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Poker Ruled Game Of Chance by UK Jury in Landmark CaseWed, Jan 17th, 2007 @ 12:00am The landmark UK case where poker was on trial ended yesterday and the Jury delivered their verdict: poker is a game of chance, not pure skill. So Derek Kelly, the manager of Gutshot a 23,000-member private card club in London, was convicted of violating Britain's gambling laws. Kelly argued that he did not need a gambling license to take a share of profits from players because UK's Gaming Act 1968 applied to chance games like roulette, and not skill- based games like poker or chess. So the jury was asked to decide whether the popular Texas Hold'em variant of poker is a game of skill or chance, or a combination of both. For the past week, reporters, Kelly's competition and many other avid poker fans packed the courtroom in east London's Snaresbrook Crown Court listening to testimony from expert players about the skills needed to play poker. Prosecutor Graham Trembath QC argued because a deck of cards was shuffled, that poker is both a game of significant chance as well as skill, a combination that the U.K. government classifies as chance. Zeeshan Dhar, defending Kelly, told the jury that poker required such a level of skill that it did not fall within the remit of the Act.
He said: "If we accept that a game of chance includes all games of combined chance and skill every game you could possibly think of would fall foul of this particular Act." UK Poker clubs bars and pubs, many thousands of poker players, as well as online poker operators worldwide waited anxiously for the verdict. After more than two hours of deliberation the jury agreed that by UK government definition poker is a game of chance, and convicted Kelly of illegally taking profits of as much as 10 percent from players on two occasions at the Gutshot club. Justice Simon Wilkinson commented in court that a not guilty verdict "could have caused enormous problems for the gaming industry because then you have the green light in some people's eyes for unregulated poker." Kelly faces a fine at a Feb. 16 hearing, but is unlikely to get a prison sentence according to Justice Wilkinson. Kelly said he is considering an appeal. "It is important that we take time, take stock, and go down to Gutshot to rearrange what we do, but we are not closing,'" Kelly said in an interview after the decision. Read Related Articles:
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First Korean Champ of Asia Pacific Poker Tour Crowned in Cebu Another stop on the Asia Pacific Poker Tour is in the books, this time it's the APPT Cebu in the Philippines, and for the very first time a Korean player has come out on top.
Pollack Done as Commish of World Series of Poker Just three days after crowning Joe Cada as the 2009 Main Event champion, officially closing the special 40th anniversary run of the World Series of Poker, Jeffrey Pollack has resigned his post as Commissioner of the WSOP.
Durrrr Signs as Team Full Tilt's Youngest Member Tom "durrrr" Dwan is the newest member of Team Full Tilt, the online site's highest level of affiliation. At 23, Dwan is the youngest of the now 14-person team. The high stakes cash phenomenon was nominated for induction this year into the Poker Hall of Fame until the Hall of Fame Governing Council decided he was too young to meet the "has stood the test of time" qualification.
Joe Cada Becomes Youngest World Series of Poker Main Event Champ History was made early Tuesday morning in Las Vegas as 21-year-old Joe Cada outlasted Darvin Moon in heads-up play to claim the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet and more than $8.5 million.
Moon and Cada Heads-Up, Ivey 7th at WSOP Main Event Final Table After a marathon session at the most esteemed table in the poker world, a 21-year-old and a logger are set to go one-on-one for the World Series of Poker Main Event bracelet.
PokerStars Launches New UK and Ireland Poker Tour PokerStars.com has announced the start of a new poker tour with stops throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. The UK and Ireland Poker Tour (UKIPT) will kick off in Galway, Ireland in mid-December, and the first event in the UK will be held in Manchester in February.
Peerless Media Agrees to Purchase World Poker Tour Enterprises According to a Monday press release, WPT Enterprises Inc., mothership of the World Poker Tour, is now the rightful property of Peerless Media, Ltd., subsidiary of online giant PartyGaming.
Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho Hit the Amazing Race Rail After surviving six legs of the Amazing Race by the skin of their teeth, poker pros Tiffany Michelle and Maria Ho were finally eliminated in the CBS reality show's most recently aired episode. Michelle and Ho, the last women standing in the 2008 and 2007 World Series of Poker Main Events, gave reality television fans another chance to watch poker personalities compete away from the felt. Annie Duke garnered quite a following earlier in the year on another reality show competition, NBC's Celebrity Apprentice. |
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