skill or chance??

[Investment Executive]

June 29, 2001

Suspects say poker a game of skill, not chance


AKRON, Ohio -- Attorneys for 10 gambling suspects claim their clients are innocent because poker is a game of skill, not chance.

The defense plans to bring an expert from Las Vegas and a statistician from the University of Akron to prove their point before Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer of Akron Municipal Court.

The defense wants the charges dismissed.

Stormer warned during a hearing Thursday that attorneys would have a tough time proving poker is a game of skill because Ohio law calls it as a game of chance.

Attorneys Ed Sawan, Frank Pignatelli and Marcus Lombardi are representing six people charged with operating a gambling house and four people charged with illegal gambling.

Police claim the defendants were taking part in a poker game that was illegal because those in charge were taking in up to $1,000 a night.

Police and prosecutors disputed the defense argument and pointed to court decisions that poker is a game of chance.

Akron Lt. James Phister said a person playing pool who is more skilled will have a better chance of getting the ball to go in the pocket. With poker, he said, players are at the mercy of the cards.

 

[katts]

Akron Lt. James Phister said a person playing pool who is more skilled will have a better chance of getting the ball to go in the pocket. With poker, he said, players are at the mercy of the cards

LOLOLMAO!!!

Now what kind of clown is that???

 

[sandwedge]

poker is a game of skill when i'm winning and a game of luck when i'm losing.

 

[scrubbo]

Poker is a game of skill but you've got to have some luck.
A Game of chance is defined as "A game (as in a dice game) in which chance rather than skill determine the outcome."
I think the gentlemen in akron have a good shot of prooving the skill factor associated with poker.
Keep us posted of the outcome.

 

[katts]

Obviously, the one thing that really made me laugh here is when the guy compared pool with poker; I just don't get it. Lt. James Phister probably spends too much time playing pool and don't have the silliest idea of what the game of poker is all about.

Like any card game, you sure have a lot of luck involved when playing poker. But if you play carefully and figure out the probabilities of winning depending of what you have in your hand and what is on the table (if you're playing stud poker or hold' em or whatever), and IF your opponents don't do it, then you sure can have a slight - sometimes big - advantage. There's no doubt about that.

That's the reason why some of my friends refuse to play against me and that's the reason why I refuse to play against professionals. At the long run, it's not a matter of "who is the luckiest" but "who is has the better skills".

 

[loophole]

this defense is an old legal chestnut that has been tried for years in various states as a defense to illegal gambling charges involving poker. if state common law defines poker as a game of chance the judge probably won't let the skill argument be heard by the jury as they can only be instructed in accordance with existing state law. this would be an argument that could be raised on appeal by the defendants if convicted, as appellate courts have the authority to change common law definitions like this. it will be raised at the trial level only to make a record and preserve the issue for appellate consideration.