Over the past few years poker has been referred to as immoral. Usually the people who are using this word to describe the game and the culture that surrounds it are the type of people who would sell their souls for a few extra votes and a cushy part time job as a "public servant".
Last night Philadelphia Phillies slugger Geoff Jenkins helped raise over $60,000 for a charity that benefits kids in his community. During the upcoming Superbowl weekend Pamela Anderson will be hosting a charity poker tournament that benefits an entire menu of good causes. Even Nancy "Bart Simpson" Cartwright uses the game of poker, and the culture that surrounds it to raise money for the purpose of making life better for people who need help. These are a few examples of literally hundreds of charity tournaments that are played every year.
Philanthropy and poker have gone together in that strange yet beautiful way the peanut butter and bananas manage to compliment each other. During the rise of Texas Holdem, literally millions of dollars have been raised for charity on the strength of the popularity of the game. Money has been raised not only in live games, but also in a whole slew of online tournaments that are currently illegal in the United States. The world could use more of this sort of immorality.
Oddly enough, the people who have declared poker immoral generally make their homes in Washington DC. This is a place where politics is a blood sport and interns are passed around like one of those funny cigarettes at the sort of exclusive, "baby-boomers only" parties that include a fishbowl and bedroom keys. If you compared the amount of money raised in Las Vegas to help people with the philanthropic efforts that come out of DC, it wouldn't even be close. Sin City has done more to make the world a better place than the people who are actively oppressing the online casino industry.
This is what happens when people consider their own re-election campaigns as the most worthy charity they can think of.
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