In the next few days the Texas Republican Party will be gathering at their annual convention to nominate their candidates for office, solidify their party’s political platform and to listen to Texans about the issues of concern to them and their families.

The Poker Players Alliance believed this convention would be an excellent way to present issues of importance to Texas poker players, from Internet poker legislation before the U.S. Congress to the effort to establish poker rooms in the state. We applied for an exhibitor booth during their convention from June 7-9 in Fort Worth and unfortunately our application was DENIED. Party activists made it clear that their convention is closed to those groups or individuals that do not represent the Texas Republican Platform.

Please take a moment and call Steve Munisteri, Republican Party Chairman, at 512-477-9821, option 5 and tell him:

1. Poker is a game of skill and should not be considered an expansion of gambling in Texas as part of the Republican Party’s platform.
2. The PPA is a non-partisan group that promotes liberty and consumer rights.
3. You are very disappointed in the Texas Republican Party for censoring free speech during their June Convention
4. There are over 76,000 members of the PPA in Texas, and the PPA is supported by Texas Congressmen Joe Barton and Ron Paul.


Also go to the Republican Party Convention Facebook page and cut and paste this message:

I am disappointed in the Texas Republican Party’s decision to deny the Poker Players Alliance’s, a non-partisan group, application to have a booth during the Texas Republican convention. I also believe that poker should be removed from the party’s anti-expansion of gambling platform.

http://www.facebook.com/RepublicanPartyofTexas

http://www.facebook.com/RPTcon

Posted to both Facebook pages and left a message for Mr. Munisteri. That's a ridiculous stance. I hope the backlash gives them pause in the future. I don't care about gambling in Texas, but poker should not fall under that umbrella.

Do not look for freedom from Republicans. Texas is a deeply corrupted state where they omit the history in public schools that don't fit their ultra-conservative agenda. Poker gives the average citizen the ability to not rely on their corrupt businesses. Do you really think that they'd even acknowledge you? He who has all the money has all the control.

I wish we could freely express on this forum what an enemy the Republican party really is to our cause (with a few shining exceptions). Tactically we are really hurting ourselves by not allowing this type of discussion to take place...but instead we get reprimanded for bringing "politics" into the poker legislation discussion.

Let's all be real here: Nothing will get done federally in this session and probably the next one because the Republican party has a firm grip on Congress and will for some time to come.

You are free to discuss here (meaning in the Legislation Forum, not necessarily this thread if you are going off-topic) political affiliations and platforms in relation to poker legislation. When you digress to discussing which party or candidate is better for the country or their constituents, it belongs in Politics.

Good. Then I would venture to guess that 90% of the Republican party and subsequent affiliates are the reason regulation won't happen.

So, has Texas broken away from the rest of the USA and became its own nation? It pains me to see that this particular party has it's own agenda in trying to do any means necessary to stop our forward progress.

Texas is a place where ignorance is rewarded and intellectualism is frowned upon. This is why you have people like Rick Perry, the guy is the biggest idiot in the state so naturally they made him the governor. It's kind of like Saudi Arabia, except with Christianity. This is coming from someone that has lived there a good 29+ years.

Always seemed pretty hopeless for Texas, this shouldn't come as a surprise.

I'm still semi-hopeful for the very few states in the US where the iq average is above 65, but at this point if you're playing for a living you should've packed your bags and moved somewhere else a loooooong time ago.

Don't plan on coming back any time soon either. Making life decisions based purely on the hope that you'll manage to make ******ed or/and corrupt politicians notice the injustice of their ways or that you'll manage to make them understand the logic behind the skill argument is very likely to turn out to be a huge mistake.

Our only hope is to buy them out just like the rest of strong lobbies do on a regular basis, so PS please get your act together and start buying these scumbags mansions, cars, etc...

And remember guys, even if the X-Ray shows you as having an equal number of ribs on both sides of your chest, it's rigged and science is lying.

(These are the people you're arguing logic with, remember this and take a step back)

I was supposed to be in Texas now for this event. They instead chose to shut us out, as you see.

Has anyone given thought to publicizing this on a national, general interest stage like Huffington Post?

couldn't agree more

Federal regulation wont help you in Texas anyways, state government would pretty obviously opt-out.

I really don't like the attitude some of you have in this thread. "You're not going to change anything so don't try" is a terrible attitude to have. Of course we aren't going to change anything right away, but if we get the ball rolling there's a chance that things could change in the future.

I like the idea of getting this published on a wider stage. If the information hits the national news there's a chance some people in Texas will realize that the representatives here are keeping gambling out because it lines their pockets but that it is hurting our local economy and job market. When all we need is a carve out for poker there's a chance they'll just let us have that to keep gambling out of Texas.

I think it is high time for poker's purported "friends" from CPAC, and perhaps Dick Armey, to step up and speak on behalf of the PPA and poker freedom in Texas and nationally.....

All in all, this bodes ill for the National Republican platform. That is a much bigger arena than Texas. I expect that Nevada casinos will put the issue forward, as a States Rights issue, not one for federal action, perhaps to ward off an anti-gaming position.

If you are implying that 90% of the party is opposed to regulation, you are almost certainly wrong.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57...nside-1202402/
If we limit the discussion to US congressmen, we see that over 10% of republicans publicly support online poker regulation. And that is still with ~60% undecided or unknown.

I think this is probably a pretty representative sample actually (get it?). As far as republicans go in the general population, I think its a reasonable assumption that 10% support online poker, 30% adamantly oppose it, and 60% don't really care.

It seems like 90% to you because the 30% is pretty vocal and gets most of the air time. They also hold many key positions, including in Texas.

This, period. Time for these guys to step up NOW.

CPAC and FreedomWorks...those guys support our cause, but Id be very surprised if they want to burn political capital within the Republican party on online poker. Its not that important of an issue to them.

Not a partisan swipe either, our Dem supporters outside of Harry Reid aren't going to burn political capital on anything else to help poker either.

LOL. The 60% you are referring to would be composed of Mitt Romney types who "don't really care" but you can sure as hell bet that they fall right in line with the party platform regarding a social issue such as ours. How you can possibly defend this party? Do you really think a Senate/House majority of R's is going to be mainly in favor of online poker? FFS man. I get it if you have some peripheral political convictions that make you want to defend this party, but as a poker player you are making a silly case here. We simply have to identify that 10% who support our effort and do anything we possibly can to get this party out of office if we want any chance.


I understand if you can't put poker at the forefront and want this party in office for other political reasons, I would respect this. But don't for a second argue that it is not tactical suicide to vote this party in if poker is the most important issue to you! Cmon.

The problem is we arent close to having enough Dems on our side to do this without meaningful Republican support. Diane Feinstein, Barbara Boxer, Patrick Leahy are examples of high-profile Dems that are outright against our cause.

I would say that in general D's are better than R's for our cause (although, frankly, both have done so little that it wouldnt be hard to flip this)

The issue does not fit into the neat little partisan box you are trying to put it in though.

Online poker is not a party platform issue. This is a small fringe issue that will have very little affect on the majority of the population. As such, that makes it very easy for the undecided 60% to vote independently and without a party line to toe, probably similarly to the 32for vs 106against that have already given their opinion.

If this was a party platform issue, the leadership would have killed the Barton bill long ago. That its still alive in committee shows that there is no party line opposing it.

(further - if it was a repub party platform to oppose online poker and the 60% were just gonna toe the line, then they would already have come out against it. That they have not said anything shows both that 1. there is no definitive party line, 2. they are keeping their options open since they want to fall on the right side of the issue...and they arent sure what side that is yet)

Huh ?

I just looked ...... the following is the 2008 Republican Party Platform on Internet Gambling, quoted from www.gop.com:

Internet Gambling

Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the law prohibiting gambling over the Internet.


Kind of ironic that in 2011, DOJ clarified that there was no such blanket anti-gambling reach under the Wire Act

$100 says there WILL be an anti-internet gambling federal legislation plank in the 2012 Republican Platform, and no poker carveout. The BEST you can hope for is a referral of the issue to the State level, and that would be very tough to get.

Our allies worked to get that out last time and it got reinserted. We'll see if they have any more pull this time. A good example of why I dont think CPAC, Dick Armey are coming to the rescue here. They havent in the past.

Zero chance they put in a states' rights i-gaming plank.

Really wish the D's would counter by putting in a pro i-poker platform so we'd have a party to coalesce around, but too much minority opposition there too. Sigh.

That was 2008. Some things change and 60% of republican congressmen are waiting because this issue doesn't have an obvious answer anymore.

FoF is still pushing heavily for this plank to be included in the '12 platform. You never know, but we have to be pretty heavy underdogs to beat them in that forum. Especially where the nominee has come out against i-poker and a heavy SuperPAC donor is firmly against i-poker.

Hope you are right though.