As a poker player and a free league owner. I just have to tell the people who already believe and those who do not want to believe. The reason poker is considered gambling and is restricted so in Florida and in most other states is because the government considers it a game of chance. According to Florida State Statutes, it is illegal to play any game of chance for money or anything of value. But I have thought long and hard about this for years now and I come back with the same conclusion. Poker is NOT a game of chance. It is a game of skill. Just because you get a few hundred kids every year who rush off to the casino when they become of age to play poker even though they have only ever played it twice in their past, doesn't make it luck. It makes it idiotic. Think about this for a minute. If poker really was a game of chance, wouldn't the casinos and card rooms have you play against the dealer rather than other players? If it was all luck, are Phil Helmuth, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson and all the other "PROs" the luckiest men on Earth? If it had nothing to do with skill how do we have "PROS"? Have you ever seen a pro bingo player? Or a pro craps player? NO. Because you can not improve any skills (if any) at those games because those games are games of chance. You either win or you don't. If people would go to card rooms and play poker for the love of the game and play the right way with patience, discipline and restraint instead of trying to get rich quick, then maybe our congress would realize, that poker is a gentleman's game. Not a lucky day game. Take any experienced poker player and match him up with a newbie and I guarantee the poker player wins 8/10 times. I personally have a 87% win margin, now does that mean I am a lucky SOB or that I have been playing so long and improved my SKILL so much that I have the discipline to reach that high?
Hopefully, this post will hit the eyes of a semi smart politician and make them change their views on our game. Maybe they will realize that by fully legalizing poker rooms and casinos, we will open up thousands of jobs bringing our crippling state under our 13% unemployment rate. Maybe the will learn that if they can tax the casinos and card rooms more and less on the citizens, not only would they make more money but they will make a lot of voters happy. Imagine what Florida can do with the revenue from just 2-3 casinos: new roads, new schools, more teachers, new buses, new computers, new safety equipment, better looking cities, more tourist revenue, more appeal, more jobs, less poverty the list goes on. I say we all petition our senators, lets get poker back for the poker players!