Morra vs. King's Gambit... What is more playable?

After playing the king's Gambit for a long time I gave it up a little while ago. I've long been searching for something to play against 1... c5 and I suppose I am currently in the honeymoon phase but am loving the Smith Morra Gambit. I like how my king side is protected and how much play I get for the a I get for the pawn I give up. I also like that I can learn one system against all Sicilian set ups versus needing to learn something different for all the different ones. What is the community's thoughts on this gambit in a comparison to The King's Gambit?

Both are dubious at best, and that is being very kind to White.  I would want Black 100 times out of 100 in both cases!

the Morra is dangerous but objectively gives White equality (at best) if Black knows what they are doing. However, I don't bother with the Morra and just decline it, sending the game back into comfortable Alapin territory. The Morra is definitely better than the KG though as I think White shouldn't outright lose with the Morra (I think the KG is close to losing after exf4 Nf3 Nf6!)

The Morra is probably more practical than the King's Gambit. The position has no apparent weakness, moves are quite easy to find since they're often the same and it is Black to prove with precise play they can neutralize White's setup. After 1. e4 e5 2. f4 the burden is on White to show something for the weakened kingside.

In a practical, real game, the morra gambit is far easier for black to defend against than the kings gambit. You don't even need to know loads of theory to defend against the Morra, which has a 48% win rate for black in the database. 

Kings gambit is the pick out of these two. 

At our human level, both are easy playable

Not really. The Smith-Morra is playable but not good and the KG isn't playable. The KG gets a better reputation than it deserves because the Schallop Defense, which practically refutes the KG, is not well known amongst amateurs.

The Morra Gambit is not unplayable and White certainly has some compensation but for example in this line

Black doesn't have to know a lot and it's difficult for White to create something. Unless Black misplays it, the best that White can hope for is to win back the d6 pawn at some point, exchange a ton of pieces on d6 and make the draw. I don't think that's what a Gambit player wants.

I play king's gambit and I do quite well against sub 1800 rated players. Almost any opening is playable at this level.

Smith Morra is probably more solid at the master level though.

This line seems to have the makings of a Schevinigan type setup (if/when e6 is played) and IM Marc Esserman, a staunch Morra advocate who wrote Mayhem in the Morra, seems to offer a lot of promising lines with a Qe2 Rfd1 setup... Again I'm in the honeymoon phase of using this being on the good side of a couple sexy miniatures, so before I really dedicate myself by making this my standard defense to 1. e4. c5 I wanted to check if there were glaring problems.

My early take is that equality usually happens early with decent play from both sides (at least decent for my level) but white is attacking and black is defending so what a computer calls equal is favorable to the human with the White pieces. 

yes, this will lead to a Scheveningen type setup but there is a difference to other lines

Black delays e6 so there is a "threat" of Bg4, Bxf3 and Ne5 to trade two pairs of minor pieces, releasing some pressure. It makes Black's play easier because the position is less cramped.

White can stop it with h3 but then we reach a "typical" Morra position basically with an extra tempo for Black. As far as I know this is considered fine for Black.

But sure, you can give it a try if you like those types of positions.

I mean playing the Morra and stuff against weakish players is fun cause you win nice games but strong players will just take the easy equality and outplay you from there.

Black gets some advantage vs the Morra and the King's Gambit.  Especially vs the Kings Gambit.

It's not well known among anyone I think. I remember Carlsen playing 3...d5 against it in an OTB tournament.

Sure if his rivals were dumb enough to make it their main white opening he'd get to work learning the relevant lines but... yeah, I don't think anyone bothers learning that stuff as black.

I think it's a good comparison because I think of the openings as about the same.

I guess I'd go with Smith Morra because if you want to play the KG you have to learn (seemingly) a dozen different black defenses.

Operative word - SUB-1800!

So what happens when you actually don't stink and become 2000?  Guess what?  You've gotta start all over again learning openings that are more sound!

Why not use common sense and start with sound openings in the first place?  If you are an e4 player, you have, against e5, the Scotch, Italian, Ruy Lopez, even the Vienna Game, or Four Knights Game.  The latter two won't give White much of an advantage, but White won't be worse if he knows what he's doing.  He could know what he's doing in the King's Gambit, and he's still worse!

Saying the King's Gambit is good because you can beat Sub-1800 busts is like saying the Borg (1.e4 g5) as Black is good because you can beat the same weak players!  Again I will say, why not learn something sound in the first place so you don't have to start over?  Double King-Pawn, Sicilian, French, and Caro-Kann are all far more sound than other garbage that only works against the chumps!  And don't go around saying one of those four is far superior to the other 3.  The one that is best is the one that you personally understand best.  For me that's 1...e6.  For someone else, it's 1...c5.  For someone else, it's 1...e5, and for someone else, it's 1...c6.

This is a little confusing because you switch in the same paragraph from discussing playing the King's Gambit or Morra (options white has) to talking about options you can choose from as black in response to e4.

One attraction to the Alapin or Morra for me is that it is one system to learn as a response to 1. e4 c5 versus needing to know theory about the e6 sicillians, d6 sicillians, g6 sicillians, and Nc6 sicillians. It just seems to me we are putting a lot of the choice into black's hands if we play a traditional open sicillian and black is likely to know more theory in whatever direction he steers. Again correct me if I am wrong, but when I've tried traditional lines, I always feel like my traditional advantage of knowing more opening theory than my similarly rated opponents is not true of sicillian lines.

@ThrillerFan - There are plenty of 2000+ players out there who play gambit openings.  I know one who plays the Breyer variation of the King's Gambit to great effect.  He once (and not that long ago) beat a 2100-rated player in tournament play, long time control, with the Wild Snail opening.

There are openings which are simply bad, of course, but they are far fewer in number than you often suggest.

The "soundness" of openings depends upon your level of understanding, your comfort with the premise, and the tactics and positional considerations which arise as a result of this.  The only issue with gambit openings is that the opponent doesn't have to accept, or can sometimes return the material with advantage (such as Lasker's solution to the Evans Gambit).

Black is not obliged to do anything white wants, he has the option of either seeking tranquil equality or a sharp counterplay.  In order to be proficient at the opening, you need to try different things.  Gambit players can be very strong, and most of the more common gambit openings are not unsound.

I would say the King's Gambit is far more respectable. The Morra is sorta just kind of trying to come up with flashy tactics and tricks while the King's Gambit is a much deeper opening.  

I would say CMs or even well-prepared 2000s don't have much trouble with the Morra while the King's Gambit is impressive and gets good results all the way up to IM. Think about how the King's Gambit was considered a world class opening all the way up to the 60s or 70s while the Morra has always been regarded as a bit of a joke among the world's best. 

The Kings Gambit has been played in the Romantic Era of chess, such as players as Paul Morphy and Louis Paulsen. It is definitley an opening that would be favoured over the Smith Morra.

But I will tell you what, if you are not prepared playing this opening, whether white or black, it can really be difficult and that is why it was such a tough opening and played very much to begin with because it's theory was broad and due to this much could be covered and different lines could be played. However in top master play now, the King's Gambit is already heavily analyzed and is not an opening you would see to play for wins, sure it is an opening you can play, but for most GM's you won't get past getting a draw, unless a GM is off with there opening theory in which would be very rare.

Kings Gambit is much better but as for both of them, they are really more of flashy openings rather than openings with a bunch of systems such as The Queens Pawn Opening or the Sicilian Defense, and due to this the opening is not as successsful. Since we have access to engines now it is very easy to see the lines people can do and people cannot do, and what moves are calcualted in accuracy for the engine to play. I think the King's Gambit is more of a human move rather than an engine move as though the engines are calculators and seek full accuracy, humans have preferences and understanding and that is the main difference between humans and engines and the debate with the King's Gambit and the Smith Morra opening as well.

But truly King's Gambit is better as a whole by many players, but even so, if a person becomes masterful with the Smith Morra and does well with that opening then it is better for them, so the opening is of preference. Of course if we looked at master play King's Gambit is played more and gets better results than Smith Morra, however Smith Morra can be mastered by someone and if it is then a person can prefer it over an opening such as the King Gambit, but in reality it depends on the preference. But as a wholie people would say the King's Gambit.