Monthly Archives: February 2020

The coronavirus outbreak shut down casinos in Macau in early February and now some poker players believe that the emerging pandemic is at risk of shutting down the 51st annual World Series of Poker this summer in Las Vegas.

As the number of cases worldwide escalates to, at the time of writing, more than 83,000 and spreads outside of mainland China into other regions of the world, there are some high-profile poker pros who are willing to take bets that the event will be canceled.

Wednesday evening, former high-stakes poker pro and three-time WSOP bracelet winner Doug Polk quote tweeted someone claiming that there needed to be a discussion about the viability of the event amid the outbreak. Polk said there is a real chance of WSOP being canceled.

True to his gambling form, Polk wanted to put his money where his mouth was and said that he would be taking bets from other people who believed that the event would go on as planned. He would take all action as long as he was being laid 20:1 on his bet.

At the time of Polks tweets, those in charge of the WSOP had no intention of canceling the event but said they were continuing to monitor the outbreak and could make changes if necessary.

Weve been monitoring the situation and will continue to lean on the experts in this field for guidance, said Seth Palansky, Vice President of Corporate Communication for the WSOP. At this time, all our events and schedules remain intact and are planned to go on without interruption. We would be prepared to expand measures to ensure the safety of our guests and employees, again leaning on the experts.

Polk wasnt the only pro that wanted to take bets, however. Shortly after, high roller and PokerShares founder Mike McDonald tweeted that he would take slightly worse odds than Polk on the wager, provided his opposition is willing to risk at least $40,000.

Dan OBrien decided that if the price was good enough for McDonald, he would take action at 16:1 as well. Later in the day, McDonald dropped the price to 12:1, at which point OBrien did the same.

Not everybody was as pessimistic as those three, however, and at least a few notable pros took McDonald up on his offer. 12-time WSOP Circuit ring winner Josh Reichard tweeted at McDonald to work out the details of a prospective bet through a private message. His tweet alluded to the possibility of two-time WSOP bracelet winner David ODB Baker betting against McDonald as well.

The rest is here:

Poker Pros Betting On Whether Coronavirus Will Cancel The World Series Of Poker - CardPlayer.com

Have you ever wondered what its like to be a dealer on the circuit grind? Do you have a question about behavior, etiquette, or anything else related to running a poker game? Do you want to know what dealers really think about while theyre pitching cards? What does it take to become a dealer? How should you treat dealers? Are dealers people, too?

Send your questions for The Dealer Chick (TDC) to editor@cardplayer.com, and read on for more advice, adventures, and real talk about life on the road for a traveling poker dealer.

Women in Poker: Demanding a Seat at the Table

Hi Dealer Chick,

Whats up with all these ladies tournaments not letting men play unless we pay huge entry fees? If we shut them out of our tournaments, there would be hell to pay! Fair is fair.

Signed,

Equal Rights for All, Right?

Dear Wannabe Poker Activist,

My ex-husband once said to me, I dont know why all you women and minorities get so worked up. If you just worked harder, youd be successful. You dont need special treatment. Its not fair. After I got over my shock, I replied, Spoken like a white male. We divorced not long after. Point being, if youve never had to fight for your seat at the table, you dont understand why other groups of people go to extremes to be represented.

There was a time when women comprised about one percent of the field of poker players. Most tournament directors would say that that number is probably closer to 10 percent currently. One could eyeball the circuit and agree. At any given time, theres an average of one woman per table.

The number of players for the 2019 World Series of Poker main event totaled 8,569; only 350 of which were women. In the one poker event that every grinder dreams of taking down, only 4.1 percent of the field were women. Thats an event with a pricey buy-in, but the numbers are still telling. Women are not even close to equally represented.

In 2003, Chris Moneymaker proved that any man could win the battle on pokers largest stage and consequently caused a poker boom. An accountant from Tennessee became the main event champion off an $86 satellite entry, taking down a $2.5 million prize for his efforts. Suddenly, men whod never played the game were trading cash for poker chips and learning to make continuation bets as they dreamed about becoming the next big pro. Those who werent old enough to hone their skills on the felt in person were cashing in online.

In 1995, Barbara Enright was the first and so far only woman to crack the final table proving that a woman could get damn close, too. But the ladies have yet to earn the top prize. Why? Is it because theyre not good enough? According to Moneymaker himself, the answer is no.

In a recent interview with Chris Read, a representative for Womens Poker Association, Moneymaker said, I think women are much better poker players than men. Youre much more intuitive, you dont let your egos get in the way. Honestly, the women that Ive played with at the highest levels are always better than the guys. You just dont have the numbers. As you can see if you go to any cardroom anytime, it used to be about one percent of the field were women and now, theres a woman at every single table just about. Now granted, its only one or two, but its a growing sport. Its one of our biggest growing markets and I kind of hate it because they are tough, but its good to see them at the tables.

The Womens Poker Association is a group of women volunteers founded by Lupe Soto with a mission of encouraging female players to join the sport. Ruth Hall, a board member for the WPA and poker influencer out of Austin, Texas, comments during an interview with Everyday Profiles, an online poker interviewing forum, on why she feels women need an exclusive venue in the form of ladies only tournaments.

What I find in poker, is that in the beginningwhen women are expanding and coming into the casinos from a home league or from an online leaguethey have to walk into the casino and sit down at a poker table, theres a level of comfort for women to sit down with other women, verses a woman sitting down with men, Hall explained. Far be it that theres a difference in skill level because poker is one of those non-gender games. But, I think theres a level of comfort for the female to sit down with other women, other sisters, where they feel that they are welcomed. I think that once they get that sense of welcoming, and they find that sisterhood, then they can evolve and move on to the open events with the men. Im a perfect example of that.

Giving women the opportunity to play without men at the table isnt intended to slight anyone, but rather to pave the way for ladies to find their seat at the table. And while women are no longer scoffed at for wanting to play a mans sport, the men are catered to in ways that women are not.

If you disagree, go to any casino or social club and count the number of male cocktail servers or massage therapists. Sure, there was the recent shirtless dealer fiasco at the Battle of Malta, but thats an example of someone in a corner office thinking they know what female poker players want. To be fair, I dont know any serious male poker competitors who want that kind of distraction with hundreds of thousands (sometimes millions) of dollars on the line either.

Since the industry has yet to figure out how to draw more women in, the ladies have taken it upon themselves to cultivate their own numbers. Groups like WPA and LIPS (Ladies International Poker Series) hold ladies-only tournaments to encourage new female players to get in the game. Circuit stops for every major poker tour host similar tournaments to accommodate them. During a 12-day circuit stop, most venues offer one ladies-only tournament.

And yes, a man is going to have to pay ten times the going rate to enter it. Do the ladies hate men? Not even a little. But if a man is going to put on a dress and make a mockery of women fighting for their seat at the table, its gonna cost him.

Men, next time you find yourself sitting next to the only woman at the poker table, instead of flirting with her, or degrading her for daring to be there, or trying to teach her how to play, perhaps you could just welcome her to the felt? Maybe if more men did that, ladies-only tournaments would be a fun option instead of a necessity. We may be harder to beat for some, but at least we usually smell better.

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Women In Poker: Demanding A Seat At The Table - Poker News - CardPlayer.com

What is the most important factor in a company sale transaction? Commercial advantages? Financial performance? Synergies? Price?

All of the above, of course but also remember that people invest in people. How well you, as seller, respond to the people across the table can often be the deciding factor in a deal. It will confound some bottom line, financial-type thinkers, but I am absolutely serious about this. You have a much better chance of getting the right deal from a buyer or investor you like and respect and vice versa.

Good advisors aim to build competition and bring more than one buyer to the table. That means multiple exploratory meetings with a range of different organizations. As you might imagine, preparing for these meetings is crucial and a lot of work goes into making things run smoothly and seemingly effortlessly. The poker metaphor is deliberate. As well as preparation and skill, there is bluff and double bluff and the stakes are obviously sky high. Here is my take on what makes a successful meeting

This is a sales meeting treat it like one

A deal is never done on day one and there will be plenty more meetings to explore the details.

It is nerve-wracking meeting a buyer for the first time but try to be as open, positive and friendly as possible. Firm handshakes and strong eye contact set the tone. We advise our clients to imagine they are meeting an important client, says my UK based colleague Douglas Edmunds. An exploratory first meeting is just that a chance for buyer and seller to pitch to each other and start to see the commercial fit.

Mutual respect is key. For the buyer, this is a chance to get to know you and your business better. For you, the seller and your advisor, this is the time to decipher the other partys angles, strategy, objectives, and concerns. So we make notes. We listen. A deal is never done on day one and there will be plenty more meetings to explore the details. But you can establish some personal chemistry from the start.

Listen, dont lecture

Business owners love to talk about their business. Its understandable. They have often built a successful company from nothing and are proud of what they have achieved. But when meeting buyers, this can tip over into a kind of over-excited stream of consciousness. At points in the meeting, you will be itching to correct some perceived misunderstanding, add a new opinion, or disappear down dark rabbit holes of technical detail. Dont.

Knowing when to restrain yourself from speaking is vital. Ask open questions and give your potential buyer the time and respect to answer them in full. You may even be privy to information of see-you, raise-you significance. Store it up and use it later in negotiations. But didnt you tell us the exact opposite when we first met...?

Set an agenda and stick to the message

As with any meeting, an agenda is vital to ensure discussions dont run off track. In the first meeting, you and your buyer are essentially presenting to each other. Your buyer will be interrogating some of the key messaging gleaned from your sales brochure the Corporate Information Memorandum (CIM).

Second or third meetings with this and other buyers will typically be more technical, explore key discussion points and involve clearer analysis on commercial, financial, legal and operational issues. Questioning will be more granular and your buy-side counterparts may even be different with the inclusion of a CEO and other C-Suite Executives, or more narrowly focused with HR, Production, Business Development and other professionals offering their own new questions and new angles.

You must prepare for the expected and the unexpected. In addition to being able to recite a compelling narrative, you should know your company inside and out.Familiarity with figures, metrics and other company specific details impact your credibility and the buyers continued interest.

Again, its key to have a set agenda, shared with all parties. A good advisor will establish the topics under discussion long before the coffee is poured. Advisor and client should agree on all messaging and key points in advance and run coaching sessions that include tough questioning. At our firm, BCMS, we play devils advocate and role play with our clients: anticipate the really difficult questions and advise on how to answer them. Nobody should wing it no matter how experienced we think we are.I once spent 2 hours prepping with the former Chief Executive Officer of ABB-Combustion Engineering Nuclear Power and top nuclear official in the Reagan Administration just in order to prepare for a five-minute, quick question call with the CEO of Constellation Energy.That is a lot of preparation, but you never know where things will go.

We answer the question of why buy and why buy for more than the numbers on a spreadsheet.How do we sell the future opportunity as opposed to just the past?How do we direct the conversation to what the company will look like under new ownership as opposed to your ownership?As our client Bart Garvin of Garvin Industries in Chicago put it in reflecting on his experience, the single most important thing is to cast a vision of greatness for your company and make it concrete, make it tangible People like stories they invest in the future .

Buyers (typically) arent the big bad wolf

First-time sellers often imagine their buyer to be a hardball player a ruthless, hyper-critical, cold-blooded negotiator. This is a huge misconception. While inexperienced buyers may go into meetings seemingly on the attack, more experienced serial acquirers are typically polite, professional and in sales mode themselves. They want to impress you as much as you want to impress them.

Frequently, buyers will kick off a meeting by openly and genuinely congratulating the seller. Theyll shake their hand and tell them what a great business theyve built. It creates a warmer, more open atmosphere conducive to discussion. But dont fall in love too soon. This could be the classic feedback sandwich buttering you up for more difficult questioning to come.

No I in team

Typically, a buyer wants to speak to you, face-to-face, not through your advisor. These meetings are not an act of ventriloquism and you will need to do a lot of the talking. You should know your firm inside out, after all. However, a common seller error is to emphasize or indeed overstate - your own importance to the business.

Unless you want to stay on long-term post sale, you need to make yourself sound reasonably inconsequential if not irrelevant to the company. Certainly do not paint your own starring role in its future. So say we instead of I give credit to the team around you. Indeed, your management team and other key personnel such as a main sales person controlling key accounts, may be crucial to the acquirer; your buyer may want to meet your senior employees as part of negotiations later down the line.Before that notion gives you heart palpitations, thorough discussions on all confidentiality issues should occur early in the process including the risks and rewards of making certain key employees available to buyers later in the process, and the related issue of ensuring any such individuals behave in a manner that is conducive to a successful outcome for you and the company.

If they are included, you must let them speak for themselves. We recently had a client, who just couldnt stay quiet. When the buyer asked his General Manager some operational questions, he kept interrupting, correcting and expanding on his points. What kind of impression do you think that made?

Calls, tells and emotions

Your body language is telling. Youve got to keep emotion any kind of emotion - out of the deal ... [+] room.

You care about this deal, deeply of course you do. As in the example above, it is sometimes hard for an advisor to control a passionate, excitable client. But there are often some pre-agreed calls and tells between seller and advisor to ensure that you stay on message. This can range from the subtle a pen tap on the table, a codeword to the blindingly obvious such as closing your notebook and calling for a half hour break.

Your body language is telling. Youve got to keep emotion any kind of emotion - out of the deal room. You want awkward? Ive seen clients crying, shouting, acting snappy, sitting with their arms folded and answering rudely in monosyllables, totally disregarding all our preparation. It is hugely damaging for them and utterly frustrating for us. Thats when the notebook gets closed and the meeting ends at least temporarily until we have a chance to regroup.

There are no good surprises

First-time sellers are often conscious of a perceived weakness in their business. I have lost count of the times a client has said, Can we just not mention that? Does the buyer really need to know? The answer is yes, they do and whatever you are trying to hide, internal or external, recent or historical, it will come out eventually. Skeletons dont stay buried.

The solution is to tackle the objections directly and openly. Buyers are risk averse. So give them comfort around the scale of the risk, with context and commentary. Demonstrate reasons, suggest solutions. Be transparent. And heres the thing: being straight down the line is a pretty powerful negotiation tactic. Trust is a great selling point.

A key strategy with a potential weakness or bad news topic is for us to get there first; if we can deliver the news and message before the buyers discover it for themselves, we can frame it in the best way possible. If the buyer uncovers an issue further down the line, trust will be eroded because we werent open with them and we wont necessarily have our counter arguments prepared.

Different buyers, different tactics

Different buyer types have different needs and you should tailor your approach to them accordingly. I am generalizing, of course, but a private equity group or financial buyer will typically be detail focused, punchier in negotiation, make quick decisions and, perhaps surprisingly, go on what may appear to be a gut feeling (as long as the financials stack up). A corporate M&A team, from a large strategic acquirer, may be more process-focused. They may need to escalate to other decision-makers, sell the acquisition to their board, or toe the line on corporate governance. If so, you will have to show some patience.

The owner/manager buyer probably the most entrepreneurial and closest in personality to you is typically much more driven by the emotion behind the decision. Its a big call. He or she could be investing their kids inheritance in buying your business and so that personal chemistry becomes a major factor. Theyll look at you and think: Do I really want to make this person a millionaire?

Hopefully, if you are looking to sell, you have a great business and a great story to tell, underpinned by evidence, analysis, information and vision for the future. But dont underestimate the soft stuff. Buyers dont just buy a business off the back of a bunch of documents, however informative they are.

When it comes to an M&A transaction, its not just the cards you hold. Its how you play the hand.

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At The M&A Poker Table: Dos And Donts When Negotiating With Your Buyer - Forbes

Full Episode Description Well hello there and thank you so much for listening to the Chasing Poker Greatness podcast.As always, this is your host Brad Wilson the founder of EnhanceYourEdge.com and todays special guest is the inimitable Dara O Kearney. Dara got into poker at a later age than pretty much anybody else I know. As a matter of fact at the age he was getting into poker (40) I will have been in the game for 20 years .. which is, quite frankly, shocking to me where does the time go?But poker is a game that can seduce folks at all ages, from all walks of life, and across all borders and languages around the world.To say Dara has thrived would not do his success justice.He has $4.1 million in winnings in live and online tournaments, hosts an award winning podcast The Chip Race, has written 2 books (Poker Satellite Strategy and the upcoming PKO Poker Strategy with another Chasing Poker Greatness guest Barry Carter), and is an ambassador for one of the largest poker platforms in Europe, UnitBet poker.Hes a man after my own heart who genuinely cares about guiding and helping folks along in their poker journey.If our conversation, youre about to learn:- How to avoid getting scammed in the poker world.- How Dara maintains his energy through the long, grueling days of live tournament poker.- Why poker sites ought to be embracing the folks who aspire to be pros rather than trying to turn poker into bingo.- And MUCH more!So, without any further ado, I bring to you my conversation with the great Dara O Kearney.

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Chasing Poker Greatness: #40 Dara O'Kearney: $4.1 Million in Tourney Winnings, Author, and Award Winning Podcast Host - Pokerfuse

Actress and poker player Jennifer Tilly took one of the tougher beats the poker world has seen in a while.

Tilly tweeted a photo Sunday afternoon that showed her losing a pot to nosebleed-stakes regular Bob Bright. Tillys quad 10s went up in flames against Brights jack-high straight flush for a pot worth at least $160,000.

Not my day: quads vs. straight flush, read the tweet that was accompanied by a photo.

The photo showed a board of J109410. Tilly was all in for about $80,000 and showed 1010, while Bright tabled 87 and had a stack pushed forward that covered Tilly.

While the stakes were not mentioned in the social media post, it was clear just from the size of the stacks in play that it was nosebleed stakes. Bright had four, brown $25,000 denomination chips in his stack and it appeared that the yellow, $1,000 denomination chips were commonplace in the game. The game took place at the Wynn poker room in Las Vegas, where there is no bad beat jackpot.

Based on the board texture, its likely that all of the chips didnt get into the middle until the river, but its safe to assume that money went in on earlier streets given the strength of Tillys hand. The photo didnt show the chips in the pot already, so the total size of the pot remains unknown.

Despite the cooler, one commenter thought that Tilly shouldve been able to get away from middle set on the flop.

Tilly has had a successful acting career spanning several decades and was the first mainstream celebrity to win a World Series of Poker bracelet when she won the ladies championship in 2005 for $158,535. She has slightly more than $1 million in career live tournament earnings.

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Actress And Poker Player Jennifer Tilly Loses $160K Pot With Quads To Straight Flush - CardPlayer.com

With House Republicans joining their Senate colleagues in boycotting legislative work, the Legislature is missing needed bodies to vote. Killing a climate change proposal is their objective and Democrats insist they won't bow.

State Rep. Cheri Helt, a Republican from Bend, was the lone member of her party to show up for a floor session in the Oregon House on Tuesday, Feb. 25. The walkout by her colleagues echoed one the day before by Senate Republicans. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau)

SALEM The Capitol became a place without Republicans Tuesday, an extraordinary act of defiance of the control by Democrats.

Their absence is grinding to a halt votes in the House and the Senate, plugging the political pipeline meant to cure immediate needs of Oregonians.

House Republicans mimicked their colleagues in the Senate, disappearing as House Speaker Tina Kotek gaveled into session a standard floor session Tuesday morning.

She proceeded with opening rituals the presentation of the colors by youth from the Civil Air Patrol, the reading of courtesies by legislators who welcome constituents to the Capitol, and then a song by a high school student.

But when it was time to go to work, Kotek adjourned the session when all but one of 22 Republican legislators failed to respond to the electronic roll call. Without comment, Kotek gaveled the 16-minute session to a close.

Across the Capitol, in the Senate, Democrats gathered in what was a futile convening in the wood-paneled chamber, where even routine tasks were lost to the absence of all 11 Republican senators.

Sen. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, clutched a religious text. Without enough members, she said, they couldnt even conduct an opening prayer.

After about 10 minutes, the Senate adjourned, slated to return again on Wednesday.

Across the Capitol, no one was talking about what comes next.

Republican legislators are focused on just one of the hundreds of bills before the 2020 Legislature: A plan to reduce Oregons greenhouse emissions in a system they say will wreck Oregons economy, particularly in rural areas of the state.

The legislation Senate Bill 1530 was headed for the Senate floor Monday when senators in the minority declared they wanted no part of a vote.

The Senate Republicans on Tuesday were mum about their intentions, and Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, offered no public clue how he would bring his chamber back together. Twice before, Democrats have conceded to Republican demands to end previous walkouts.

In the House, the path forward was no clearer. Leaders of both the Democrats and Republicans werent saying what their next steps would be.

As the game of political chicken unfolded, Democrats tried to create some image of business as usual.

In both the House and the Senate, committees worked away at the grunt work of the legislature listening to testimony and advancing bills. But they sent them off to an uncertain fate, since they will sit in the inbox of the Senate or House, awaiting floor action.

But unless at least of a couple of Republican legislators show up for duty, those bills go nowhere.

Democrats signaled no interest in giving into Republican demands to refer the bill to Oregon voters.

The bill is done, said Sen. Democratic Leader Ginny Burdick, of Portland, as she was zipping up a jacket Tuesday afternoon for an outing with Sen. Michael Dembrow, D-Portland, a leading author of the bill. There is nothing more that can be done. You know, they're holding out for a vote of the people. That's not going to happen.

In the House, Democratic Leader Barbara Smith Warner of Portland, said shes giving Republicans space to consider their next move.

You know what? The House, they just walked out today, Smith Warner said. The Senate, they've been through this all before. It's old hat for them, perhaps. But over here we are continuing to do outreach, member to member, and hope that our members will respect the office and their voters and their constituents and come back and do their job. And so we're taking it day by day.

Smith Warner just wants enough representatives on the floor to allow the House to vote, she said. The Legislature must adjourn by 11:59 p.m. March 8.

I would like as many of them to come back as possible, Smith Warner said. I would like us to do our work and complete our work. And if they don't, then we adjourn... And the governor can, and I hope will, call a special session and just continue to move forward until folks come and do their job.

Republicans werent revealing much about their game plan.

Sen. Herman Baertschiger, Jr., who leads Republicans in the Senate, told reporters by phone on Tuesday that his caucus will stay away until the deadline if we have to.

Asked where Senate Republicans were holed up, he asked, Why would I tell you that?

Of his fellow Senate Republicans, he did say hes confident that theyve left the state. Theyve been through this before and its just a lot of pressure on them if they dont leave the state.

In the background is the possibility that a decision on climate change will be taken out of legislators hands and taken directly to voters by proponents of an even more stringent climate change proposal.

Burdick said Democratic leaders havent factored that in as they consider their next steps.

I think we've been focusing so hard on trying to get a bill done in the process, which is where a bill like that should be done, Burdick said.

As far as the possibility of outside initiatives goes, it really is not much of a discussion, Burdick said.

Instead, Democrats have tried to appeal to Republicans better angels, making grand and sweeping public pronouncements about how their GOP colleagues have spurned the institution of representative government.

Last year, Renew Oregon, a coalition of environmental and other groups, sponsored a series of ballot measures that have more ambitious greenhouse gas reduction and renewable energy goals than the stalled legislation.

Brad Reed, spokesman for Renew Oregon, said that the initiatives were filed to spur legislators into action.

One initiative would cut climate pollution in half by 2035 and make the state 100% carbon-free by 2050. By contrast, the bill in the Legislature seeks an 80% reduction from 1990 levels by 2050 and makes concessions to businesses, he said.

A companion initiative would mandate that by 2045 all of the states energy would come from renewable sources.

Reed said that lawmakers of both parties have been briefed on both initiatives.

They know theyre out there, he said.

Reed added that a poll commissioned by Renew Oregon showed a majority of Oregon voters supporting the measures.

Reed said, though, that Renew Oregon would prefer the Legislature address the issue, but the group is poised to push an effort to get its measures before voters in November if legislators dont act.

Democratic leaders have also said the Legislature, with its ability to broker compromise and concessions, is better-suited to take up the issue - a scalpel, compared to the blunt mallet of the initiative process.

They also believe that voters in Republican districts will understand what other issues serving their needs would be lost if the Legislature stalls out.

At some point, their constituents are going to look at all the stuff that has nothing to do with carbon, and isn't even controversial, that benefits their district that's sitting there on the table that will die if they don't show up and do their job, Burdick said.

I anticipate my Republican colleagues will come back to work, said Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, walking briskly on his way to a meeting of the Senate Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

He said that Republicans will realize that being away from the Capitol will end up hurting the people that they represent, and the damage will be worse the longer theyre gone.

Several Democrats supporting sending state money to the flood-swept Umatilla Basin, for example, but say they cant advance that without a quorum only Republicans can provide.

Baertschiger told reporters Tuesday that Gov. Kate Brown could provide relief to flood victims without legislative action.

Pure poppycock, said Prozanski, curtly, before stepping into a committee room.

Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, is the lone Senate Republican who has stayed behind. He said he spent Tuesday in committee sessions, other meetings and working on amendments.

It's obviously a little quiet on my floor, Knopp said with a barely perceptible laugh, adding that he was working on a bill to change the new commercial activities tax, which he says has placed a heavy burden on businesses facing competition from other areas and sectors like timber and agriculture.

He said that his fellow Republicans are resolute about staying away.

I think right now we're at stalemate, Knopp said.

On the Capitol steps, Democrats and climate advocates voiced their frustration to a gathering of a few hundred people, calling on Republicans to come back.

Signs bearing messages from You cant run from climate change to Where the hell are you Senator Boquist? waved through the chilly afternoon as speakers riled up the crowd.

Were here to say that a vast majority of Oregonians do not approve of these GOP walkouts, said Melissa Unger, executive director of Service Employees International Union Local 503. How do we know? Well, because we asked them.

SEIU Local 503, whose political action committee typically backs liberal candidates and causes, pointed to a poll by FM3 Research regarding the walkouts.

The January survey polled 750 Oregonians likely to vote in the November election. Fifty-nine percent of respondents somewhat or strongly opposed walkouts by Republicans. Thirty-six percent said they somewhat or strongly supported Republican walkouts. The margin of error on the poll was plus or minus 4%.

Republicans have complained that there hasnt been enough discussion or consideration of the greenhouse gas bill.

Rep. Karin Power, D-Milwaukie, passionately disagreed, pointing to the six hours of floor debate on a similar proposal during last years session, and to 35 hours of public hearings over the past year on carbon reduction bills.

No bill has ever had this much work in the history of Oregon, Power said. Its been crafted over many years. Its been well vetted and negotiated, and it deserves a vote by the Legislature.

Protesters gather outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 25, angry over the walkout by Republican legislators in a dispute over climate change legislation. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau)

Protesters gather outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 25, angry over the walkout by Republican legislators in a dispute over climate change legislation. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau)

Sen. Mike Dembrow addresses protesters outside the Capitol on Tuesday, Feb. 25. They were angry over the walkout by Republican legislators in a dispute over climate change legislation. (Sam Stites/Oregon Capital Bureau)

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Oregon waits as game of political poker plays out at the Capitol - Salem Reporter