has made me realize I’ve been playing badly for a lot of years. It’s helped me understand the limits of my own game and to understand it’s a great game. It’s an American game and an egalitarian game and everyone has a chance to win if they apply themselves to it. That’s why we’re so proud to do what we do.

GW: Could the exposure you just described help to alter the opinion of those who insist poker is more a game of luck than a game of skill?

JP: Without question. It’s remarkable that there are those who continue to believe poker is a game of chance, congressmen who believe that. We’re slowly educating them on that. We’ve brought professional players to Washington DC, we’ve shown the evidence to them and more and more we’re seeing independent 3rd party studies that are showing that poker is a game of skill. Just two months ago, Case Western Reserve University out of Cleveland did a study teaching people who’d never played that game and showing the rate of their improvement. Just that alone shows this is a skillful game. Does luck play a role? Of course, but it plays a role in everything. If Tiger Woods hits a sprinkler, that’s bad luck, but no one’s going to say that means he’s not a skillful player

GW: If people are listening or reading at home and don’t want to invest too much time, what can they do to lend a hand?

JP: Come visit pokerplayersalliance.org, familiarize themselves with it. We want people to be comfortable with what we’re doing before asking them to do anything. They need to trust in our mission and I think they will when they see what we’re doing. Once they do that, join the PPA as a free or paid member so we can send you e-mails and let you know what’s going on in the poker world as relates to politics. Also, register to vote, whether through the PPA site or via your own election board, I don’t care, we just need to show people there’s a constituency out there who cares about their right to play and you can only do that if you vote. If you don’t vote, you have no right to bitch and moan.

If you’re interested in learning more head over to pokerplayersalliance.org, sign up and register for the vote. Some of us don’t get the chance to do so; exercise your rights and take responsibility.

Gary Wise will be reporting from WSOP all summer for WorldSeriesofPoker.com, ESPN.com and his home site, WiseHandPoker.net.