| Community |
 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Find Action |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| In the Tank
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| On the Rail
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Links |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
At TwoRags.com, we're committed to providing accurate information to the
poker community. If you see entries or information that you believe to be in
error, please email us.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Okay Gabby, time to pay up or shut up. (aka changing Colorado Gaming Law)
|
By Gabby
on 09/13/2007
|
read Gabby's complete blog
|
Welcome to Gabby’s Quest to try to change the Laws of Colorado, to try to rid Colorado of No Fold ‘em Hold ‘em.
Well, today I put my money (or my foot, depends on your point of view (smile)), where my mouth is. I may be tilting at windmills here, but I figure it’s worth a shot.
Recently on two plus two forums, I was telling the New Yorkers, who are getting their clubs raided, to stop whining and try to get the laws of their state changed to allow for them to play poker, legally.
So, started a conversation with my Evil Twin Sister, Donkella, who was whispering in my ear, what a hypocrite I was, and you know what, for one time in her life, she was right.
I’m constantly complaining since I moved to Colorado from Ohio in March of 2006, how live action poker sucks here, and Tournament poker isn’t much better.
All because the maximum bet allowed in Colorado is capped at a mere 5 bucks a bet. The type of thinking that comes with that (play any two cards to the flop, and sometimes to the turn and even the river) often spills over into tournament play as well, since that is the only way many of the locals here know how to play.
Tournament poker the max buy-in allowed, is $500, which even then, most casinos here won’t charge that, because they don’t have the balls to up the rates for the tournaments, and play hard ball with the customers here. In other words, tell them that’s the price, and if you want to play, that’s what you will pay.
Instead, they wimp out, when after one time not many players show up, they change it to rebuy events instead.
Well, Donkella tells me, you wimp, you shouldn’t be whining about this, practice what you preach. Contact your Colorado Senator, ask if they’d be willing to sponsor a law to get at the very least, the maximum casino bet cap increased to something OTHER than 5 bucks as it currently is right now.
Now, Donkella is seldom right, as most times I try to keep her in her cage, as she gets me into nothing but trouble when she gets out of her cage when I’m playing poker. This time however, it appeared to me, that she was right, and I should either pay up or shut up.
So I did some research here:
http://www.leg.state.co.us/
and discovered that one of my Senators is named Ken Gordon.
So, after a little more research, I drafted the following e-mail letter to him (my address and given name has been x-d out):
From: xxxxxx
To: ken@kengordon.com
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2025 2:41 PM
Subject: Why can't we have N/L Poker Laws like Florida does(at the very least)?
Honorable Senator Gordon,
I moved here from Ohio back in March of 2006, and I'm now a registered Colorado Voter who lives in Englewood (Arapahoe County).
I understand based on the website here:
http://www.leg.state.co.us/
that you are one of my Representatives. If this is not the case, and it is not you, can you direct me to who that might be?
When I moved here, I came to understand, that the maximum bet in Colorado has remained the same (at a max bet of $5) since the Casinos opened over 15 years ago.
I'm perplexed as to why that amount has never been raised to at least adjust for inflation.
Why do I care? Because I'm an avid Poker Player, and a good one at that.
Before I moved here, I did quite well playing both live action and tournament poker.
However, since I moved here, I've been stuck with what is called by the locals here, No Fold 'em Hold 'em otherwise known as, 'Bingo' or 'Lotto' poker, since because of the $5 max bet laws, the players here, play any 2 cards all the way to the river.
You really can't beat the game here, and as a result, poker really sucks here, and makes me hate living in Colorado (and I'm not the only one who feels this way).
I've been hearing rumors from Casino table game dealers, that the Casinos are working with the Colorado Lawmakers to raise the maximum bet to $100, because of the no smoking law that goes into effect as of Jan 1, 2008, where no one will be allowed to smoke in the Casino.
Is this indeed true? I'm hopeful that it is.
Either way, is there any way to get a law passed to allow for N/L poker much like Florida recently did?
They way I understand it, the max buy-in there you can buy into a NL game is $100 (at a time), but you can bet anything in the game itself, once you buy into the game, up to and including what you have in the game at the time.
I'm not sure however, if there are hourly limits or not in the case of Florida's law.
Is there any hope that you might consider sponsoring some sort of legislation to allow (at the very least) for something similar to Florida's law, so we here in Colorado can play real poker, instead of this No Fold 'em Hold 'em we are currently stuck with?
In addition, is there also any way legislation could be passed to allow for larger tournament buy ins (currently the max allowed by law is $500), so that some of the major televised events (aka the WPT and the WSOP) would be interested in coming to Denver to host an event here? In most cases, most people don't buy directly into these main events anyway, but instead, win their way into them via satellite tournaments hosted by the hosting casinos.
Please advise, and thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day to read my e-mail.
Sincerely Yours,
xxxxxxxx
To the two rags crowd … I will keep you posted on any results I obtain, good or bad. If I don’t get a response from Senator Gordon, I will try other Colorado Representatives, until I do get at least a response back from at least one of them.
If this doesn't work, well, Colorado is one of the states you can get the states constitution changed, as well as have laws added/changed on the books, by petition drive to have an issue put on a ballot to be voted on.
Maybe that would be one way to get the law changed here, is by petition drive to have it added to the ballot in November of 2008, which would be when the next Presidental election would be, to get the most eyes on the topic, and the best turn out on the issue. That would also give us enough time to get the needed signatures to do so.
Feel free to join in this effort with me as well!
Comments or suggestions anyone? If you're not from Colorado, has anyone else tried this approach in their state to either get poker legalized or the maximum bet raised?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
