As a poker player and creator of “Live at the Bike,” the first live stream of cash games on the internet, I am shocked by the fraudulent scandals that are currently rocking the poker world. If the allegations are true, this will be the worst scandal to ever hit a poker broadcast.
Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, Calif., Broadcasts cash games on their “Stones Live” poker stream. Games are broadcast with a delay of 30 minutes. But something went wrong.
Mike Postle, a regular on the river, won at incredible speed according to game theory. There is an old saying in poker that he made a game that would wake the dead. It seems that Postle is getting help from visiting poker88.
This case was so sensational that it even made headlines when Scott Van Pelt reported his story on ESPN. Van Pelt hit the head as he wondered how someone could play poker so accurately to take so long to make all the right decisions without knowing his opponents’ card holes. I am wondering the same thing.
The stream uses RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, which transmits the player’s hole cards to the computer. So how is Mike Postle supposed to get information in real time? That’s the question amid a $ 20 million lawsuit filed by attorney Maurice “Mac” VerStandig on behalf of 24 plaintiffs who were allegedly conned when they played on “Stones Live.”
“The accusations of cheating in streaming games violate the core integrity that binds the poker industry. All players can be trained to bluff at the right time, but the line between representing excess pairs and seeing other players’ hole cards is also fixed because it is sacred. We hope to resolve this case on behalf of our client, and have faith in the justice system, “VerStandig said in a statement.
I have reached out to several people at Stones and have not received a response. The last statement they made on Twitter said, “@StonesGambling is committed to the integrity of our game. We have been alert to accusations of unfair play that have occurred during our “Stones Live” game stream broadcast and have acted swiftly to investigate. “
I asked David Tuchman, one of the original commentators on “Live at the Bike,” for his thoughts on the Postle scandal. He said, “I really believe in math, and I’m a fanatic about statistics. This is simply not right. “
A group of dedicated poker players go to great lengths to expose the scandal. Veronica Brill, one of the river’s commentators, staked her reputation by bringing her suspicions first to Stone’s management, then to the attention of Joey Ingram, who carried out an extensive investigation. Doug Polk, Matt Berkey and Tuchman are all to be commended for investigating these allegations of fraud.
Bart Hanson, another original commentator on “Live at the Bike,” said his best.
“I hope the entire poker community can learn from this situation, and it will strengthen the safety of live poker streams across the country.”
I strongly agree.
As technology has advanced in poker, so has cheating. I’ve seen a lot in my poker game for days from south to California and everywhere in between. I can write a whole book. There has been an unspoken code of silence in poker for too long, and now it’s time to be broken.
