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High stakes poker players, along with stacking chips and winning gold bracelets, have been known to have an opinion or twenty. So it should surprise no one that quite a few have been uber-focused on the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
What started with more than 20 candidates between the two major political parties is, presumably, down to a pair of competitors: Donald Trump for the GOP and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats. Bernie Sanders remains in the race, but his odds to win his party’s nomination, according to virtually every (foreign) sports book that takes presidential waters, is worse than 12 to 1.
With the election essentially down to two candidates, some of the top poker players have taken to Twitter to pick a side. That includes the great Daniel Negreanu, who recently became an American citizen with a very specific goal in mind.
After receiving his citizenship, Kid Poker made it clear he intends to vote against Trump. A self-admitted liberal, Negreanu will be voting for Hillary. He asked his Twitter followers to weigh in on which candidate they are voting for, and why. Approximately 8,000 people participated, mostly of them likely poker players, since they are following him.
The results of the poll may come as a surprise to many. Poker players, in general, tend to lean to the left politically. But 57 percent of those polled said they are voting for Trump, which must have made Daniel sorry he even asked.
Of these, 28 percent said they are voting for Trump simply because they don’t like Hillary, whereas 34 percent plan on voting for Clinton just because they despise Trump.
Shuffle and Up and Vote
Negreanu won’t be casting a vote for the billionaire businessman who lacks political experience, but not moxie. But Todd Brunson and Matt Glantz are examples of high stakes poker pros who will gladly cast a vote for Rosie O’Donnell’s arch-nemesis.
Glantz has found himself in some heated battles on Twitter recently from other poker players, including Vanessa Selbst and Olivier Busquet. Selbst couldn’t take Glantz’ political rants anymore, so she had to take action.
“Just blocked @MattGlantz,” the poker star posted. “Sorry man; can’t deal. Will unblock post-election. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
“It’s so recently typical of the oh so ‘tolerant’ left to be so intolerant of any other views but their own. Sad,” Glantz fired back.
Busquet, another liberal, came to the defense of the female superstar.
“This would only be true if she consistently blocked anyone who ever disagrees with her…which she doesn’t,” he commented.
Trump Has His Supporters
The presidential election has brought about some heated debates between poker players. And now that it’s all basically down to two main candidates, the banter has intensified even more.
Glantz, Selbst, Negreanu, and the male Brunsons (Todd and Doyle, both Trump supporters) have been among the most vocal on the Hillary versus Trump issue. Actor James Woods, a poker enthusiast, despises Hillary Clinton as well. He’s gone so far as to call her “the vilest human on the planet.”
Hyperbole aside, although it’s clear he won’t be voting the former First Lady into office, he won’t technically endorse a candidate.
“I don’t endorse anyone just for the record,” the actor said. “I abhor rudeness from lawbreakers interfering with [the] cherished American democratic process.”
Mike Matusow is also riding the Trump Train. We won’t post his exact Twitter quotes, because the grammar and spelling mistakes are just far too painful and plentiful. Let’s just say, The Mouth will proudly cast his vote for Donald J. Trump in November.
Late Thursday, one more high profile player in the gaming world got on board with Trump: Las Vegas Sands CEO and infamously anti-online gaming protagonist Sheldon Adelson. This might surprise some as The Donald has not expressed any views that would indicate he would be pro-RAWA, or interested in putting any federal bans on Internet gaming.
In fact, Trump has pretty consistently supported states’ rights on most issues.
According to The New York Times, Adelson found the decision to be a slam-dunk, however. “I’m a Republican, he’s a Republican,” the billionaire casino magnate told the consistently liberal-leaning news site of Trump. “He was one of the 17 [initial GOP candidates]. . . he won fair and square.”