5 Minutes Read
Just as we thought that we had seen the last of the Mike Postle scandal, Justin Kuraitis‘s big mouth could lead to yet another wave of investigations. Run It Once (RIO) founder and well-known poker coach Phil Galfond has decided to take on the burden of investigating Postle’s suspicious play during the live stream.
Coming out of the blue, Americas Cardroom (ACR) CEO Phillip Nagy has challenged three-time WSOP champion, Doug Polk, to a heads-up match ahead of his grudge match against six-time WSOP bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu.
Yet another multiple bracelet winner Shaun Deeb has also made the news. Unlike Galfond and Polk, Deeb made the headlines for getting hospitalized in Mexico after testing positive for COVID-19.
In other news, two high stakes poker pros, ‘Grazvydas’ and James Romero, were scammed out of $20,000. At the same time, WSOP.com has temporarily banned poker pro Tim Burt for playing on the site using the moniker ‘Trump2024’ citing violation of its new username permissions.
Phil Galfond Decides to Investigate the Mike Postle Scandal
We had really thought that the Postlegate saga involving Mike Postle, Stones Live production manager Justin Kuraitis, and King’s Casino (parent company to Stones Gambling Hall) was finally over after 60 of the 88 plaintiffs had accepted an undisclosed settlement on September 9. Oh, how wrong we were!
For now, the scandal has taken a new turn, with three-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Galfond announcing that he will be investigating the hands played by Postle on the Stones live stream.
On September 15, Kuraitis had taken to Twitter to gloat about the allegations being dropped against him. He also called out members of the poker community who, according to Kuraitis, have continued to spread a narrative that does not reflect video evidence available on the corresponding live streams.
There are some things I’ve wanted to say for a while now@Joeingram1 @Angry_Polak @DougPolkVids @mac_verstandig @Mike_Postle @MarleCordeiro @RealKidPoker @StonesLivePoker @notthefakeSVP @RounderLife @haralabob @espn @barstoolsports @kirkrexfordhttps://t.co/2FERsqGoFJ
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 15, 2020
Postle has some of his best sessions when I am out of the country and 2 of his 3 biggest losing sessions are when I am at Stones
Who invited @Mike_Postle to your games Veronica? @Angry_Polak Just stop pic.twitter.com/zSmtokAAqO
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 15, 2020
I challenge anyone in poker to prove this data wrong
I’m waiting…
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 15, 2020
Well, that was the personification of the phrase, ‘putting your foot in your mouth’. The tweet not only failed to get any empathy from the poker community. Instead, it instigated some of the industry’s top names to throw their hat in the ring to carry out their own investigations into the case.
Former high stakes poker player Haralobos Voulgaris responded to Kuraitis’ Twitter post by suggesting the parties involved “commission several people or auditors to independently go through all the videos” — a process that co-plaintiff and ‘Solve For Why Academy’ instructor Matt Berkey says can be partially automated via proper code.
I have a student who has written code to screen scrape all these hands and convert them into a stars formatted hand history which can be converted to PT4 database. He was still beta testing last I followed up, but I’m certain he’d be capable of getting this done
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) September 15, 2020
RIO founder Galfond specifically took issue with the tone of Kuraitis’ post-settlement tweet — informing social media followers that he will submit a “detailed report” for public consideration once and if the Postle hand histories are appropriately exported into a spreadsheet file.
I’m a busy guy. I probably wasn’t ever going to think about Postle again, but @JFKPokerTD & @StonesGambling responded to a legal “victory” by taunting the victims.
If we get all HHs into PT or a spreadsheet, I’ll create a detailed report with proof (or lack thereof) myself.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 19, 2020
It seems people have focused on winrate, which helps but isn’t the best way to prove guilt or innocence.
What was his river bluff success rate?
How often did he make a big bet or raise vs the (near) nuts?
How often did he take aggressive action w/ a chop? (shout out @BartHanson)— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 19, 2020
Compare these stats, and a dozen others I can think of now, to averages & you will see an undeniably large difference if he could see the cards.
I realize that getting all hands transcribed isn’t a simple task, but I’m sure we can accomplish it if someone organizes the effort.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 19, 2020
Galfond’s initiative was applauded by many others from the poker fraternity, with others coming together to make suggestions on how the investigation can be conducted appropriately.
Full time business owner/father and you’re still taking time to be the hero the poker community needs.
We don’t deserve you Phil!
— Kevin Martin (@KevinRobMartin) September 19, 2020
Somebody should start by downloading all of the episodes from Youtube during the cheating period before they are pulled down. I have a bunch of them but not all.
— Bart Hanson (@BartHanson) September 19, 2020
It’s great you’re undertaking this. Seems like it’s something that should have been done prior to filing lawsuit, agree ? We looking forward to your results. We can compare to the hand by hand breakdowns we have. Stating you will post result no matter if results r + or – is ty
— RounderLife (@RounderLife) September 20, 2020
I’m all for this… and don’t want to sound “Karen-ish” but in order to really be able to sort through the data wouldn’t more columns in hands be useful in order to get the most out of it? Flop -action, amount, equity, turn – action, amount, equity. For this to be air tight
— Chad Thornton (@thechadthornton) September 20, 2020
The more sortable data, the better. I know it’s a huge undertaking, but I know with the communities support a lot of accurate data can be used in ways no one can think of on their own, and much easier to do it once and do it right
— Chad Thornton (@thechadthornton) September 20, 2020
Galfond even shut down those who raised the question of whether this investigation was necessary since the case had already been settled.
For those asking “what’s the point of trying to prove he was cheating now?”… https://t.co/xOYIo1dZun
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
Galfond updated the poker community on how he planned to analyze the hands and drafted a total of 17 rules to follow.
Postle HH Update:
With the help of @highhands89, we have all relevant videos DLd & saved, just in case.
We (and by “we” I mean awesome volunteers – I’m not doing much!) are setting up a framework to crowdsource transcription of hands & make it as efficient as possible. 1/
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
So many of you have already reached out and offered to help – thank you! I’ll let you know as soon as we’re ready for help with the transcribing.
After we’ve got the hands, we’ll convert them into a format that allows us to gather statistics. 2/
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
I plan to do my own analysis & write a report on my findings, regardless of the outcome.
I’ll share data with others looking to do the same.
There are many more qualified than I am to do statistical analysis, but I believe I can create a report of value as a “poker expert.” 3/
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
In order to be fair, I plan to pick the stats I look at before seeing the data (or at least most of them – I may think of others later but I’ll note which were planned before seeing the data).
Here’s a quick draft. Any suggestions? pic.twitter.com/bWc5L2zYom
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
However, the poker community remains utterly perplexed by the hostile attitude of Kuraitis on Twitter, who is still adamant that no wrongdoing took place.
Imagine an entire community accusing a man of cheating, destroying his life, name, reputation and then publicly admitting they haven’t even compiled the data yet.
Don’t stop until you hit +$100k in inflated winnings.
I’m looking forward to your findings. https://t.co/HHuoERHbSN
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 20, 2020
In fact, ‘Crush Live Poker’ administrator Bart Hanson has also compiled what according to him are the 20 most incriminating hands against Postle in this case. You can check it out below:
ACR Founder Phillip Nagy Challenges Doug Polk to HU Match
Americas Cardroom (ACR) CEO Phillip Nagy, who was in the news two weeks ago for banning poker pro and coach Jonathan Little from the online poke site, is back in the spotlight again. This time around, he has challenged retired poker pro Doug Polk to a heads-up (HU) match.
Polk is presently preparing for his grudge match against his arch-nemesis Daniel Negreanu. With the 2020 WSOP Online series done and dusted, Negreanu is on his way back to the US. We can all start looking forward to his grudge match with Polk getting underway sometime soon, even though the exact details are yet to be disclosed.
To get in a bit of practice ahead of his game, Polk has been issuing a series of low stakes challenges. Initially, he was playing $1/$2 matches against fans and colleagues. But after that went poorly, he moved up in stakes to facilitate dumping cash faster.
He’s currently looking for opponents at $5/$10 and $10/$20.
This is perhaps what led to Nagy challenging him on Twitter.
@DougPolkVids If you want to play an older <>< I would enjoy a HU Match up to you.
— Phillip Nagy (@WPN_CEO) September 14, 2020
It might even be closer to what your real match is gonna be LOL LOL (old guy HU poker)
— Phillip Nagy (@WPN_CEO) September 14, 2020
WPN’s management has been pretty savvy in dealing with the Polk/Negreanu match. For example, ACR, one of WPN’s skins, has been giving Polk his training ground rake free.
As well as getting themselves some publicity from Polk as he trains, they’ve also positioned themselves as the most likely place for the big game to play out when it comes. Nagy’s personal involvement seems likely to be part of this push for publicity.
Polk is yet to respond to Nagy’s challenge.
Shaun Deeb Hospitalized After Testing Positive For COVID-19
Four-time WSOP bracelet winner Shaun Deeb tweeted that he is currently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Mexico.
You not really a #wcoop grinder if you’re not one handed 10 tabling on touch pad in a Mexican hospital with covid
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) September 21, 2020
Deeb has been on the grind at this year’s World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) on PokerStars. The American pro traveled to Mexico to play in these events, and even though a ninth WCOOP title eluded him, with 57 cashes through the series, Deeb raked up quite a lot of deep runs.
Deeb broke the news of his hospitalization in a tweet on Sunday night. “So, I’ve been keeping this quiet last week and a half,” Deeb tweeted, “but I have COVID now and I think I’m going to need your guys help making a tweet or two go viral so I don’t have to get hospitalized in Mexico.”
Despite his hopes that he wouldn’t need to be hospitalized in Mexico, this is precisely what happened.
Finally went to my actual room not terrible way better than i was expecting now going to try to sleep and not pull my iv out as I Toss and turn pic.twitter.com/22RJXfGuLo
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) September 21, 2020
Since announcing the news, Deeb has provided his fans with frequent status updates on his Twitter page. Despite being hospitalized and the illness running him “into the ground,” Deeb appears to be in good spirits.
Though Deeb usually tries to make light of the situation, his tweet posted on September 21, truly drove home the seriousness of the situation.
I will have to say scariest thing was debating with my wife making a video to my kids since they were asleep Incase I got intubated and whether to tell them I was sick or not
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) September 21, 2020
Deeb stated that some of his best poker on the trip has come during his battle with COVID-19. As he continues to multi-table tournaments from his hospital bed in Mexico, more cashes may still be on the way.
I will say this wcoop grind while sick was on a wholeanother level for me I may lost a chunk but I played the best at like 10% Strength sleeping during ever 5m break ever day
— shaun deeb (@shaundeeb) September 21, 2020
Two High Stakes Poker Pros Lose $20K in Clever Scam
In times when cheating and scamming online has become commonplace, yet another such incident occurred when two high stakes poker pros got cheated out of $20,000.
The incident was shared by one of the victims, ‘Grazvydas,’ on Two Plus Two. It started when ‘Grazvydas’ was in a Skype chat group for poker players looking to swap funds on online poker sites. Specifically, he had PokerStars and Americas Cardroom (ACR) funds to trade, a minimum of $20,000 on Natural8. Another player, James Romero, had $60,000 and wanted to trade for at least $5,000 in bitcoins.
Unbeknownst to them, a scammer was lurking in the group. He created two Skype profiles to mimic both ‘Grazvydas’ and Romero. Using those accounts, he contacted each of the two players, pretending he was the other, to arrange a funds swap.
Neither player verified that who they were talking to was the genuine individual. Eventually, a deal was made for ‘Grazvydas’ to send Romero $20,000 on ACR in exchange for $20,000 in bitcoins. Both players made a deal with the scammer, except both of them thought they were really talking to the other person.
‘Grazvydas’ sent the money first, shooting the $20,000 over to Romero’s ACR account. As part of the negotiations, the scammer, posing as ‘Grazvydas,’ asked Romero which account the money should be sent to and thus gave that info to ‘Grazvydas,’ posing as Romero.
At this point, everything looked fine to both poker players. Romero had received $20,000 in his ACR account, as expected. It was now time for him to send ‘Grazvydas’ the bitcoins, but this time around, the bitcoins did not reach their intended mark. Instead, they were whisked away by the imposter. Thus, Grazvydas never received anything. In the meantime, the scammer made off with $20,000 in bitcoins.
‘Grazvydas’ eventually figured out what had happened and brought it up in the Skype group. Romero showed absolutely no sympathy, telling him that he should have done his due diligence and verified the identity of the person he was dealing with.
For a while, and even after ‘Grazvydas’ took the issue to the Two Plus Two forums, Romero refused to help out. But ‘Grazvydas’ was persistent, and many in the poker community came down hard on Romero for his attitude. All this led to Romero agreeing to slit the losses with Grazvydas. Each player ended up booking a $10,000 loss at the end.
WSOP.com Bans Tim Burt`s ‘Trump2024’ Moniker to Avoid Political Issues
Poker pro Tim Burt was recently banned provisionally for playing on WSOP.com with the online moniker ‘Trump2024.’ The site asked him to change his moniker or discontinue playing due to the site’s new prohibition on politically stimulating screen names.
The three-time WSOP ring winner Burt, who has nearly $1.3 Million in live tournament scores, publicized the matter on Twitter. In his tweet, he shared the news attaching the mail that was sent to him.
My screen name “Trump 2024” after 4 years has suddenly became offensive on @WSOPcom!!!! @RealJamesWoods @themouthmatusow @realDonaldTrump @JackEffel
I won’t be changing my name! Deal around me! #KAG2020 pic.twitter.com/01nKZ5gQlX— Tim Burt (@timburtpoker) September 16, 2020
Later, the official twitter account of WSOP.com replied:
Specifically, we recently updated our username permissions to look for names that are political in nature (regardless of the party) in addition to names that are derogatory, offensive or misrepresenting. 2/3
— WSOP.com (@WSOPcom) September 17, 2020
The vocal Trump supporter Burt stated that the site had offered the chance to submit three alternative screen names, and that via a subsequent message.
He also said that a WSOP.com representative had apologized for calling Burt’s ‘Trump2024’ username “offensive.” The site-rep further said that they were banning all political screen names, regardless of their political affiliation.
However, the controversy broke out on social media in an inevitable way. It seemed that WSOP.com wants politics to stay out of online poker. But on the other side, some supporters have interpreted this a nuisance.