Gutshot Poker case goes to Court day 4

Day 04 - 15th January, 2007

Day 4 of the Gutshot poker trial focused on the psychological, mathematical and social aspects of the game. At one point Derek Kelley said that the outcome of a poker game "doesn't happen over one hand" and compared this to saying that the outcome of Wimbledon is decided on the first serve. "It won't be decided on the first serve," he told Snaresbrook Crown Court. "Poker is about the long game."

A key witness for the defence today was Nic Szeremeta, editor of Poker Europa magazine and himself a keen poker player. Mr Szeremeta has been playing poker for around 35 years, and has a massive reputation as a highly respected poker pundit. These facts were brought to the attention of the jury by Zeeshan Dhar for the defence, and set the stage for an impressive discussion of the game.

The discussion began with a series of questions exploring Mr Szeremeta's career as a poker commentator, and from here the court heard that some poker players don't just play for fun – they actually depend on the game for their livelihoods. At this point Zeeshan Dhar asked if poker was, "predominantly a game of skill or chance?" to which Mr Szeremeta responded, "The longer I play, the more I realize how skilful it is."

Expanding on this, Mr Szeremeta talked about how poker depended not on just one element of skill, but on a whole range of skills, including the ability to understand the psychology of other players, calculate accurate odds quickly, play strategically, manage their money effectively and so on. He went on to explain how poker involves a slew of fixed probabilities, and how these probabilities were used by good players to determine how to play the hand they had been dealt.

Anyone listening to all of this who took what Mr Szeremeta was saying on board cannot failed to have seen – at least in our opinion – that poker is a game in which chance plays an extremely small part, and that's being generous to case for the prosecution. At one point the judge asked how chess compared with this view of poker, and Mr Szeremeta said, "Chess is a game of complete information your honour and the fact that poker is a game of incomplete information, makes it a more skilful game. Chance elements in poker only apply to individual hands, individual sessions"

Derek Kelly took the stand later in the day and, in what we consider to be one of the most important exchanges, the court heard how Bridge was recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee. Following this, Mr Kelly was asked if there was any game that did not combine chance with skill. "No," he replied.

The case continues.

Day 1 • Day 2 • Day 3 • Day 4 • Day 5