Forget for a moment that poker games often take place in casinos, or that poker pots containing hundreds of dollars (or more) can be awarded based on the simple turn of a card.

If you buy the counter argument made by the game's biggest boosters, then poker is, in fact, a game of skill -- not a game of chance.

Should lawmakers in state capitals and Congress agree, it could mean a major expansion of online poker, and games of live poker could take place in dozens of states where poker is outlawed.

In states such as Florida, where poker is already legal, Internet poker players would still benefit from increased gambling options. If the federal government deems poker a skill game, it would be exempt from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act that passed Congress in 2006.

The law cast a cloud over the legality of Internet gaming, and prompted some websites to no longer accept U.S. players.

Poker advocates now feel their skill message is gaining steam. The Florida Legislature this month approved higher-stakes poker at the state's Indian casinos and parimutuels. During the legislative session, skill was mentioned as one reason lawmakers should allow higher stakes -- with the idea that more chips in players' hands allow for skill to play a larger role.

The state must still reach a final gambling deal with the Seminole Tribe before the new poker rules take effect.

COURT RULINGS

Adding to the momentum are court cases involving poker in Colorado, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, where judges ruled that poker was predominantly skill-based.

The Washington-based lobbying group Poker Players Alliance is making the case for poker as a skill game and lent support in all three court cases.

''Poker's only a gamble when you don't know what you're doing,'' said John Pappas, the alliance's executive director.

The three court decisions did not change the legal status in their respective states, but poker supporters are citing the cases in their lobbying of state lawmakers and are hoping to take the matter to state supreme courts.

ACADEMIC STUDIES

Aside from their recent court successes, Pappas and other poker supporters have been encouraged by two academic studies that also found skill to be the deciding factor in poker.

Instead of computer models, both studies analyzed actual hands of poker played on the Internet -- the widespread popularity of online poker provided a massive data pool.

Perhaps the key finding came from a study coauthored by Sean McCulloch, an associate professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Ohio Wesleyan University.

The study examined 103 million hands of Texas Hold 'Em poker played on the PokerStars website. It found the winner -- more than three out of four times -- was determined solely by betting with no player seeing their opponent's cards.

Betting is ''the thing that you have complete control over, nothing ever makes you bet,'' said well-known Las Vegas poker pro Howard ''The Professor'' Lederer. He has helped the poker alliance craft its poker-as-skill campaign.

''Winning this argument of ideas in courts and in the court of public opinion is going to be very important,'' Lederer said.

Gambling opponents, however, find the debate laughable at best.

John Stemberger of the Florida Family Policy Council called it ''hilarious'' that the poker community is trying to separate itself from the gambling label. Stemberger said he somewhat respected the seriousness with which poker boosters are analyzing their game, but he also said that energy would be better spent analyzing gambling's overall negative consequences.

`DESTRUCTIVE'

Those consequences include divorce, addiction, suicide and bankruptcy, Stemberger said.

''All gambling is either unhealthy, unproductive or destructive,'' Stemberger said.

Though poker players may think of their pastime as more skill-based than, say, a slot machine, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling fields calls from both poker and slots addicts.

Poker addicts, in fact, tend to be more than $10,000 deeper in debt than the slots players who call.

Pat Fowler, executive director of the gambling council, doesn't dispute poker has skill elements, but says highly-skilled players that can make a living from poker are the exception, not the rule.

Most poker players aren't quite that good, she said, and most ultimately lose money.

''Often poker players do get in over their head more quickly and for greater amounts because they believe that they have more skill than they do,'' Fowler said.

Florida Passes Poker Bill 5/09/09

After months of debate, the legislature for the state of Florida has approved the further expansion of poker in the state, including the removal of a maximum buy-in for no-limit poker and the elimination of a maximum bet per round in limit games.
 
The approval of Bill SB788 was enabled by a consensus achieved between the House and the Senate in the sunshine state which saw 31 for and 9 against in the Senate, and 82 for and 35 against in the House.
 
The dispensation will have an initial 15 year duration, subject to the approval of the Seminole tribal nation, and will generate at least $150 million in annual payments from the Seminoles to the state. Governor Charlie Crist has until August 31st to negotiate a compact with the Seminoles, and then the Florida Legislature must approve the compact for the bill to go into effect.
 
The newly approved legislation includes provisions that will expand poker offerings in the state, and is intended to replace a compact that Crist and the Seminole nation negotiated in 2007, allowing slot machines and card games - including poker - at seven Florida Seminole casinos. In 2008, the Florida Supreme Court threw the compact out, ruling that Crist overstepped his authority by not seeking the state legislature's approval before signing the agreement.
 
The refreshed compact allows land casinos and cardrooms located at horse tracks, dog tracks, and jai alai frontons in Florida to offer the expanded no-limit poker, which removes the $100 maximum buy-in and the $5 maximum bet per betting round in limit games. Poker tournament buy-ins limits will also be removed, as a $1 000 limit had been imposed from previous legislation. The latter will make Florida an attractive possibility for the big-money poker tournaments so popular in the industry these days.
 
Cardrooms will be permitted to operate 18 hours a day Mondays through Fridays, and 24 hours on the weekends. The gambling age in Seminole casinos is increased from 18 to 21, matching the minimum age found elsewhere.