Thursday's plan:

Let's resume contacting mainstream media to ask them to increase coverage of our issue. Let's go with NBC/MSNBC/CNBC for this action (CNBC has covered us in the past).

Contact info:

• Click here to email MSNBC
• Reader Inquiries (to submit questions, comments and feedback about msnbc.com, NBC News and MSNBC TV programs.)
• Click here for the CNBC feedback web form

Friday's plan:

• Let's reach out to ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3068843

The weekend plan:

Recognizing that one day was not enough for everyone to finish a letter to the editor, let's all take the weekend to write short (no more than 250 words) letters to the editors of our local papers explaining that we demand our right to play. Even if they don't publish them, it will help show these media sources that some of their readers care about this issue.

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):

• The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
• Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
• The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
• Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
• We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.

Let's all send the PPA pre-written letters to our lawmakers. These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get the current letters out before that. Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others. Thanks!




Finally, let's recruit others. Our personal recommendations of this effort will go far. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested. Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan.

Thanks!

Thank you. It went out to all the locals last night. I thought you would give me permision.

I just wrote to MSNBC, CNBC, and ABC, highlighting the need for a piece on the effects of the Black Friday fallout on the millions of part-time or recreational American players.

I liked the Fox News piece, but the comments section was so discouraging, and I worry that a huge part of the general public will never have any sympathy for a professional online poker player who can no longer make double their salary by playing a game (which they likely perceive as "gambling", not distinct from the lottery).

Hopefully one of these other outlets can interview some non-professional players and create a fitting companion piece to Fox News' treatment of the pros. It should be much more resonant with the general public and do a better job of highlighting the need for domestic regulation.

Just wrote to MSNBC, CNBC and a number of ABC programs. It feels good to get involved.

The more we get the message out, the more we can fight the ignorance of those who would lump us in with terrorists, lottery players and general degenerates.

House is in recess this week, so the earliest it can be introduced is next week. AFAIK it is still expected to drop any time, but PPA people involved in the process would have more knowledge on that.

Sent messages to the news stations. Gogogo

Contacted NBC, going to work on my facebook likes and comments now.

Rough draft of what I'm sending out to the mainstream media outlets. Looking for fresh eyes to see if I'm missing or misrepresenting anything. All feedback is welcome.

"I am writing today because I would like for you to do some coverage on the April 15th shutdown of the three largest internet poker sites by the DOJ and the subsequent domino effect its had on the industry since.

I feel not only is this purely a cash grab by our government but it's also a violation of my personal freedoms. I have been stripped of the pursuit of MY American dream! Not only is it utterly ridiculous for the government to care about something as miniscule as online poker at this point in time in our countries history it's also a blatant violation of my freedoms as an American citizen. I am a grown, consenting adult. What I chose to do in the privacy of my own home is my own business as long as it's not harming anyone. I DO NOT need the government to tell me how and where I can spend my own money.

Also, participants within this industry are practically begging for regulation, oversight, and proper taxation. In times where the national debt continues to grow and unemployment continues to rise, why not regulate and tax the industry? It's a much needed revenue stream and will also reintroduce at minimum 50,000 jobs back into the American economy (roughly the amount of American online poker professionals who became unemployed April 15th) but will also allow the industry to continue growing with media jobs, security and oversight jobs, payment processing jobs, etc. All of which either don't currently exist (because industry growth has been capped by Americas prohibition) or are located and untaxed overseas.

These issues at hand are, for the most part, completely misunderstood by the average American and widely falsified by mainstream media. Please consider my request for honest coverage to shed light onto the industry. It isn't until we as a whole understand properly the issue at hand that we can begin to make educated and unemotional decisions regarding said issue.

Thank you for you time and consideration."

Nice letter. Just a couple of things:

I might get rid of the caps, it makes you look hostile. Our arguments can speak for themselves without that kind of stuff.

Secondly, I would say it's a bit inconsistent to argue that online poker is "miniscule" in one paragraph, then argue that it could create jobs and increase revenues in another. I would go with the latter argument, and emphasize the economic benefits.

I like the "consenting adult" argument; I've used it in every one of my letters/emails. More of that is always a good thing, the alcohol/tobacco comparison can work there - i.e. we allow much more harmful things, why not poker?

Keep fighting!

bumpage

Good point on the caps, Eazy E. I'll make that adjustment in my own letter, which I plan to keep sending out. I got a call this morning from the editorial staff of the Delaware News-Journal asking for authorship verification. I just fired a copy to the Philadelphia Daily News, too.

All right. That's good. They're running your letter. I'll get one sent out by Monday to my local papers. I'm using your letter, slightly revised, I think.

Thanks to everyone who has posted their stuff for others to outright use or just plagerize. It really helps.

Nice work!

I've been slipping on action plans, have been busy lately putting other fires out. I'm back in full swing. Still looking for some brave friends to set up table and play penny poker with me in Central IL. I say we go to a dtown area, set up some tables, play for a couple hours, and then go get a beer! I went to the bank and traded $10 for rolls of pennies, just need a fold out table or two, and a couple decks of cards, and we are good to go!

cross posting from the "new senate push..." thread:

Here is a quick FB listing of all people mentioned in the article. Please drop them a quick message:

mentioned positively:

http://www.facebook.com/RepJoeBarton?sk=wall&filter=1
http://www.facebook.com/HarryReid
http://www.facebook.com/JohnCampbell
http://www.facebook.com/barneyfrank
http://www.facebook.com/shelleyberkley?ref=ts&sk=wall
http://www.facebook.com/pages/US-Sen...=wall&filter=1


mentioned somewhat positively:

http://www.facebook.com/jonkyl (in a policy statement this year, Kyl said he would keep a more open mind about poker-only bills, and “consider them carefully as long as they leave in place the broader proscriptions against online betting.”)
http://www.facebook.com/SpencerBachus (FOR regulation... what what WHAT?)


mentioned negatively:

http://www.facebook.com/LamarSmithTX21?sk=wall&filter=1
http://www.facebook.com/repdavecamp?sk=wall&filter=1

ty efficacy. made my normal rounds for the day. gonna hit up the links you posted.

I'm really in support of all this and think the PPA is doing an awesome job as of late. I was writing a message to my friend, many of whom I can definitely get to send a letter along to their reps and stuff, asking if they'd help out our cause. The downside is (probably like everyone elses friends) they'll probably only send an e-mail one time. With that in mind should I have them send the letter that is up currently or wait for a new letter to be drafted regarding Barton's new bill?

Don't know if this has been posted in another thread, but a really good article on the money seizure:

http://odenton.patch.com/articles/co...-poker-players

does the ppa have a booth set up at the wsop to sign people up? Are players able to donate 1% or whatever of their cashes to the ppa like they do for cancer etc.?

Hell, it would be GREAT to see ME winner donate a million bucks for poker freedom...

Or, canvass all the winners and go for a million bucks between everyone who cashes.

My letter to the editor to my local paper. Anyone can feel free to use as your own (as is or modified as you see fit). My letter is modified from DrewOnTilt's letter, who started with a letter written by someone else. What the hell. We're all family here, right? Anyway, this version is 214 words. My local paper doesn't want anything over 250 words.

Dear Editor,

On April 15th, the Department of Justice indicted three providers of online poker for processing player funds. They call it money laundering. Ten million Americans, myself included, play this skill game as a hobby. In this time of economic trouble and government budget overruns, why is our government focused on busting up poker games? This action is wasteful, and it starts us down a dangerous path towards government interference in our daily lives.

Our legislators should create a regulatory framework that allows responsible operators to provide Internet poker, defines rules for dealing with problem gamblers and minors, and establishes a tax structure. One recent study estimates that taxing Internet poker in the U.S. could generate $42 billion in revenue over ten years.

Furthermore, it is the job of the government to defend my right to life, liberty, and property. It is not the government’s job to protect me from myself. Responsible adults who want to compete against each other at poker, a game of skill, should be allowed to do so from the comfort of their own homes.

Please write and call your congresspersons and request that they support the regulation and taxation of Internet poker. To do so makes good sense from both a personal freedom and a tax revenue point of view.

Sincerely,
name
address
phone number

Yes. I'm here in town this weekend representing us at the booth, in fact. I hope to meet many of you.

I just hit up Fred Upton's Facebook page asking for a hearing on the Barton bill.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fred-U...=wall&filter=1

cool, I'll definitely try to make it up this weekend.. what about my second question.. is there an availability for players to donate % of tourney winnings to the PPA?

edit: have many people signed up?

You can always donate at www.theppa.org/donate, and you can pledge to do so by making a post here saying you'll do it. Perhaps we ought to make a page like the Bad Beat on Cancer page at http://preventcancer.org/badbeatoncancer/pledge-1. I'll recommend it.