All players experience the same degree of luck and misfortune over the long course. This is often cited as a pretext to explaining how the skill factor in poker separates the winners from the losers. If poker were purely a game of chance then all players would fair roughly the same in the long run and the only people making any kind of sustainable profit would be the casinos and poker room operators who spread the games. But this is not the case, as poker as we know it involves more than just pure luck. The first couple of weeks of 2007 have seen luck and misfortune affect several different European operators in unequal measures.
The European Poker Tour (EPT) has had to announce the cancellation of the French Open in Deauville, scheduled for late February. EPT Director John Duthie explained that this was due to the French authorities having a change of heart regarding the provision of poker games in the provincial town in Northern France. While this was a shock announcement, disaster has been averted as two new venues have recently joined the Tour. In March new events in Dortmund and Warsaw will help to restore balance to the continent's premier poker tour.
Meanwhile London's Gutshot cardroom is in court fighting for its survival. At the time of going to press the case rests upon whether the jury believe poker is game of pure chance, pure luck or a combination of the two. Worryingly for Gutshot, it seems that the prosecution has instructed the jury that if they deem it to be a combination of both luck and skill, they must find the club in breach of the 1968 Gaming act, a decision that barring appeals would lead to the closure of the club and the dozens of copycat operations that have set up all over the UK over the course of the past two years.
On the positive side of the poker equation the recently launched Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT) sold out it's first event in Bolton. At the time of writing the event had just gotten underway, but the success of the first event is likely to lead to an increase in capacity from 200 to 400 for the remaining events on the schedule.
Rival UK casino operator Gala, has also recently announced a tour of their own - the Great Britain Poker Tour (GBPT). The tour comprises five £500 main events. Unlike rival Grosvenor, Gala's tour will not be televised but nevertheless it's very existence is indicative of how fast the poker market is growing in the UK.
So, while casino poker players in the UK are basking in a climate of major events every other weekend, poker club players may be finding it tougher and tougher to find a game they can legally play in before too long. Of course, this may all be irrelevant if the Gutshot jury decide that poker is a game that is purely skill based. But even the most savvy of poker sages would be hard pushed to deny that luck plays some kind of factor in determining the outcome of the game. It's getting harder and harder to balance the poker equation both in Europe and America, but somehow a solution will be found. Poker in Europe is here to stay, whether it's legal or not.
