Is your poker game legal?

Is your poker game legal? By Paul Hampel Of the Post-Dispatch About 200 poker players are expected to compete Sunday night in a Texas Hold'em tournament at the Action Cafe and Billiards hall in Hazelwood. If that tournament were across the Mississippi River in Illinois, those 200 players would be subject to arrest. Last weekend, 21 players, 10 of them from Missouri, were arrested at a Hold'em tournament at the Prairies Golf Course in Cahokia. Poker's explosion in popularity has players, and sometimes authorities, confused about its legal implications. A whole new crowd is playing the game, often without realizing they are breaking the law. And the law varies greatly from Missouri to Illinois, where different rules govern games played for charity in church basements and amateur tournaments in taverns. While it's not likely that authorities will barge in on a friendly game at a private residence, the laws apply there, too. Texas Hold'em is a version of poker in which each player is dealt two cards down and five common cards are dealt up between betting rounds. Players can risk all their chips on a single turn of the card. The game is not considered gambling the way it's played at the Action Cafe, on North Lindbergh Boulevard, so it's all perfectly legal. And it has proved to be a boon for business, too. "We used to have karaoke four nights a week here," said Bobby Mauer, a manager at Action Cafe. "About three months ago, we switched to Hold'em tournaments and about doubled our crowds, and our food and beverage sales. "And I don't know how to say this without sounding rude, but the poker players are a better class of people, too. They're smart and they're polite. They're not the old image of the no-good gambler." In Illinois, a game of chance is considered gambling anytime participants pay to play or a prize is involved. The tournament at the Prairies got crosswise with the law on both counts, said Geraldine Conrad, spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Revenue. "They had a $100 buy-in for chips. And then they had a cash prize of up to $4,500," Conrad said. "The manager tried to tell us that he was planning to donate some to charity, but that didn't cut it." The manager, Matthew A. Mueller, was charged with keeping a house of gambling, a misdemeanor. He did not return calls for comment. Illinois allows charity poker competitions, so long as a venue gets a license for the event, bets don't exceed $10 a hand and the top prize is limited to $250. In Missouri, and most other states, the laws are a bit looser. Three elements must be present before the state considers an event to be gambling: * Participants must pay to play, which may include buying in for chips, paying a cover charge or being required to purchase a minimum drink order. * A prize must be involved, whether it's cash or something of value. * The event is a game of chance, as opposed to a game of skill, such as a trivia contest. "A simple rule of thumb," says Jack Duepner, chief warrant officer for St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert P. McCulloch, "is what's legal in a casino is not legal outside a casino in Missouri." That means that the Friday night poker game at the neighbor's house with a bunch of buddies is, technically, illegal. Only poker games sanctioned by the Missouri Gaming Commission pass muster, Duepner said, adding: "In my entire tenure in the warrant office - more than 2 1/2 years - I have never seen anyone bring such a case." Duepner, however, recalled that federal authorities in the 1980s used a gin rummy game to convict the late mob boss, Matthew Trupiano, of gambling and send him to prison. Jake Corrigan of Webster Groves has no such concerns about betting in Hold'em games at the homes of friends. "I didn't know the games were illegal," said Corrigan, 30, who works as an executive recruiter. "Would I stop playing if I did? Probably not." Corrigan has been playing poker earnestly, including at casinos and online, for the last three years. He said the game's appeal is rooted in "the element of superiority that comes with being able to read the other players." "There's nothing like having the best hand and knowing it. And to have somebody betting into it is even better," Corrigan said. Playing it safe Steve Shimmens, chief of enforcement for the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control, said most bars have found a simple way to conform to Missouri's law. "They remove the buy-in," Shimmens said. "Once they do that, the game is legal, and they can award any prize they like, we don't care if it's half a million dollars." Dropping the buy-in has helped poker tournaments flourish around the country, including at dozens of bars and restaurants on the Missouri side of the area, from the 10-Mile House in Affton to Side Pockets in St. Charles. Shawn Riley, president of the Amateur Poker League, runs 200 tournaments in 12 states, including about a dozen bars in St. Louis and St. Louis County. But his business pulled out of Illinois after state Liquor Control agents busted a couple of his events in the Chicago area. "They won't let us offer prizes, even though we drop the buy-in," Riley said. A tournament originally scheduled for Sunday at the Mississippi River Eagles fraternal lodge in Crystal City was scratched at the last minute over concerns that the club would be shut down for violating Missouri gaming regulations. The problem was a $10 buy-in. "It was a charity event, but we got a call from the local liquor commissioner and he told us he'd have to shut it down," said John Fisher, a trustee at the lodge. Jefferson County Prosecutor Robert G. "Bob" Wilkins said he has received dozens of calls since January from churches, fraternal organizations and civic groups asking whether they can legally hold poker tournaments to raise money. Wilkins has not prosecuted anyone for gambling in the 11 years he's held office. Neither has his counterpart, Jack Banas, in St. Charles County. But both say the issue has come up. The problem, they say, is that what might be prosecuted as gambling in one county might be totally ignored in the next. It all depends on the local authorities. The popularity of Hold'em tournaments has raised the issue to a new level, Wilkins said. He held a conference call with the legislative committee of the Missouri Prosecutors Association Friday and says the association likely will push the Missouri Legislature this year to more clearly define what is and is not acceptable in terms of poker tournaments and other gambling activities. "It's certainly something that the Legislature needs to be aware of," Wilkins said. "It needs to be done, as best we can, on a statewide basis to at least have some guidance on how to proceed." For now, the Eagles Club plans to play it safe, trustee Fisher said. "We don't want to take any chances anymore with poker, so from here on out we'll just stick with darts."