About 100 members from the nonprofit Poker Players Alliance -- including poker stars Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, Chad Brown and Vanessa Rousso -- were in Washington this week to raise the stakes and push legislative proposals that would ease federal restrictions on Internet poker.

At issue is the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 that bars the transfer of funds between financial institutions and Internet gambling sites, with the exception of "fantasy" sports, Internet lotteries and horse racing. Poker players want in on the action under an exception for their sport. Two bills in the House seek to provide that.

One, proposed by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., would essentially revamp last year's measure. The other, called the Skill Game Protection Act, sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla., would establish poker, bridge, mah-jong, chess and backgammon as games of skill. It would grant those games the same exemption that existing law gives online horse racing, fantasy sports and Internet lotteries.

"I think poker is a sport. It's people having a good time. It's a skill game," said 24-year-old Rousso, who stunned the poker world last year by placing seventh at the World Poker Tour Championship in Las Vegas.

"I studied game theory at Duke University (as an undergrad) and specialized in it. There is a uniquely mathematical optimal move to every single decision that you make in a game of poker. It's much more akin to chess. The only thing it has in common with the other more traditional forms of gambling is the fact that it is housed in a casino," she said.

Rousso ended 2006 as the top earning female in the U.S. circuit and has banked $1.6 million in her two years of professional play. A full-time law student at the University of Miami, Rousso said Internet gambling opportunities are important, especially for women, which is why she was in Washington Wednesday lobbying for change.

"Being a woman, playing on the Internet was a great way for me to become comfortable playing the game before having to sit down with a bunch of older guys in the intimidating atmosphere of a real casino. I play about 10 hours a week online and as a professional player, it allows me to constantly hone my game and improve," she said.

At the heart of Frank's bill is regulation that would allow U.S. companies to accept bets and wagers online from reputable agencies, while combating concerns about underage players and gambling addiction. This would entail using advanced technology capable of age verification, geo-location and identification of problem gamblers. Supporters of the law in 2006 said it would help lower levels of gambling addiction. Many represented constituents opposed to gambling itself.

The key argument among the poker players supporting Frank's legislation is that the 2006 law infringes on civil liberties by authorizing government to rule on what Americans should or should not do in the privacy of their homes, said John Pappas, executive director for the poker alliance.

"Poker players are being inconvenienced," said poker pro Lederer at a public policy forum on the future of Internet poker Wednesday. "We have to respect the privacy of Americans at home."

Also driving the lobbying effort is the lack of consumer safety in the 2006 internet gambling law, said Radley Balko, senior editor of Reason magazine and a participant on the poker policy panel. Americans are forced to shift to black and gray markets, where there are issues of accountability in the event of fraudulent activities, he said.

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