Black Friday Anniversary Thread - April 15

[Debi]

So today is the day - 1 year ago our lives were shattered. I made this post in Facebook:

"1 year ago today my life and the lives of most of my closest friends were drastically changed. Money was stolen from us, incomes slashed, jobs lost and more. We should have the right - like people in most of the rest of the world - to invest our own money in our skills at a game we love and make an income from it in the comfort of our home while causing zero harm to any other person. When I go to the polls to vote for a president I will not vote for a person who does not support this right. "Happy" Black Friday Anniversary to all of my friends - I hope you are playing poker somewhere today and crushing it!"

My friend Katie (hotjenny314) wrote this article at Cardplayer:

BlackFriday, Libertarianism, and Cupcakes

What are your thoughts today?

 

[DEdwardsNJ]

Well said, I think you did a great job at summing up what just about every online player is thinking today.

 

[pifan]

Sad face, so much has changed in the last year. I miss the old days

 

[radman]

A sad anniversery it is
Your feelings are well writen, much was lost
I kinda miss AP/UB

 

[Charade You Are]

Great quote from the article: In a quote that I used at the beginning of The Superuser, C. S. Lewis said, “Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.”

http://theppa.org/neverfold-proud/

 

[dadsrus]

kinda wish after a year some of these other sites might have gotten better software i miss fulltiltpoker for the journy we were all on, good or bad there were alot of us out there playing poker as a communtiy the whole friggin world was able to play against each other. before black friday had a few sites installed nowadays computers full of sites im trying to enjoy but cant because of sad software and boring graphics all the same promblems
as in poker we all have upswings and downswings ride the wave until it changes back to where players can play freely any where they want

 

[ythelongface]

Hard to imagine it has been a year since this happened. Even harder still to understand what the point of it all was when so many other things that should have been adressed by our goverment have not been. I still hold out some hope that we may yet again be able to play at the sites we choose and be able to have the ease of deposit and withdrawal that much of the rest of the world has. Until then, I take solace in the fact that I have multiple live play options that are within a reasonable distance(hour or less). It is certainly not the same as sitting in my home and taking out my debit card and deposting on the online site of my choice, but it gives me my poker "fix" for the most part. I would also like to take this time to remind folks that President Obama was for many expected to do something to get us back to pre UIGEA but in fact the opposite has happened. Not to lay the blame entirely at his feet, but my point is that we cannot hope that any politcian will act for us just because he likes poker or anything else for that matter. Here is hoping that something positive happens for us, and preferably soon.

 

[LarkMarlow]

Beautifully said, Debi. All day I've been struggling with feeling sad and, yes, angry all over again by trying to focus on what we still have rather than what we don't. I'm not succeeding very well. Thank you for putting my thoughts and those of so many others into words.

 

[witchywitchy]

Very well said...

I do hope we are not all here in another year without any positive steps forward...

 

[kidkvno1]

Well said Debi.
I do hope this year we get somewhere.. I also hope the players get their money back.

 

[Cdub512]

A year later, I still really miss playing on FTP and Stars. Wish I played on Stars more, but had so much fun playing on FTP. It's too bad Americans like myself don't have the freedom to play on Stars. You would think America is land of the free, but that is not the case. Hopefully things get better sometime in the near future.

 

[alaskabill]

Very well said Debi. In the year since Black Friday I have become more educated about how our government truly functions. I am wiser, sadder, and more cynical now.

Before Black Friday I played poker with goals in mind and I enjoyed every minute of it, even losing sessions. Now I play on Merge out of spite and to defy my government but with no real hope of accomplishing anything.

Even if we get online poker back it will be on the terms granted us by our rulers. It will be considered a privilege and not a right. If we say the right things and contribute to the right people they might be nice enough to allow me to spend my money as I choose.

Bitter, that's how I would sum it up in one word.

 

[T-Dubs82]

good article OP. that was a tough day and continues to be tough. fortunately most of my $ was on pokerstars, i really feel for those with large sums on FTP. hoping for brigher days...

 

[jazzaxe]

It seems like none of the two major political parties want to touch this. If they were to do something, I reckon it would have been done by now. I could definitely use my FTP bankroll