Poker and society

The reports of this blog's death have been greatly exaggerated. I'm happy to announce that I have returned to regular blogging duties on PokerJunkie. com. I have received several questions over the last year or so regarding my lack of posting and I will address them in my "Compncards Return FAQ.

Continuing our look at the 20 most influential people in poker, we come to #18, Linda Johnson. Linda has been a part of the poker world for over three decades and is affectionately known by her peers as "The First Lady of Poker. " [assets/Uploads/Blog/Linda-Johnson. jpg]As a player, Johnson has amassed over $323,000 in live tournaments winnings.

*If poker once was a diversion for criminals and outlaws, today it’s an honest pursuit – contrary to politics and business, apparently. * *The Fine Game* *The bad guys are elsewhere* Today's bad guy *A war without pride* *Either way online poker loses* they.

In a recent article on ABC News about young online poker players, this passage strikes me as being totally out of context: “A recent national study … estimated over 70 percent of [young] Americans … have gambled in the past year. Researchers at University of California-Berkeley also found … that 19. 6 percent of young men gamble online regularly. ” While that’s interesting, what’s it got to do with poker? *The definition of gambling* One may say that there’s an element of gambling in poker, but *poker is not gambling*.

You have probably been waiting for the follow-up on my revolutionary study aimed at shedding light on the mysteries surrounding poker’s early days. Today I proudly present to you the second part in this very long, multi-part essay. Part I of The Origins of Poker[[sitetree_link,id=1645]] left off after the sacking of Babylon. A tribe of traveling hippies on a pilgrimage to central Asia in honor of Ma Gu, the goddess of Hemp, saved the knowledge of Poker from being lost forever.