A Big Step for Poker Players in South Carolina

People who do not know what happened to Bob Chimento might have thought that the man dropped something on his foot as Chimeto was screaming at the top of his lungs and jumping up and down outside his home.  He did not harm himself though for, in truth, he was only showing his glee and excitement at having won a legal battle.

South Carolina, April 2006

In April 2006, a raid was carried out on a home poker game, and authorities have arrested about two dozen men, one of which was Chimento, as they were competing at a $20 Texas Hold'Em tournament.  Because it was considered as an illegal house of gambling and the men were participating in it, they were arrested and found guilty of illegal gambling.  All the men pleaded guilty, except for five.  [Read][more...]

Is poker a game of skill? A South Carolina judge thinks so

A South Carolina judge by the name of J. L. Duffy stated it so in the middle of the trail of five men arrested for running a weekly game of Holdem.  He was very clear in his surprise statement that Texas Holdem was obviously a game of great skill and he had no doubt about it.  The defendant's attorney was very surprised by the comment and also said that it sounded very good for his clients.

This group of poker players pulled out all of the stops by binging in a real poker player as an expert witness.  Any one that watches the WPT on TV would recognize their expert witness as Mike Sexton who is seen every week commenting on the play during the Weekly WPT tournament.  You may have also seen him playing very well in some live tournaments this last year.

Since this trial is still going on, the verdict is not known yet and both parties state that no matter who wins there will be an appeal to a higher court.  The violation of the law is in dispute as gambling or betting on a chance outcome is illegal.  A game of skill would seem to go in the face of this law, but it is up to the judge how this case will be settled.   Other states, California for example, have used this logic to make poker rooms and the game itself legal using the game of skill logic. [Read][more...]