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It’s unlikely we’ll learn more about Barack Obama’s position about online gaming during the presidential debates or stump speeches down the home stretch of the campaign. As unemployment climbs, the economy slows, and banks collapse, there are admittedly bigger fish to fry. But if the candidate’s online gambling position is paramount to you as a voter, consider that you have a special lens with which to view Obama’s stance; he is, after all, a poker player.

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The Bryant Park Project, July 7, 2008 · Running for president is already a crapshoot, but it turns out that many U.S. leaders have also been pretty serious gambling men. Andrew Jackson, Ulysses Grant, Teddy Roosevelt, Warren Harding, and Lyndon Johnson all played poker. When he was in the Navy, Richard Nixon won enough at the game to finance his first congressional race.

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Stetson-wearing Las Vegas pros who like his belief in the freedom to gamble are putting their chips on Mr Obama, who is himself a skilled player of Texas Hold’Em and Seven Card Stud.

Doyle Brunson, America’s greatest living player and formerly a life-long Republican, has come out for Obama.

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The casino craps player is a social animal, a thrill seeker who wants not just to win but to win with a crowd. Unlike cards or a roulette wheel, well-thrown dice reward most everyone on the rail, yielding a collective yawp that drowns out the slots. It is a game for showmen, Hollywood stars and basketball legends with girls on their arms. It is also a favorite pastime of the presumptive Republican nominee for President, John McCain.

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