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.

Gutshot Trial Begins

Yesterday saw the opening of the long-awaited court case over the legality of operations at The Gutshot.

BBC News
Poker News UK

I'm not sure how nervous I should be about this. The Gutshot is pretty much the only place I play live poker and it would be shit to see it closed down. But then the new gambling law comes in this year which will make 'small stakes' poker legal in pubs, so there are probably numerous loopholes that will enable it to continue operating in some shape or form.

What concerns me about this trial is the difficulty if educating a jury enough about the working of the game to be able to persuade them that in the long run it's all about skill.

A colleague of mine ended up sitting next to the defence's barrister on the train a couple of months ago. Naturally he was oozing confidence. Interestingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, he represented Spearmint Rhino when their girls were caught giving blow jobs to spies from Stringfellows. He successfully got Spearmint Rhino off the hook and they managed to reapply for their licence. Poker and prostitution go well together so here's hoping he can do the same for The Gutshot.

2007: The Year of The Hammer

It goes without saying that 2007 should be The Year of The Hammer. At least it should have gone without saying but I wouldn't have noticed it without a little help from others.

I dont do New Year's resolutions but I definately have aims.

Life aims:

1. Contiune to be happy and enjoy my life with Mrs. Pink.

2. Progress in my career (this is actually unlikely to happen this year and is largely out of my hands, but it's still an aim. It would definately help if I wasn't white, middle-class and heterosexual!)

3. Get off my arse and get good at Turkish.

4. Improve as a poker player.

Poker aims:

1. Make $25,000 (a la BadBlood I'm aiming at least to double last year's winnings).

2. Win entry to a tournament circuit event with at least $5000 entry (WSOP, WPT, EPT etc)

3. Regardless of Number 2, play in a live event with at least a $1000 buy-in.

4. Have a $5000+ tournament score.

5. Become a winning player at $1000 NL.

6. Learn to play PL Omaha and win at at least the $400 level.

7. Play live at least once a week, preferably by establishing a regular home game.

8. Get out to Vegas.

Lets see shall we...