Gossip Column: Gus Hansen’s Bad Online PLO Session, Gordon Vayo Battles PokerStars in Court & Arlie Shaban Receives First Challenge From The Poker Gods

Gus Hansen, Gordon Vayo and Arlie Shaban
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  • PG News September 12, 2018
  • 6 Mins Read

From unfortunate online poker action to contentious legal battles and epic Herculean challenges, a lot seems to be happening in the poker world of late.

Danish poker pro Gus Hansen is back in the news yet again, but unlike before he isn’t in the spotlight for his ‘great summer’ antics but for his bad online run.

But Hansen is not the only pro who is hoarding media attention. 2017 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event runner-up Gordon Vayo has locked horns with the biggest poker site PokerStars in a legal drama, alleging fraudulent withholding of his winnings.

Since we are talking about battles, Run It Up team ambassador Arlie Shaban has received his first Herculean challenge. However, while Hercules had to battle a lion, Shaban has been asked to battle a Dutch. Want to know what he did next? Well, why don’t you just read the stories below and find out.

Gus Hansen Has ‘Hideous’ Time Playing PLO Online

After a ‘great summer’ full of widely publicised antics, guess whose back to the online poker? Yes, you’re right. It’s the one and only Gus Hansen!

Hansen’s summer extravaganza undoubtedly included many notable exploits.

I don’t understand tequila!

A post shared by Gus Hansen (@therealgushansen) on

He has now shifted his focus to the virtual felts of partypoker. He recently posted a short clip on his Instagram account titled ‘Bad idea!’. The clip shows him four tabling $10/$25 Pot Limit Omaha games. In the video, Hansen terms his ‘not so great’ track record of playing online as “hideous” and states that “playing four tables online might be the worst idea of them all. It’s going to be a long winter.”

Bad idea!

A post shared by Gus Hansen (@therealgushansen) on

Well, it is a good lesson for other methodical players like Hansen, that the high-speed world of online poker is not everybody’s cup of tea. If you’re not smart enough to realize that, you may just end up like the Danish pro, cleaning up your own mess!

Gordon Vayo & PokerStars Head-to-Head in a Legal Battle

The world’s largest poker site PokerStars seems to have landed itself in a legal soup with a WSOP Main Event runner-up Gordon Vayo.

Gordon Vayo
Gordon Vayo

In a lawsuit filed in May this year, Vayo accused PokerStars of fraudulently withholding approximately $692,000 worth of his winnings from a tournament win in May 2017. Vayo further stated that when he attempted to withdraw his earnings, the online poker giant had frozen his account.

In defense of its actions, PokerStars countered by stating that “Vayo was unlawfully playing from his residence in California, while Vayo said he was in Ottawa, Canada, where he is a registered player.” The company requested Vayo to provide physical evidence that he was present in Canada at the time of the event. The request has been called a “sham investigation” by Vayo’s legal team.

According to court filings, PokerStars said that “a ‘geolocation analysis’found that Vayo connected to the internet via a mobile device from Los Angeles, California more than 50 times between Mar. 24, 2017 and July 31, 2017.” PokerStars said that Vayo “used a Canadian mobile internet provider to spoof a Canadian IP address.”

These facts have been disputed by Vayo who has stated that he has used a virtual private network from Canada to access video streaming services that might have resulted in “unintended effects and potential inaccuracies in the technical data on which PokerStars is relying.”

The court filings further stated, “PokerStars, which is not legally allowed to offer online poker to people within California, filed a motion in early July to dismiss the case. PokerStars is currently saying that California is not the appropriate venue because its online gaming license comes from the Isle of Man.”

“Mr. Vayo’s entire complaint hinges on his assertion that the relevant acts took place in Canada,”PokerStars’ legal team wrote in its motion for dismissal. “Under these circumstances, and under established [U.S.] Supreme Court precedent, Mr. Vayo’s choice of forum should be given no weight and his complaint must be dismissed.”

“Plaintiff [Vayo] alleges that [PokerStars] has taken in many millions of dollars from U.S. residents playing on their reinstated PokerStars.com accounts,” a September 4 court filing said. “At the same time, Plaintiff alleges [PokerStars] turned a blind eye to the actual physical location of the U.S. residents playing on the site, and that [PokerStars] had no procedures in place to detect, verify or check the location from which these U.S. residents were routinely playing on the PokerStars.com site. Plaintiff alleges that it was only after a U.S. resident won a significant payout (in excess of around $10,000) that [PokerStars] took steps to ‘investigate’ the location from which the U.S. resident was playing on the site.”

A hearing on PokerStars’ motion to dismiss Vayo’s lawsuit has now been set for November 6, after Federal Judge Frederick Mumm moved the date back from a previously scheduled hearing slated for September 25.

Arlie Shaban Receives First Herculean Challenge

In our Gossip Column edition published yesterday, we had talked about the epic challenge that ‘The Poker Gods’ had given to live streamer and poker pro Arlie Shaban. Well, just a day later, the Gods have revealed their very first challenge!

Arlie Shaban
Arlie Shaban

In yet another letter posted on the PokerStars Blog, ‘The Poker Gods’ challenged him to ‘Skin the Dutch Lion’. Referring to the ’12 labours of Hercules’ where the Greek demi-god’s first task was to skin the Nemean lion, and brings back its skin, Shaban has been instructed to “find the lion. Challenge him. Get him alone and defeat him. Take his skin and put it on.”

As cryptic as the challenge sounds, Shaban seems to have decoded what it means, as he challenged the Dutch professional poker player Lex Veldhuis to a heads-up match on Twitter.

While Veldhuis is yet to respond to Shaban, we must admit, this Herculean challenge is becoming rather interesting.

That’s it for this edition of the PokerGuru Gossip Column. We’ll be back soon with more news and updates, so stay tuned!

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