The Court was ruling in a case brought by Howard Fierman, from Durham County, who had planned to open up a poker club called The Joker Club in 2004 but was forced to abandon his plans when the attorney general told him it would be illegal.

Fierman decided to sue the county, citing the grounds that poker was a game of skill, not luck, and should therefore not be considered gambling. Fierman brought four witnesses to testify in his case, including the CardPlayer magazine contributor and professional player Roy Cooke, who explained that although on a single hand of poker luck may prevail, over the long term skill was the prevalent factor.

By contrast the attorney general for Durham County, brought just one witness to the stand, an alcohol law enforcement officer called Richard Thornell who testified that his 40 years of playing poker proved that in fact luck was the key factor. Incredible as it sounds Thornell backed up his argument by claiming he had once seen a hand on television in which a player won despite starting out as a 9:1 underdog.

But perhaps even more amazingly that one testimony from an amateur poker player (and a poor one by the sounds of it!) was enough to convince all three Appellate judges that poker was a game of chance, and throw out Fierman’s case.

It’s a sad day for poker in Durham County.