Dear VDACS,

Poker has become a hobby of mine and of many others in my and surrounding communities.  Many of us have been playing poker together for many years and consequently established a local social community of poker players.  Pop's was the local poker room where we would gather to have some fun and catch up on the news.  Without getting into the nitty gritty details, Pop's had to shut down.  This had the consequence of breaking up our poker community and forcing us to travel long distances to play poker.

Another benefit of playing poker at Pop's was that it was a charitable game.  This meant it had the additional benefit of donating money into the local community.

It has been brought to my attention that VDACS' is developing a set of poker regulations for charitable games and in particular, charitable poker.  This is good news.  However, several of your proposed regulations, in my humble opinion, will have a significant negative consequence on the game and how it is played.

See examples below:

Example 1: 11VAC20-30-90.F (concurrent tournaments) should be eliminated or significantly modified because it places an unreasonable limitation of only allowing one game to be played at a a time.  Many of us have other responsibilities at home and work that prevent us from showing up at one specific time.  I personally feel Pop's should have the flexibility to set up a game when sufficient people are present.

Example 2:  11VAC20-20-90.O (electromechanical devices) should be eliminated or significantly modified because this regulation is prohibiting the use of software and hardware that is used to increase the number of hands being played over time and improves the integrity of the game.

Example 3:  11VAC20-30-90.G (location restriction) should be eliminated or significantly modified because Pop's is a convenient location for our poker community and we don't want to have to drive all over creation looking for a game. I am too old for this.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Carl Esche