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Thread: Stones livestream player Mike Postle accused of "live superusing"

  1. #381
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    So a few things here.

    First off, Kuraitis kept avoiding my question, despite my posting it in several threads he stated, and then finally ran away from Twitter after the community was killing him in the responses.

    This was his last attempt to say something:

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306089495352078343

    He did try to answer Bart with a laughable regurgitation of Rounderlife crap:

    https://twitter.com/BartHanson/status/1306090714678407168

    https://twitter.com/BartHanson/status/1306094408211869697



    Finally, he just gave up, and "peace outted" it with an obnoxious Spiderman GIF:

    https://twitter.com/bparispoker/status/1306140032546287618



    So... his attempt to do a victory lap and be accepted back into the poker community was a huge flop. The moron really thought that the statement by Mac had exonerated him, so he typed up his arrogant statement, posted it, and really thought that everyone would welcome him back with open arms. The opposite happened, and he ran away.

    I suspect he might be the one operating the "Poker Heroes" account, though, or at least might be sharing it with Postle and the other trolls.

    Anyway, suffice to say that Justin Kuraitis has likely given up being accepted back into poker's good graces, and we probably won't hear from him until....

    (see next post)

  2. #382
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    There's another chapter about this saga about to take place. Khou Fang (the woman behind the poker_grandma and "Poker Thug" Twitter accounts) kept posting about 2 weeks ago about "September 28", and how it's going to be some kind of day of reckoning for those who opposed Postle.

    At first I had wondered if she was talking about some idiotic and frivolous libel/slander lawsuit. However, the date made no sense. If a lawsuit was being filed, it would be unlikely that they'd have the exact date later in the month it would be filed. That's not how things like that work. My guess at the time was that they were going to release something which either bashed their main opponents (Veronica, Doug Polk, Joey Ingram, etc) or was a detailed defense of Postle.

    The latter looks like it is probably the case.

    Recall Postle's recent statement in the Sac Bee. He talked about the documentary about the situation being produced by a game named Dave Broome, who is @broome88 on Twitter.

    I am not familiar with Mr. Broome or his work, but it does appear he is a legit documentary maker, and it doesn't appear he has much (or any) association with poker. So what gives? Who would make a documentary about this?

    Awhile back Mr. Broome attempted to contact Veronica for comment, but he made no attempt (to my knowledge) to contact anyone else in poker. Additionally, it seems that both Postle and Kuraitis are very excited to see this released.

    It is my belief that Stones is funding all or part of this documentary, as part of some kind of image rehabilitation.

    I do not have any kind of concrete evidence regarding this, but I think there's a good chance this is true. Given that Broome appears to have no association with poker, it's unlikely that he decided to do this on his own, as nobody cared about this story outside poker, nor does it really make very good documentary material. This is no "Tiger King", for sure.

    Broome's company, 25/7 Productions, claims to have existed since 2003, and claims to have 25 employees.

    It is based in Burbank, CA (kind of a "second Hollywood", also in the Los Angeles area), and not Sacramento, which is almost 400 miles away.

    I find it unlikely that Broome decided on his own to self-fund a Postle documentary. I believe that Stones probably paid for this, possibly recommended by a crisis management team which they may have hired.

    I asked Broome about this on Twitter, and mostly got a non-answer.

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306326857625645056

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306341153818554368

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306351565519728642

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306357713484488704


    I find it very unlikely that this will be a neutral documentary. If Stones (or a company they hired) paid anything for this (or paid for the whole thing), there's zero point zero chance it will cover the situation fairly.

  3. #383
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    And without getting into the specifics here, I will say that biased documentaries are sometimes a tactic used by crisis management teams to combat bad press.

    Here's how it works:

    Company A gets some sort of bad press over some kind of accused (and true) wrongdoing.

    Company A is worried that this will noticeably impact business, so they hire Crisis Management Firm B to help rehabilitate their rep. In turn, Crisis Management Firm B has a relationship with Documentary Production Company C, and C is their go-to company to produce reliably biased documentaries in order to counter bad press. So B tells Company A, "Trust us. Hire C to make your documentary, and they will make it very favorable for you, while feigning objectivity, and this will counter the bad press."

    This isn't too different from an online search reputation firm, which you can pay to generate hundreds of phony positive search results in order to clog up Google results of any search on your name (or company).

     
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      JeffDime: +++

  4. #384
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    A little related.

    Kasey Mills, who was a Stones commentator and sometimes-player in the Postle games, was the 61st plaintiff to accept the deal, after being on the fence.

    Unfortunately, she has COVID-19, and is now experiencing mid-level symptoms, including breathing problems. I hope she ends up okay.

    https://twitter.com/pokermommaa/status/1306343246524821504

  5. #385
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Recall a few posts ago I expressed concern that Mac's statement exonerating Stones and Kuraitis went too far. While I understand why it happened (Stones demanded it for the settlement), I was concerned it would be used by Stones/Kuraitis to throw in everyone's faces for eternity.

    I was especially worried because the statement was considered "unusual" (even in the words of the Sac Bee) for the opposing counsel to make such a positive statement for the other side, even in settlement.

    Indeed, my fears have come true. First Kuraitis bragged out it in his statement, and now Stones:

    https://twitter.com/TenEightSuited/status/1306092427304824832

    https://twitter.com/Erica_Sumner/status/1306603098975145987

    https://twitter.com/StonesGambling/status/1306368071385247744


    Ugh.

    When information of the settlement was leaked to me, it was said that Stones wanted a statement completely exonerating them and Kuraitis, but Mac refused, and only agreed to state that there was "no evidence" linking them to the cheating.

    However, the statement actually given reads more like an exoneration.

    Notice that the Stones account is actually bragging about how unusual the statement is from opposing counsel: "Have you ever seen a statement like the opposing counsel's before? Neither have we." Ugh.

    Not surprisingly, there has been some backlash against Mac in the poker community (and keep in mind he rarely gets hate except from the Postle crew), and he has gone silent on Twitter since September 14.

    Since Stones is being so chatty, I hit them with the same question I kept asking Kuraitis:

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306609327529050112

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Looks like Justin hasn't peace-outed from Twitter, after all:

    https://twitter.com/ToddWitteles/status/1306619299600105472

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    LOL

    Kuraitis is finally answering me with non-answers.

    Here was his first response:




    Then this...

    https://twitter.com/JFKPokerTD/status/1306620474974240771


    Basically he's giving everyone the middle finger until the hyper-biased documentary comes out.

  8. #388

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    Recall Postle's recent statement in the Sac Bee. He talked about the documentary about the situation being produced by a game named Dave Broome, who is @broome88 on Twitter.

    I am not familiar with Mr. Broome or his work, but it does appear he is a legit documentary maker, and it doesn't appear he has much (or any) association with poker. So what gives? Who would make a documentary about this?

    Awhile back Mr. Broome attempted to contact Veronica for comment, but he made no attempt (to my knowledge) to contact anyone else in poker. Additionally, it seems that both Postle and Kuraitis are very excited to see this released.

    It is my belief that Stones is funding all or part of this documentary, as part of some kind of image rehabilitation.

    I do not have any kind of concrete evidence regarding this, but I think there's a good chance this is true. Given that Broome appears to have no association with poker, it's unlikely that he decided to do this on his own, as nobody cared about this story outside poker, nor does it really make very good documentary material. This is no "Tiger King", for sure.

    Broome's company, 25/7 Productions, claims to have existed since 2003, and claims to have 25 employees.

    It is based in Burbank, CA (kind of a "second Hollywood", also in the Los Angeles area), and not Sacramento, which is almost 400 miles away.

    I find it unlikely that Broome decided on his own to self-fund a Postle documentary. I believe that Stones probably paid for this, possibly recommended by a crisis management team which they may have hired.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    If this is a legit documentary (as compared, maybe, to an informercial) wouldn't it show up on Broome's IMBD page? Because it doesn't. Also, maybe there's a connection with and funding by the old guy behind Rounders Life? He seems to be emotionally committed to this story.

    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1545599/

  10. #390

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    If you want a good laugh, look at this:

    https://justinkuraitis791087716.wordpress.com/

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    It is a little strange that Joey Ingram is staying silent on the matter so far.

    I don't think it would be to far fetched to say that maybe he was advised by attorney to say nothing for now, as he could face slander/libel lawsuits since JK and MP were found "innocent"?

  14. #394
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    Joeys too busy fluffing Doug for his heads up match.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AhoosierA View Post
    It is a little strange that Joey Ingram is staying silent on the matter so far.

    I don't think it would be to far fetched to say that maybe he was advised by attorney to say nothing for now, as he could face slander/libel lawsuits since JK and MP were found "innocent"?
    It is very strange. I wonder if he's gotten some kind of legal threats behind the scenes, or if he's heard rumors that he might be sued. Doug Polk isn't silent, and you'd think Ingram would have told Polk if he had been legally threatened.

    I will say that Stones/Postle/Kuraitis was not found innocent. The civil lawsuit against Postle was dismissed, and the civil lawsuit against Stones/Kuraitis was settled and the plaintiff's attorney gave a statement as a condition for the settlement.

    None of this could be used in a libel/sander lawsuit. Nothing has been established in court (either way) regarding whether or not Postle or Stones/Kuraitis did anything wrong.

    A libel/slander suit would get dismissed quickly through an anti-SLAPP motion. This is especially true because Mike Postle and Justin Kuraitis could be considered "limited purpose public figures" in poker, and thus the standard for libel/slander is much higher.

  16. #396
    Platinum JeffDime's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AhoosierA View Post
    It is a little strange that Joey Ingram is staying silent on the matter so far.

    I don't think it would be to far fetched to say that maybe he was advised by attorney to say nothing for now, as he could face slander/libel lawsuits since JK and MP were found "innocent"?

    I will say this from watching Joey a decent amount, he ebbs and flows to the extreme with the content. It seems to be part of his personality. He will have spurts where he is doing 3 or 4 podcasts in a week and then will kind of go off the radar for a while. The Postle coverage being a prime example. He was doing 5 hours a day for weeks straight and then he burned out.

    It is weird that he hasn’t said or tweeted a thing regarding Postle from what I’ve seen. Maybe it’s a combination of just not being motivated to do much right now and possibly some legal advice. However, it’s always possible he just is not motivated right now and something else is going on. I guess we will see.

    Great coverage Druff.

  17. #397
    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    So Pokernews (specifically Chad Holloway) has released the details on the settlement. Recall that prior to today, I was the only one who was leaking details of the settlement, but I stopped short from stating how much the amount was, only calling it "nominal" -- a term also recently used by Stones.

    https://www.pokernews.com/news/2020/...ment-37983.htm

    Holloway revealed today that the amount was $40,000 to be shared by all plaintiffs, which he calculated to be $645 per plaintiff, given that 62 plaintiffs supposedly settled. My paperwork shows 61 settled, but perhaps someone else joined who had previously declined. Whatever. This money does NOT include Mac's fee, which was agreed by clients at the beginning to be a certain percentage of any money won/recovered. I am guessing that Mac is getting about 35-40% of that, but keep in mind this is a pure guess. It is unlikely to be more than 50% or less than 25%, however.

    Assuming a 35% attorney's fee, each settling plaintiff would get about $420.

    Now you see why I called it "nominal", but "not like $20, or anything like that".

    I was aware of this $40k amount since it was leaked to me, but I wasn't sure at the time if this included Mac's fees (it does), and I wasn't sure if it would be reduced if fewer plaintiffs than all 88 accepted (it wasn't).

    In June, most of the case against Stones was dismissed, but an amended complaint was filed, which asked for the rake, which was permissible by CA law, and not covered by the dismissal. Thus, the total amount recovered ($40,000) was more than the total rake paid in the game (calculated to be slightly less than $30,000).

    Thus, monetarily, Mac did well for the plaintiffs, given the restrictions of CA law. However, there are criticisms being levied upon Mac on Twitter about the whole thing, both fair and unfair.

    Among these criticisms:

    - Mac didn't get the plaintiffs enough money (not a valid criticim)

    - Mac left the other 26 plaintiffs twisting in the wind, and harmed their case going forward by making the statement he did. (Valid criticism, but these plaintiffs aren't likely to continue with the case anyway, so it won't end up mattering.)

    - Mac's statement about Stones/Kuraitis went too far, and will be used to taunt the poker community and mislead people for years to come (which is already happening, and is my biggest issue with Mac here.)

     
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      JeffDime: Criticisms are a pretty big 3 strikes

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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      JeffDime: LOL...Mac should not accept this endorsement

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Shaun Deeb, who has actively involved himself in the situation this week involving Kuraitis' reappearance, took aim at Mac today:

    https://twitter.com/mac_verstandig/status/1306995897398685696

    https://twitter.com/shaundeeb/status/1306996344024858624

    https://twitter.com/shaundeeb/status/1306997620594937857

    https://twitter.com/shaundeeb/status/1306996637357801472


    So while Shaun definitely understand the way the law and the court system works, it's interesting how Deeb is stating that he would have "happily paid for the clients not to take that deal". I'm not sure if Shaun would have really done that, but keep in mind he offered $100k earlier this week to Postle if he names his accomplices. Shaun does bring up a fair point that it kind of sucks that Stones has this BS statement of pseudo-exoneration, and only had to pay out $40k to get it. Mac did give a fair response, that he only represents his clients, and not the interests of the poker community, which is true.



    However, a more interesting (but largely ignored) accusation came from Jake Rosenstiel, one of the 26 clients who did NOT take the settlement:

    https://twitter.com/TheJake427/status/1307003542297669633

    https://twitter.com/TheJake427/status/1307008178832375808



    Keep in mind that this is only an accusation by a disgruntled client, and it occurs all the time that clients are angry at their attorneys for less-than-desired case results. It also occurs at times that the clients misunderstand what attorneys can and can't do, and unfairly blame the attorney for situations beyond their control. However, Jake is alleging something which is indeed unethical if true, but as I said, we don't have evidence regarding this either way.

    Also, I'm not sure what Jake means by "enough signatures". The only metric for "enough signatures" was 65, as stipulated by Stones. However, they never reached 65, and the deal got done anyway, so I'm not sure what Jake is talking about here.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Justin is to the point of simply trolling the community now, responding with a screen shot of Mac's statement whenever anyone asks him a question.

    He even made that his profile pic.

    He also posted this:

    https://twitter.com/JFKPokerTD/status/1306924727680864265


    Just straight up trolling at this point, as he realizes his rep is toast, so he figures he might as well just aggravate people. I imagine that he won't be showing his face in poker rooms any time soon.

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