http://www.pokernews.com/news/2016/0...eves-24084.htm
Pictured: Sammy Touil
Ruh roh!
Cliffs: I hope you're sitting down - some poker players don't pay back their loans.
http://www.pokernews.com/news/2016/0...eves-24084.htm
Pictured: Sammy Touil
Ruh roh!
Cliffs: I hope you're sitting down - some poker players don't pay back their loans.
Galfond makes a lot of valid points. Druff has mentioned a bunch of these in the past on radio as well where the people stay silent because it's their best chance to get paid back but once this guy started his Touli guy started his bullshit saying he would tell them he only received a 50k loan which he paid back and it would be on camera assuming the initial loan wasn't you can just tell how much of a scamming thieve the dude really is.
High Stakes players hand out big chunks of money too easily. It's been going on like that for decades but scammers need to be outed as quickly as possible to hopefully stop others from being scammed by the same person.
Galfond is 100% right.
As I've said many times before, scammers love secrets.
The natural way to feel when someone owes you money is that you SHOULDN'T out them, because this will cause them to get angry and refuse to pay you out of spite.
It turns out that it's the opposite. If you out a scammer's debt (or even just a longtime unpaid loan) to the public, he will want to take care of it quickly, so as to keep up appearances and end the controversy. Keeping quiet is exactly what he wants you to do. Furthermore, when you keep quiet, you also enable him to scam others.
Reputation is very important to scammers. Once word gets around that they are shady, people won't loan them money.
The squeaky wheel also gets the grease. The more you press, the more likely you get paid.
If someone owes you money -- especially someone known or semi-known -- you should start out aggressively contacting them about it. Like, bug them every day, or at least every 2 days, until they start paying you. Offer to let them make payments in small increments. Even $100/week adds up to over $5k/year. Persistence will often get you paid first. If that doesn't work, gently threaten to take it public with language such as, "I trust that you will make this right. I don't think that bringing this out in public is the way to go, so hopefully we can get this resolved."
And if that fails, go public.
So good for Galfond.
Galfond just tweeted the following:
I really appreciate the kind words about the article. I was honestly just hoping to inform the public without being criticized too much!
I actually think I've gotten more praise than I deserve. I did what we all should do (and what I haven't done in the past).
I hope that Sammy isn't able to scam anyone else, and I hope that I cause at least one other person to tell a story like mine.
Those were my main goals, but writing this was far from an entirely selfless act. I also wrote it out of... let's call it justice
Spreading the word about Sammy Touil being a thief is the best way I can create consequences for his actions.
Phil Galfond is one of the nicest guys in poker. He's very humble and respectful in just about everything according to everything I've ever read others say about the guy. The problem though is sometimes being a nice guy can lead to is people taking advantage of you because the scammer pegs you as an easy mark.
If poker players weren't scared to death of a misdemeanor assault charge this shit wouldn't happen.
But they are giant pussies, so they get robbed.
Do you think phil was pressured by his friends to give this guy the money? Knowing they could win it back. Seems odd to lend somebody that much money without at least some +EV. At least he outed the guy so hopefully nobody else gets burnt.
I'm surprised that there never seem to be stories involving violence over poker debts. Maybe it happens and just never gets talked about? Personally, I'd be scared shitless if I just scammed someone for $250k and then was just hanging out in Vegas poker rooms. Even if its a nice guy like Galfond who wouldn't attack anyone, how hard would it be for him to pay someone a few bucks to take care of it for him?
Update today from Phil:
https://twitter.com/twt/status/704435591274852352
http://www.miraclecovers.com
"Donk down, that’s what you say to someone after they have lost 28K straight?" - Phil Hellmuth, online
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