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Gambling and the Law: What Is Poker?

5 May 2009

Should the prohibitions on internet gambling have a carve-out for online poker?

The question is much more complicated than it seems. If the argument is that poker is not gambling but rather a contest of skill, should the exemption be limited to poker tournaments? What is "online" – what about people playing against each others at terminals in a club, or linked clubs? Which laws are getting changed, federal or state? And who is doing the changing, legislature, courts or regulators?

Let's start with what should be the easiest question: "What is poker?"

I have been asked that question twice while on the witness stand and under oath. Fortunately, in both cases I was prepared.

The first came in the 1980s when California card clubs were trying to expand beyond 5-card high, 5-card low and panguini, the only games they were spreading at the time. Even Texas hold 'em was thought to be illegal. The problem was a statute from 1885 which outlawed "stud-horse poker."

The Attorney General and local law enforcement thought this outlawed any poker game where a card was dealt face up. They also thought that all forms of poker were illegal except for draw.

So, the now defunct Huntington Park Club invented a game to test the law: "7-card down." Here are the rules: players are dealt two cards face down, there is a round of betting; then each remaining player receives three cards face down and there's another round of betting; then the fourth and then the fifth cards are dealt face down with betting rounds. The best five card hand wins.

It was purposely designed to look like hold 'em, but clearly to be something else.

The L.A. County Counsel tried to shut it down, claiming it violated the prohibition on stud-horse poker.

I testified about the years of research I had conducted trying to find out what the stud-horse poker was that was outlawed in 1885. The best I can tell from court cases, 123 year-old newspapers and interviews with an old-timer in Arkansas, which had a case within living memory, stud-horse poker was either a house banked game, 5-card stud, or code for "Let's cheat the newcomer." Whatever it was, it was played with players getting at least one card face up.

The judge interrupted my testimony as an expert witness to ask his own question: "What is poker?" My answer was that players got equal number of cards, there was a ranking of hands based on how rare the hand was, but players could win with lower ranked hands if they made a bet that was not called.

He then asked, "What is stud poker?" The County's expert testified that multiple betting rounds distinguished stud from draw. I said there are additional forms of poker, including straight poker, the original game, where all the cards are face down but without a draw, and community card games like spit in the ocean and hold 'em.

I said that stud poker means at least one of the players' own cards is face up, so that the strength of their hands is shown to all.

Journalists speak of a "stud horse headline." These are the ones in gigantic, bold print, like "WAR."

My theory is that we know a real live "stud-horse" is a stud horse because he is (don't blush) obviously male.

Later, the Legislature removed stud-horse poker from the list of prohibited games, leaving us with the simple question of what is poker? No problem there, right?

More next column.

I. Nelson Rose

Professor I. Nelson Rose is an internationally known scholar, public speaker and writer and is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on gambling law. A 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a tenured full Professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, where he teaches one of the first law school classes on gaming law.

Professor Rose is the author of more than 300 books, articles, book chapters columns. He is best known for his internationally syndicated column, "Gambling and the Law ®," and his landmark 1986 book by the same name. His most recent book is a collection of columns and analysis, co-authored with Bob Loeb, on Blackjack and the Law.

A consultant to governments and industry, Professor Rose has testified as an expert witness in administrative, civil and criminal cases in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, and has acted as a consultant to major law firms, international corporations, licensed casinos, players, Indian tribes, and local, state and national governments, including Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and the federal governments of Canada and the United States.

With the rising interest in gambling throughout the world, Professor Rose has spoken before such diverse groups as the F.B.I., National Conference of State Legislatures, Congress of State Lotteries of Europe, United States Conference of Mayors, and the National Academy of Sciences. He has presented scholarly papers on gambling in Nevada, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, England, Australia, Antigua, Portugal, Italy, Argentina and the Czech Republic.

He is the author of Internet Gaming Law (1st & 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials.

I. Nelson Rose Websites:

www.gamblingandthelaw.com

Books by I. Nelson Rose:

Compulsive Gambling and the Law

> More Books By I. Nelson Rose

I. Nelson Rose
Professor I. Nelson Rose is an internationally known scholar, public speaker and writer and is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on gambling law. A 1979 graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a tenured full Professor at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, where he teaches one of the first law school classes on gaming law.

Professor Rose is the author of more than 300 books, articles, book chapters columns. He is best known for his internationally syndicated column, "Gambling and the Law ®," and his landmark 1986 book by the same name. His most recent book is a collection of columns and analysis, co-authored with Bob Loeb, on Blackjack and the Law.

A consultant to governments and industry, Professor Rose has testified as an expert witness in administrative, civil and criminal cases in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, and has acted as a consultant to major law firms, international corporations, licensed casinos, players, Indian tribes, and local, state and national governments, including Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and the federal governments of Canada and the United States.

With the rising interest in gambling throughout the world, Professor Rose has spoken before such diverse groups as the F.B.I., National Conference of State Legislatures, Congress of State Lotteries of Europe, United States Conference of Mayors, and the National Academy of Sciences. He has presented scholarly papers on gambling in Nevada, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, England, Australia, Antigua, Portugal, Italy, Argentina and the Czech Republic.

He is the author of Internet Gaming Law (1st & 2nd editions), Blackjack and the Law and Gaming Law: Cases and Materials.

I. Nelson Rose Websites:

www.gamblingandthelaw.com

Books by I. Nelson Rose:

> More Books By I. Nelson Rose