Nope, Doyle Brunson wasn’t arrested.
I’m relieved and, I’m sure, Doyle is, too.
I was mildly amused at the grass fire of “stories” and posts that burned across the poker interweb today. It ceratianly kept me occupied hitting refresh at Google. I fully expected to eventually see something to the effect of “the rumors of my demise…” pop up and I wasn’t disappointed.
I’d first heard the rumor late last night when a friend mentioned he’d received mention of it in an e-mail – except that it was Doyle was going to be arrested, not that he had been arrested.
I don’t hold much stock in rumors. In fact, I’m a debunker by nature – (Snopes is one of my favorite web-sites and I’m a big fan of Mythbusters).
If someone tells me “Such and such happened to so and so” my usual first response is “Where did you hear that?” Followed by numerous questions to pin the person down to details.
Typically, the person has filtered the information through their own bias, salting it with an interpretation that fits their own fears – or hopes. I see this time and time again in the microcosm of my office culture – rumors growing like weeds into gross exaggerations.
So it wouldn’t have surprised me to see someone touting “Doyle Brunson arrested and suffers heart attack” at the end of the day but, fortunately, Doyle surfaced to quash the rumors.
So, anyway… Badblood had an interesting post in the ayem regarding poker players and gamblers collective inability to come together and fight the UIGEA. I can’t disagree with him when he states:
Ask yourself this question the next time you sit down at a random poker table. Would you work with these people, would you trust these people, could you care about these people enough to join them in trying to keep the game alive? I doubt it.
And even if I would, Badblood’s also right in his assertion that our numbers are just too small.
I wish I had some answers here.
We are now beginning to see through the corrective lenses of hindsight that what could have been done, should have been done long before now.
We lived in comfortable denial from day one. If there is anyone reading this, who played online poker in the US and didn’t think at some point that the end was coming, then tucked the thought away, I’d like to know what kind of drugs you’re on.
I’m not alone, however, in asking why the online gaming businesses weren’t proactive with efforts to prevent something like the UIGEA from happening at all? Is it naive of me to think that they could’ve played the money game in DC to secure smooth sailing for the online industry? Probably.
What I fear we are now facing is a “dark ages” era of prohibition and further erosion of some of our basic freedoms. The UIGEA is just an ice-chip in the iceberg that’s looming, ready to sink the Constitution if we aren’t careful.
There’s a lot of anger brewing out there and I don’t see that as a bad thing. I just hope it doesn’t ebb into a pool of complacency and acceptance. That will not affect change….
Sigh.
Well, this has become a tangential, rambling post, hasn’t it? Oh for the wisdom and insight of my betters….
Pardon me while I re-insert my head back into this comfortable hole in the sand.