Professional poker players compete in Turlock tournament in push for Internet poker legislation

Nearly 200 people from around the region crowded into the Turlock Poker Room on Sunday for their opportunity to challenge two of the game’s best players.

Professionals Daniel Negreanu and Vanessa Selbst signed autographs and posed for pictures before taking their seats in the last of 12 tournaments in the “Let California Play!” PokerStars Pro Tour tournament.

The online poker site PokerStars sponsored the tour to raise awareness and support for legislation to authorize and regulate online poker in California, an issue that has been circling the Capitol for more than seven years.

There have been a number of bills over the years, but disputes between the major gambling interests – Indian tribes, card rooms and horse tracks – primarily over who should get to participate, have hampered progress.

“Californians are playing online poker; it’s the Internet, you can’t stop it,” said Lee Jones, director of poker communications for PokerStars. “So then it’s only a question of whether you are playing in a safe, regulated site ... or playing in some black market site where you don’t know whether the game is honest, you don’t know how secure the games are, you don’t know if you are going to get your money.”

Furthermore, he said, California is missing out on the tax revenue that would come with legalizing and regulating online poker sites.

How California regulates online poker mostly should be hashed out by the politicians, Jones said, but PokerStars wants every interested party to be given the opportunity to apply for a license to operate.

Some California Indian tribes are refusing to consider legislation that allows participation by PokerStars, which was one of three major U.S. operators whose foundations were indicted in 2011 by the U.S. Department of Justice on charges of circumventing a federal ban on Internet gambling.

The charges were settled the following year, when the company paid a $731 million fine but admitted no guilt and was allowed to still pursue licenses in the United States.

Today, Californians can play on PokerStars.net, but not with real money.

Angelika Billes, an Austrian native living temporarily in the Bay Area, said she was surprised when she arrived in California and found she couldn’t access the money in her PokerStars account.

“I’m Austrian, my account is Austrian, and I could not play,” she said. “I was like ‘Hey, come on guys, my euros are in there.’”

Billes got a chance to play Sunday, though, and to meet Negreanu, her favorite American poker player.

Negreanu learned to play “old school” at a poker table, but his counterpart, Selbst, said she spent about six months playing online before hitting the casinos.

“I and probably every poker professional who is under the age of 30 (started online),” she said.

She said card rooms and casinos can be intimidating for the novice player. Online poker is a great way for a player to learn and build confidence.

“Once you get more experience under your belt, a lot of people feel more comfortable coming to a place like this,” she said before the tournament.

After meeting the poker celebrities, players were encouraged to sign up at www.californians4ipoker.com to support resumption of online poker in California. The website is run by a coalition led by PokerStars and includes some Southern California Indian tribes and poker rooms.

Apart from promoting the cause, PokerStars has been raising money for charity by donating $1,000 or the combination of Negreanu and Selbst’s winnings. Jones said they’ve raised $10,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and $12,000 for Children’s Hospital Central California in Madera.

“We are not paid to be here,” Negreanu said. “We are here because we both care about online poker and the freedom to play poker in your underwear, which I think most Americans want and appreciate.”

This story was originally published August 9, 2015 at 7:36 PM with the headline "Professional poker players compete in Turlock tournament in push for Internet poker legislation."