Skill Game

Faced with a five-bet to 10,000, Kevin MacPhee stuffed in the remainder of his 14,000-chip stack holding . His opponent, Lawrence Dicristina, called the all-in wager, and tabled .

The flop gave Dicristina a flush draw to go with his two overcards, and the on the turn gave him a leading pair of aces. The completed the board, and MacPhee was eliminated.

Dicristina now sits with around 85,000 chips. Back in August of 2012, Judge Jack Weinstein of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled that poker was a game of skill in a an appeal case featuring Dicristina. Dicristina was convicted of running an illegal gambling business for operating a no-limit hold'em game in New York, but Weinstein ruled that a poker game did not breach the United States Illegal Gambling Business Act:

"The influence of skill on the outcome of poker games is far greater than that on the outcomes of the games enumerated in the IGBA's illustrations of gambling."

Dicristina's case should positively affect poker in the U.S., and we'll keep an eye on him as he competes here in London.