The Tel Aviv Magistrates Court has convicted Eran Rock, a well known figure in the Israeli poker community, of organizing and conducting an illegal game. The court ruled that the Texas Hold 'em game is not legal.
According to the indictment, in Texas Hold 'em, each player deposits money with the dealer, who opens five cards and distributes two jettons to each player. The player decides whether to fold or participate and the winner is the player who creates the highest series of cards. The state argued that the game depends on luck, rather than understanding or skill.
Rock was arrested in a police raid on an apartment in Ramat Gan's City Tower. He was the dealer in a game, receiving the players' money and distributing the jettons and cards. Rock claimed that the results of the game depend on understanding and skill, such as basic knowledge of statistics and probability theory, profit/loss calculations, the ability to analyze opponents' strategies, to bluff, and to identify an opponent's bluff.
Rock also claimed that Texas Hold 'em poker tournaments are held in Israel and throughout the world, and that thousands of players participate. In Israel, tournaments have been held for the past three years at the Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds. 360 players participated, and the tournaments had police permission, were covered by the media, and were secured by police and guards.
Judge Rachel Greenberg ruled that even if she were to accept the argument that players' greater skill reduced the element of luck, this was still "a game that is fundamentally based on luck - the random distribution of cards - and that is an illegal game."
Judge Greenberg concluded that the true nature of a game is that the winner is the person holding an ascending sequence of cards that exceeds the value the cards held by the other players. "The cards are distributed randomly to the players. In other words, the combination of cards held by each player is determined by chance, so that in the end, the decisive element for the result of the game is not skill, but luck."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 26, 2008
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