Apr 27 2011
Mainstream Media’s Poker Pieces: Tangled Web of Politics and Poker
written by: Jennifer under Poker Comments: Comments Off
Surprisingly, I’m not referencing Black Friday or any of the recent articles in the mainstream media about the online sites, indictments, or payment processing. Poker finds its way into the general news cycle in other ways, though the recent news about poker may have inspired some writers to use more of the game’s terminology.
This week, the politicians are bluffing and moving all-in, while a poker chip set scared the begeezus out of the FBI. Oh, the irony.
An opinion column in the Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel went for the overuse of the poker term all-in to make a point about Wisconsin politicians and some of their recent decisions as elected officials. The point was made, but the excessive use of the all-in lingo could lead us to believe the author only played one game of no-limit hold’em and lost by moving all-in.
On Sunday, this writer at the Clarion Ledger speculated that Governor Haley Barbour was hinting at running for the 2012 Republican Presidential ticket. The poker references abounded and concluded with the author’s admission that he’s no poker player but believed Barbour was in the race. Not long after that piece was published, Barbour announced that he was not going to pursue the nomination. It turned out that Barbour sat at the table, showed his money to the dealer, but as the other players salivated at the sign of the fish, he left the game.
FBI Cracks Down on Poker Chips
Evidently, a poker chip case looks terribly like a suspicious package. Someone left their chip case near the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and it was reported to the police, who shut down part of the main street and the entire FBI building to investigate the suspicious item. They even used an X-ray machine to detect its contents: poker chips. Scary! Wonder if an attorney for the Department of Justice left it there after a home game…
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