Alfonse D’AmatoChairman
Alfonse D’Amato served as United States Senator from New York from 1981 to 1999.
During that time he led as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In addition, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator D’Amato worked on tax-relief initiatives for working, middle class families.
His decades of public service and deep understanding of the political process will be instrumental in our efforts to ensure that you can continue to enjoy the game of poker in the venue of your choosing.
John PappasExecutive Director
John Pappas has been engaged in high-level policy and political consulting in Washington, D.C., for the last ten years. Prior to taking a full-time position as vice president of government affairs for the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) he was a public affairs consultant for the Washington PR firm Dittus Communications. During his four years at Dittus, Pappas served as a media and policy advisor for dozens of Fortune 500 companies, start-up firms, trade associations and grassroots organizations like the PPA.
Chris FergusonWSOP Champion
Chris Ferguson can’t remember a time when he wasn’t playing cards. He might say his poker career started in the fourth grade when his losing hand cost him 35 cents. He was determined to never to go broke again.
In high school, Chris was making $2 per hour playing with friends every weekend in nickel and dime games. Soon, Chris and his friends made their first pilgrimage to Vegas.
In 1989, Chris discovered the IRC Poker Network. On IRC, hundreds of players from around the world gathered in a text-only chat room to play poker – no money involved. In the mid-1990s, Chris began playing on the IRC network and, after a number of years, his name was consistently listed in one of the top two positions on the board.
Linda JohnsonProfessional Poker Player, Publisher, Entrepreneur
Referred to as the “first lady of poker”, Linda Johnson taught herself to play the game at an early age. In 1980, after finishing 5th in the WSOP Ladies Seven-Card Stud Tournament, Linda quit her job to move to Las Vegas and become a professional poker player. In 1997, she became the second woman in history to win a World Series open event.
Howard LedererWPT Champion
Growing up in a family of five in New Hampshire, Howard Lederer spent much of his childhood engrossed in card games on the family room floor. The Lederer family played all sorts of card games together, including poker. Howard credits his father for preparing him for the competitive world of high-stakes poker.
At age 18, Howard deferred college for a year and moved to New York to pursue his passion for chess. He soon discovered a poker game in the back room of his favorite chess club and was immediately hooked.
In the mid-1980s, Howard made big strides in his game when he started to play at the Mayfair Club in New York. He became part of a circle of world-class games players who were the first to experiment with no-limit hold ‘em when it was first introduced in New York City.
Rich MunyPoker Player, Mechanical Engineer
Rich “TheEngineer” Muny is an engineer, poker player, and columnist for BigGovernment.com. A long time conservative-libertarian who grew disenchanted with the big government, big spending ways of the GOP leadership of the early 2000s, Rich became active in grassroots poker advocacy efforts while also becoming a prolific blogger on conservative-libertarian political issues.
Rich has been a tireless advocate for poker rights since passage of the UIGEA, and he has successfully organized like-minded poker enthusiasts to work together on many campaigns for poker rights. These efforts led to his being named to the Board of Directors in 2007. Rich also serves as the PPA Kentucky State Director.
Greg RaymerWSOP Champion, Lawyer
Greg “Fossilman” Raymer, born in Minot, North Dakota and raised in Lansing, Michigan, followed a traditional path with his schooling – attending law school and becoming a licensed patent attorney. But his life took a decidedly different turn when Greg tried to use his knowledge and skills to make history.
In 2004, Greg won the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Championship and collected the largest purse ever paid to a winner of a poker tournament: $5 million.
