NY Judge: Poker Not Gambling Under Federal Law

[joseephuss]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/national...Chance-Gambling-New-York-Judge-166983646.html

NY Judge: Poker Not Gambling Under Federal Law

The decision by Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn was embraced by advocates of card games pushing to legalize Internet poker in the United States

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that poker is more a game of skill than chance and cannot be prosecuted under a law created to stop organized crime families from making millions of dollars from gambling.

The decision by Judge Jack Weinstein in Brooklyn was embraced by advocates of card games pushing to legalize Internet poker in the United States. The judge relied extensively on the findings of a defense expert who analyzed online poker games.

The ruling tossed out a jury's July conviction of a man charged with conspiring to operate an illegal underground poker club, a business featuring Texas Hold'em games run in a warehouse where he also sold electric bicycles. There were no allegations in the case that organized crime was involved or that anything such as money laundering or loansharking occurred.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Skill or not, it's still gambling. That is like saying betting on baseball, football, NASCAR isn't gambling because they are also games of skill. You are still wagering money that $x will win just like with slot machines and other gambling games.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Check that judges pokerstars account

 

[jwitten82]

How is poker not a game of chance?

 

[Doomsday101]

How is poker not a game of chance?

what in life is not a game of chance?

 

[joseephuss]

Skill or not, it's still gambling. That is like saying betting on baseball, football, NASCAR isn't gambling because they are also games of skill. You are still wagering money that $x will win just like with slot machines and other gambling games.

When you bet on baseball, football, NASCAR or other sport you have no control on what happens. You can't control what plays are called or what injuries occur.

When you are dealt a hand in poker, you do have some control in what happens. There remains an element of chance, but you also have some skill involved. There is no skill involved in slots, Keno, Craps or the Roulette wheel. That is all chance.

 

[joseephuss]

How is poker not a game of chance?

He didn't say it wasn't a game of chance. He said it also requires some amount of skill to go along with the chance part.

 

[SaltwaterServr]

He didn't say it wasn't a game of chance. He said it also requires some amount of skill to go along with the chance part.

There's a story floating around when the poker rage got big, read it on ESPN I believe, when Bill Simmons went to Foxwoods and got in on it. A guy made it into the final round of a tournament there and thought you only got to use one of the two hole cards.

There is less chance in blackjack but no great push to make it legal from what I can tell.

In poker you have no control of what you do with how the cards are dealt. You cannot discard, you cannot request a trade of cards. Chance is the dominant element, even more so in online gambling.

 

[joseephuss]

There's a story floating around when the poker rage got big, read it on ESPN I believe, when Bill Simmons went to Foxwoods and got in on it. A guy made it into the final round of a tournament there and thought you only got to use one of the two hole cards.

There is less chance in blackjack but no great push to make it legal from what I can tell.

I disagree. There is more chance involved in blackjack than poker.

In poker you have no control of what you do with how the cards are dealt. You cannot discard, you cannot request a trade of cards. Chance is the dominant element, even more so in online gambling.

No, you can't control what cards are dealt to you, but you can control reading your opponent or bluffing. I agree that chance is the dominant element, but there is some skill involved in real face-to-face poker. I don't see how this ruling can apply to on-line poker where you can't apply some of that skill. That part doesn't make sense.

 

[Doomsday101]

I disagree. There is more chance involved in blackjack than poker.



No, you can't control what cards are dealt to you, but you can control reading your opponent or bluffing. I agree that chance is the dominant element, but there is some skill involved in real face-to-face poker. I don't see how this ruling can apply to on-line poker where you can't apply some of that skill. That part doesn't make sense.

That is why you see many of the same faces in the world series of poker, these guys are the best it is not luck.

 

[bsheeern]

I'll play poker with "gamblers" all day every day, and win about 75% of the time. Easy pickens....

 

[arglebargle]

I disagree. There is more chance involved in blackjack than poker.



No, you can't control what cards are dealt to you, but you can control reading your opponent or bluffing. I agree that chance is the dominant element, but there is some skill involved in real face-to-face poker. I don't see how this ruling can apply to on-line poker where you can't apply some of that skill. That part doesn't make sense.

Was going to say something similar......

 

[bsheeern]

I disagree. There is more chance involved in blackjack than poker.



No, you can't control what cards are dealt to you, but you can control reading your opponent or bluffing. I agree that chance is the dominant element, but there is some skill involved in real face-to-face poker. I don't see how this ruling can apply to on-line poker where you can't apply some of that skill. That part doesn't make sense.

I agree. There's nor reading or bluffing a dealer in blackjack, or roulette or any other casino game. Just like you can't change the cards that make up the Flop, Turn and River. But you can change who else at that table gets to play those cards.

Poker was never invented as a game for a casino "house" to make money like slots and roulette and black-jack.

 

[bsheeern]

If poker is only considered Gambling then every pro sports owner/NASCAR owner is only gambling.

 

[Teren_Kanan]

The skill part comes in with betting.. betting is almost the entire game of poker.

As others have said, there's a reason you see so many of the same people at final tables.

Is there luck involved? Of course, but luck doesn't often get you very far.

 

[CowboyMcCoy]

I'll play poker with "gamblers" all day every day, and win about 75% of the time. Easy pickens....

If you're in Austin I know a place where it probably wouldn't be that easy for long. But it sure is fun and you can still win if you put in the time.