What a disappointment the PPA has turned out to be!! The Poker Players Alliance really?? And I quote "The PPA is committed to defending the rights of poker players." Well why dont you start defending??

All they have done is regurgitate news articles on their website...thanks I can read the news on my own. And some half ass attempt at a youtube message...have you seen that thing?? LOL what a joke!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMR_DbJLwyk

He looked like a deer in headlights! Do you need some toilet paper...did you crap on yourself?? Was he hiding in his basement when he shot this video? Are you afraid of the boogyman? What is this crap! (no pun intended).

The PPA should be out there in the media screaming to the high heavens. Why havent they held a news conference?? Do you know how important that is?? Even the average american who enjoys playing poker recreationally with his family at home may not be aware of whats going on. We look like a bunch of unorganized hoodlums.

We should have D'Amato out there in the public eye stressing how poker is a game of skill etc. Telling everyone and anyone who will listen that we are not a bunch of degenerates but we are professional players with a skill. They should be educating the masses.

John Stossel is right...he is a wimp. Or did they not pay him enough money to stick his neck out anymore??

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Really this is your concern???????? At this moment in time????????

What it looks like to me is that the PPA is a bunch of suits who wanted to lay low collect "donations", hold charity events, be social, look and sound important. Hopefully they could ride the wave and eventually a law would be passed and they could take all the credit.

Well that **** has hit the fan and now when we need someone to protect us the most they are no where to be found. I dont claim to have the answers or be able to protect us YOU took on that responsibility. So where the hell are you?? I cant see you!!

Well when the **** hits the fan some guys run and some guys stay...looks like some hide in their basement.

DOJ > PPA

/thread

I agree. PPA = big letdown.

i'm grunching. tho saw a blog on this:

http://www.billrini.com/2011/04/22/the-ppa-is-pathetic/

cliffz PPA taking credit for getting FTP and Stars to give back US players moneys.

Exactly my point. If you are powerful enough to make the DOJ buckle to your will (laughable) and get us back our money how can you cry and say that you guys are just doing the best you can without much support. Well which one is it. You talk out of both sides of your mouth.

And once again to make it clear. I AM NOT discounting what the PPA has done I appreciate what little they have done because it is at least something.
My main CONCERN is how THIS situation has been handled. Passive, meek, unprepared...you guys must have known that this day was a huge possibility yet you guys had no plan set up.

Nobody is saying the PPA made the DOJ "buckle."

All we have said is that the public outcry of poker players, in which the PPA played a significant part organizing, put enough pressure on Capitol Hill that pressure was applied to the DOJ to settle the issue of Player money.

The sites seeking this agreement, and the DOJ realizing it was in a bad PR place also were factors.

This is not an all or nothing situation. This was a team effort. And PPA was part of the team.

And your description of us as "passive, weak and unprepared" is basically your description of what you saw. What you saw was far from all that was going on, sorry.

And more is going on as we speak. I realize that in the internet era not having solved this problem in a few days is a failure. But most of politics is not done at internet speed. Changing things will take lots of effort and lots of time.

Skallagrim

That post was in no way, shape, or form constructive. Basically reads like a two year old crying for his blankie.

It does read like it's a two year old crying for his blankie, but to say that it's not constructive in no way, shape, or form is dumb. Even though he seems to be mildly ******ed, he clearly has some good points; mainly about how passive and ineffective (possibly even irrelevant) the PPA is.

I dont think I was crying at all. Just stating fact.

Would you not agree if D'Amato was in Washington D.C. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial or wherever holding a press conference defending us that we would be taken more seriously??. Making it known that there are millions of poker players and we have the power of voting people would start to listen.

I guess you dont understand the power of the media. why do you think candidates hold poltical debates, run political ads etc...

The fact is that they signed up for this. They claim to be the defender of our rights...well do it then!!

If you want to start a thread about whether Senator Al D'Amato is the right PPA chairman, that would be a good discussion.

Saying "do it then"....what specifically do you want "them" to do? Who is "they"? You do know they have appeared in the media, right? Why the visceral anger at people trying to help you? If you have ideas, please share them, otherwise its ranting.

Who has appeared in the media? The Fossilman? Oh geez. Hes a nice guy but not enough and hes appearing on segments of news programs. He was cut off several times and the news anchor is reading questions that they want to ask not necessarily questions that serve our best interest. Yes Greg we know you won the the Main event and won $5million dollars. Thank you. I appreciate the fact that he is at least doing something.

If the PPA held a press conference they would be allowed to state their position with out interruption and then be able to field questions. Its more pro active and would be a more of a controlled environment. Besides the fact that it would appear as we are organized and have a spine.

I think the ppa is generally driven by the money derived by all the big poker site and controlled by them.

Or else they would set up an online site that actually did not rake so much and make the job such a conjob in the long run.

The big sites that supported the PPA, PokerStars, Fulltilt, & UB were more interested in keeping online poker in the USA to themselves rather than getting it legalized...that kept other companies from entering the market...thus the PPA did not work to legalized poker, instead it tried to delay the DOJ for a few years from shutting down the sites...

now perhaps we can get some action towards legalization, but i would rather not have anyone connected with the PPA act as the players representatives.

LOL, good job.

It is impossible to write a post of this length with more false facts and erroneous conclusions than this one has.

Skallagrim

We will prevail in SC thanks to the PPA...

You know what gets me is the way the PPA was portrayed when first advertised to the players. We were lead to believe the PPA was going to be as active as the NRA in terms of defending our rights. There were high profile players then asking us to join to protect our rights and donate. However now the PPA cant at least make a commercial to get the word out and make other people aware of what the GOV has done?

Since Black Friday we have seen the PPA trying to take credit for getting the money released from accounts, notices about were to post our views on the DOJ/OBAMA facebook page (almost a day after we had started) and John Papas get owned on national TV. Now we are reading about the record of court rulings and we should have complete faith?

You honestly still feel that we should be happy with the efforts of the PPA and that everything is being done in the best interest of the US PLAYERS that you solicited for donations vs the sites that line your pockets?

For a minute step back and look at it from our perspective....what would you think

Oh no, it's very easy to write that when one has your organization for inspiration.

simply stated, your organization's results FOR THE PLAYERS have not met the promises TO THE PLAYERS

standard PPA PR, quote and disparage the most poorly spoken and ignore the many intelligent posters who make valid points against you.

and when all else fails, just martyr yourself

You sir are an idiot ..do you work for the DOJ?

This post just about sums up why muricans got no where with the PPA - just another ******ed keyboard warrior.

didn't take long for the dumbest post in this thread to pop-up. It's always someone who thinks they're smarter than everyone else saying the dumbest ****. gtfo

What have you done to help improve the status of online poker in this country?

He did about as much as the PPA. At least he didn't get a bunch of people to donate money to him.

++++100 to that post..u said what i was thinking