As always, we here at the Chronicle like to weigh in on the current poker drama. Our topics almost always originate from Twitter, and we may or may not do some follow-up research on other mediums. Well, this topic is a doozy. Did Postle cheat while playing on live streams at Stones Poker?
Clips have shown the following 3 examples of allegedly questionable play: he won unconventional pots by making insane bluffs, he lost the minimum when he should have lost the maximum, and he made hero folds.
Allegations include the use of RFID reader, an app to hack the live stream to the booth, and having an inside man at the forum.
Defenders state he is exceptional at reading people, and the forum states they investigated and found no evidence of cheating, electronic or otherwise.
What should we believe? Would @Angry_Pollock bring this accusation forward completely randomly, without any merit or solid proof? Is there a backstory here that a random-rec like F&O don’t know about? Bad history between the two? Longtime rumors that should finally be addressed? The need to be at the forefront of poker social media? Did someone put her up to it? From what we gather, the forum was notified of cheating suspicions before the allegations were made public, as it should have been. The responsible way. Ergo, F&O believe there is no malicious intent on AP’s part. Moving on.
@StonesLivePoker addresses the issue publicly, after the Twitter storm ensues. They did have a complaint, they investigated the complaint, and they determined no wrong-doing had occurred. Is there a reason to doubt the validity of their response? Nope. The last thing in the world a card-room wants is to have a reputation for crookedness. Poker rooms must be clean and safe in order to get their bread and butter in the doors: random-recs like F&O and the pros who play there. Rumors of cheating is a sure way of losing business. Ergo, F&O believe Stones is on the up and up, and they did look into it.
Then we have the responses from @Mike_Postle. There is pretty much no need for a summary, as he denies all allegations <- obvious. He offers up video where he has actually lost pots and made mistakes. He puts forth his 16 year career playing poker, and says he is good at reading people, and that he has had a good run as of late. He mentions ‘fighting for his daughter’ (a little off topic) and says that his accusers have it out for him. He calls them jealous haters, and challenges his accusers to a string of heads up matches.
Huh. Frankly, we here at the F&O Chronicle don’t know what to make of this. If we were accused of cheating, publicly, where our every-single-move over many years was scrutinized and then analyzed by ‘pros’, we would probably be A. Quite angry and distressed if it were not true or B. Quite scared and distressed it it were true. Either way, his responses are not out of line. We cannot come to a solid opinion.
Breaking news in the past 24 hours (seems to come in hourly on this topic): Since the above summary was written, @StonesLivePoker has ceased live streams and will be doing a third party investigation. Additionally, a defender of M.P. (@Nick_Rice) has gone on a long Twitter-narrative, defending his honor.
The Chronicle would like to address the latter first, as F&O had a lengthy conversation amongst themselves over numerous lemon-drops about the actual allegations. The conclusion F & O came to regarding his unbelievable exceptional plays (culled & edited from hours of footage) is in line with what N.R. has to say: he could very well be playing the player. If he were cheating, and knew for certain his opponent had him beat, why would he lose the minimum by calling and not folding on the river? He could just fold and save money. Even Hellmuth brags about folding kings. Neither F nor O play GTO, we think throwing words like “blockers” and “pot odds” and “ranges” around as if they are a certainty in this game is ridiculous. Doyle didn’t fleece all those suckers in the backroom Texas cardrooms thinking about blockers, he did it by playing his game – reading the player and exploiting them. Yes, today Doyle’s opponents have changed (okay, except the rich fish who want to 1-off a game with him in Bobby’s room), but I bet he still plays an A game reading his villains. Here is the thing, if you judge people who don’t play with what YOU consider to be optimal playing strategy, then you are a pompous ass. We would love to play a game with you ~ at lower stakes of course.
Next topic: Should Stones have done a 3rd party investigation and stopped the live-stream when A.P. brought forth her complaint prior to making it public? The answer is, we have no opinion, not enough data, but we still think they did right. Stones was not given the amount of questionable content that they have been presented with now that every poker player in the world has assembled it for them. The Chronicle believes that Stones acted in good faith the first time around, but then again, we do try to live by the innocent until proven guilty in our off-hours. I mean seriously folks, if Player A accuses Player B of cheating in any poker game, the casino takes a look-see via means available (surveillance, brief interviews). If it’s true, they deal with it. If not, they report back to the accuser that all is on the up & up. They don’t stop the game for hours or days, call in a third party, and make a federal case out of it. F&O have seen enough people quietly picked up and taken out of the poker room to know that accusations are taken seriously.
Where does this leave us, here at the Chronicle? We think Stones should get a third party involved, now that the poker community has made a case for it. Not because they are a bunch of drama queens (boy howdy), but because a few of them have presented some valid questionable footage concerning M.P’s actions~ specifically, hat touching and phone usage at odd times. Those look real sketchy. Then again, it’s the internet and we all know if it’s on the internet it must be true. For those of you watching from afar yet jumping on the ‘he is cheating for sure’ bandwagon, please take into account you are seeing selected pieces of information, not all of it. What we are really waiting for is the response from @Mike_Postle. Is he going to turn over his hats and phone voluntarily? Even if he is innocent, he does not have to ~ no one should be subjected to that mega invasion of privacy without a warrant. But then again, if you want to end this saga… Actions do speak louder than words.
M.P. is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. If he is guilty of cheating, no sympathy. If he is determined to be in the clear, there is going to be a lot of backlash for everyone involved and lots of people put through a sweat.
Good luck all-in, whoever you are. We are all waiting for the run-out.
Fin
Flynn