By now it is impossible to ignore the news that a jihadist stuffed a pair of panties full of explosives and tried to blow up a plane over a third world country (Detroit is considered a third world country, right?) This should be something that poker players who travel to live poker tournaments should be aware of. Texas Hold’em events are often played in the sort of places that would give your average Islamic Fundamentalist nut-job intestinal cramps. Places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles are literally, in their thinking, the small intestines of the “Great Satan”. Those of us who travel for the sake of poker need to vigilant against threats when we walk on to a plane.
There are those who think that this may be alarmist in nature, but the “It can’t happen to me” attitude rarely saved anyone’s life. A person who would like to know how Muslim extremists feel about gambling need look no further than Iraq and the Holy War on bingo. While local poker tournaments are in short supply there, and many of the Iraqi people have probably never heard the words Texas Hold’em, when they do engage in their favorite form of gambling (bingo) they must bring AK-47’s to the bingo hall to defend themselves. Many of their brethren think slaughtering a room full of bingo players will bring smile to Allah’s face.
Nobody will doubt that there are people out there who would jump at the chance to turn a 747 into a very large hole in the center of “Sin City” or other gambling havens. Poker players who are traveling to the United States for live poker tournaments, and are counting American security measures to protect them should keep in mind that after the failed attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit, their Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated that the “System worked”. If her system is based on letting a known terrorist get on a plane, having him ineptly set his junk on fire while arming the explosives, and a Danish passenger beating the hell out of him afterwards, then yes…the system worked. Is this a system any of us would bet our lives on?
I am not saying don’t fly. Let’s face it, how much fun would life be if we only played online poker and at local tournaments. What I am saying is show a little vigilance. Over the past few decades, well over 90% of the terrorists have had a number of traits in common. If the airlines won’t protect passengers by logically profiling for danger, there is nothing stopping the passengers from oing so. Don’t let people with bad intentions reduce your gaming enjoyment exclusively to online poker and Texas Hold’em at your local bar.
