The Courts Seem to be Holding the Cards

It seems the fate of US poker players boils down to deciding whether poker is a game of skill or luck and the courts seem to be holding the cards. If judges come to the agreement that the game is a game of skill and not chance then the anti-gambling laws that apply in many states will no longer have any sway.

Most poker players will attest to the game being one of skill, requiring a good ratio of memory, math skills and the ability to control your own behaviour while successfully reading that of others.

Kevin Raley, 44, an engineer and avid poker player from Colorado, argues this point by saying that while he has always been naturally gifted at mathematics and maintaining a good ‘poker face’, reading people is a skill that he has had to acquire and that he is better at it now than he was 5 years ago. To become better at something implies conscious effort, practice and consistency and Raley’s growing winnings reinforce this.

He has now decided to take this one step further. He was arrested a year ago for having a $20 buy-in Texas Hold’em tournament but was later on acquitted by the jury. Raley is now returning to court to convince the Colorado Supreme Court that poker is indeed a game of skill. Most US states only consider poker to be legal if it is played amongst friends where nobody apart from the players make a profit. Colorado is one of the 37 states that don’t constitute poker as gambling.

In a recent review of Raley’s case this month, a judge stood by the notion that poker still relies mostly on luck and that while a good player does require some skill, these players will always face possible defeat with the turn of the next card and poker is therefore predominantly based on luck.