[Skallagrim]

Yes, Backgammon, Gin Rummey, and Bridge (and a few others - including poker to one degree or another) have all been held by Courts at one time or another to be games of mostly skill. Only three state supreme Courts have ruled on the issue: CA and MO courts both have cases ruling poker is not a "lottery" in the context of lottery being any game that is mostly chance. NE has a case, without reasoning, putting poker in the mostly chance category. Other than that NC case (which is still, I believe, under appeal to the state supreme court) there hasnt been a case on poker in about 40 years. That will change soon, no question.

If poker is a game of mostly skill it is exempt from most state gambling laws, and perfectly legal to play for money (note I said MOST).

There is the undeniable chance element in poker (and all card games): the random distribution of the cards. The usual legal question is, therefore: is the random distribution of the cards the MOST important factor in who wins or loses at poker?

My short answer to that question is NO. The actions of the players (betting, calling, raising and folding) is the most important factor. It is the only other factor. I believe I can prove that most hands are decided by what the players do, not what the cards are. The simplest way to show this is to watch any game being played for real stakes - most hands are decided by all players but one folding. Since no one in that situation ever sees their opponents cards, and rarely even sees the last card(s) to be dealt, it is logically impossible to say that the "cards" decided who won that hand.

Of hands that do go to showdown, the analysis is much more complex - but in those hands as long as the amount of the win is allowed to be factored in, then skill is still the predominant factor - skill being defined as the actions of the players.

This is why most of us get frustrated playing at micro stakes or for play money with no prize - when you have nothing to lose, or when the loss is so minimal as to be meaningless, there is no incentive to fold.

Without the folding factor, the cards do become the predominant factor. But as long as folding is a real part of the game (and thus so is bluffing and value betting and trapping, and making good laydowns, etc...), skill will trump chance over any statistically meaningful series of hands.

One of these days someone (I hope its me) will make that presentation to a modern court. If the court agrees, poker becomes a skill game (at least in that court's jurisdiction) and becomes just as legal to play as the ones listed in the site noted by OBG.

Skallagrim