I recently played in a tournament in NY state. It was at a bar. 25 people, $41 buy-in. ($40 for buyin + $1 for supply's, I dont think they took a house cut).
Is this legal? Why or why not?

Is it legal to play a cash home game, obviously its popular, but is it legal in reality?

why or why not?

Thanks

no

wow seriously? ur really gonna post that? ur cool.

The fact that they took a dollar for supplies makes it most likely illegal. True social games where there is no house, just a bunch of people playing a poker game are legal in NY. See the site on gambling laws for more info or do a search for the NY state penal code. To commit a gambling crime in NY you must be involved other than as a player. That's why the players are not arrested when the illegal clubs get busted. Only the operators can be charged.

The short answer is it depends. It would depend on state laws. Most states use the dominate factor test (does skill predominate over chance) to determine if betting on a game is legal (assuming no state law explicitly makes a specific game legal or illegal). This site ( http://www.gambling-law-us.com/State-Law-Summary/ ) indicates New York is one of these states. The same site indicates social gambling is legal in NY. This means that the non-raked home game is probably legal.

Your first example isn't so clearcut. The "$1 for supplies" is a rake. Whether that is enough to make a profit or not doesn't matter, it goes to the house. If a casino took a rake on a tournament or even cash games that wasn't enough to pay their dealers it would still be a rake. The site mentioned above has the specific verbage of the NY law if you want to look at it. Although I can't see anything to point to I suspect the tournament might run afoul of NY law. If poker was "illegal gambling" then they definitely would. I don't believe there has been a court case in NY that has decided that poker was a game predominated by skill, so even though we know this is true local law enforcement might not see it this way and could potentially charge the bar based on that. Also most states have additional regulations that apply to bars that might forbid this. Without an arrest and a court case this one is too close to call IMO.

Thanks alot guys, all i have to know is as a player, i cant get in trouble

I love how you asked if it's legal or illegal, as if if you didn't put illegal, we would be scratching our heads wondering what the opposite of legal was.

sorry.

at least by my understanding, if that $1 that they took out went to charity, then it would be legal

edit--i play at a moving poker club (verde club one day, forest hills lodge one day,holiday inn one day, etc etc), and the rake goes to charity, so its completely fine