Avid Texas Hold 'em players gather every Tuesday night at Mariano's Tavern on North Broad Street in Hatfield Township to play the game.
Twenty percent of the proceeds benefit the Colmar Fire Co., with the rest going to prizes for first, second and third place.
Mariano's Tavern owner Faust Mariano said each game is monitored to make sure there's no side betting. There are buy-ins to the game, he said.
"As far as I looked into it, it's legal," he said. "Just as long as 20 percent goes to charity."
Judges in various counties in the state recently have ruled on cases involving poker games, upping the ante on the legality of the game by looking to the state's gambling law to define games of chance where a profit is made.
Lansdale Borough Administrative Sgt. Alex Kromdyk said he has not heard of any instances in the borough of illegal poker tournaments, and of no instances where money exchanges hands in such tournaments.
"It doesn't mean it's not going on," he said.
State Police have a unit that specifically goes after that vice, he said.
"The reason being is it's state revenue being lost," he said.
Anybody suspected of such an activity would be directed to the state police.
"I'm not saying it's legal, but priority-wise, gambling is a state police investigation and Lansdale police have more immediate, pressing issues," Kromdyk said.
Those who see poker as a game of skill call it legal. Those who see it as a game of chance find it illegal.
Take the case of Larry Burns, a 65-year-old attorney in Westmoreland County found guilty of running poker tournaments at fire halls in two towns.
The county judge, Richard McCormick, believes poker tournaments are illegal because they are a game of chance, and rejected an argument from a defense attorney that the state gambling law is vague when it comes to poker tournaments.
However, Columbia County Judge Thomas James Jr. ruled that poker is legal because it is a game of skill, not chance.
James dismissed criminal charges against two Bloomsburg residents for running Texas Hold 'em tournaments in a garage.
An undercover sting had brought down the operation and charged Diane Dent and Walter Watkins with 20 counts of violating the state gambling law.
James determined poker incorporates mathematical odds and players must possess intellectual and psychological skills, and therefore is it is not a game of chance.
"The academic studies and the experts generally agree that a player must be skillful to be successful at poker. At the outset, chance is equally distributed among the players. But the outcome is eventually determined by skill," James wrote in his opinion.
Pete Campana, an attorney with the law offices of Campana, Lovecchio & Morrone in Williamsport, successfully defended Dent and Watkins by promoting that poker was a game of skill and not considered gambling under Pennsylvania law.
He convinced the court that Texas Hold 'em is a game of skill, not chance.
Pennsylvania courts have not addressed the issue, and Campana said that state courts found poker illegal within the context of the Liquor Code.
He proved that academic studies and experts agreed a player must be skillful to be successful at poker. While each player has an equal amount of chance, it takes skill to win the game.
Section 5513 under Chapter 55 of Article F, Crimes Against Public Order and Decency of Pennsylvania Crimes Code Title 18, states: "A person is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree if he ... allows persons to collect and assemble for the purpose of unlawful gambling at any place under his control" or "solicits or invites any person to visit any unlawful gambling place for the purpose of gambling."
The law does not mention those engaging in illegal gambling, only those who host illegal gambling.
The state law also does not specifically state poker tournaments as games of chance. Home poker games are not specifically mentioned in the laws created to regulate such gambling.
Under law, the elements of gambling are payment of a consideration or fee; the chance to win a prize; and the winner is determined by chance. If all three are present, then the activity is gambling and illegal.
The Pennsylvania Local Option Small Games of Chance Act, passed in 1988 and found under the Pennsylvania Crimes Code Title 10, allows nonprofit organizations to host small games of chance for fundraisers.
There are five games of chance allowed under the act: punchboards, pull-tabs, raffles and lotteries, daily drawings and weekly drawings.
All games of chance must abide by a law that states a prize cannot exceed $500 for a single chance in any game. An eligible organization cannot award prizes Monday through Sunday with a combined value of more than $5,000.
The Pennsylvania Liquor Code also has vague laws on gambling. The law states that officers assigned to the Liquor Control Board have the power to arrest on view, without warrant, "any person whom the officer, while in the performance of his assigned duties under and pursuant to this act and any regulations promulgated under this act, observes to be in violation" of Section 5513 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code.
Richard McGarvey, public relations director with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, said poker tournaments are not regulated by his organization.
State police and the LCB have investigative units dedicated to small games of chance.
"Those games are regulated by the local municipality," he said. "The county could get involved too."
McGarvey admitted the case against poker tournaments is vague.
"It's a hodgepodge issue around the state," he said