Justin Hammer, the well-liked tournament coordinator at Commerce Casino, is no longer working there.

This followed a public Twitter spat with Allen Kessler, which featured Kessler being angry that Hammer had called him an "idiot" when it got heated. In Hammer's defense, Kessler was in the wrong regarding accusations of funding Commerce overlays with staff auto-tips, and wouldn't back down.

Within days, we saw this announcement:



Hammer did not reveal where he would be working next, leading me to believe he was let go, rather than a situation where he took another job and moved on.

People are having a hard time understanding Hammer's dismissal, unless he voluntarily left. He was extremely well-liked by Commerce tournament players. I didn't know him well, but he was very aware of this site and has listened to the radio show before, and we had a good relationship. It was actually nice playing at the LAPC knowing that I had a good relationship with Justin Hammer and Matt Savage, the two guys in charge.

Some suspected the heated argument with Kessler was to blame, but it's hard to believe that would have resulted in a dismissal. Kessler himself seemed shocked by the news, and denied that he had any hand in it.

Anyway, it's too bad to see this, and I hope Justin is happy in his next position. He did post a clarification tweet stating that, despite his tendency to joke around on Twitter, he was 100% serious about being gone from Commerce.