“The final table of the World Series of Poker’s main event shows, once again, that poker tournaments are games of skill.
Courts have developed tests over the last couple of hundred years to determine whether a particular game is predominantly chance or skill. If courts and prosecutors were honest in applying these tests, at least no-limit Texas hold’em tournaments would have to be considered skill contests and not gambling.
Posted in Legal, Tournament, WSOP
“Hal Lubarsky stares down at the table as he is dealt his cards, a young guy in a baseball cap leans forward and whispers into his ear. Is this a friend on the rail, passing along a possible tell he noticed about another player, or just passing on words of encouragement? Is he stopping to say hello? Are they making dinner plans for later?
No, the young guy is telling him what cards he has been dealt, because Lubarsky is unable to see them for himself. He is blind, and he is playing in the main event at the World Series of Poker.
“I’ve lost you. Shouldn’t this article be in the Features section? Or next to sudoku? Poker is clearly not a sport.
Why not? The sports desk dictionary (the cover and pages up to “Alabama” have fallen off due to overuse, so forgive me for not being able to tell the edition) defines “sport” as “an individual or group activity pursued for exercise or pleasure, often taking a competitive form”. Poker fits.
Other definitions might require a “sport” to involve physical exertion, which some would claim rules poker out. On the contrary, there are few sports that require the stamina, physically and mentally, necessary to beat 8000 poker players.”
The Herald (07/09/07)
Poker: The Skill Game 