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Strange but True

January 4, 2009

There are many headlines out there that one comes across in the poker world, and some are definitely stranger than others. Some are simple statements of fact, as in who won the World Poker Tour, etc. Others however have a tendency to stretch the truth somewhat, which leaves the reader wondering where in fact they got their information from. So upon hearing the news that monks had been arrested for playing poker, one has to assume that there is some sort of joke going on here. Monks? Poker? There is something fishy going on here.

However, this is exactly what happened, as there were in fact five months arrested for playing poker. According to the Korea Times, five Buddhist monks were arrested for allegedly being involved in illegal poker playing. The monks were arrested in what police referred to as an “unlikely den of gamblers.”

The spokesman from the Boeun Police Station in North Chungcheong Province said that the five poker playing monks had more than nine million won. This is easily the equivalent of about $6,700. They were playing poker with the money while attending a national Buddhist religious event.

The police said that they had received a tip that a bunch of monks were playing poker during the event, and that it was an illegal game that was going on. Upon busting up the poker game they discovered that the tip was in fact correct, even though they had been doubtful when it came in.