Poker Players Alliance Recruits Support Of Andrew Lichtenberger

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Monday, February 23rd, 2015 | Written by Stephen Smith

The Poker Players Alliance (PPA) may have more than one million members in the USA, but the organization set up to protect the rights and liberties of poker players has lacked high profile representatives from the community since it was founded in 2005. One exception was the 2004 WSOP Main Event winner Greg Raymer, who lobbied extensively to have the game regulated and acknowledged as a game of skill before a prostitution scandal forced him to step down from the PPA Board of Directors. Now it seems the advocacy group has found another high profile player willing to devote his time and efforts supporting legalized US online gambling in the guise of Andrew Lichtenberger.

Andrew “Luckychewy” Lichtenberger

Despite being just 27 years old, Andrew Lichtenberger is an online poker veteran and was a regular at the game’s virtual tables at a time when interne poker was still at its peak. He also happens to be one of poker most successful players, having amassed $2,171,407 playing online using the screen name “Luckychewy”, as well as a further $5,838,922 in the live arena. Therefore, having such a distinguished player now working alongside the PPA could help give an extra push to the PPA’s tireless efforts, especially with so few other players coming forward to volunteer their services.

Last week, Lichtenberger then met with PPA marketing director Drew Lesofski and after agreeing to help raise money for the group, immediately started trying to muster up enthusiasm from his fellow pros via his twitter account, which currently has 21.9k followers. As he wrote:

“Poker has granted me many positive experiences and I look forward to help fundraising for the @ppapoker at our events with other pros to make a positive change and share the game we love. If any pros want to get involved catch up with me as I’ll be meeting with Drew again to organize events to raise awareness for online poker.”

Nevertheless, whereas one might reasonably expect more fanfare from a poker community decimated since the the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was introduced in 2006, instead the news has pretty much been greeted with silence, begging the question why have the poker professionals avoided becoming involved in the intricate issue of online poker regulation, either on a federal or state level. This subject has recently been picked up by reporter Earl Burton in an article written for njpokeronline, and here are some of its conclusions.

Older Players Mostly Live Poker Specialists

Whereas living legends of the game such as Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Phil Ivey, and Daniel Negreanu regularly draw great interest to the game of poker, it is predominantly in the live arena where they have made their individual fortunes, and so these “old school” players are less motivated to spend their time and efforts promoting online games. Soon after Black Friday, for instance, Brunson angered many in the poker community by tweeting the following message:

“Now maybe we will see if these online ‘superstars’ can play real poker. Ante up suckers!”

Younger Players Take Off For Greener Pastures

Likewise, post-UIGEA the “young guns” who had previously earned their livings playing poker online simply found it easier to uproot and move to other more conducive countries to continue playing, such as Canada, Mexico or Europe.

Not A Major Issue For Political Parties

Another factor explaining poker players’ lack of vocal support for the PPA may have to do with the two main political parties ranking online poker way down their scale of importance, save for the lobbying efforts of such Republicans as Sheldon Adelson, or Democrats such as Diane Feinstein or Tulsi Gabbard. As Earl Burton explains in his article:

“Imagine you are a professional poker player who, for the most part, believes in the efforts of the Republican party overall. It would be difficult to go against your chosen party for simply their stance against online poker alone.. As such, some may feel that they cannot support online poker even when their particular political philosophy or leaders of their party have an anti-gaming stance.”

Avoiding Politics Altogether

Equally important as the above point is the fact poker players, both young and old, are an individualistic bunch of people and most likely have a desire to avoid the trapping of politics altogether. More relevant issues to their lives include where the next game is being played, how to travel there, how big are their bankrolls, and who still owes them money. When poker is then dragged into the boggy ground of politics, many poker pros prefer to stay out of said process, rather than deal with those areas of life most people are forced to abide by in normal society. For all these reasons, a high-profile player such as Andrew Lichtenberger now joining the PPA’s lobbying efforts could herald the start of a crucial change in stance by the poker community as a whole, as the PPA continues its efforts to push for online regulation stateside.