Remember that software bug at JonWoodGaming, the one that helped me win a lot of money. Seems like a similar bug has hit Betfair Poker. Below is an abbreviated version of the story. It was written by Alistair Osborne. The original story was reported by the Telegraph.co.uk.

The real story is that several bored poker players ould futz aroundlate at night (GMT), and do icro-stakes Sit-and-Go’s; they would all go all-in on and one. Then, someone noticed that on a six way all-in, there as a Software Bug: hands 2-6 were all paid FULL 2nd lace money. They soon graduauted to $500 and $1000 S&G’s; the same sofware bug applied! Word got out, and over one late-night, hundreds of thousands (millions actually) of dollars were “won”. Faced with exposure when the morning Betfair auditors came in, these players furiously made withdrawals or played in high-stakes games, dumping chips to many other players (not originally in on the scam).

PokerMoments is a poker blog, not a political blog, and hence not generally in the business of making political statements. However, as Barack Obama moves past Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and could very well become the Democratic Presidential Nominee for 2008, I feel compelled to add my two cents into the political pot. While Obama, if elected President, might be good for the game of poker, as he is supposedly an avid poker player, I cannot vote for him. Here are 3 reasons why.

1. Obama’s Legislative Accomplishments:

2. Obama’s Position on his Spiritual Advisor:

Obama’s spiritual advisor is the Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr. According to a report by Ed Lasky in the American Thinker, Wright has a real bad attitude about Jews, white people and Israel, which he calls a racist state. He believes that black values are superior to middle class American values and that blacks should isolate themselves from the wider American society. He is a long-time friend of Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, who called Jews bloodsuckers.

Does Obama disavow this nutty minister’s nutty views? No.  But why? Is it because he was married by the nutty minister? Perhaps. Or is it because his daughters were baptized by the nutty minister? Perhaps. But what ever the explanation, it is no justification for his silence on the matter, a silence that suggests that Obama might share some of his nutty minister’s nutty views.

3. Obama’s Position on Iran:

As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama opposed defining Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. And he supports opening relations with Iran even if they continue to enrich uranium.

Not terrorists? Come now. The Guards arm and finance Hezbollah, which is certainly a terrorist group. What sort of mark of terrorism is Obama looking for?

Even if you plan on having negotiations with Iran, a country run by evil thugs, I don’t see the wisdom of going around saying this sort of thing. If this sort of foreign policy thinking reflects the way Obama plays poker, then he’s the biggest fish at the table.

I just read a brief piece about Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama in The New Yorker called Aces by James McManus.   It was about Obama’s interest in the game of poker, even though he has been opposed to expanded legalized gambling. 

McManus points out that there have been a number of American presidents who were fans of the game of poker -Andrew Jackson (7th), Ulysses S. Grant (18th), Theodore Roosevelt (26th), Warren Harding (29th), Franklin Roosevelt (32nd), Harry Truman (33rd), Dwight Eisnenhower (34th), Lyndon Johnson (36th), Richard Nixon (37th), George W. Bush (43rd).   I’m not sure whether Abraham Lincoln (16th) played poker, but McManus points out that “he did use a poker analogy to explain his decision not to apologize to Queen Victoria during the Trent Affair“.  

Given this history, one might think that Obama’s position on legalized gambling is an anomoly.  But this may not be the case.  According to Rodney Reyman in his article Gambling, there is evidence that the Founding Fathers of this country were far from fond of gambling.   Consider these quotes: 

George Washington:  “Gambling is the child of avarice (greed), the brother of iniquity and the father of mischief.”

Thomas Jefferson:  ”Gambling corrupts our dispositions, and teaches us the habit of hostility against mankind.”

Benjamin Franklin: “Keep flax from fire, youth from gambling.”

Do these quotes indicate that these three Founding Father would be opposed to poker?  I’m not so sure, especially in light of the fact that while Obama has been opposed to the expansion of legal gambling, he still plays in a regular game (see here), and, as McManus reports, considers himself to be “a pretty good poker player.”