Unknown incident
Poker author and poker player David Sklansky was arrested in Las Vegas for domestic battery. First reported by PokerNews, the 78-year-old Sklansky was booked into the Las Vegas Detention Center on Thursday.
Sklansky has since been released, and no formal charges were filed.
Other than that, there is no other information publicly available at this time. Exactly what happened will have to remain a mystery for now.
Sklansky is one of the most prolific gambling authors of all time, having written 14 books on poker, blackjack, and more. He famously penned The Theory of Poker, arguably the most important foundational book for those looking to learn the key concepts of poker. Nearly 50 years after its first publication, it remains on the poker book Mount Rushmore.
Sklansky has been more of a cash game grinder during his poker career, but he does have over $1.4 million in live tournament earnings. Notably, he is the owner of three World Series of Poker gold bracelets: $1,000 Draw High (1982), $800 Mixed Doubles with Dani Kelly (1982), and $1,000 Limit Omaha (1983).
No sale
Well, we don’t know for sure if he still owns all three bracelets, as he actually tried to sell the two from 1982. Two weeks ago, he appeared on Season 24, Episode 2 of “Pawn Stars,” attempting to get $50,000 for the pair (the episode was actually filmed in 2024).
These bracelets were much different than the typical WSOP wristwear, though, as 1982 was the only year in which the WSOP awarded gold watches, rather than the usual bracelets. There were only 15 watches awarded that year (14 events, one of which was the Mixed Doubles tournament, so there were two for that one) and Sklansky has two of them. The whereabouts of only three others are known.
After a brief discussion of the watches, WSOP, and poker (for the cameras, obviously), Sklansky got down to business with Corey Harrison.
Harrison was not at all taken aback by the $50,000 asking price, but he had a problem with the items themselves. “You have quite a bit of gold here,” he said. “But you also have a trophy. And I have a really hard time selling somebody else’s trophy. Respectfully, I’m going to go ahead and pass on these….”
And that was it. Harrison did not counteroffer, telling Sklansky that Sklansky himself would likely have an easier time finding a customer for the watches.
