POKER - 5 Players Busted !!

5 players busted more than 2 years ago aim to show luck not main factor in poker game
Men argue 'Hold 'em' is game of skill

Defendants and supporters in the gambling case crowd a hallway outside the municipal courtroom in Mount Pleasant in 2006. Five of the players are now trying to show that it was skill, not chance, they were relying on.
Previous story
Poker players' legal saga to go on, published 08/23/08
MOUNT PLEASANT — It's an argument as old as gambling itself: Is "Texas Hold 'em" poker primarily a game of chance or skill?
Five players busted by Mount Pleasant police more than two years ago have secured a court order allowing them, in essence, to argue the game hinges on talented human play — not the luck of the cards.
The distinction is key. If a town municipal judge agrees that "Hold 'em" relies sufficiently on wits, it could be a major boost in the players' quest to legalize a card game many people play privately around their kitchen tables.
But if he determines the game is dominated by chance, the players could be slapped with fines and convictions, setting the stage for long-term appeals.
"To my knowledge, the issue of whether skill or chance is the dominant factor in the game of poker has never been litigated with the presentation of evidence in the U.S.," said Greenville lawyer Jeff Phillips, an avid poker enthusiast and attorney for the five players.
The two-page document, signed last month, features an order from Municipal Court Judge J. Lawrence Duffy Jr. allowing the prosecution and the defense to present whatever evidence they wish in the long-running duel. They can offer testimony, call witnesses and provide other relevant evidence over whether "Texas Hold 'em" should be considered a game of chance under the state's definition of gaming and gambling.
The order covers only "Texas Hold 'em." No other form of cards is included, such as Black Jack, Stud, Omaha or other casual poker table games. It also allows Duffy to decide what weight "if any" to give to anything that's presented.
Phillips' argument is that the game of "Hold 'em" is more than dealing and simple card play.
"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," he said.
Mount Pleasant town prosecutor Ira Grossman declined to comment, citing the ongoing legal issues surrounding the case. A court date hasn't been set, but it likely will be this winter.
The five defendants are the last of about two-dozen people cited during an April 2006 police raid on a private home on Glencoe Street. Authorities discovered that an organized "Texas Hold 'em" tournament was going on inside where the host was pocketing some of the table cash. Players at the house had learned of the game through an Internet invitation and paid a $20 "buy in."
Authorities have justified the raid on several fronts, saying illegal gambling was taking place, that the street was routinely clogged by local and out-of-area vehicles and that a quantity of drugs was seized.
Most of those cited already have pleaded guilty to their ticketed offenses and paid small fines. The five players remaining are the hold-outs in a case that has dragged on for months, arguably much longer than most others filed in Mount Pleasant's municipal court.
During a court hearing in August, Phillips said the charges should be tossed out because South Carolina's 200-year-old anti-card, anti-dice laws are too antiquated and vague for anyone to make sense of today. For example, the law mentions aged games, including roly-poley, rouge et noir and draughts.
He also argued the home that hosted the game wasn't an illegal casino or a public house of gaming, as is mentioned in the state's anti-gambling laws.