Card Player – Illinois is one of the states in the thick of online poker discussions. Some there briefly flirted with a plan for the state lottery to get into the online casino games business, but those ideas quietly faded. As anticipated, discussions have resurfaced early this year. This week, John Pappas, who is at the helm of the Poker Players Alliance, testified in front of an Illinois Senate Committee on the topic of online gaming authorization. Pappas and his group are one of the strongest advocates for online poker in the U.S. The PPA boasts 1.2 million members. Pappas,…