The following is the first of a two-part interview with Poker Players Alliance Executive Director John Pappas. The second will appear on BluffMagazine.com on Thursday, June 25.

Tens of thousands of members of the poker community have already walked the halls of the Rio Convention Center in Las Vegas during the opening weeks of the 2009 World Series of Poker, and few have been able to traverse to and from the tournament area without catching a glimpse of the Poker Players Alliance booth. Staffed each day with knowledgeable individuals who can assist the public with information about membership, political happenings, and activism suggestions, the PPA stand was also manned by the organization’s executive director during its first few days of the summer Series. John Pappas, Executive Director of the PPA, was able to take a few moments away to answer some questions for BluffMagazine.com.

The Poker Players Alliance is the most active and visible organization representing the poker community on the local, state, and federal level in the United States. Its lobbying efforts have contributed to the insistence of a growing number of members of Congress to support the legalization and regulation of online poker, and its legal assistance in various cases around the country has helped poker be recognized by courts as a game of skill while protecting the rights of countless citizens to play poker rightfully under the law. Pappas shed some light on the inner workings of the PPA and where its focus has been and will be in the coming months.

Where does the PPA currently stand with its membership numbers?

We’re a little over 1,200,000 now.

Are you seeing a positive increase in sign-ups at the WSOP?

Yes. In fact, we were just flooded before the last noon event, the $1K [start of Event 4 on May 30] event, we probably signed up 50 people in a matter of 20 minutes. More importantly, we got a lot of people to send letters to members to Congress, and what we really want to accomplish here is advocacy more than raising money for the PPA. Of course, we can use the money and it goes to a good cause for our lobbying efforts, but I’d rather have a million members send letters to Congress than a million members give me a dollar.

Are you finding that most people are already aware of the PPA?

A lot of people do, and they tell us they’re already members, but a lot of people have joined through freerolls and other promotions that online sites were doing for us, and we need to remind people that it’s not just a one-time thing to be a supporter for poker. It’s something you need to continue to redo and renew. If you sent a letter once, it doesn’t mean you can’t send a letter again. And if you joined the PPA two years ago, it’s probably time for you to rejoin the PPA and renew your membership. We’re also offering some great benefits for people who do it here at the World Series. We have a main event seat [raffle] available for people who join the PPA as a premier member, and we had a drawing for a seat into Event 28, which is the $1500 NLHE event, for people who send letters to Congress from our booth.

Can you explain the difference between becoming a member of the PPA and joining PokerPAC?

PokerPAC is a political action committee for the Poker Players Alliance, and that allows the PPA to give money directly to candidates for elected office, whether it’s state or federal. Right now, the PPA can’t take membership dues and turn those into campaign contributions; we can only use those for lobbying expenses, paying salaries, operational expenses, things like that. If we want to contribute dollars to members of Congress, we have to do that through PAC money, individual contributions from our paid PPA members who contribute separately to our PAC. Over the last year, since it started in April of last year, we’ve raised over $140,000 for our PAC, and we’ve given about $100,000 to candidates and have about $40,000 left in reserve. We’re hoping to raise money this year from the professional community as well as from amateur players at the World Series for our PAC, and every single dollar goes to candidates who are pro poker.

Can you tell us any of the candidates who have received money so far?

Certainly. Obviously, Barney Frank has been a candidate who’s been supportive of us. In the last election cycle, we actually supported 54 candidates. I’d be happy to give you a whole list with every candidate, who won, who lost, etc. Interestingly, we gave to 54 candidates and 49 of them won office, and those who lost were challengers, people who were going against members of Congress who were really bad for us. It was an uphill challenge for them to win, but the PPA getting out there and showing support for candidates who are willing to challenge those members of Congress who are voting against our rights is a pretty important thing. As much as I wish it wasn’t the case, money and politics are intertwined, and if you want to play the game, you’ve got to be able to do it on all levels. Right now, we’re very strong lobbyists, but our political contributions are still not where they should be yet. I’d love to have a $200,000 to $400,000 PAC, where we could have the level of giving every cycle to be able to give to candidates and compliment what we’re doing with lobbying on the Hill.

Editor’s note: The PPA did provide a list of all donations distributed in the previous election cycle. Actual financial contributions were given in the cumulative amount of $55,691.22 to 24 candidates, the largest amounts of which were given to Rep. Barney Frank ($4,950), Rep. Robert Wexler ($4,600), Rep. Bennie Thompson ($4,600), and Rep. Chris Cannon ($4,600. Another notable donation was made to Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate for the U.S. presidency in the 2008 election, in the amount of $2,300. Other funds were distributed via fundraisers for other national candidates, and in-kind donations were reported as well, which consisted of endorsement e-mails sent to PPA members on the candidates’ behalves.

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