First, there was ESPN, the “Worldwide Leader in Sports,” taking the world of big-time competitive poker from smoke-filled casinos and putting it into the spotlight of a national audience in a sports environment.

It proved a hit, as the 2003 coverage of the World Series of Poker, aided by technology allowing cameras to see players’ cards, let viewers think along with each featured hand.

Now, two related organizations, the United States Poker Federation (USPF) and the United States Mind Sports Association (USMSA) aim to bring poker, along with other strategy-based games, into new realms, with professional sports organizations like the U.S. Golf Association and FIFA as models.

Peter Alson, president of the USPF, and Amy Handelsman, exective director of the USPF and USMSA, recently took some time to discuss some of their initiatives with TheUltimateFan.

TUF: What does the USPF and USMSA hope to accomplish?
PA: First, the main objective is to promote poker as a game of skill, a mind-sport, and to take it away from just being associated with casinos and gambling.  USPF members love poker, we love the possibilities of the game, the way it can be used to hone one’s mental muscle, and how it can be applied as a teaching tool.  The idea is that we are going to be a sports federation … we weill sanction events, rank players, organize or own events.
AH:  One of the longer ranging ideas is to have that guy at the “top of the pyramid,” play on the level of either state-to-state or the more micro level of profession-to-profession, for example hedge fund managers vs. bankers, or plumbers vs. electricians, police vs. firefighters.  It becomes a truly democratic sport, not just associated with Vegas or Indian reservations.

TUF: What is the timetable moving forward? 
PA:  We have our official launch event next month in London, where there is going to be a gathering of the member nations. The first event is the Nations Cup, on Nov. 17, involving 12 of the major market member nations, and consist of a version of poker called duplicate.  It’s not unlike duplicate bridge, a way of emphasizing the skills, in which the teams all see the same assortment of hands, with a single player frome ach team at one of six tables, in two heats.  It’s a hand-to-hand comparison, player-to-player.  That event will be at the London Eye, the world’s largest Ferris wheel, with 32 capsules.  We’ll have 12 poker tables, and use the other 20 pods for exhibitions of other mindsports like chess, draughts and bridge.

TUF: What are some of the successes you have had so far on the advocacy front?
PA:  We have just started the organization, so although we haven’t had any tournaments yet, there has been great interest.  The challenges are when you mention poker, you think gambling, but our goal is to have sponsored prize money events such as the PGA Tour has, or professional tennis, where players do not put up their own money.  There is money to be won, but it’s not wagering their own.
AH:  Mindsports are getting greater traction as we have more conversations. Some of the efforts are in educating the market in the distinction between the old connotation and what our mission is.
PA: We are finding out that you can divorce poker from the money in the sense that on Facebook, for example, 60 million play every month for no money, just for the glory and claiming who is best.

TUF: What do you say to those who say that poker has had its run of popularity and now has gone the other way?
PA: I think that we have seen that one of the revelations so far is that in fact the sport is in a great position to grow because there are a lot of players who want to play but not risk any money, and we give them a way to do that.  In the media, poker’s light may have dimmed a bit, but the fact is that in terms of the number of players, it has grown.  I think that’s not an accurate assessment, but at the same time we recognize that poker has had a number of black eyes of late, with the Department of Justice investigation into online poker and Black Friday.

TUF: Along those lines, what is your reaction to the Full Tilt investigation?
PA: I think the thing is that we are trying to reframe the game and reposition it as not a gambling game but a game of skill that can be played without gambling on it.  I think if we can do that, and I think we can, then poker will find a new audience.  But if we can change the perception in that way, then it seems to me no matter what, eventually the U.S. Government is going to come around.  It could take a couple of years, but they will see poker as something that should be regulated. I equate the current situation to Prohibition.  It doesn’t make any sense for the government to lose out on that potential revenue.  Right now, for whatever reason, they have decided to take an antagonistic stance.
AH: Also, in terms of mindsports study in an academic way, on both Boards we have a law professor at Harvard, Charles Nesson, who is interested in poker as a strategic skill.  He has set up an affiliation with the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, which deals with the cyber issue, and a research fellowship to be able to propose studies to look at mindsports as a skill: what is the nature of the strategic thinking and how can it apply to a number of different disciplines.

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