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Texas Poker Bill Fails to Reach Floor- So DiesMon, May 14th, 2007 @ 12:00am Because of its position near the end of the list of bills for the day, supporters for Texas State bill HB 3186 to legalize and regulate forms of Texas Hold'em in its namesake state, had to watch as the bill was 'blinded out' of the legislative process, effectively killing the bill. Mike Lavigne, treasurer of the Texas Poker Political Action Committee, a grassroots organization created to encourage legal, safe and accessible poker in Texas was on hand at the Austin State Capitol watching the clock tick down to midnight, when, according to the state legislature's rules, if the bill had not reached the floor for its second reading it would be dropped from further consideration. The bill was filed by Representative Jose Menendez (D) of San Antonio (click here to read related article). It would have allowed up to four live or electronic poker tables at establishments meeting stringent requirements and task the Lottery Commission with overseeing it. It also would have permitted charitable poker, with supporters anticipating bigger and more successful regular charitable tournaments to benefit a variety of important Texas causes. When it was apparent that the bill would not come up for discussion or vote, Menendez told a Dallas ESPN Radio broadcast, "I'm very disappointed. A lot of my colleagues are afraid that this voting for legalizing poker might hurt them in their next election. In particular, my Republican friends are the ones that are afraid of their primary voters." There has been no announcement so far whether Menendez will attempt to reintroduce the poker bill. A VALUABLE POKER LESSON USA Poker fans continued their education how the political process works, as popular poker blog site Pokerati shared these valuable insights (reprinted verbatim from the Pokerati site): "A Pokerati friend whose name may or may not rhyme with Rudy Giuliani writes in with some good reminders about how the political process works: Condolences on your temporary setback, but don't give up. If the Texas legislature is anything like New York's (where I spent years as a staffer) then the following things are true (and if they sound facetious, they're not): 1) No major bill becomes a law in the first year that it is taken seriously. (unless it bears the name of a child who died a tragic death.) That could be due to a healthy prudence that insists on letting an idea ripen before turning it into a law; or it could be a cynical ploy to extract more campaign donations and/or raise the political stakes before delivering the goods. Most often, I think, it's just the rhythm of the institution. It takes a couple of years to see if the public support for the bill is serious enough to make it worth the confrontations that will be needed to get it passed. 2) No bill ever becomes a law just because it's obviously a good idea; somebody with the clout to push it through has to have a political motivation to do so. 3) When a bill has strong public support, and enough sponsors to ensure its passage, but somehow gets held up in the process and never makes it to a vote: that's when it gets interesting. Nine times out of ten, somebody loses money if this bill becomes a law, and that person (or industry group) has a lock on some powerful member who is able to hold up the process. The point of resistance needs to be identified and the sponsor of the bill has to be pushed into a confrontation with the powerful member. (Getting a law enacted is like giving a deep massage: you have to find the hidden resistance point and work it real hard, and if it isn't painful you're not working the right spot.) Just some thoughts from a scarred veteran of many political wars. If you want to post this on your site, please don't post my name; I'm still active in state government and it might be awkward if this came up when my name is googled. Anyway, keep at it; the second year is the most important one. As the crap dealers say when you buy in for the second time: Better luck, sir!" Read Related Articles:
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World Series of Poker: Ante Up for Africa The Ante Up for Africa Charity Tournament is one of the biggest poker charity events of the year. This charity tournament supports the refugees from the Sudan region of Darfur. After nine hours of play, Alexander (Alex) Bolotin was crowned the champion of the Ante Up for Africa tournament and won $177,730 for his first place finish.
World Series of Poker Event 56: Matt Hawrilenko Takes Down Bracelet and $1 Million The $5,000 Six Handed No Limit Hold'em event was the last event to be held at the World Series of Poker 2009 before the famous Main Event starts. Event number 56 saw 928 players register for their chance to win the last bracelet to be offered this summer. The next bracelet of the Series will not be awarded until November when the Main Event final table wraps up. Adding to the excitement of this event, there was a total prize pool of over $4.3 million, and the winner of the event was guaranteed to come out a millionaire.
World Series of Poker Event 54: Tony Veckey Wins Event 54 sold out in a hurry as 2,818 people gobbled up all of the seats for the last low buy-in No Limit Hold''m tournament of the World Series of Poker. This was a new event added to satisfy the enormous public demand for this level of event. $1,500 from each of the entrants produced a prize pool of $3,846,570, with payouts down to 297.
World Series of Poker Event 52: German Jorg Peisert Wins Jorg Peisert from Dusseldorf, Germany won the inaugural Triple Chance No Limit Hold'em event at this year's World Series of Poker. Peisert outlasted 853 other players who put up $3000 to play in this No Limit Hold'em event. The total prize pool was $2,357,040 and 81 players took home a cut. 81st place took home $5,892, but the lion's share, $506,800, went to Peisert. On the final day, Peisert started in 6th chip position and worked his way up to a chip juggernaut, eliminating players and collecting chips along the way. Notable players who cashed in this tournament include, Eric 'Rizen' Lynch (12th), An 'The Boss' Tran, Mike 'The Mad Genius of Poker' Caro (23rd), and Antonio 'The Magician' Esfandiari (24th).
World Series of Poker Event 53: New Orleans Resident David Halpern Wins David Halpern from New Orleans, LA won the $1500 Seven Card Stud Hi-Lo 8-or Better Event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Halpern outlasted 467 other players to win $159,048 for winning the tournament. Halpern has already cashed once this year (Pot Limit Omaha), but this is his first WSOP bracelet. The $657,455 prize pool was spread out amongst 48 players who cashed. Halpern battled William Kohler for over three hour heads-up. Battled is a strong word, as both players seemed enamored of each other and even went to dinner together during the break. They traded the chip lead back and forth until Kohler seized it for good. Other notable players who cashed includes Chad Brown (4th), Matt Savage (5th), Andy Bloch (23rd), and Norman Chad (32rd).
World Series of Poker event 49: David Bach Wins $50K HORSE Event The 2009 $50,000 HORSE event attracted 95 of the world's best poker players. The number of entrants decreased from the previous year which attracted 148 entrants. As play began, player's speculated as to the reason why the numbers decreased so dramatically. Was it the economy? Was it Scotty Nguyen's drunken tirade last year? Many believed that it was ESPN's unfortunate decision to not televise this year's final table. Even though the field decreased, the players still had a full five days of play. 87 players would be eliminated on the way to a star studded final table. After 20 hours of play, David Bach was proclaimed the winner of the 2009 $50,000 HORSE event. He took home the bracelet, the Chip Reese Memorial trophy, and the $1,276,806 first place prize.
World Series of Poker Event 55: Abe Mosseri Wins First WSOP Bracelet Abraham Mosseri from New York City won the $2,500 Deuce to Seven Lowball (Limit) event at the 2009 World Series of Poker. Mosseri outlasted 257 other players to win $165,513 and the accompanying gold bracelet. This is Mosseri's first WSOP bracelet and third cash. This was his 2nd final table of this year's Series. Mosseri and others amassed a prize pool of $593,400. Only 24 players got a piece of it though. Mosseri ended Day 1 in 13th place with 39,100 in chips. By the end of Day 2, Mosseri was the chip leader with 447,000. Mosseri maintained his chip lead through most of the day. It would come down to him and Masayoshi Tanaka, who started the day with second most chips. Tanaka had the lead as heads up began, but it was meant to be for Mosseri who played aggressively and caught cards at the right time to eventually eliminate Tanaka. Notables at today's final table included three time bracelet winner John Juanda (4th), Blair Rodman (5th) and Nam Le (9th). Daniel Negreanu cashed in 16th and Hasan Habib finished in 18th.
World Series of Poker Event 51: Carsten Joh Wins Sold Out NLHE Event Carsten Joh defeated a sellout crowd to win his first bracelet in the penultimate $1,500 No Limit Hold'em event of 2009. Joh beat Andrew Chen heads up to bring home Germany's first bracelet of the Series. The event began with a largely amateur crowd, and the big names that made it to Day 2 quickly found themselves on the sidelines. Men Nguyen, Tony Cousineau, and Matt Brady outlasted most of the field but failed to make it to Day 3.
World Series of Poker Event 50: Greg 'FBT' Mueller Wins 2nd '09 Bracelet The $1,500 Limit Hold'em Shootout should put to rest any questions about the skill required to play Limit. By the time the event was down to two players, it was a heads up match between the owners of the last two Limit bracelets awarded at the WSOP. Greg 'FBT' Mueller defeated Marc Naalden to win his second bracelet of the year, making him the fourth person to claim more than one in 2009. Naalden now has 1st and 2nd place finishes in Limit tournaments this year. He also cashed in a Mixed Hold'em event.
World Series of Poker Event 48: Brandon 'any2cantu' Cantu Wins After finishing runner-up at a final table a week ago, Brandon Cantu got a second chance to win a second bracelet in the $1,500 Pot Limit Omaha Hi/Lo Split event. This time, Cantu closed the deal in a tough heads up match with Lee Watkinson and picked up the WSOP gold. Brandon 'any2cantu', known for his creative and sometimes loose style of play, was as shocked as everyone else when he turned over Aces more than ten times on Day 2. "This is the hottest streak I've ever been on in my life," he told Phil Hellmuth, who was eliminated in 14th place. By the time the field was narrowed to 25 players, Brandon had nearly 25% of the chips in play. |
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