[Closed] Truth about Sapheal

this is bigger
i dont want to reveal any unconfirmed information right now, but hope that finally it gonna by fully explained

Truth cannot be erase just like that. If not 7OKER sb will paste this over and over again so better think about another strategy than delating posts...

still kinda confusing, more info?
while a good coach definitely doesnt have to be a good player, what is important is the integrity of the coach... if he lies about his accomplishments and stuff like that, obv his poker advice is kinda dubious..

Hi all,

there's no need to silence anything.

We are currently looking into the situation. This involves doing our own research and speaking to Sapheal about the allegations.

We will have an update for you next week.

Hey there,

in all our societies, there is one rule:
In dubio pro reo.

There is no intention whatsoever to "remove uncomfortable topics". We are thankful for any information we received, but you must understand while we are still investigating, it's not a good idea to have dozens of threads open around, all with the same content.

As soon as we have finished investigating, there will be a statement - until then; I would like to ask you to slow down a little & keep the discussion limited to one thread and keep personal information outside this discussion for the time being.

Best,
Lutz

Hello guys,

As previously mentioned by Korn and Lutz, we very much appreciate your feedback and currently Sapheal's case is under investigation.

I shouldn't have to remind you, that you are always welcome to discuss any topics and express your opinion.

However, I kindly ask you to keep the discussion in a friendly matter and refrain disclosing any personal details or use offensive language.

Please note that, we will edit posts which aren't in coordination with our forum rules (no matter if it's about any community member or an employee of PokerStrategy.com).

Thank you and wish you a nice weekend to all of you!
Ingrid

Perhaps I'll be able to shed some light on the whole situation. I urge the moderators/admins to not percieve this post as an attack on Sapheal or PokerStrategy itself but rather a synthetic explanation of the storm that's been ongoing in the polish section.

The entire 'scandal' unravelled in Saphael's coaching thread in the polish section of PokerStrategy and has since then moved on to at least two other threads, each being one of the fastest growing ever.
Saphael's offer of 3000$ for 4 hours of coaching (sic!) which was said to be a comprehensive approach at bettering the student's game (including elaborate techniques like 'making magic') caught the eye of polish MTT player and Team PokerStrategy member. Being quite surprised at the high rate Saphael was charging the player enquired about validation of Saphael's supposed skills at crushing nl2k etc. which, it is my firm belief, anyone would deem as a reasonable request before making such an investment. Dodging these requests Saphael provided essentially nothing except words and rehashing previous statements and vague feedback statements from no one in particular. As the situation started growing larger, two other prominent and well respected players/coaches voiced their concerns. Moderation acted swiftly and removed a larger portion of the posts in Saphael's coaching thread causing another outcry of rage from the users who were feeling ignored and suspected someone was trying to hide some kind of uncomfortable truth about Saphael under the carpet.

Another thread appeared, reaching almost 20 pages in just a couple of hours before being closed by the moderation. This thread consolidated a huge amount of allegations (found mostly in the OP) but also added a new light to Saphael's persona and suspicious and highly unethical behavior (being abusive towards other players at nl50 and acting overly superiour towards other PokerStrategy users). When it became obviously unclear whether Saphael was as qualified as he claimed users demanded satisfaction from the staff which in turn was throwing around the blame to each other and giving contradictory statements about Saphael's involvement in the polish community as well as his recruitment.

to be continued I guess

Hi Quadis,

Thank you for your feedback and also for keeping this in a friendly tone. I really appreciate it.

I apologize not to comment on your post but more follow up will come from the management. I'm sure you understand that.

Ingrid

Dear community,

as you have probably noticed there was a heated-up debate about Michal aka Sapheal

We, PokerStrategy.com, have investigated the case and we would like to officially communicate the result, along with our reasoning. The final outcome is:

As of this morning (25.07.2011) Michal does not work for PokerStrategy.com anymore. He was released with immediate effect, whereas all internal accounts have been deactivated since we started the internal investigation on Friday afternoon.

Why?

1. Towards our community, VIPs and other coaches, Michal did not make the appearance we expect from our employees/coaches. There is proof that - at least partly - he did not speak the truth and that certain accusations are correct. The graphs he posted for the purpose of exoneration did not provide sufficient support for the winnings he claims to have made. We currently have no other choice but to believe that at least parts of the allegations against him are correct.

2. Michal deleted critical posts in the English forum without informing the English team. This is correctly to be perceived as suppression of information and underlines the suspicions raised, which damages our reputation.

3. Michal should not even have offered private coaching for the given extremely high rates as this was potentially creating a conflict of interest between his work in Gibraltar and his relation to single Community members.

We strive to have a coaching and staff-team that is perceived as role models towards the community. In Michal’s case we do not believe that he acted as in such way and that he will not be perceived as a role model in the future. Thus, we cannot accept him to be part of our staff anymore. We apologize to the community and everybody who feels offended by Michal’s behaviour.

Best,
OnkelHotte

Finally a liar gets what he is worth.

Originally posted by musashi87
Finally a liar gets what he is worth.

+1

But I have a few questions:

Originally posted by OnkelHotte
We currently have no other choice but to believe that at least parts of the allegations against him are correct.

Which one exactly?

How was he able to delete posts? He wasn't a moderator, was he?

What does exactly mean "conflict of interest" between working for PS in Gibraltar and coaching students?

Hey casalinga87,

to be honest, there were more than 50 pages of forum posts so even I am not sure if I am aware of all allegations.
However the most proof was found when it comes to bragging and lying about winrates and total winnings + deleting posts + inappropriate private coaching offer.

Conflict of interest: You don't want to have an employee having an official avatar working in Gibraltar doing private business in a large scale (huge hourly rates) with customers. Conflict comes when you can earn a lot for private business having the "advantage" of the official avatar.

Brings me to your second question:
As an employee in Gibraltar the account Michal was his official account as a full time employee. This account was able to delete posts.

Best,
Tobias

Why i dont see something like that:
"thanks for the Polish community, which has conducted five days ago and discovered its own investigation much more than is written here" ?

Sorry my bad english

Valid point. However we wanted to keep it as crisp as possible.

I think there's a question that Pokerstrategy should answer:
How did you decided to hire this guy in the 1st place?

I used to believe that the coachs hired by PS were great players with given proof. How can we trust other coachs we don't know but that PS says they're good.
Because if the criteria used for hiring new guys is based on their word, I think I should apply.

I usually play against Phil Ivey and I have won 50 kk from him. When do you want my first video? (2k USD/hour)

Originally posted by tfsantos
I think there's a question that Pokerstrategy should answer:
How did you decided to hire this guy in the 1st place?

I used to believe that the coachs hired by PS were great players with given proof. How can we trust other coachs we don't know but that PS says they're good.
Because if the criteria used for hiring new guys is based on their word, I think I should apply.

I usually play against Phil Ivey and I have won 50 kk from him. When do you want my first video? (2k USD/hour)

Most of other coaches have no problem with showing their winnings. You just have to know their nicks to ckeck it out. Saphael refused to reveal his real nicks, and thoes that other players found where loossing a lot of money.

Hey there,

please keep in mind he was not "just" hired to do coaching videos as a regular coach, this is usually done by freelance coaches.

Michal convinced us during the recruitment that he follows a holistic approach of how to teach poker and we believed he could contribute to improve the whole strategy section for advanced players. We should also keep in mind that winrates alone are not the only parameter of being a good poker teacher or not.
In addition he was at that stage to our knowledge an accepted and appreciated hand judge in the Polish community.

True, we did not dig deep enough to look behind the facade and treated this too superficially.
That was a mistake and we now have to pay the bill. However I would like to state that it is very very hard find good poker teachers which are able to improve the strategy section in a holistic way, thus we were too eager to hire someone to take over this role. Our intention was always to get the scarce manpower to improve our educational offer for you. We again apologize that this did not end well and did not provide the desired result.

Best,
Tobias

Dear PokerStrategy

After a thorough and deep consideration of this unfortunate situation I inform you that..

On behalf of the PokerStrategy community..

WE FORGIVE YOU.

Kind Regards