Court calls players busted in OP poker raid

Nancy Powell
Associate Editor

(March 11, 2005) The Dagsboro, Del, councilman and police commissioner is scheduled to appear in District Court in Snow Hill on Thursday, March 24, to answer to a charge of gambling.

Clay Hall had been issued with a criminal summons following a raid by investigators of the Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office on Feb. 25 at a rented storefront in Ocean Pines. He and several others were allegedly playing Texas Hold’em poker in games arranged by Steven Foss, 35, of Ocean City, who was arrested and charged with gambling, and using premises for gambling.

Joining Hall at the poker tables was Michael Troy Brohawn, 32, of Woolford in Dorchester County. Brohawn is a former Major League baseball player, having played for the Arizona Diamondbacks, the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Also issued a criminal summons was Joseph Kincaid, 54, of Cambridge, who came in second place in a 7-card stud poker tournament at the United States Poker Championship at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City in 2001.

The Worcester County State’s Attorney’s Office offered Hall, Brohawn, Kincaid and nine others the option of performing 41 hours of community service instead of going to court and facing a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. As of earlier this week, some had already accepted the offer of community service.

The poker players were playing cards at the former Cate and Kennedy’s gift shop in the Village Square Shopping Center in Ocean Pines. Newspaper pages covered the glass front so passersby could not see inside.

Workers in nearby businesses said they had not been aware of the poker games and they believed they had only begun taking place in the past couple of weeks. The poker games were apparently not held during the daytime when most of the other businesses were open.

Foss, who had rented the space, had reportedly told some people that he planned to open an eatery there. His usual occupation is driving a taxi.

Foss came to the attention of law enforcement officials after arranging Texas Hold’em poker tournaments in Ocean City. They were ostensibly held to raise money for the Worcester County Human Society, but that organization did not receive large amounts of money. The poker games seemed to be held as a means of gambling rather than raising money for charity.

Since then, Worcester County State’s Attorney Joel Todd put an end to any poker games for money in Ocean City. Such tournaments may still be held elsewhere in the county under certain conditions and only with approval of the state’s attorney.

Gambling fundraisers may be held in places with class C licenses, such as the American Legions.

The games may not be played for more than six hours at a time and no group may hold more than eight per year. No charity may have more than two per year.