In discussions with some of my poker playing friends, I’ve been asked recently why the PPA isn’t doing more for poker and the people who play it. More to the point, I was accused of not doing enough to keep the authorities at bay and to bring poker out of the shadows and into the light. “That’s what you are getting paid to do,” one fine participant at the Heartland Poker event chided. When I inquired as to his status as a PPA member, he gave me a blank look and said “I’m a member.”
Well folks there are members and then there are members. If you look closely at the PPA web site, you’ll see that you have the opportunity to become a “premium” member for a few measly dollars. Dollars that you would, without a second thought, spend on a poker game and never remember having done so. Dollars that have a profound impact on the ability of the PPA to conduct business or to lobby for your rights. Dollars without which the PPA becomes just another toothless tiger in the woods of American politics. Dollars; the difference between being a ppa member and a PPA supporting member. If you don’t understand the difference, I can’t explain it any better than that.
By the way, I didn’t let the “That’s what you are getting paid to do,” comment pass without reply as my first paragraph might have intimated. I did point out that not only do I, and all of the other State PPA Committee members, not get paid for our efforts, it costs all of us a great deal of money to travel around the state bringing the PPA message to those willing to listen. We, at the State level, are all volunteers. We do what we do because we love the game, and believe in the effort that the PPA is putting forth. We believe in your right to enjoy the game without being arrested and harassed. We believe that someone has to take a stand and speak for what is right. The only payment we receive to do that is the occasional “thank you” that we hear from the occasional PPA member who pays the fee and becomes a premium member.
Twenty bucks. That’s what we’re talking about here. Less than a tank of gas and I exhausted many of those as I travel around Colorado talking about poker and the PPA. Less than a meal for one person at a cheap restaurant. A few beers. A couple of glasses of wine or a couple of highballs. Twenty bucks. One bet in a medium sized poker game. Surely you can afford that. Come on folks. The time for free membership has passed. The PPA needs your money and your support. If you haven’t got the time to volunteer, then donate the twenty bucks and give us the tools we need to keep up the fight.