Change

Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a time when the pace of social justice finally accelerated. For once, all of the available statistics were upheld and there was not a calamitous turn around. A journey that had begun 248 orbits ago ended in triumph. An opponent, who had threatened to sustain ill judged philosophies, was vanquished.

Yes, the guy who, when he was told he couldn’t win by playing 8-4 suited responded with ‘Yes I can’, succumbed to the inevitable and left the table broke. I raised a glass of champagne. It was time to toast the poker table, a place where no-one brings privilege, and everyone, as long as he/she bothers to learn the odds, has a chance.

At the moment, however, there is still a caveat to the above. Ever since the Bush administration stamped an eleventh hour amendment onto a bill designed to prevent terrorism, it has been very difficult for US based players to play poker online. In that respect, it is a handicap to be born in the land of the free.

Will the president-elect, Barack Obama, overturn the situation and allow us Europeans to offer our American friends a cyber-seat at the oval tables?

Possibly, but don’t hold your breath.

When he was on the campaign trail, Obama said he was a pretty good poker player and a few Democrats have said they would like to overturn the bill. (Actually, there is roughly the same number of Republicans who would be happy to trash it but that would have been unlikely under the outgoing administration.) However, given that the 44th President’s in-tray will be bulging with some pretty weighty paper-work, it may be some time until we in Europe are able to play against Joe The Plumber. (Shame, as given his likely state of mind, it would be the perfect time to play him)

My guess is that we won’t see any hands bending the arc of history towards online poker rooms until 2010, at the earliest. Until then, I’ll leave you with this poser:

When those eager American players arrive at our tables, what is the obvious answer to: Can we beat them............?