Gossip Column: Alleged Cheater Mike Postle Resurfaces in the Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater Main Event, Causing an Uproar in the Poker Community

The Postlegate cheating scandal was one of the top stories in 2019-2020 and is one that the poker community will remember for many years. The prime accused in the controversy, Mike Postle, went underground in early 2022 after litigation by disgruntled players seemingly ended. A year later, the alleged cheater has resurfaced.

Using only his first and middle name – Michael Lawrence – Mike Postle entered the Beau Rivage Million Dollar Heater Main Event at the Beau Rivage Casino in Biloxi. He even made the final table, finishing seventh for $32,703. However, his reappearance caused quite a stir among players, and the poker Twitterati went berserk at Brock Gary slow-rolling Postle on the final table.

A lot has happened over the past few days. But before we get to the recent happenings, let’s quickly recap the cheating scandal.

The Mike Postle Cheating Scandal

Starting from July 2018, Postle went on a prolonged heater, winning around $250,000 playing mainly low-stakes ($1–3 and $2–5) No-Limit Texas hold ’em games at Stones Gambling Hall. Postle’s hot run was primarily in the live-streamed games.

In September 2019, a little over a year after Postle’s winning streak began, Stones Gambling Hall’s commentator Veronica Brill believed her long-held suspicion that Postle was cheating, something she had voiced to Stones’ poker and live stream tournament director, Justin Kuraitis, months before—was confirmed when she again witnessed perplexing and unorthodox poker play by Postle in a crucial situation, that minimized his monetary loss.

In response to a particular hand played by Postle in a Stones Live live-streamed hold ’em game, wherein his perpetual unorthodox pattern of play with a very strong yet losing hand, he again prevailed by mucking his cards instead of making what most players would have considered a standard call.

Brill stated: “It doesn’t make sense. It’s like he knows. It doesn’t make sense. It’s weird.”

One week later, Brill posted an 18-minute video showing Postle’s most unusual and similar hands played contrary to accepted professional poker standards. In each hand in Brill’s video, Postle either prevailed as an outright winner or saved money by mucking a losing yet strong poker hand that, according to professional poker players’ game theory and conventional wisdom, should have been played.

Many people from the poker community, including Joe Ingram, Doug Polk, and Phil Galfond, viewed and commented on archived video footage from Stones Live live streams and echoed Brill’s concern that Postle must have had access to real-time information about his opponents’ hole cards.

The overwhelming opinion was that the hands Postle won, or that he saved money on by mucking in critical situations, occurred at mathematically improbable rates that could only have been attained by cheating.

In October 2019, 24 poker players filed a class action $30 Million lawsuit against Postle, Stones Gambling Hall, and its poker and live stream manager Kuraitis. In June 2020, Federal Judge William B. Shubb dismissed the lawsuit against all three defendants, citing a very old California law. The case against Postle was dismissed “with prejudice,” precluding a case from being refiled against him.

Three months after the dismissal, 60 of the then 88 plaintiffs accepted a settlement with King’s Casino LLC, which owns Stones Gambling Hall, and Kuraitis. Brill was among the 28 plaintiffs who did not settle. Less than a month later, Postle filed a $330 Million defamation lawsuit against a dozen individuals, including Daniel Negreanu, Phil Galfond, and ESPN. Postle’s attorneys later filed to remove themselves from that case.

In December, defendant Todd Witteles filed an “anti-SLAPP” motion to dismiss Postle’s lawsuit declaring it “frivolous and a violation of Witteles’ free-speech rights.” In May 2021, the judge ruled against Postle and ordered him to pay $27,000 for Witteles’ legal fees and court costs.

In January 2021, Brill filed her own “anti-SLAPP” motion, and in June, Judge Shama H. Mesiwala ruled in favor of Brill and awarded her $27,745. Postle did not appear at the anti-SLAPP hearings. Therefore the order went into effect immediately.

In April, Postle filed a request with Sacramento County Superior Court to drop his defamation lawsuit, and in September, he filed a motion to avoid involuntary bankruptcy.

In January 2022, a confidential agreement was entered into Postle’s bankruptcy records which closed the only remaining litigation stemming from the Stone Gamblings Hall live stream poker cheating scandal. That turn of events effectively ended the Postlegate saga.

Mike Postle Returns

On January 16, Angela Jordison tweeted a photo taken by Max Young.

Michael Lawrence Postle pic.twitter.com/XZPYuUy1Jq

— Angela Jordison (@Angelajordison) January 16, 2023

As word began to circulate that Postle was playing the $1,200 buy-in tournament, discontent emerged from many players on social media.

Why is the floor allowing him to use an alias let alone play this is absurd

— Hayley Hanna (@VegasHayls) January 16, 2023

He should not be allowed to use an alias

— ronnie day (J.R.) (@scrondog) January 16, 2023

Casinos have the right to ban anyone they want for any reason.

I think if we raise hell/mass tweet and bluff a boycott, casinos would react and ban him.

— DrawingDead (@Trust_inLuck) January 16, 2023

You can use an alias?@CaesarsRewards won’t even change my Player’s Card info to read as my middle name (which is what I go by) on swipe instead of my first name.

All of their staff call me by a name I never use.

— Malia Miranda (@JMaliaMiranda) January 16, 2023

@ToddWitteles and @Angry_Polak better get paid!!!!!

— Scott Brawner ??? (@sfb45) January 16, 2023

While his presence caused quite a bit of uproar, his exit from the tournament was also memorable. He was slow-rolled by his opponent Brock Gary who went into the tank with top set facing an all-in wager.

Michael Lawrence, fake nose & glasses wearing embarrassment to poker is goneeeee. Bit of a slow roll he got there too. ?https://t.co/NmgO4yF0xi

— EllaElla (@Elanit) January 16, 2023

The video shown on the GulfCoastPoker.NET Facebook page was picked up on a flop , where Postle had moved all in. Gary, holding a larger stack, went into the tank for about 30 seconds before sigh-calling with for the top set, a clear slow-roll. His opponent flipped over for an overpair. The following two streets, the and the , were no help to Postle. The Northern California pro was eliminated from the $1,200 buy-in event in seventh place for $32,703.

Gary’s slow roll wasn’t acceptable to some, but not because he attempted it. Despite the slow roll, Brill wasn’t enthusiastic about how Gary handled himself.

Why would I buy him a beer when he was shaking his hand and laughing with him?

— Veronica Brill ? (@Angry_Polak) January 17, 2023

Although Postle won a significant amount of money, his detractors can take solace in him not winning the six-figure first-place prize. Max Young, who took the photo of Postle that went viral on social media, tweeted that Gary told Postle on the way out, “that’s for the poker community, you scum.”

Gary ended up chopping the top prize three-way with Kooroush Gahedi and Jeremy Eyer, the three top stacks to start the day, each receiving $144,380. Gahedi was proclaimed the official winner.

Content & Images Courtesy: PokerNews