Tuesday, February 22, 2005

The Light of Day

When you’re alone at night, even if you know where you’re going, you still feel like you are floundering a bit. Something about the lack of light relegating everything around you to an obscure shape makes it seem like you’re a bit lost even though you’re not, exactly. Finally, the sun peeks out from the horizon and invigorates you, spurring you forward on your path with a renewed vigor.

It seems to me the same holds true with poker. For so many years, our game has been relegated to the perpetual night of the back room, scorned by puritanical notions that claim a figurative monopoly on the light of day. Over the last, what, 3 to 4 years(?), more folks than ever have discovered the proverbial “back room”, and if that’s where the game continues then sooner or later people will leave, opting instead for sunshine and leaving us where we began.

PokerProf has a new post up from a new contributor talking about a new International Poker Association, and it sounds like their vision is a good one. Of all the fledgling organizations out there struggling to lift themselves up, I’m glad to see that this one chose the word ‘International’, because that’s what the game is. The consistency of its rules make it something that everyone can participate in, regardless of language or geography.

I posted before about the constant efforts by the powers that be to squash our game. The reason for doing so was an article that Roy Cooke wrote in CardPlayer. I emailed Roy, voicing my support and desire to help if there was some way that I could, and last night I actually received a response. It seems there is something that this little blogger can do, and that is try simply to round up a bit of support for the notion. Long story short, the powers at CardPlayers are beginning to get a bit reticent about Roy writing and pushing so much for such an organization, and seem to be leaning towards putting the kibosh on the subject unless he can show that there is support out there for such a thing.

So, if you are so inclined (and I certainly hope you are), send a mail to pokersVoice at aol dot com to voice your interest in seeing future columns on the subject, and to be included in future discussion. I truly believe that this little (well, not so little these days) community can actually contribute something very real to help ensure the future prosperity of this game.

Of all the material I’ve read thus far on the subject, and at the risk of sounding like a Cooke evangelist of sorts, I really think that he has the most cohesive vision for an association thus far regarding the fact that one unified organization needs to be formed. I think that this is a crucial point, because a whole bunch of smaller organizations will eventually end up scrapping with each other and getting little or nothing accomplished. The big money folks are never attracted to splinter groups, and are lot more open with their pockets when presented with the option to work with a unified whole.

Basketball has the NBA, football the NFL. If we really want to see this game be popular over the long haul, I think it behooves us to make every effort towards bringing about that formation of a NPA.

The light of dawn is beginning to peek through. Let us not be apathetic because of the present booming popularity and the warm sun. While the way is clear we really should be preparing for the evening that is eventually and inevitably on its way.