"A federal judge in New York concluded this week that skill plays the bigger role in determining who wins a poker game, in a ruling that could strengthen the hand of the companies seeking to get online poker legalized in the U.S.
"They range from social-games maker Zynga Inc. to casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp. to Internet poker giant PokerStars, who all view online poker as a potentially rich source of revenue.
"U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein ruled Tuesday that a New York electronics dealer hadn't violated a key federal gambling law by running Texas Hold 'Em poker games out of his Staten Island warehouse because, unlike roulette or slot machines, poker isn't 'predominated by chance,' a common legal definition of gambling."
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United States v. Dicristina
--- F.Supp.2d ----, 2012 WL 3573895
(E.D.N.Y.,August 22, (2012)
"Poker has a long history in the United States. See, e.g., 'The National Game, ' N.Y. Times, Feb. 12, 1875 (describing the spread of literature on poker). The game first appeared in roughly its modern form in the early nineteenth century in New Orleans. James McManus, Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker 51 (2009). It has been embraced by many of our political leaders and other public figures. For example, “Justice Douglas was a regular at President Franklin Roosevelt's poker parties; Chief Justice Vinson played poker with President Truman.” Cheney v. U.S. Dist. Court for Dist. of Columbia, 541 U.S. 913, 917, 124 S.Ct. 1391, 158 L.Ed.2d 225 (2004) (citing J. Simon, Independent Journey: The Life of William O. Douglas 220–221 (1980); D. McCullough, Truman 511 (1992)). Driven in part by the Internet, which allows for online poker playing, and cable television, which frequently broadcasts poker tournaments, the game has surged in popularity in recent years. Anthony Holden, Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom 1, 10 (2007). In 2006, 8,773 players entered the “main event” in the World Series of Poker, the most prestigious poker tournament in the United States, and more than 44,500 players participated in the tournament at large. Id. at 1." Id.
I know a prominent expert on probability who was once hired by a Texas state court judge to help him reduce his losses at the poker games he was in the habit of playing with some of his Texas pals. My friend (the probability theorist) told me he did not make the judge a winner but he did make him a better loser.
Judge Weinstein wrote, "Chess, a game in which all possible moves are known in advance, can be characterized as a pure game of skill, see, e.g., Gov't Expert Daubert Hr'g Tr. 40:7–12, 40:19–21." But I think such a characterization is a slight exaggeration. Even the best chess player cannot precisely calculate the possible consequences that result from a typical chess move. Chess players -- particularly good ones -- gamble that certain moves are good one because they "look right," or promising.
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