+++Leatherass Blog+++

epic post sir.

Originally posted by MarcPS
epic post sir.

+1

The problem is there is no leadership. Leadership needs to start from the top. Sadly, just this week the Epic Poker League, which is essentially trying to become the PGA Tour of poker, stiffed a guy out of $20,000. Annie Duke (aka the Sarah Palin of poker) and her Epic Poker League told a winner of a satellite event into an Epic Poker League event that they couldn't play the event itself because of a prior conviction as a sex offender. Not only did the league decide that this person should not be allowed to compete in the event proper, but also stole the $20,000 the man won fair and square. All they did was refund the man's entry fee and tell him to go away, essentially. How much do you want to bet that had he not won, not in a million years could he have asked for his money back on the grounds that he shouldn't have been able to play. They basically just free rolled the guy.

Hi Dusty. Just a few thoughts on this (bearing in mind that I have no particular opinion of AD or EPL either way):

It seems to me that it is reasonable for the EPL to protect its image. One of the ways it will do this is to refuse to allow convicted criminals to play in its events.

The following statement is taken from the EPL Players' Code of Conduct, July 2011:
"While criminal conduct is clearly outside the scope of permissible professional conduct (and persons who
engage in serious criminal conduct are subject to League discipline), our standard of conduct as professional
poker players is considerably higher. It is not simply enough to avoid being convicted of a serious criminal
offense."

I don't think this quite so black and white situation as you suggest. I don't think EPL should be under an administrative burden/duty to do a criminal records check on every person entering a tournament. However, having subsequently discovered that a person with a serious criminal charge is playing in the tournament, I think it is reasonable to take some sort of action. And refusal to the person to play in the main tournament actually seems fairly appropriate to me.

I actually think that this player was quite fortunate to have their buyin refunded (you take the opposite view saying that this is the minimum and in fact he has been in some way wronged). The reason I say this is that their buyin formed part of the prize pool for the satellite. Other players entered that satellite in good faith so, by refunding this guy his buyin, the "honest players" are actually being disadvantaged (even though they have done nothing wrong.) I don't think it's up to EPL to make up the difference themselves (i.e. take the financial risk).

You might argue that the nature of the offence has nothing to do with poker but, nevertheless, on the one hand you are saying that-- in general terms -- poker needs to be 'cleaned up' and then on the other hand you are suggesting that we should turn a blind eye when we discover a convicted criminal entering tournaments. Would you take the same view if their crime had been, for example, fraud in the gaming industry?

Would be grateful for your thoughts on this counterargument. From reading an article about this case, my understanding is that EPL was not aware of the conviction at the time the satellite was played. If they had been I agree that accepting this person's entry fee knowing that they would not let him play the Main Event would have been disingenuous. However, assuming that they did not know this, I don't think it's right to say they "free rolled the guy". In fact you could look at it the other way round: he played in the tournament (perhaps knowing that he was ineligible) but hoping no one would look into his background. When it was discovered that he wasn't meant to be playing in the tournament, he simply got his entry fee back and suffered no financial hardship.

Originally posted by MarcPS
epic post sir.

+ Over 9000

Originally posted by Tim64
It seems to me that it is reasonable for the EPL to protect its image. One of the ways it will do this is to refuse to allow convicted criminals to play in its events.

Apart from Mike Matusow (drug convictions), Chino Rheem (burglary, drug possession, etc.), John Racener (drink driving X3). I'm sure if we looked deep enough there'd be convictions on many more of the players eligible to play in EPL.

Originally posted by Tim64
The following statement is taken from the EPL Players' Code of Conduct, July 2011:...
... It is not simply enough to avoid being convicted of a serious criminal
offense."

Originally posted by Tim64
Would you take the same view if their crime had been, for example, fraud in the gaming industry?

That'll be Howard Lederer, Justin Bonomo and Dutch Boyd then ? (all EPL eligible, all with shady pasts directly relating to poker).

It's not about the nature of the offence though for me Tim, I think it's about consistency. EPL has basically taken some moral stance that DiVita's offence oversteps their line but everyone else is fine. They fucked up and now their brand is suffering and they're probably going to be sued.

Originally posted by Leatherass9
I think moving forward we need to have some clear boundaries and some stiff penalties.

THIS. Just clarity and consistency.

Don't want to hijack Dusty's blog too much so I won't respond further after this.

nibbana, I'm going to just accept what you say about EPL's inconsistency in its treatment of criminal offences. I am all in favour of consistency, and it sounds like EPL has been damaged by behaving somewhat arbitrarily.

On the other hand, I do think that there is a hierarchy of offences. I consider burglary a pretty serious offence, sex offences as pretty serious again and non-violent drug-related offences, including drug possession, as less serious. Drink-driving is not something I would seek to condone but I do think it is also a less serious offence. (I accept that this is to some degree a personal view). I'm not defending EPL, but I do think it's up to them either to state categorically what criminal offences they deem serious enough to require disqualification (realistically impractical) or take a 'reasonable' view on this. I think it is reasonable of the EPL to permit players with drink-driving offences to play. However, in my opinion it looks very bad for poker if the kind of people who are in the public eye as winning tournaments are unpleasant criminal types, as considered by the public at large.

I'm not saying that there are not other people in the EPL who should also be disqualified, nor am I saying that EPL has been consistent across the board (as I say, I take you at your word that they haven't). But I am seeking to defend their action in this particular case. I think for EPL to just sit back and do nothing when this information comes to light makes them look just as bad as if they act inconsistently harshly.

Furthermore, I stand by my comment that there is an implicit unfairness in giving this guy his buyin back when the other players had to battle through him to win the tournament with no opportunity to get their buyins back (assuming they lost to him). The fact that he happened to win the satellite and obtain a place in the main event ought to be irrelevant to the EPL's treatment of him.

Tim,

I agree that if the player has known that he was not allowed into the event, then that would be an entirely different issue. Those are the EPL rules, as you stated. However, from my understanding of the situation, this player had no idea of the rules, nor were they made clear. And when they let other felons play, why should he think that he could not?

To me, this is the equivalent of getting the death penalty for something that was in the fine print, that is not being enforced across the board. It is only being selectively enforced, as I pointed out with the many examples.

My understanding is they did not make it clear their rules, nor did they say the rules were the same for satellite events. I think if they didn't want him to play, then they are still in a grey area, but fine, they can do what they want. But at least give the guy the cash equivalent of his prize. I am obviously not wanting sex offenders to play on the grandest stages of poker. I think most people are in agreement with that. I do agree poker needs cleaned up. But to me anyway, there is no question that he should have at least been given the cash equivalent of the prize he won. To take away his prize is completely out of line in my opinion.

Originally posted by Leatherass9
And when they let other felons play, why should he think that he could not?

To me, this is the equivalent of getting the death penalty for something that was in the fine print, that is not being enforced across the board. It is only being selectively enforced, as I pointed out with the many examples.

My understanding is they did not make it clear their rules, nor did they say the rules were the same for satellite events. To take away his prize is completely out of line in my opinion.

Good point. I like your thought process. In your posts you give good life points. It is not only about poker, it is always related with life principles. I don't expect everyone to be people I would like to talk and spend time with, but I do expect that some basic rules must be obeyed.

@ Dusty : As golf is very much a mental sport at the highest levels don't you think that the inner self confidence and happiness you exude through your poker and family achievements will transmit itself directly to the golf course (as it already has been this year).

Lets face it, what i'm ultimately asking is - How soon do you see yourself visiting the tour school again?

Apropos of the preceding, EPL just suspended Lederer... Bttr late than nevr, I guess.

Originally posted by Tim64
Apropos of the preceding, EPL just suspended Lederer... Bttr late than nevr, I guess.

And Fergie, mind.

Originally posted by Tim64
Apropos of the preceding, EPL just suspended Lederer... Bttr late than nevr, I guess.

Originally posted by Flopper8
@ Dusty : As golf is very much a mental sport at the highest levels don't you think that the inner self confidence and happiness you exude through your poker and family achievements will transmit itself directly to the golf course (as it already has been this year).

Lets face it, what i'm ultimately asking is - How soon do you see yourself visiting the tour school again?

You make a great point and I absolutely feel like I am much better at golf for what has happened family wise, poker wise and financially. All have helped my golf game tremendously. Right now I live in Oregon. I can't take golf seriously and live in this state because the weather is abysmal and there are no pro tours. If I end up moving, I will likely take golf much more seriously again.

Originally posted by Leatherass9
However, from my understanding of the situation, this player had no idea of the rules, nor were they made clear.

I'm not sure what it is like in America, but in Australia, it is your job to seek out and find the rules. Even if you are an overseas traveller, driving on an international license, it is your duty to find and learn the rules before driving a vehicle on Australian roads. It is not an excuse to say in my country the rules are different.

It's not that I believe the epl is correct in what they have done, just that If these are there rules (and where at the time of the event), than it is no excuse for any player to not know the rules of the tournament series.

Sorry for the bad grammar just got up and in a hurry to get to work. I will edit it on my lunch break, so it will make more sense.

Adz

I have had a lot of thoughts and musings regarding the poker world lately. So I thought I would compile them into one blog here for whatever it's worth.

- I guess you could say the timing of my last blog railing against Annie Duke and her Epic Poker League was pretty funny. I just got through calling her brother Howard Lederer the "Bernie Madoff of Poker" and two days later I read a headline news story calling FTP (for which Howard is a significant shareholder and Board member) a "Ponzi scheme." I wouldn't go so far as to label it that myself, but there is no question at this point that they were paying themselves with player funds, so call it what you want, that SOB still belongs in prison.

For that matter, you can go ahead and throw anyone else who was "in the know" (it will be interesting to find out how many of our poker heroes that entails) regarding FTP in there as well. Maybe they can all go the the same prison and play poker against each other. The loser must "drop the soap" in the showers. That seems to be a fitting payback for Howard Lederer, a man who made himself out to be a poker superstar when he was terrible at poker. Now maybe he might wish he had simply tried to improve his poker game rather than trying to think he was above the law and run an online poker room from the United States.

I was always amazed that those guys tried to get away with that. I don't care how good their lawyers were and how well they tried to create a firewall between their shell company and Full Tilt Poker, you still have to be able to sleep at night don't ya? They thought they had a loophole around the very clear law that has always existed which says that you can not own or operate an online gaming business from the United States. I guess they thought their shell company (Tiltware and now Pocket Kings ltd.) would always keep them protected. Well, they were wrong.

I guess in retrospect we as poker players probably should have had better sense than we had. Why would we expect someone with the mentality of trying to skirt the law in the manner that they did (and flaunt it once they felt they were successful) to also run their business in an ethical way? Anyone with that kind of mentality would surely have to be a strong candidate to do other shady things. Man, I kind of feel a little dumb now for buying in to their whole facade. I hope we see a lot of jail time for these folks involved in this mess.

- Now that such a large number of poker players have been involved in scams as I pointed out in my last blog, and the FTP squad will almost surely never see another endorsement dollar ever again (unless the people paying them are stupid), who the hell are the Las Vegas poker rooms going to endorse if/when online poker becomes licensed and regulated? Who will their "red pros" be? If you think about it, there aren't many poker players left!

A lot depends on who the sponsors are. For example, Phil Hellmuth should be fine to endorse an online Vegas run poker room (think MGMpoker.com or Wynnpoker.com etc.). But if our goal is to get major Fortune 500 brands sponsoring poker players at some point (by wearing clothing at the tables much like golfers wear a major companies logo), in my opinion Hellmuth is screwed. Him continuing to support UB after all of their disasters and also him just looking like a fool on TV all the time isn't going to ever land him a Fortune 500 brand. I think he really shot himself in the foot for the long term, but my guess is he probably made more money than he will ever need, so maybe he is the smart one haha.

That being said, I am SHOCKED that Hellmuth and Annie Duke haven't come across more scrutiny over their UB relationship considering they were essentially paid with player funds as well. I mean UB can't pay everyone now right? And Hellmuth has a truckload of UB money. How is that any different than the situation with Lederer, Furgueson, Furst etc? Why are we so comfortable asking them to return the money but not Hellmuth and Duke? Shoot, I know I wouldn't want to be thought of as a thief if for example my brother were to do something sketchy, so I don't want to draw the comparison that Annie deserves to be investigated simply because her brother is a crook, but often times the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and Annie has an eerily similar situation. I don't understand why she is getting a free pass here.

It will be interesting to see who the Vegas casinos choose to endorse their online poker rooms whenever that day comes. My guess is that they will be looking for people who don't have any baggage. Since the industry will be essentially resetting itself, my hope is that they choose people who were able to stay out of the criminal side of the game of poker and look for representatives who people can actually trust. But the list is so short now!

I guess this is a good example of how doing the right thing in life might actually reward you in the long run. Every prominent player who maintained a clean image and ignored temptation to become a crook has now watched their stock go up tremendously in a licensed and regulated poker environment. Congrats to everyone who falls under the category!

- I do want to applaud Tom Dwan for opening himself up to the poker community by doing open Q & As as well as interviews. He made himself available to answering questions to Noah Stephens-Davidowitz, who in my opinion is easily the most respected poker journalist in the world right now. He runs a site called Subject Poker which is designed to be site containing hard hitting journalism that doesn't exist anywhere else in the poker industry today. If you want the real scoop on what is going on in our industry, Subject Poker is very clearly the best website for that.

Back to Dwan though. I think Dwan's promise to return every cent he was paid from FTP is a great gesture. He plans to return over a million dollars to the players. He is the only player who has stepped up to this point and I think this is a very smart and noble move by Tom Dwan. He was also able to answer a number of tough questions. In some of his interviews, even he has admitted that he still thinks he might be somewhat jaded on his perspective regarding some of the people running FTP because he was friends with them at one point. So he seems somewhat reluctant to fully admit that some of his friends are in fact scumbag criminals, although he has admitted that there is no question that some are. My 2 cents would be that Tom Dwan ought to have a "come to Jesus" (and I don't mean Jesus Furgueson!) moment with himself and just realize that any of his friends who he even thinks "might" be a criminal, IS a criminal.

I have had a very similar situation in my past, and it always takes awhile to be truly convinced that your friends or business partners are indeed scumbags. But in the end, I did come to realize that in my situation that my friends and business partners were all scumbags. I think Tom Dwan is young and it is hard to fault him. But he is going to realize that if it looks like scum, smells like scum and acts like scum, IT IS SCUM!

- I think it will be interesting to see how the FTP mess affects our prospects of fully licensed and regulated online poker. On one hand, it could be viewed as the poster child for why we do need licensing and regulation. On the other hand, it could be viewed as the exact reason why the government should just continue tokill the industry the way they have been. We are all obviously hoping for the former, but man, who knows. This is UGLY!

Within 10 minutes of FTP being labeled a "Ponzi scheme" by the DOJ, I had like 10 emails of the mainstream news article being forwarded to me from friends who don't even play online poker. I will never know their honest opinions on how they perceive this stuff as I am sure they wouldn't want to make me feel badly, but you never know how people perceive this stuff. Sure, every sensible person I talk to agrees that the industry should be regulated, but our country is not run by sensible people.

- They say congress has a 12% approval rating right now. This doesn't make sense because only 1% of the country is rich.

Have you ever met one of these "12% ers"? I would sure be interested to know what categories these people fall under. For example, are they all people who spend under 1 hour a year reading the news? Are they mentally challenged in some way? Are they very poor and have no access to information they way other folks do? Are they people who try and just stay positive no matter what their circumstances? Are they lobbyists that are getting everything they want? I would be interested to know who these people are because I have personally never met one of these exotic "12% ers"?

- I was thinking the other day that the FTP saga would make for an amazing movie someday. Then I saw on 2+2 that they were already throwing around names for what that movie might be called. I do think it would make an amazing movie. You reading this Hollywood?

- Oh what the hell I'm just going to say this: Man am I glad I endorsed Poker Stars and not FTP!

FTP would not have been possible post 2008 for me. I would have taken a pro spot prior to that if offered, but once I realized that they could not prove they were segregating player accounts, I would not have represented them. Once I found that out, I always kept my FTP balances much, much lower than Poker Stars. I was never afraid to keep basically any amount in my account in Poker Stars money, but always cashed out of FTP as fast as I made it, for the most part. Eventually I quit playing on the site in early 2010.

- Finally, I am going to end this blog with a completely shameless plug for my book Treat Your Poker Like A Business Since so many folks are trying to earn money in poker illegitimately, for those who are looking to do things the "right way", this book is perfect for you.

Always great to read your musings on the world of poker. I also hope that anyone connected to FTP who has behaved dishonestly or recklessly with player funds receives stiff legal sanctions.

I also think Dwan comes out of this really well. Just wanted to point out that -- as far as I understand it -- Galfond also made the same promise to personally compensate players to the tune of $1 million. (Didn't want that promise to get lost in the static).

You argued "Why would we expect someone with the mentality of trying to skirt the law in the manner that they did (and flaunt it once they felt they were successful) to also run their business in an ethical way? Anyone with that kind of mentality would surely have to be a strong candidate to do other shady things."

Would it be fair to say that PokerStars also "skirted" the law relating to allowing US players to play, in the same way that FTP did? If I have understood things correctly, PS and FTP were actually in more or less the same boat with regard to their compliance (or lack thereof) with US law relating to online poker. The difference is in their treatment of player funds. So if your argument is right that deliberately "skirting" the law is suggestive of a tendency to act unethically then there's no intrinsic reason why one ought to have expected FTP to be run in a less ethical way than PS. (It just so happens that that's the case).

Originally posted by Tim64
Always great to read your musings on the world of poker. I also hope that anyone connected to FTP who has behaved dishonestly or recklessly with player funds receives stiff legal sanctions.

I also think Dwan comes out of this really well. Just wanted to point out that -- as far as I understand it -- Galfond also made the same promise to personally compensate players to the tune of $1 million. (Didn't want that promise to get lost in the static).

You argued "Why would we expect someone with the mentality of trying to skirt the law in the manner that they did (and flaunt it once they felt they were successful) to also run their business in an ethical way? Anyone with that kind of mentality would surely have to be a strong candidate to do other shady things."

Would it be fair to say that PokerStars also "skirted" the law relating to allowing US players to play, in the same way that FTP did? If I have understood things correctly, PS and FTP were actually in more or less the same boat with regard to their compliance (or lack thereof) with US law relating to online poker. The difference is in their treatment of player funds. So if your argument is right that deliberately "skirting" the law is suggestive of a tendency to act unethically then there's no intrinsic reason why one ought to have expected FTP to be run in a less ethical way than PS. (It just so happens that that's the case).

I think the issue on whether or not offshore sites could service US customers is not a slam dunk case and is something both FTP and PS believed they could do legally. I think the DOJ patiently waiting to get PS and FTP for bank fraud rather than trying to convict them for servicing US customers is very telling in that regard.

What I was speaking of was Lederer, Furgueson etc deciding to start an online poker room here in the U.S. and just create a shell company as a way to do it. IT has been very clear from day 1 that you can not own and/or operate an online poker room and reside in the US. They decided to see if they could pull it off by creating a shell company that described itself as simply a software service to FTP, but everyone knew all along that the software company was just a shell company of FTP. So they were basically both owning and operating an online poker room from the US and that is blatantly illegal and always has been. They just thought they could get away with it by creating a massive firewall between the two companies.

Fair enough - that's my ignorance of the facts at work :).

I still feel slightly uneasy, however, at the implied criticism of FTP. In my mind offering online poker to US players -- whatever the method of doing so -- is an entirely different matter to mishandling player funds.

It seems to me you are saying that because FTP was more "blatant" in the manner in which they achieved their business goal of offering poker to US players, this somehow makes them a more shady organisation. That the attempt to "get away" with something is of itself an indication of shadiness. I don't follow that logic.

You could easily spin it the other way: PS did exactly the same thing but did it offshore, hoping to avoid entirely the purview of the US legislature.

I don't see a fundamental ethical difference between creating shell companies to achieve a business objective and creating offshore vehicles. (Incidentally both are common methods of avoiding or reducing tax, often used in tandem). The fact is that all serious poker players believe the US law against providing poker to its residents is a "bad" law. On that basis it's unreasonable to go from the fact that someone has broken the law to the fact that they are unethical. For example, you openly admitted in a previous post knowingly breaking the law by speeding, presumably because you felt the law was unreasonable as it applied to that stretch of road or that you were better able to judge how fast you could safely drive. The fact that you tried to get away with it by estimating the likelihood of being caught using your poker brain does not, in my opinion, make your breaking the law somehow more "shady".

As I say I'm not an apologist for FTP - I've lost a few thousand dollars to them because I had the 'bad luck' to happen to choose that platform over PS. But I just believe the focus on their wrongdoing should be on how they mismanaged the money, and not on their method of flouting a piece of US legislation that we all of us believed to be bad.

As a follow up to my last blog, I want to continue to make everyone aware that we are selling the last of the Imagine Media copies of Treat Your Poker Like A Business for 50% off the already reduced price. I guess you could say it is a bit of a fire sale at this point. Treat Your Poker Like A Business and Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth have sold tens of thousands of copies over the last couple of years at $39.99 and $49.99 a copy, respectively. Right now you can get these books for $12.49 and $14.99, respectively. This is almost a 75% discount off of their original prices! You can find a copy for yourself http://www.dustyschmidt.net Enter code DUSTY for an additional 50% off the price in the store.

The reason for this sale is not because the books aren't selling and we are simply trying to give them away, but rather because the rights to each of these books have recently been acquired by Cardoza publishing, the same published of Super System, Super System 2 and many other legendary titles. We have been given a very short time frame to liquidate our remaining inventory. After that time expires, you will not be able to purchase either of these copies until they hit the bookshelves in stores across the country and the price will go back up substantially.

So if you are interested in either of these book titles, you should buy them now not only because you won't be able to buy them until they hit the bookstores in Spring of 2012, but also because they will become much more expensive. To get 50% off the already reduced price. If any poker business is interested in buying a large number of copies for whatever reason, please get in touch with me directly at leatherasscoaching@gmail.com. This is the last chance to get the original versions of one of the most popular poker books in recent years and I hope people will take advantage of that opportunity.

I just got back 2 days ago from a really great golf trip to Bandon Dunes golf resort. We played Bandon Crossings, Bandon Trails, Old Macdonald and Pacific Dunes. I improved my score each day shooting a 74,73,72 and 66 respectively. The last day was a round I will not soon forget. After a par on #1, I made a 10 footer for birdie on #2, a 40 footer for birdie on #3, a 50 footer for birdie on #4, a 35 footer for birdie on #5 and a 10 foot birdie putt on #6 for 5 birdies in a row. I caught the lip on #7 from 20 feet for 6 straight. I cooled off after that, playing even par for the remaining holes to shoot a very memorable 66. The wind was down a little by Pacific Dunes standards during the last round. It was only blowing 7-8 MPH with some gusts to about 15 MPH. That helped me to be able to get at some pins I might not normally be able to get to which is kind of fun because I usually play Pac Dunes in huge winds and it is quite a grind.

I just love that 13th hole at Pac Dunes. Wow, what a great hole. I hit a 7 iron into the wind there from 128 yards that never got more than 10 feet off of the ground. The wind was really gusting when we played that hole which is pretty cool if you ask me. Here is the link for anyone interested in checking it out http://www.bandondunesgolf.com/pages/pacific_dunes/50.php

If you are serious about golf and have never been to Bandon, I would highly recommend checking it out. Wow is it a special place.

Originally posted by Leatherass9
As a follow up to my last blog, I want to continue to make everyone aware that we are selling the last of the Imagine Media copies of Treat Your Poker Like A Business for 50% off the already reduced price. I guess you could say it is a bit of a fire sale at this point. Treat Your Poker Like A Business and Don't Listen To Phil Hellmuth have sold tens of thousands of copies over the last couple of years at $39.99 and $49.99 a copy, respectively. Right now you can get these books for $12.49 and $14.99, respectively. This is almost a 75% discount off of their original prices! You can find a copy for yourself http://www.dustyschmidt.net Enter code DUSTY for an additional 50% off the price in the store.

Thanks for that, I ordered both books & ebooks. Looking forward to having a read this evening. Peace.