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As Sherdog's official poker representative (unless someone else cashed at the WSOP this year)
, I thought there should be a thread about this.
Possibly the biggest scandal in poker history is currently being investigated at The Stones Gambling Hall in California. Yes, bigger than Full Tilt lending out player funds, Ultimate Bet Superuser, sharing Isildur's hand histories, Alec Torelli's big chips, Freddy Deeb going south on HSP, Jeff Lisandro's ante, all of it.
So Stones runs a live stream cash game that plays 1/3 and 5/5, usually 1 or 2 straddles. And they have 1 player who NEVER loses. Guy is like 67 for 69 in live streamed cash games. Up 250k in under 3 years. His name is Mike "The God" Postle.
The live stream has resorted to creating memes of him as Jesus and a God and a poker wizard to put on the screen every time he inexplicably rakes in a monster in an impossible spot. If you're a competent no limit hold em player you can watch one hand and know that he can't possibly achieve his results with his level of poker knowledge and ability. In reality, no human being could. Or even a bot designed to beat humans at poker. You couldn't possibly achieve his results without knowing the cards. His lack of ability is almost irrelevant.
Last month, I believe, an employee at the casino who worked as a commentator for several of the live streams called him out for cheating and posted about 10 suspicious hands on Twitter. Since then many members of the poker community have gone into an extensive investigation of his playing history. The official investigation was allegedly conducted by Stones, and found nothing suspicious, before being concluded after a few days. They have since promised to re-launch a more thorough investigation.
In the meantime, poker players have compiled all of Postle's results from the live stream. They've collected first hand accounts from players in the games, players who have played with Postle before, etc. They've spoken to experts on poker live streaming and RFID(card reading) software. Some have dedicated their streaming channels to watching particular hands and streams that Postle has played. One in particular, Joey Ingram, has dedicated his channel to watching every single second of Mike Postle on stream. He has streamed 5+ hours of Postle playing every day this week. Doug Polk is also doing more formatted videos on his channel every day, including a 2-hour live stream with Ingram.
The leading theories, and most probable explanations, are what make this one of the biggest scandals in gambling history, and likely the biggest in poker. It appears that Postle is working with at the very least the poker room manager in charge of the game and a member of the production staff. It is also possible that he is working with the entire production staff, as he has been linked to them through social media sites. And even deleted his Linkedin profile, that indicated he was involved in production of live streams.
The way it was executed is not as clear. He spends a lot of time looking down at his phone, keeps a couple random objects on the table, always wears a hat with brim curved and low. The leading theory here is actually bone conduction headphones sewed into his hat. This is supported by the fact that his hat looks stuffed when he's at the table vs not. And he holds his hands on his head like a quarterback listening for a play call on the road when he's about to make an unorthodox decision.
Here are some solid videos breaking it down:
Cliffs:
-Poker live stream with stakes of about 1k-3k hosted at Stones Gambling Hall
-Player wins EVERY time
-Keeps coming back to take money from same people while pretending to be friends
-Up about 250k in 3 years
-Appears to be working with members of casino staff and stream production staff
-They actually covered it on Sportscenter last night
UPDATE--1/13/2020:
Postle and The Stones Casino are being sued by the whistleblower, Veronica Brill, and 24 players who participated in the game for 10 million dollars.
This is the court filing:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:323fafc0-e583-4c19-91be-dc7d1610c53b
These are the allegations:
–1. Racketeering (violation of federal Racketeer Influence Corrupt Organization Act) – against Postle and all Does (generic reference to anyone else found to be involved)
–2. Fraud – against Postle and all Does
–3. Negligent misrepresentation – against all defendants
–4. Negligence per se (as causing damage to plaintiffs) – against Postle and all Does
–5. Unjust enrichment – against Postle
–6. Negligence – against Stones and Kuraitis
–7. Constructive fraud (via unfair methods) – against Stones
–8. Fraud – against Stones and Kuraitis
–9. Libel – against Stones
Current status of proceedings:
–A local process server tried to serve the defendant at his home on December 19, 22, 24, 29, and 30, and January 2.
–VerStandig spoke with William Portanova, who stated in October media interviews that he represented Postle. He said he would confer with his client, who he represented as a criminal defense attorney but not in the civil matter.
–Portanova then stopped responding to VerStandig.
–VerStandig personally tried to serve Postle at his California home on January 3. After eight minutes of knocking and ringing the doorbell, he returned to his car despite lights being on in the house, a car in the driveway, and noises heard in the house.
–VerStandig monitored the house from his car and saw a male appearing to be Postle in the house. After again knocking and receiving no answer, VerStandig placed the summons and complaint between the security door and front door.
Cliffs: Postle is dodging the summons
Lol:
, I thought there should be a thread about this.Possibly the biggest scandal in poker history is currently being investigated at The Stones Gambling Hall in California. Yes, bigger than Full Tilt lending out player funds, Ultimate Bet Superuser, sharing Isildur's hand histories, Alec Torelli's big chips, Freddy Deeb going south on HSP, Jeff Lisandro's ante, all of it.
So Stones runs a live stream cash game that plays 1/3 and 5/5, usually 1 or 2 straddles. And they have 1 player who NEVER loses. Guy is like 67 for 69 in live streamed cash games. Up 250k in under 3 years. His name is Mike "The God" Postle.
The live stream has resorted to creating memes of him as Jesus and a God and a poker wizard to put on the screen every time he inexplicably rakes in a monster in an impossible spot. If you're a competent no limit hold em player you can watch one hand and know that he can't possibly achieve his results with his level of poker knowledge and ability. In reality, no human being could. Or even a bot designed to beat humans at poker. You couldn't possibly achieve his results without knowing the cards. His lack of ability is almost irrelevant.
Last month, I believe, an employee at the casino who worked as a commentator for several of the live streams called him out for cheating and posted about 10 suspicious hands on Twitter. Since then many members of the poker community have gone into an extensive investigation of his playing history. The official investigation was allegedly conducted by Stones, and found nothing suspicious, before being concluded after a few days. They have since promised to re-launch a more thorough investigation.
In the meantime, poker players have compiled all of Postle's results from the live stream. They've collected first hand accounts from players in the games, players who have played with Postle before, etc. They've spoken to experts on poker live streaming and RFID(card reading) software. Some have dedicated their streaming channels to watching particular hands and streams that Postle has played. One in particular, Joey Ingram, has dedicated his channel to watching every single second of Mike Postle on stream. He has streamed 5+ hours of Postle playing every day this week. Doug Polk is also doing more formatted videos on his channel every day, including a 2-hour live stream with Ingram.
The leading theories, and most probable explanations, are what make this one of the biggest scandals in gambling history, and likely the biggest in poker. It appears that Postle is working with at the very least the poker room manager in charge of the game and a member of the production staff. It is also possible that he is working with the entire production staff, as he has been linked to them through social media sites. And even deleted his Linkedin profile, that indicated he was involved in production of live streams.
The way it was executed is not as clear. He spends a lot of time looking down at his phone, keeps a couple random objects on the table, always wears a hat with brim curved and low. The leading theory here is actually bone conduction headphones sewed into his hat. This is supported by the fact that his hat looks stuffed when he's at the table vs not. And he holds his hands on his head like a quarterback listening for a play call on the road when he's about to make an unorthodox decision.
Here are some solid videos breaking it down:
Cliffs:
-Poker live stream with stakes of about 1k-3k hosted at Stones Gambling Hall
-Player wins EVERY time
-Keeps coming back to take money from same people while pretending to be friends
-Up about 250k in 3 years
-Appears to be working with members of casino staff and stream production staff
-They actually covered it on Sportscenter last night
UPDATE--1/13/2020:
Postle and The Stones Casino are being sued by the whistleblower, Veronica Brill, and 24 players who participated in the game for 10 million dollars.
This is the court filing:
https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:323fafc0-e583-4c19-91be-dc7d1610c53b
These are the allegations:
–1. Racketeering (violation of federal Racketeer Influence Corrupt Organization Act) – against Postle and all Does (generic reference to anyone else found to be involved)
–2. Fraud – against Postle and all Does
–3. Negligent misrepresentation – against all defendants
–4. Negligence per se (as causing damage to plaintiffs) – against Postle and all Does
–5. Unjust enrichment – against Postle
–6. Negligence – against Stones and Kuraitis
–7. Constructive fraud (via unfair methods) – against Stones
–8. Fraud – against Stones and Kuraitis
–9. Libel – against Stones
Current status of proceedings:
–A local process server tried to serve the defendant at his home on December 19, 22, 24, 29, and 30, and January 2.
–VerStandig spoke with William Portanova, who stated in October media interviews that he represented Postle. He said he would confer with his client, who he represented as a criminal defense attorney but not in the civil matter.
–Portanova then stopped responding to VerStandig.
–VerStandig personally tried to serve Postle at his California home on January 3. After eight minutes of knocking and ringing the doorbell, he returned to his car despite lights being on in the house, a car in the driveway, and noises heard in the house.
–VerStandig monitored the house from his car and saw a male appearing to be Postle in the house. After again knocking and receiving no answer, VerStandig placed the summons and complaint between the security door and front door.
Cliffs: Postle is dodging the summons
Lol:
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