What the hell is Breakout Gaming?

[TheXFactor]

Breakout Enterprise, LLC is a Nevada Limited Liability Company registered to a couple of Asians.
Associated with Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Ted Forest, Layne Flack and David Benyamine.
Not sure how these sponsored pros would be compensated, but I'm sure they were offered stock in the company.

They are going to offer Fantasy Sports, Casino Games and Online Poker.
I guess that they believe, they can get around any regulation by using Bitcoin.

Will it be like Micon's Seals of Clubs website on steroids?

[haleylh]

I wrote a feature about it last Tuesday already, over at FlushDraw.

That one was mostly a straight reporting piece, with a little diversion at the end concerning some marketing BS they're doing -- stuffing their Facebook and Twitter accounts full of fake followers. I'm still digging into this because a lot of their claims just don't make a ton a sense, IMO, and I'm just savvy enough to know technobabble when I encounter it, and I have. I'm considering returning to the topic with an op-ed in the next day or two, maybe at FD, maybe at 4Flush, maybe at BestPokerRooms. We'll see; sorta depends what I find.

It's weird. There's a lot of stuff that makes me think that there's a bit of investment money behind this, and then there are things that just make me scratch my head. A guy named Billy Chung seems to be the brains behind it -- that might be the Sung Chung you see in the formal records. What I asked him, and what he hasn't answered yet, is exactly why anyone should send bitcoins to the site in exchange for a new crypto currency that would have value only on that site and nowhere else. I don't see why anyone should bother, when there are plenty of gambling sites that deal in BTC and plenty of US-facing DFS sites that take genuine American dead prezzies.

Then there's this Bergstake stuff, which is supposed to add an extra level of security to the BRO coin that's being rolled out, except it may be as long as two years until the Bergstake element is fully implemented, and that's like forever in crypto terms. And then there's the revelation that the site won't even offer poker or casino games to the US market, which strips the offering of its most likely consumer audience.

On the flip side, Chung has shown me that they actually do have linkups with some high-grade media outlets onboard, and that's where you're seeing those slick graphics come from, among other things. But that stuff isn't cheap, and it made me think of the Victory Poker dude (Dan Fleyshman) peeing away tens of thousands of dollars on a logo instead of building his customer base. Despite the slick media packaging, I see some very basic gaffes, such as the fake social media followers and the fact that Chung and at least one other Breakout person have been doing some ham-handed shilling over on the bitcointalk.org forum -- and that's in addition to the posts from the formally identified BRO reps.

I've chatted a bit with both Micon and Sketchy on this, and they both think it's a pump-and-dump, though Micon for sure would have incentive to write it off as such. What's weird is that when I wrote my FD feature, some guy commented that my story shouldn't be believed because I had provable connections to another crypto currency. Like what? 'Cause I know Micon in addition to a thousand other poker people? Wouldn't I actually need to own some Bitcoins or something?? I normally publish almost any comments we receive but that one was just too stupid to let through.

My thought is it's not really a pump-and-dump, but with the BTC-to-BRO exchange in the hands of the people behind the site, whatever BTC is invested by outsiders can easily be claimed as "lost" (worthless in terms of BRO) if the site sinks.

Then there's the claim that the pros represent the best and most reputable poker names to be found, to which one 4 poster responded, "Are you on crack?" I kinda sorta agree with that. Lessee, there's Johnny Fuckin' Chan, veteran prop-bet and live-game angle shooter, and the survivor of more failed business ventures than most of us can count. Johnny Chan's Full House! Johnny Chan's U. of Buffalo Dealer School! Have a case of All In Energy Drink -- one citrus, one grape, one root beer, and nine overpriced waters!! Oh, and ChanPoker, too.

Or Todd Brunson -- meh. And that's despite the resurfacing of that ugly rumor regarding him and Jen Harman that came up in that privateworld thread. I'd heard about that years ago, but no idea if it's true. Harman, though, that's old Full Tilt -and- old UB; she sold her UB stake to move over to Tilt.

Or Ted Forrest, who actually did own about 10% of UB for years, and has apparently pissed away at least ten million in the years since UB was sold to AP. I have a photo of him partying it up back then with Phil Tom in the Philippines. Ted being involved here is not a plus for me, and he has been rumored to me to be functionally busto, hence his recent attacks on Matusow about that prop bet.

Or David Benyamine, and that little deal with the unrepaid loan from Full Tilt ($2 million, was it?), and the squirrely way in how he got that money added to his account.

Or Lisandro, a partner with Tony G in a lot of stuff. No thanks.

Or Layne Flack. I can't believe he's actually got money to invest in this. Maybe he's just getting some BRO coins for the use of his name and his likeness, which I see here comes complete with him in an old Johnny Chan All In Energy Drink shirt. Maybe Layne is fronting some old Hellmuth or Russ H. money in this, maybe not, but hey, there's a chance.

Or Huck Seed, more old FTP associational stuff. Huck I really don't know much about. And I don't know much about Toto or the Russian guy either.

But if that's the very best of what poker has to offer for names for endorsement purposes, then poker is in sad, sad shape indeed. And if the poker isn't even offered in the US, where most of these players' recognition factor exists, then I cannot imagine that they bring a whole lot of value to the table.

[Hockey Guy]

Or David Benyamine, and that little deal with the unrepaid loan from Full Tilt ($2 million, was it?), and the squirrely way in how he got that money added to his account.

I know Eric Lindgren had fucked them around but never heard about this one. Must be something about it that turns on Erica S.

[Dan Druff]

Haley, I did a segment about Breakout Gaming on the last radio show.

First and foremost, I don't understand the Breakout Coins. At first I thought these coins were being utilized in order to provide gambling without the hassle of bitcoin speculation. That is, if they sell Breakout Coins at some fluctuating level directly tied to bitcoin, then the value of your chips on the site won't decrease/increase with bitcoin fluctuations, as they do on other bitcoin gambling sites. At first I thought that was a smart move, as it removes some of the inherent bitcoin risk for both the players and the site operator, and more emulates a cash site without directly being cash (thus their supposed legal loophole).

However, upon further reading about the site, it seems that they really believe that Breakout Coin will become its own separate cryptocurrency, which is just too weird and definitely too complicated for the average gambler.

Any idea about this?

Like you, I laughed at the lineup of "respected pros", especially Russ Hamilton's golfing buddy Layne Flack. It seems as if it's mostly busto pros, with a few likely naive "invest now and ask questions later" types, such as Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson and Jeff Lissandro.

In any case, it's going to be an epic failure for various reasons:

1) There are already too many bitcoin gambling sites. The market is already saturated.

2) The whole "Breakout Coin" concept is too weird and complicated, and most people will probably avoid it for that reason alone.

3) If they really plan upon excluding US players from poker and the casino, as you said, they will have very little market.

4) They seem to have no clue as to what they are doing. They've already made several obvious social media gaffes, and already seem to be embarking upon the scammish tactic of overpromising something groundbreaking and grandiose.

I think they are trying to recreate Full Tilt (the model of a bunch of name pros being the face of the site) in the bitcoin realm, but are adding this weird twist of their own coins, and generally sold the concept to naive poker players who were convinced they are getting in on the ground floor of something huge. Ted Forrest, for example, made reference to "bit coins" (notice the spelling) on his Twitter, which pretty much sums up the knowledge that most of the investors likely have of cryptocurrency. Indeed, none of the pros involved have shown prior interest in bitcoin, nor are any of them known to be technically proficient.

I even wonder if their "initial coin offering" (a fancy name for buying chips on the site) is just a way to raise operating capital, which means it might be a lot more like Full Tilt than we realize.

[TheXFactor]

Now Introducing BreakOut Coin...

https://www.breakoutcoin.com

twitter.com/BreakoutCoin

https://www.breakoutpoker.com

twitter.com/BreakoutPoker


About ten years too late.

[duped_samaritan]

That guy third from the right looks like the biggest toolbox ever.

[Dan Druff]

The "initial coin offering" for BreakoutCoin was a gigantic fail. Notice this original thread was in late 2014, and now it's early 2018. I thought that idea was dead for a long time, but they are probably reviving it given the popularity of alt currencies.

[TheXFactor]

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/946888260487393281

Ripple is a complete fraud and so was that company associated with Rafe Furst.

But what is next?

Micon Coin?
Micon Poker?

PFA Coin?
PFA Poker?

Could Druff start his own crypto currency and start selling PFA coins for $5.00 each?

[Hockey Guy]

Embedded Tweet

https://twitter.com/twt/status/946888260487393281

Ripple is a complete fraud and so was that company associated with Rafe Furst.

But what is next?

Micon Coin?
Micon Poker?

PFA Coin?
PFA Poker?

Could Druff start his own crypto currency and start selling PFA coins for $5.00 each?

I've been patiently waiting for the launch of lobstermacandcheesecoin but sonatine keeps dragging his feet & it's starting to piss me off.