Road gamblers of the 21st century

On Friday, April 15, 2011, the U.S. Justice Department unsealed indictments against the most popular American poker websites – Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker - effectively shutting down the Internet poker industry in the U.S. This took away a hobby for millions of Americans and for a select few, their livelihood. Internet poker was still being played outside the U.S. and within days of the indictments, 25- year old Fort Worth native Ben Tollerene and other professionals made plans to leave their home to continue their poker careers. This shared a striking similarity with poker players in the 1950s and 1960s that traveled across the southwestern United States playing in underground games. These individuals were known as Road Gamblers who traveled to wherever they could to find action. In 2012, Road Gambling means living overseas and playing on the Internet, but the spirit of this pursuit is exactly the same.