Once again, there is a court in the United States hearing the Skill vs. Luck debate when it comes to poker. In a well documented case in which this argument was presented Doyle Brunson testified to the fact that poker was not a game of luck such as Blackjack or Roulette. In that case in South Carolina a witness for the Government testified to watching poker on T.V. and seeing a player with a 9% chance to win a hand win, thus it must be luck.

The judge agreed that cases like this have become common place as poker has seen its rise since Moneymaker won the Main Event in 2002, and it was said anybody can do this! The rest has been history.

Currently, in Pennsylvania that question is being asked yet again, as Larry Burns finds himself in court over organizing poker games in Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. The State’s Attorney General is on a crusade to eradicate poker and has been very successful at it to date. In the case in question when the game was raided by police they seized over $9,000 in cash and laid various charges, however as the investigation has unfolded the Attorney General is now also planning to seize $31,000 from the Westmoreland County Fire Department.

The Attorney General claims this money was donated to the County Fire Department by Mr. Burns in lieu of rent for using the Seward Fire Hall to host his games.

Burns is fighting these charges on a number of fronts, trying to succeed by whatever means possible, and as such has implored that poker is a game of skill and thus not subject to gaming laws. However, on Mr. Burns’s side is the fact that other cases tried in Pennsylvania have found that poker is not defined as “gambling” or “unlawful gambling”.

Nonetheless, to his dismay this appeal was tossed out by the judge and the case is moving forward, with other appeals and defense avenues being pursued by Mr. Burns. It shall be interesting to watch how this unfolds, and more importantly to see if the government will in fact seize the money from the Fire Department which is a branch of the government.