THE PPA ANNOUNCES NATIONAL POKER WEEK - Posted by KatA 

The Poker Player’s Alliance (PPA) has just announced National Poker Week, to be held July 19-25, 2009. In addition to attracting new members, the PPA hopes this week will help to advance the legalization of online poker. The PPA is the world’s leading poker grassroots advocacy group, and they’ve worked tirelessly to prove that poker is a game of skill, not luck. So far they’ve yet to succeed in the courts, but they’ve made great progress advancing the cause. They seem to be gaining new members with every new round of headlines they inspire. As the PPA Chairman, former Senator Alfonse D’Amato, reports: "Our members – the poker players of America – are our best advocates to protect the future of poker.” Naturally, the PPA hopes to recruit as many new members as possible during National Poker Week. But in addition to recruiting new members, the PPA will also be using this week to target anti-gaming policy with events across the U.S National Poker Week will be sponsoring several high profile events including some in Washinton D.C. D’Amato says that these events are ‘the PPA’s way to make it clear to my former collegues in the U.S. Congress that poker is important to voters and is here to stay.” Throughout National Poker Week the PPA will also organize phone and e-mail campaigns directed at congress. These campaigns aim to unite poker players and give them a stronger voice with which to argue for the legalization of online poker. In addition to these campaigns, over 30 of the PPA’s State Directors and half a dozen professional poker players will visit D.C to request support from Congress for the legalization, licensing and regulation of online poker. They’ll also lobby president Obama to exclude poker from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and to regulate and license online poker. To sign their online petition visit www.pokerpetition.com