A battle over the legalities of poker is headed to the Colorado Supreme Court.

The Poker Players Alliance, an advocacy group, said today that one of its members will petition the state’s high court for a review of a district court ruling this month that poker is considered gambling under Colorado law.

“We clearly think this is the wrong interpretation of the law, especially in regard to poker, and the PPA is committed to helping demonstrate to the Colorado Supreme Court the broad academic research that exists showing that poker is indeed a game of skill,” PPA executive director John Pappas said in a statement.

The case stems from an undercover probe by the Colorado Bureau of Investigation last year into a $20 buy-in Texas Hold’em tournament at a Greeley watering hole.

Five people were arrested and charged with illegal gambling. In January, a county court jury acquitted Kevin Raley, one of the organizers of the game and the first defendant to go to trial. Charges against the others were then dropped.

During trial, Raley argued, among other things, that poker is a game of skill and not a game of chance. Illegal gambling occurs when a game has chance, risk (such as a buy-in) and reward. If poker is deemed a game of skill, then it would not fall under Colorado’s gambling statutes.

The trial judge allowed Raley to call an expert — University of Denver professor Bob Hannum — to testify that poker is a game of skill. Raley also presented evidence that everyone at the tournament had a social relationship, which would make the game legal.

The jury didn’t state a reason for the not-guilty verdict, so it’s unclear which argument swayed jurors.

Raley can’t be retried, and charges against his partners won’t be refiled.

Nonetheless, to clarify Colorado’s gambling laws in regard to poker for future prosecutions, the state appealed to the district court.

This month, a district court judge ruled that the lower court erred in allowing Hannum to testify because poker is already considered gambling under Colorado law.

“The activity at issue in this case involved gambling, and the only exception that properly should have been presented to the jury for consideration was whether the activity fell within the social-gambling exception,” Judge James Hartmann wrote in his opinion Aug. 4.

If Hartmann’s ruling is upheld, cash poker games and Hold’em tournaments that charge a buy-in would be legal only at casinos in one of Colorado’s three gambling towns or at a place where everyone has a “bona fide” social relationship.

Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com