Ah, poker. Game of skill? Game of chance? All you card counters out there, watch an upcoming case in South Carolina, in which a local judge will have to decide that issue. Bob Chimento and his buds were busted for a friendly game of poker more than two years ago (okay there was some pot in the pot, too, so to speak). Most of the players paid their fines, but Mr. Chimento decided to fight the law, and he has the assistance and moral support of a lot of attorneys across the U.S., many of them poker players themselves.
[Via the ABA Journal Blog].
A number of recent cases go Mr. Chimento's way, including a 2009 Pennsylvania case, and an even more recent Colorado case. The SC case goes before the judge February 13 (it's a Friday).
For more on poker as a game of skill versus a game of chance see an earlier post, and see also Steven Lubet's Lawyers' Poker (here's a review).
I also wrote a review of Lubet's poker book:
http://www.bizop.ca/blog2/due-diligence/books/strategic-think.html
Posted by: michael webster | January 29, 2009 at 03:37 PM