Cole South accuses Eli Elezra of scamming him of $40k and practicing avoidance

Major embarrassment for Eli Elezra and 2+2.

The background:

Eli Elezra has written an autobiography, and he's publishing it through Two Plus Two Publishing.

In order to promote the book, Eli, who doesn't usually post on forums, showed up on 2+2's NVG forum and did an "Ask Me Anything" thread.

A few people asked Eli about accusations regarding bad poker debts and scamming, and Eli denied everything. "I pay my debts", said Eli several times in the thread.

People reluctantly accepted these answers, until "cts" -- aka Cole South -- showed up in the thread and posted this:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cts

I really don't like to get involved in public drama, but I can't stay on the sidelines when I see something like this.

Eli borrowed $100k from me during a cash game in Bobby's Room on July 15th 2010, toward the end of a long summer where we played a ton against each other and generally got along very well. At the end of the session, one of the most seasoned high stakes Vegas regs pulled me aside and warned me what I did wasn't a good idea, and not to do it again.

We didn't cross paths my final few days in Vegas that summer. Over the course of the next year, he was responsive and widdled down the debt from $100k to $40k (a few grand at a time, via Full Tilt transfer), which he still owes me. By summer 2011, he had stopped making payments but was still responsive with plenty of reasons why he couldn't.

Since then, he's been basically nonresponsive. I've sent him messages every now and then when he's hit a big tournament score and he's ignored them. The only time I got a response was when we were both in Vegas playing the same tournament, and he asked me not to make a public scene about it. I still have screen shots of texts and other evidence, but would like to give him a chance to respond before sharing more.

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Source: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=202


Eli vanished after that post, and I'm guessing isn't coming back.

Now Mason Malmuth is taking heat for failing to do his due diligence regarding Eli, especially since the book apparently does not honestly address the scamming/owing money rumors, despite being a supposed tell-all autobiography.

Some are pressuring Mason to drop Eli's book unless Eli agrees to have his share of the profits diverted directly to Cole South.

Mat Sklansky showed up briefly and posted this:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mat Sklansky

Piping in. If a mistake was made here, it was a mistake. I won't have anything further to say on the matter until we have more information and that will clearly take time.

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Mason claims that he didn't know about the Cole South debt at the time the agreement to publish was made (which I agree), but it seems unlikely that Mason didn't know that there were many stories like this about Eli, including ones published all over Mason's own forum.

Developing...

Gookie still obsessing in that thread , asking Eli if he knows Todd....

He doesn’t.

OH SNAAAAP

Not surprised he hasn't heard of me. We've had zero interaction aside from playing a short time last year at the WSOP.

Anyway, he posted an "explanation" regarding what happened with Cole:

Quote:

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What happened with Cole and I goes back to the Full Tilt days. He has a very different understanding than I do of what we agreed on back then. It was a private conversation and it is not something I will address here, or on any public forum. This is the last time I will be addressing this issue on this thread. Cole, you are welcome to contact me and we can discuss how to resolve our differences.

I’m happy to stay on the thread a little longer and keep answering any genuine questions people have about me, my life, the book, etc.

That’s all for now.

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Source: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=336

:lol

You've gotta be freaking kidding me.

Cole responds to Eli's laughable answer: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=360


Also, Cole posted this:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...r-Id%3D3137511

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Major embarrassment for Eli Elezra and 2+2.

The background:

Eli Elezra has written an autobiography, and he's publishing it through Two Plus Two Publishing.

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Minor quibble: this book was originally published in Israel a couple years ago; biography was written in Hebrew, and recently translated into English at the behest of 2p2. English version now available via 2p2.

Elezra didnt write any of the book, unless I'm misunderstanding my Hebrew. It's a bio, not autobio.

Still a scammer, just some minor corrections on the book.

Lol mason deleted the thread. What a fucking joke

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Cole responds to Eli's laughable answer: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=360


Also, Cole posted this:

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...r-Id%3D3137511

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Cole South can’t afford to update iOS? What year is this

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Erin Micunt

Lol mason deleted the thread. What a fucking joke

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The bigger joke is that I didn't copy/paste the Cole South response because I didn't want to be hassled by Mason's lawyer again for posting too many copy/pastes from a thread there.

And now it's gone, and I wish I had. Maybe I can dig in the cache and find it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrTickle

Cole South can’t afford to update iOS? What year is this

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looks like a screenshot from 2012...

Here's a Sklansky post I fished out.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the Cole South 2nd post except for the text message screenshot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by David Sklansky

First to set the record straight, I have not read the book, had nothing to do with the project, and have no piece of it. I am a part owner of the website but not the publishing business. I have a small piece of most other author's strategy books in return for reviewing them.

When Mason told me he was going to publish Eli's autobiography, I asked him if Eli's issues had been resolved and he said yes. He mentioned three normally trustworthty people who had recommended that the book be published. I knew that Mason tends to trust others more than he should but I didn't worry about it because the book wasn't in the same category as possibly fallacious information that could cost people money. Furthermore, if it was in fact true that Eli owed money and was slow paying it back, it
by no means, meant that those who were owed, objected to the book.

In other words the lack of absolute certainty about Eli's situation seemed acceptable in a way that it would not have been if he was selling something more than the book itself. Especially if no aggrieved parties (who I am almost sure knew about the book in advance) were objecting. This is a different situation than when Mason is asked to sell or advertise something that has a decent chance of being a scam. Mason pulls the plug on them even though it costs him a lot more money than not publishing Eli's book would have.

If the book contains significant lies it should not be sold. Even though I am sure that many autobiographies do contain such lies. So if anyone knows of falsehoods tell Mason.
I also think a good case could be made that the book shouldn't be sold if there are in fact numerous victims out there who are appalled or insulted by the book. Thirdly a book written by an out and out criminal shouldn't usually be published (Exception: if it contains both original and very helpful ideas for the reader. If so it doesn't matter if it was written by Ghengis Kahn. How people like Kilowatt and others don't see that is beyond me.) But to think a true and interesting book shouldn't be sold ONLY because hi rollers who actually want the book to be read were mistreated by the author (if in fact that was the case) borders on silliness.

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Uh oh!!!

Mat Sklansky posted, "Quick update. We've been hit with some surprises here and still trying to process information. Mason will certainly have more to say on the subject later today."

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...9&postcount=70

This is getting good!

:popcorn

BTW, Mason started a replacement thread here: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...hread-1734290/ .... but of course all the good stuff from the old thread is gone, which I'm sure was the intention.

Shaaaaaaaaady.

Ya i came here to post when he took down at 3:17 am, but in classic fashion the fraud site was also down lol

Do they have precedent for taking down threads at the request of the accused? shady AF

I kinda agree with Sklansky. Who cares if 2+2 publishes a billshit autobiography of a “celebrity” scammer.

I think all the outrage is just a reflection of our online outrage culture, of which there is no shortage of on 2+2, and no one really gives a shit outside of that.

Thread is back up (locked), scammers should always be outed and chided for the scumbags they are. Poker embraces them way too much as it is ...

Does anybody actually belive he's a lifetime winner at the Bellagio?

I've heard conservative estimates he's down 10 million in the last 10 years.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Salty_Aus

Does anybody actually belive he's a lifetime winner at the Bellagio?

I've heard conservative estimates he's down 10 million in the last 10 years.

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I bet he’s a losing player but the endorsements and FT money kept him a float like a lot of people during that time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drawingdead

I bet he’s a losing player but the endorsements and FT money kept him a float like a lot of people during that time.

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I bet at some point he was a successful business man, but has since has lost most if not all of his wealth gambling. I wouldn't be surprised if he was deep into the red and in real financial trouble right now, and owing $40K to some poker nerd who will never do anything about it is the least of his problems.

Lotsa people already heard the rumors of Eli owing and not paying so when the 2+2 AMA thread came up we were all thinking WTF!? I mean there was a thread dedicated to Eli's debts and financial problems on 2+2 already. Maybe Mason and Matt are going senile? Even a half-tard would have seen this coming.