Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
The problem with the "is this match legit" argument is that there's absolutely no way to prove it on either side.
Also, as I've said many times, this could even be rigged without Galfond knowing it. Remember, he has investors -- both in his poker site and the match (perhaps the same people) -- who likely have some kind of relationship with the site programmers.
But this doesn't even have to be poker cheating. As I said, if there is something shady going on, the most likely scenario would be that nobody is cheating, and that Veni simply agreed to throw the match and they won't settle up.
Two things can be true at once. HU PLO can have huge variance, AND you could have someone throwing a match. Phil might be willing to do something like this, rationalizing that the upside is that it saves his poker crusher reputation while not actually cheating anyone.
I will say that, from what I know of Phil, I couldn't see him agreeing to actually rig a match and cheat someone out of money. But having an opponent agree to pretend to lose.... that I could see, if the benefits from it were great enough.
With all of that said, I am not saying it's likely that Phil did any of this. The most likely scenario is that all of this is legit. However, one would be a fool to completely ignore this possibility.
