Gutshot Verdict

I'm sure you all know this by now, but hey - for completeness: Derek Kelly, owner of The Gutshot was found guily this week. He has decided to appeal the ruling. There's a whole bunch of stuff written about it out there if you're interested. I particularly liked David Lloyd's most recent editiorials on The Gutshot site:

There's No Place Like Home
The Great Debate

Read his other stuff too. He write very good.

I think this verdict is a damn shame, but I can't say I'm massively surprised. Aside from the legislation being a pile of poo, try and remember the last time you had to convince someone who'd never played poker before that it was a game of skill and not just some seedy form of gambling. Now imagine trying to convince 12 jury members. It's a seriuosly tall order.

Taken from David Lloyd's article Chance Would Be A Fine Thing:

Only recently, Stan Sludikoff, the father of the gambling publishing business (Gambling Times (1977) and Poker Player Magazine in the USA) wrote to me saying…

"In EVERY game that is played there is an element of CHANCE. That is true. Whether it is a recognized sport or a game played with cards. The way the ball bounces is more often subject to chance. There are far less scores than there are players at bat. The proper definition of a game of chance versus a game of skill is whether or not the player can influence the outcome of the game, in any way. If so, it is a game of skill. If not, it is a game of chance. Roulette is clearly a game of chance.

Sometimes the public confuses the difference because money is involved. If no money was involved, no one would question whether Poker was a game of skill or not. Bridge, which is a card game that certainly has an element of chance and luck, is considered a game of skill, because it has an ALTERNATIVE scoring system. The tendency is for the public, and the law, to perceive anything which is bet upon to be gambling.

The proper definition of gambling is: "wagering at unfavorable odds." When skill puts the odds in the favor of a player, it is no longer a game of chance."

What makes me angryest is the reported involvement of Grovesnor Casinos. Apparently their parent company hired a private investigation firm which collected evidence against The Gutshot and then took that to the police. Additionally the head of this PI firm is a director of The Gaming Commission. I read about this on The Gutshot Forum, here.

I'm heading to The Gutshot tonight to meet up with some folks from ITH so I'll be able to see the immediate impact of it all for myself. I know they're vowing to continue operating. I'm assuming the tournaments are all still running but with no juice. It'll be interesting to see if there are any cash games going on.