Currently a trial is taking place about whether the Gut Shot Club in Clerkenwell is breaking the law by spreading poker and charging the players.
It partly hinges on whether poker is a game of chance and gambling or a game of skill. There is little doubt it is all of these. Poker is clearly a game of great skill. But in the short term there is a considerable luck element. The prosecutor is talking nonsense when he states that shuffling the cards means therefore the game is one of chance. Bridge would be regarded as gambling under this criterion and that battle was won over 20 years ago.
Winning poker players do not want the court to rule that poker is solely a game of skill. If that were the conclusion, players would eventually become subject to tax on their winnings. That would be a disaster.
The truth is that poker is unlike other casino games and it should not be lumped together with roulette, slot machines, craps or punto banco. Professionals should want the game to be regulated intelligently by the government - but not as an uneasy bedfellow with the casino games.
