Leave Politics At The Door, Says Poker Tournament Organiser
By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Aug 29, 2014
T-shirts and other apparel espousing political causes have no place in a poker competition
Political slogans on shirts and other apparel worn during live poker tournaments unfolding in Barcelona this week has triggered comment from the organisers that in future "…entry will be refused to any player displaying political statements of any kind."
The comment comes from Pokerstars communications chief Eric Hollreiser after a social networking furore arose when high roller finalists Oliver Busquet and Daniel Colman displayed their political leanings on the Israeli-Gaza conflict through the medium of their T-shirt slogans.
Exacerbating the situation was the additional exposure generated by the televised nature of the match.
In a statement to the Pokerfuse poker information site, Hollreiser said: "In retrospect it was a mistake to allow them entry. Our tournaments are designed to promote poker and poker competition and not as a platform for political statements.
"Players have many channels to express their views on world politics, but our tournaments are not an appropriate place," he continued. "We will refuse entry to any player displaying political statements of any kind."
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Infopowa news was a staple of Casinomeister’s news from 2000 until 2019. Brian Cullingworth was the main writer, contributor, and was one of the most knowledgeable persons I have ever known involved in the online casino industry.
We first met in January 2001 at the ICE in London where I observed him going booth to booth interviewing online casino, software, and licensing jurisdiction representatives. Brian was also heavily involved with our forum as “Jetset“, he was involved as an informal consultant to eCOGRA, the OPA, and was a player advocate who assisted countless aggrieved players with his connections to industry folks. He also published “Casino Cautions” via Infopowa news for quite a number of years. These can be found in our news archives.
His passing in February 2019 was a dark day for us. He will be forever missed.
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