Annie Duke has been getting a lot of attention over a comment that she made during her appearance on “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” where she went to promote her new book and the Epic Poker League. Critics have nothing negative to say about 99% of her spot on the American show, but they take issue with three words that Duke uttered in response to a comment from Ferguson, who said, “Now, isn’t poker illegal?” Duke responded, “No, that’s only online.”
Since her appearance, Duke has been absolutely lambasted for stating that online poker is illegal. Some critics have accused her of knowing nothing about poker (although it’s perfectly obvious from her history that such statements aren’t true) while others have stated that she’s “campaigning against online poker” or that she “doesn’t care about online poker because she has the Epic Poker League.” They’ve accused Duke of being hypocritical, as she used to play for Ultimate Bet, and her brother, Howard Lederer, is a known owner of Full Tilt. How did they play online poker in the US if it was illegal? Is she admitting to engaging in illegal activity and incriminating her brother in the process? What’s the real scoop behind Duke’s statement?
The criticisms of Duke’s statement (which lasted approximately one second) seem to break down into the following arguments:
1. Online Poker Isn’t Illegal
Okay, technically, online poker isn’t illegal. You can hop onto Facebook and play Texas Hold’em with the amateurs any time you want to, and no one is going to try to stop you (save for your boss or significant other). When people say “online poker,” however, they’re almost always referring to money games, which are inaccessible, while not illegal. What IS illegal is the banks, transferring money to poker sites that operate within the US and/or have US players. Transferring the money is the act to which the government objects, which is why they’ve been going after large online poker companies and financial institutions, not individual online poker players. To summarize: playing poker, not illegal. Funding poker to make it possible to play, illegal– therefore, the truthfulness of Duke’s statement is really just a matter of semantics.
2. Annie Duke is admitting to illegal activity.
Again, no. Because online poker isn’t illegal for the individual playing, but rather for the banks who fund transactions, Duke isn’t admitting to any kind of wrong-doing. Secondly, there’s a greater philosophical issue about whether or not Duke (like every other poker player in America) thinks that online poker should be illegal.
3. Annie Duke is scaring people away from the world of poker.
Nonsense. What’s scaring people away from the world of online poker is the fact that the US government has made doing so pretty much impossible. Duke stating that it’s illegal to play online isn’t going to affect the portion of the population that is already playing poker (as by now, they know the rules) or the part of the population that doesn’t really want to play (as they don’t care about the rules). All the people who are on-the-fence about playing are probably only on the fence because of the difficulty in playing while in the US, and while it’s possible that their hesitation comes from some other source (lack of income, addictive personality), whether or not Annie Duke, in the beginning of a talk about her new book about playing better poker and discussion of the Epic Poker League and how it’s going, makes a passing comment to move the conversation along is not going to sway them.
4. Duke should stick with the rest of the players and say that online poker is legal.
Duke was trying to move the conversation along. She only had a short amount of time on the show to promote her book (and to a lesser degree, the EPL), and if she had gone into a long spiel about the nature of the legality of online poker in the United States, it would have taken the time and focus that she needed to complete her purpose on the show. Ferguson wasn’t looking for a philosophical debate about poker’s legality, and if Duke had started down that road, there’s no way that the discussion would have gotten the lengthy airtime that it would need to be resolved conversationally. Again, it’s just an issue of semantics; it wasn’t a political statement.
5. Duke has the EPL now, so she doesn’t care about the fate of online poker.
Ridiculous. Of course Duke cares about online poker. It’s a safe bet that all professional poker players care about the fate of online poker. Yes, Duke has the Epic Poker League. She also has a new book out. Her focus, however, remains on poker. If anything, Duke is doing the poker industry a service by keeping Americans focused on poker at a time when their frustration is growing and their interest is waning. With most of the poker-related shows and tournaments no longer airing on American television, Epic Poker League is a fresh face that is drawing in a lot of viewers. If there’s one thing Annie Duke knows how to do, it’s stay alive in a game where it seems like the cards are stacked against her, and that’s just what she’s doing now– staying alive when American poker is struggling.