Rep. Joe Barton of Texas is perhaps the biggest Republican online gambling advocate in Congress. He has taken the lead in pushing for legislation to license and regulate Internet poker in Congress.

PokerNews was able to score an interview with Barton and he sounds optimistic that the House has the votes to pass legislation. The Senate, on the other hand, might be a little more difficult.

Barton's plan is to go in the proper legislative order, starting with a subcommittee markup, then through the House Energy and Commerce Committee next spring and passed by the full House of Representatives in the summer. He could also see Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid taking the lead and moving a bill through the Senate first.

This might seem too good to be true for a poker community that has known great disappointment in 2011, but Barton is confident. He believes poker players and activist groups are getting through to neutral members of Congress and raising awareness with email, Twitter and Facebook campaigns.

"If we get it up for vote in the House, we have the votes," Barton said. "I think we have the votes in the subcommittee, the full committee and on the House floor. It's a little more dicey in the Senate because of the 60-vote requirement. Our whole strategy is to get something on the president's desk this Congress, so we have 13 months to go."