Annie Duke to Testify Before Congressional Committee

That\’s the word Annie put out about 10:30 pm last night, via twitter:

AnnieDuke Heading to DC tomorrow. Testifying Wednesday at 2pm in front of Chairman Frank\’s Committee on his new legislation to regulate online gaming.
about 4 hours ago via web

Apparently it\’s the real deal taking shape in DC. Annie, of course, has been in this position before and delivered admirably … and that was before she had faced off several times in front of Donald Trump in the Apprentice board room.

Still unclear how far the current package of poker-related bills can go this year. (Frank Bill, McDermott Bill, and think one other in the Senate but have lost track.) Not to be a doubter nor pose as a political Joe Navarro, but it doesn\’t look promising in what\’s sure to be a contentious election season when the three most powerful Dems in America (Obama, Reid, Pelosi) are kinda speaking volumes with their silence on the awesomeness — nay, the righteousness — of internet gambling.

Maybe that\’s what this week\’s hearing is all about?

With Annie testifying in DC, her brother Howard Lederer stepping out in a new way, and their good friend Andy Bloch taking the lead for poker engaging a wider community concerned with internet freedoms as a whole, you can tell — or at least it seems — that poker political forces have shifted gears.