I read the Rob Yong blog.

I believe most of it, but it doesn't change much in my mind.

It's BS that you have to be concerned about the mental state or intoxication level of your wealthy poker opponent. If Leon was so drunk that he could barely read his hand, that's his problem. Alternately, it could also be the casino's problem (they're supposed to kick out any gambler showing signs of severe intoxication), but it sure as hell ain't Matt Kirk's problem.

The rest of the blog goes on about Matt being wishy-washy regarding the terms he would accept for payment. It's a really strange story. First he and Yong agreed that the right thing to do would be to ask for $2 million and play heads up for the other million (basically $2.5M equity, and actually more considering Kirk is the favorite). Then Leon AGREED to this, and for unknown reasons, Matt went back on the deal and demanded the whole $3M.

Then Leon ended up offering Matt a LOL $1 million total a few days later, and instead of telling Leon to stuff it, Matt accepted it out of anger, planning to use it later to ruin Leon's reputation.

Huh.

I've never seen it before where one ACCEPTS a bad deal out of anger with the person offering it to them.

So here we are.

Some may argue that Matt twice accepted deals and then rejected them later, but Leon was in the driver's seat both times, because he held the money. When you have an asshole who owes you money and won't pay, you often have to make the decision of whether you should "agree" to take partial payment and eat the rest, or risk not getting paid at all. That shouldn't absolve the other party of the remaining debt -- at least not morally. This is also why, legally, it is NEVER smart to take partial payment unless you have a written agreement that it does not affect the remaining money owed. So Matt screwed up there, if his intention was to sue for the rest (though I think he initially wrote off the $2 million owed, and figured he would just go scorched earth on Leon's rep).

Also, it can't be forgotten that Leon has stiffed others in the same manner before, so this wasn't a one-time misunderstanding or unusual situation.

Matt should have either held firm from the start -- demanding the entire $3M and eventually threatening to go public (and sue him) if Leon wouldn't pay -- or made some kind of deal to both get paid immediately AND secure potential further action from Leon. In this case, he first did the latter, and then had second thoughts and went back to the former.

That's not really a good look -- or a good way to go about things -- but the bottom line is that he won $3 million from Leon fair and square, and if Leon doesn't pay, he's a no-good scamming piece of shit.