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Thread: MIA: Hamilton & Ferguson Pix

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    Platinum Jayjami's Avatar
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    MIA: Hamilton & Ferguson Pix

    I didn't attend the WSOP last year, but I did get to play an event in the Amazon Room last week (which is always a good thing, because it means you made it to day 2). I noticed the pix of Russ Hamilton and Chris Ferguson were noticibly absent. Evidently there were no world champions in 1994 and 2000! Frankly, I think this is a bad idea. First, they won fair and square. Second, people need to be reminded that poker is full of shady characters. I guess now that Ceasars is in the online business they want people to forget about all the criminal activity associated with it in the past.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jayjami View Post
    I didn't attend the WSOP last year, but I did get to play an event in the Amazon Room last week (which is always a good thing, because it means you made it to day 2). I noticed the pix of Russ Hamilton and Chris Ferguson were noticibly absent. Evidently there were no world champions in 1994 and 2000! Frankly, I think this is a bad idea. First, they won fair and square. Second, people need to be reminded that poker is full of shady characters. I guess now that Ceasars is in the online business they want people to forget about all the criminal activity associated with it in the past.
    Interesting. Didn't know about Ferguson. I knew that Hamilton was "tarped" for a number of years, where his picture was up but there was a black tarp covering about 80% of it.

    I understand your point, but I actually spport covering up these guys, given the severity of their thefts. Indeed, if you were to remove all shady characters from the wall, it would nearly be bare, but these guys perpetrated such a high-level theft that I just hate seeing them honored in any way -- especially because most casual players will have no idea about the bad things they did.

    Has anyone seen Lederer around the Rio this year? I heard he planned to return to the WSOP, but it's possible he backed out of those plans, given the negative reaction. It really bothers Lederer that his rep was ruined. It was very important to him to be respected and revered within the world of poker.

    Russ was a different story. He always knew he was a thief, and even before the UB fiasco, people knew him as a shady character. He didn't have much of a reputation to lose. Howard was generally seen as good and respectable (though I always thought he was an arrogant dickhead), so this really changed things.

    Howard and Chris honestly don't understand that they stole from people, because neither of them want to understand it.

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    Gold Shizzmoney's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Howard and Chris honestly don't understand that they stole from people, because neither of them want to understand it.
    bingo

    I also dont mind the picture; they won fair and square. But I'd also like for neither of these guys to ever return again for what they did.

    As much as I want Howard to stay away, I know he won't and the cat calls he'll get while at the tables will be 100% LOL

    I think Chris knows its over and that its best for him to stay away. The fact these guys got to keep their fortunes pisses me off more than any picture in a casino.

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    Everybody deserves to be forgiven, but only if they atone for their wrongdoings. My big problem is that few of the "big time pros" who got money from Full Tilt have given it back. I guess they feel they "earned" it. Personally, if I had lent my good name to vouch for a product that injured people, I would feel guilty about retaining my profits. It seems that Howard and Chris are bearing the brunt of people's wrath due to their involvement (and rightly so), but why do others like Jen Harmon, Phil Ivey, Erik Seidel, et al. get a free pass?

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    Is it unfair that Hamilton and Ferguson get removed/tarped at the Rio, even though their WSOP wins have nothing to do with their later crimes?

    Yes.

    But that's why I like it. These guys both blatantly fucked the poker community so badly, I don't want to see them treated fairly. The removal of the banners is the community's middle finger to them.

    I agree that it's disgusting that the FT pros got to keep the money they obtained. There should have been more of an effort by the DOJ to collect from them. While it's true that players like Harman, Seidel, Ivey, etc likely had no idea that their distributions were actually stolen money, the fact remains that it was stolen money. If you rob a bank and bring $200,000 over to me as a "gift" for Pokerfraudalert, and then the police later approach me and tell me that the money was stolen, obviously I'm expected to give it back. I can't just keep the money and say, "Sorry, I didn't know about this", even if I really didn't.

    The other pros shouldn't go to prison, but they should have been forced to return a lot of the distributions. Howard, Chris, Bitar, and Rafe Furst should have gone to prison for a long time, AND they should have had their personal fortunes confiscated and use toward repayment. It's unbelievable how much they got away with here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Jayjami View Post
    I didn't attend the WSOP last year, but I did get to play an event in the Amazon Room last week (which is always a good thing, because it means you made it to day 2). I noticed the pix of Russ Hamilton and Chris Ferguson were noticibly absent. Evidently there were no world champions in 1994 and 2000! Frankly, I think this is a bad idea. First, they won fair and square. Second, people need to be reminded that poker is full of shady characters. I guess now that Ceasars is in the online business they want people to forget about all the criminal activity associated with it in the past.
    Interesting. Didn't know about Ferguson. I knew that Hamilton was "tarped" for a number of years, where his picture was up but there was a black tarp covering about 80% of it.

    I understand your point, but I actually spport covering up these guys, given the severity of their thefts. Indeed, if you were to remove all shady characters from the wall, it would nearly be bare, but these guys perpetrated such a high-level theft that I just hate seeing them honored in any way -- especially because most casual players will have no idea about the bad things they did.

    Has anyone seen Lederer around the Rio this year? I heard he planned to return to the WSOP, but it's possible he backed out of those plans, given the negative reaction. It really bothers Lederer that his rep was ruined. It was very important to him to be respected and revered within the world of poker.

    Russ was a different story. He always knew he was a thief, and even before the UB fiasco, people knew him as a shady character. He didn't have much of a reputation to lose. Howard was generally seen as good and respectable (though I always thought he was an arrogant dickhead), so this really changed things.

    Howard and Chris honestly don't understand that they stole from people, because neither of them want to understand it.
    Maybe at the RIO but downtown at Binion's which has all the orginal WSOP ME winners pics up Russ was very much visible last year as was Ferguson's

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