Barack Obama has won the support of several leading poker professionals in his bid to become US President.

Poker legend Doyle Brunson who has 10 WSOP bracelets to his name, has publicly voiced his support for the Democratic candidate as he feels Obama will adopt a much different attitude to gambling than the current Republican administration.

Brunson is a lifelong Republican supporter and was expected to support Republican candidate John McCain but he sees McCain continuing with the restrictive approach to gambling demonstrated by the Bush administration.

The UIGEA was passed in 2006 which banned most forms of online gambling taking place in the US.

It has meant the withdrawal from the US market of many online casinos and has sparked trading rows between the US and the European Union, as all overseas internet gambling operators have been banned from the US market.

Although Obama and McCain haven’t yet clearly stated whether they would continue to implement the UIGEA or reverse it, many gambling industry insiders believe Obama is much more likely to repeal the law and he has hinted that he would like to regulate rather than criminalise online gambling .

Obama is a keen poker player skilled in Texas Hold’Em and Seven Card Stud and he has stated in the past he believes in the freedom to gamble.

Andy Bloch, another leading name in the poker world has also declared his backing for Obama.  He has also said that a clear majority of American poker players currently competing in the main event of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas are going to vote for Obama.

Obama’s rival John McCain, however, also enjoys a gamble.  The Republican enjoys long sessions at the craps table.  There have been reports that he likes to gamble thousands of dollars in a single session and he found it difficult not to gamble while campaigning in Las Vegas earlier this year.

Doyle Brunson is backing Obama because he is likely to repeal the ban on internet gambling and Mr McCain despite being a keen gambler, has most of his party and likely supporters in favour of the online gambling restrictions.

Brunson said, “Poker players have to support Obama.  God help the internet gambling business if McCain does happen to win.”

Andy Bloch believes Obama’s poker skills could help him to be a good president.  He said, “There are a lot of skills playing poker that would help the chief executive.

“In poker you have to put yourself in the shoes of your opponents, get inside their heads and figure out what they’re thinking; what their actions mean; what they would think your actions mean; and reading people’s bluffs.

“One thing that got us into the Iraq War was that George Bush didn’t realise that Saddam Hussein was basically bluffing, trying to look like a big man, when he really had no weapons of mass destruction.”

Currently Barack Obama is favourite to win the US Presidential election with best odds of 2/5 with 888 Sports.  John McCain can currently be backed at 9/4 with Betfair.  Of course, these odds are changing all the time and the presidential race is anyone’s as there is still about four months of campaigning left until the Americans go to the polls on November 4th. 

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