SC lawyer: Poker takes too much skill to be 'game of chance'

Mount Pleasant – A lawyer for five people busted for playing poker in a Mount Pleasant home will get a chance to argue a specific version of the card game requires too much skill to be included under South Carolina law banning games of chance.

Mount Pleasant Municipal Judge J. Lawrence Duffy Jr. signed a ruling last month allowing the arguments to be made in the trials for five of the players, The Post and Courier of Charleston reported in Monday's editions.

But he also said in the ruling he will decide if the evidence holds any weight. The judge's decision covers only the "Texas Hold 'em" poker game being played at the time of the April 2006 bust.

The five players were among about 25 people arrested. Most of them have pleaded guilty to gambling and paid small fines.

The other players have fought their charges for more than two years. Their attorney, Greenville lawyer Jeff Phillips, is an avid poker player who said Texas Hold 'em involves much more than the random dealing of cards.

"While there is no disputing that the element of chance is present in poker — as in everything else in life — there are numerous skills a poker player must rely upon in playing the game of poker that will determine whether that player is successful or not," Phillips said.

A date for the trials has not been set.

Mount Pleasant town prosecutor Ira Grossman told the newspaper he didn't want to talk about the ongoing cases.

News Added: 15 December, 2008

Number of views : 823