The success of Oakland’s Daniel Patterson at the Borgata Poker Tournament this past weekend provides an opportunity to see how the sport has evolved in society over the past decade. The No Limit Hold’em Tournament had players from along the Eastern seaboard competing, and Dan ended the tournament ranked as the 11th over all winner.
Poker has become quite the spectator sport in recent years due to a convergence of factors. The increase in the number of casinos in states and on Indian reservations has made legal games more accessible to many Americans, and the Internet has undoubtedly played a major role. People can play for fun or profit through a variety of websites.
The legality of online poker playing in New Jersey has been a matter of debate, but new legislation being introduced may clear the decks for legal online betting in the Garden State. State Senator Raymond Lesniak has introduced a bill that would allow gambling based out of servers located in Atlantic County, New Jersey. Companies providing Internet gambling services would pay a 20% tax to the state. Considering the situation of the state’s budget, many believe Governor Chris Christie will be tempted to sign on.
On the federal level, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez has also introduced a bill that would seek to legitimize what is already accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. This bill proposes that there is a difference between games of chance and games of skills, and builds off a well argued subject that poker is a game of skill. Courts in Pennsylvania, Colorado and South Carolina have all ruled that poker is a game of skill.
Various mathematical studies have concluded that poker is a game of skill, but courts are also influenced by public perception with respect to poker’s stereotypical contextual settings: e.g. smoke filled backrooms with gunslingers and dancing girls. The perception of poker players as lacking a certain moral fiber has been quickly slipping away. Poker tournaments are now well televised, and charity often employ them has fund raising techniques.
This past January a poker tournament in Las Vegas was geared toward MBAs with major corporations acting as sponsors. Many in the business world see poker skills as evidence that a person can think strategically, make quick decisions, exercise self-discipline as well as exhibit memory skills. Harvard is home to the Global Poker Strategic Thinking Society which promotes poker as a strategic-thinking tool, and it has spread to 60 other campuses in just a few years.