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Bad News From England


2007-01-16 15:16:21
By: Gene Bromberg

Poker hasn't fared very well at the hands of lawmakers or the courts recently, and today brought more bad news. A British jury has found Derek Kelly, the manager of the Gutshot Club in London, guilty of violating Britain's gambling laws. This case was problematic from the start--the jury was asked to decide if poker is a game of skill, or luck. And of course there IS luck involved in poker, but it's demonstrably not a game of pure luck, like roulette. There's not a black-and-white divide, which unfortunately is what the jury was tasked with deciding.

There's a good quote from Roy "The Boy" Brindley in the BBC piece about the trial:

"Poker is a game of skill but I can't think of a game, including poker, where luck doesn't come into it. We've all had luck in a game before."

It's almost as if luck has become a four-letter word in our society. Discounting or demonizing it won't make luck (good or bad) go away. How exactly did luck get such a bad reputation?

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