A serious poker question

[Chu]

Why are bridge tournaments, mtg tournaments, etc; where you pay an entry fee and there are prizes for the winners; considered legal -- but poker tournaments are not? This is a serious question, I forgot exactly what statute made the former legal but I know it does exist on the books when the city went after a bridge group in Chicago.

-Chu

 

[Entity]

Poker tournaments aren't federally illegal, I don't think. It's a state-by-state decision.

Rob

 

[torpid]

Yep, poker is considered a skill game in some, but not most, states. Bridge is pretty much universally considered a skill game, because it takes serious dedication to memorize the 400,000,000,000 combinations in bidding systems.