Poker in the News

A group known as the "Joker Club" is suing the Durham, North Carolina, District Attorney Jim Hardin Jr. in Durham County Superior Court to have poker declared a game of skill rather than a game of chance.

Changing the definition of poker to a game of skill would make it legal to bet on poker, as state law only makes it illegal to bet on games of chance.

Anyone who has ever asked "Why does California have so many card rooms?" knows that the state of California has defined poker as a game of skill for (approximately) the past 100 years.

A quote from District Attorney Jim Hardin:
"It's a game of chance because until you get to the end of the deck, you don't know what's coming up next."

Obviously, when Jim Hardin plays poker, it's a game of chance. I'm not making fun of him (well, not very much)-- most people do play poker as if it was a game of chance.

Jerry Reiter, a statistics professor at Duke University has this to say:
"If you have a player who is very skilled and can calculate the odds of winning given a certain hand and that player is playing someone who doesn't know how to calculate those odds, the player who has those capabilities will win a large percentage of the time."

When Jerry Reiter plays poker, it's a game of skill.

Would it be illegal in North Carolina to bet that the statistics professor is a better judge of what defines a "game of chance" than the attorney?

WRAL.com - News - Group Wants To Put Poker Parlor In Durham

Bets are off unless suit ruling alters law