Tax question. Deducting gambling losses.

[lfairban]

I am in the process of revising my 2005 federal income taxes. The tax preparer who is doing it a Jackson Hewitt said that I have to separate winning sessions from losing sessions and declare the winning total as income, but I might not be able to claim the losses as deductions because if I get audited, they might disallow it because online poker is illegal.

I of course do not agree with the second part, but has anyone ever heard of this happening to anyone? What should I tell my tax preparer who seems to be very knowledgable about tax law but has probably not been following the discourse concerning the legality of online poker?

[Snoozy]

Tell him to read this:
http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/us-taxes.html