I have been told that High Stakes Poker was not going to return. Now I am reading that it will.
Let’s hope that this is real. I mean, I understand if GSN wants to cancel it. After all, you can always fill all your programing with old Stop the Whammy episodes (or whatever that thing is called).
Mike Caro, the Mad Genius of Poker recently address the Poker Players Alliance. This is what he said at Rio in Las Vegas on July 28, 2006
Let’s fill in the blank: In order to operate our business, we will need ____. (A) employees; or (B) parents.
The answer is (A) employees. Employees are the people who work for us. Parents are the folks who tell us what to do when we’re children.
The United States is traditionally thought to be a beacon of freedom in an increasingly uncertain world. It has a government of the people, which means we hire employees to help us live free and happy lives, and we don’t pay parents to repress us.
Some of our employees in the House of Representatives temporarily forgot why they were hired. They became confused and acted as unreasonable parents. And so, because we care about them — as we care about all our good employees — we must counsel them and make sure they understand that we are not China.
You see, many of these same employees in the House have criticized China for denying its citizens free access to the ideas and activities on the Internet. Now they have passed a bill that would threaten American access to poker — our traditional card game.
At a time when the world is bonding with us online through poker — a game that is at the heart of our heritage — are we going to leave empty chairs at those online tables, showing the world that we are repressed, that our parents have sent us to our rooms?
In counseling our employees in the House of Representatives — employees we may choose to hire again — let us remind them that repression isn’t part of their job description, that poker is our game, that we’re proud to share it with the world, and that we are not China.
END OF MIKE CARO ADDRESS TO POKER PLAYERS ALLIANCE
