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THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker

06-04-2011 , 04:29 PM
I have made posts on PPA facebook and the DOJ facebook pages, both pretty much making the same point. Why isn't the PPA acting as our advocate and representative with the DOJ. The point in discussion is that the DOJ released the domains for the sole purpose of repaying players and they said they expected the companies to do just that. The problem is that Full Tilt didn't have a large enough reserve to cover all of the possible withdrawls and the DOJ has most of their other accounts frozen. Why aren't you (PPA) trying to put pressue on the DOJ. Since this was a legally binding agreement between the DOJ and Full Tilt doesn't that obligate the DOJ to assist Full Tilt in the return of player funds by releasing enough funds to make it possible? Taking of player funds by the DOJ comes very close to thieft by authourity and cause for a criminal and civil suit.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-04-2011 , 10:02 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Conhoff
I am sending letters right now. Thanks for your work in this area. Thanks for making it easy for us to take action.

I still have one overwhelming concern here. Much of the dialog regarding legalization of online poker is based on the fact that poker is a game of skill. This is brought up by poker advocates constantly, the most noteworthy instance being when DOJ Chairman Holder was asked "Is Phil Ivey just lucky?" In this regard, the clear implication is that poker is being separated from other casino games of chance, in essence demonizing those other games.

How then, can we expect to pass an all encompassing Internet Gambling Regulation? This bill can still be so easily shot down by poker, but not gambling, advocates. We've made the distinction between the two quite clear at every turn - are we now just asking people, important people, to ignore it?

I'd much prefer Poker Only Legislation. One where empirical evidence can support the "skill" argument. It'd be much more difficult for lawmakers to dismiss such a bill in the face of cold, hard statistics. No one wants to go on record opposing factual truth.
The bill to be introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is poker only.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-05-2011 , 06:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
Fight for Poker Rights: Tuesday, May 31st:

Let's start contacting mainstream media companies to tell them to increase their coverage of our important issue. Let's start with Fox News and go from there. Contact info:
Recurring actions we can take:
  • Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):
    • The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
    • Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
    • The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
    • Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
    • We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.
Thanks!
We got a good article out of Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/0...tdown/#content though I think that a follow-up article on how casual players have been affected would be even better.

I just emailed them this. It would be awesome for everybody else to do the same!

Quote:
Subject: Great article "Families Face Dire Straits After Online Poker Shutdown"

Congratulations on a good article about how the government crackdown on Internet poker has negatively affected some people ("Families Face Dire Straits After Online Poker Shutdown,” June 4 2011, http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/0...tdown/#content). As can plainly be seen in the Comments section, the issue is one that has generated a considerable amount of debate on both sides.

I encourage you to do an additional story on how the poker crackdown has affected casual, non-professional poker players. While Brian Mogelefsky (the subject of the article) has certainly been negatively affected, he represents only a small percentage of poker players, as only a small percentage of players make poker their living. There are millions more players like me, who simply enjoy the challenge of a game of cards. I am upset that the government has intruded on my life by shutting me out of one of my favorite hobbies.

Many of the Fox News newscasters and commentators espouse “small government” views. That applies here! It is the role of the government to protect my rights to life, liberty, and happiness. It is not the role of the government to protect me from myself. Furthermore, I have heard of many cases of wounded veterans, homebound people, and those who do not live anywhere near a casino have now had their favorite pastime taken away from them. We are upset over this issue, and we feel that to legislate morality is to start down a very dangerous path.

Please do a follow up. Once again, congratulations on a great story.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-06-2011 , 03:40 AM
Fight for Poker Rights: Monday, June 6th:

Let's turn this into a broader grassroots effort! Today's action is to ask five people to participate in the daily action plan. You can PM fellow poker players here, email friends, ask friends at the local B&M or home game, etc, but let's all put our personal recommendation into this effort. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):
  • The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
  • Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
  • The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
  • Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
  • We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.
The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.

Take Action Now and Contact your Lawmaker


Click Buttons to Send Letters in less than 60 seconds:








Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-06-2011 , 10:07 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by _Kindred_
+1
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-07-2011 , 04:21 AM
Fight for Poker Rights: Tuesday, June 7th:

Let's continue expanding this effort. Today's action is to ask five more people to participate in the daily action plan. If you joined today as a result of being asked by a respected poster yesterday, please PM fellow poker players here, email friends, ask friends at the local B&M or home game, etc, but let's all put our personal recommendation into this effort. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):
  • The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
  • Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
  • The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
  • Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
  • We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.
The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.

Take Action Now and Contact your Lawmaker


Click Buttons to Send Letters in less than 60 seconds:








Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-07-2011 , 06:03 AM
sent letters from those buttons, and received a few replies.

thanks to all those who are pitching in.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 03:33 AM
Fight for Poker Rights: Wednesday, June 8th:

Let's write short (no more than 250 words) letters to the editors of our local papers explaining that we demand our right to play. Even if they don't publish them, it will help show these media sources that some of their readers care about this issue.

Let's also continue working on expanding this effort via recruitment of others. Our personal recommendations of this effort will go far. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):
  • The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
  • Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
  • The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
  • Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
  • We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.
The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.

Take Action Now and Contact your Lawmaker


Click Buttons to Send Letters in less than 60 seconds:








Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 04:12 AM
if ppa is successful, and legislation gets passed to legalize online poker and allow ftp/stars/caesers into the market, say, on nov1 2011, or march1 2012, ftp would come out and say "american players funds will be available to withdrawal on nov1" or march1. FTP's previous business actions lead me to believe that. Ppa should shift gears from bombarding the government, to bombarding the DOJ with "help, help, ftp is not paying players their money"

i mean sure, we all want legislation in the future, but it should not come at the expense of so many americans and their families' financial life being ruined by 6months of non-payments. (this includes cashouts rarely ever working from january till now)
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 07:32 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by M.A.H.P.'s
sent letters from those buttons, and received a few replies.

thanks to all those who are pitching in.
Ditto. SOme of the replies have been very positive to us.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 01:12 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by 48151623420
if ppa is successful, and legislation gets passed to legalize online poker and allow ftp/stars/caesers into the market, say, on nov1 2011, or march1 2012, ftp would come out and say "american players funds will be available to withdrawal on nov1" or march1. FTP's previous business actions lead me to believe that. Ppa should shift gears from bombarding the government, to bombarding the DOJ with "help, help, ftp is not paying players their money"

i mean sure, we all want legislation in the future, but it should not come at the expense of so many americans and their families' financial life being ruined by 6months of non-payments. (this includes cashouts rarely ever working from january till now)
I guess I don't see how standing up for our rights relative to legislation would "come at the expense" of anyone with money on FTP today.

My roll is locked up on FTP. I assure you sending a letter to Congress to address the very issue that resulted in the FTP problem does not harm my likelihood of getting paid back. It won't harm yours, either.

As for the DoJ and SDNY, PPA has reached out to them groups and has explained that this is player money.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 02:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheEngineer
As for the DoJ and SDNY, PPA has reached out to them groups and has explained that this is player money.
Cool, wondered about that. It seems people have not been contacting them but rather just screaming at FTP. I'm glad the PPA has on this issue. The NRA and its members sure would.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 05:12 PM
Emails sent, takes less than a minute.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 11:21 PM
Made the Facebook rounds again.

Sent the PPA letters again.

Mailed the letter below to several newspapers in my area, including the Philadelphia Inquirer. Feel free to copy and paste this letter, as I consider it from all of us.

Quote:
On April 15th, the Department of Justice indicted three providers of online poker. Ten million Americans, including me, play this skill game as a hobby. In this time of economic trouble and government budget overruns, why is our government focused on busting up poker games? This action is wasteful, and it starts us down a dangerous path towards government interference in our daily lives.

Regulating and taxing this industry makes sense. The major players in the industry are practically begging to be regulated and taxed, yet our government has declined time and again to do so. Our government leaders should create a regulatory framework that allows responsible operators to provide Internet poker, defines rules for dealing with problem gamblers and minors, and establishes a tax structure. One recent Congressional study estimates that taxing Internet poker could generate $42 billion in taxes over ten years; this money could be used to fund Medicare, Social Security, and other programs that are running dry.

Furthermore, it is the job of the government to defend my right to life, liberty, and property. It is NOT the government’s job to protect me from myself. That is MY responsibility. Responsible adults who want to play poker, a game of skill, should be allowed to do so from the comfort of their own homes.

Please contact your Congressmen and request that they support the regulation and taxation of Internet poker. It makes good sense from both a personal freedom and a tax revenue point of view.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-08-2011 , 11:32 PM
I know it is all speculation, but if legislation were to be passed, can anybody say how long it would be before we can play again, and would ftp/stars be allowed back in the us market?
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-09-2011 , 12:04 AM
FTP and Stars will likely never be allowed back.

No one can say for sure how much time would pass between the passage of legislation and the opening of a site, but it would take time for regulations to be drafted and licenses issued. These things don't happen overnight.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-09-2011 , 01:13 AM
Thursday's plan:

Let's resume contacting mainstream media to ask them to increase coverage of our issue. Let's go with NBC/MSNBC/CNBC for this action (CNBC has covered us in the past).

Contact info:
Friday's plan:
The weekend plan:

Recognizing that one day was not enough for everyone to finish a letter to the editor, let's all take the weekend to write short (no more than 250 words) letters to the editors of our local papers explaining that we demand our right to play. Even if they don't publish them, it will help show these media sources that some of their readers care about this issue.

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):
  • The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
  • Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
  • The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
  • Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
  • We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.
Let's all send the PPA pre-written letters to our lawmakers. These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get the current letters out before that. Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others. Thanks!

Take Action Now and Contact your Lawmaker


Click Buttons to Send Letters in less than 60 seconds:






Finally, let's recruit others. Our personal recommendations of this effort will go far. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested. Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan.

Thanks!
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-09-2011 , 03:32 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by twells6
I know it is all speculation, but if legislation were to be passed, can anybody say how long it would be before we can play again, and would ftp/stars be allowed back in the us market?
For sure FTP/Stars wouldn't be allowed in for awhile, if ever. As far as when we could play again, it may be instantly. We know Harrahs is ready to go. They will push to offer as soon as possilbe. I'm sure other casinos will begin to partner with companies that never offered post UIGEA, though it all depends on who would be doing the regulating.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-10-2011 , 10:42 AM
Guys, keep at it. Barton's upcoming bill is getting some attention, including a realllllllly so-strange-it-has-to-be-a-msiquote quote from Spencer Bachus.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/57.../#post27044398
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-10-2011 , 10:47 AM
Drew, if you're trying to link to a specific post, click the post number on the top right and copy the address. I'm not sure you linked the post you meant to.
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-10-2011 , 01:28 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nofx Fan
Drew, if you're trying to link to a specific post, click the post number on the top right and copy the address. I'm not sure you linked the post you meant to.
This is what he was trying to link:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011...ort-legalize-/
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-10-2011 , 08:06 PM
Great follow-up article on patch for those who don't troll legislation/nvg:

http://odenton.patch.com/articles/co...-poker-players
THURSDAY & FRIDAY POKER ACTION PLAN: Tell MI lawmakers to support online poker Quote
06-11-2011 , 05:31 AM
Duh, my bad. Blackberry browser fail.
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