blonde poker forum

Just copied and pasted this from a poster on the Raise The River forum. Its not old news is it?




If this has already been posted, apologies and lock er up.

Recently a thread on 2+2 surfaced from long time respected poster Doug WCGryder in regards to Brad Booth stealing $28,000 from him. The thread can be seen here http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/ne ... e-1206724/

Today Brad Booth responded on 2+2 with this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zbNieYoaos

My opinion on the matter is its very clear BB has some gambling and drinking issues and he let both get the better of him. To go from fame to scum is somewhat shocking yet not awfully surprising in the poker world these days. How someone can get taken for 1 million dollars from a superuser, to be scammed like that and to know how it feels and turn around and do it to others sort of blows me away.

From the video he obviously feels terrible and its good to see he has conscience. Hopefully he does something somewhow to repay people back.

The pokerworld sure has taken a dark turn over the last couple of years. It bothers me because he is from the same country as myself (Canada) and he has always been patriotic in the poker world. Trying as hard as he can to represent Canada so this one hits a little closer to home.

Another guy uninterested in bitb... All your poker interest in there guys

Whats that? ;)

Seems like an absolutely terrible idea to play 100k worth of events at WSOP right now, looks like a broken man.

He seems like a pretty genuine guy who fucked up, gl to him getting sorted.

I feel sorry for Brad

Wasn't Brad in hundreds of K's worth of debt and then spent the last few years (maybe the 4 years he's referring to) grinding his way out of it to pay everyone back, which he did afaik?

respect to him for posting that though. pretty sure wcgrider will get his money eventually

bit of an intense watch.

hope he binks and pays it all back tbh.

I've become quite good friends with Brad over the last 6 months and it was horrible watching that video. The guy has a lot of problems and I hope he gets it sorted, spoke to him earlier and it's the first time I've ever seen him come across as anything but full of life. He's been working so hard at getting out of his hole it's so tilting that he fell victim to the pit. Kudos to him for that video lets hope he gets the lot during the wsop

Long term that is surely the worst thing that could happen?

The guy clearly needs help, I have never been a fan of letting someone with a gambling problem of such severity attempt to play their way out of trouble. I appreciate that this is his job, but what sort of message will that tell the demons inside of him? That everything will be ok as long as he gambles long enough.

He should take the series off, sort himself out, and if he still feels like he can be a professional poker on the other side of that, then he should start grinding the money back for people. Nothing good is likely to come from him playing the series this year, especially because a bunch of pissed of 2+2 types will likely give him shit at some point.

Massive respect to him for what hes done in response to this. Obviously what hes done is wrong, but hes holding his hands up and admitting responsibility for his actions and trying to make it right

Yeah, massive respect. Stealing money from your friends and pissing it all away in the pit is nothing. What deserves massive respect in this life is a you tube vid with sniffing. Proper stand up guy obv. The plan is to carry on gambling to pay back and no mention about getting a job. Which is funny really because in the interview room if ur honest about this poker stuff they will lap it up.

Lol

maybe I'm misunderstood but hasn't he been grimming people for the last 4 years ("have a huge list of people i owe money to") and only made the video because of the huge thread that started on 2p2. If there was no thread there would be no video right?

He just needs to resolve his issues while making decent money playing poker, very hard to do without professional help.

I only glanced at the video yesterday, and presumed someone had found a sex tape of him.

Is it that the pokerworld has taken a dark turn? Or is it that people are now more aware than ever of what actually goes on and cheaters are exposed to the daylight of publicity?

Genuine question to those that have been involved in the world a lot longer than I have.

It's always been like this, in fact it used to involve guns, so if anything it has got better.

There has just been a much greater culture of calling people out in the last 12-18 months, whereas previously nobody wanted to snitch on anyone.

I think Black Friday has also probably had an impact, it seems it has forced people into more desperate actions because they can't play online, forced people owed money to speak up sooner because they also have earning power/money stuck on FTP etc, and exposed people like Lindgren who would otherwise have used his clout at FTP to get him out of the holes he digs for himself.

Yeah that's kind of what I assumed was probably the case. Add to this a load of naive, socially inept online poker players getting run around by old school 'gamblers' who just don't expect to get called out.

Good post.



Mantis.

(http://madeinthepresenceofnut.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/little-miss-wise_edit.jpg)

" Woke up with nothing in my safe and nothing in my online account " - Welcome to my world Bradster.

Says he has done it numerous times before, genuinely think playing 100k worth of events and planning to pay back IF he binks isn't the best way to go about it. Surely that just promotes the mindset that if he did it again then all he needs to do us get backed and do another bink? Pretty sure grinding out a 9-5 to pay people back would stop him ever doing it again.

Obv the guy needs help and if this sorts him out then fair enough, but imo the whole video comes across as just a bit of aftertiming.

 

I'm hoping it's Little Miss Sunshine or Little Miss Princess :)

But I fear it is not :(

Did I ever condone his actions? Is anyone safe from mantis?

Brad's a genuinely nice guy, and he can beat the vegas games no doubt.  If it's possible to play and win without the pits/sports betting habbits re-occuring ofc. He lives in vegas hotels by himself and I know how lonely/tempting that can be, I only experienced it for 5 weeks.

Hope he sorts it out, there's only so many chances people can get though :(

The problem is, as it so often is with these situations in the pokerverse, is that even if he is able to get a 9-5 its gonna take years or decades to pay back the kind of money he owes...

yup. he could win $600k this summer, he prolly won't but he could. It'll take the best part of 8-10 years for him t o be able to make $300k doing anything else.

You mean like how it would be for everyone else who stole money from people and ended up with massive debts? He could also go on a spin up on craps. Playing a really high variance form of poker in the hope of binking your way out of trouble seems like about the worst possible thing to do in his situation to me.

Exactly my point. Obvisouly people having to wait an abs age to get their money back isn't ideal, but neither will be bricking the wsop. I would guarantee that grinding the 9-5 would certainly stop him from ever doing it again, where as history has shown he has won money, paid people back and borrowed what he can't afford over and over.

A quick bink will enable him to pay everyone back asap with change left over to get spinning up, but I can't see it actually tackling the psychological issues which has lead to him being in this situation once again.

Obv if it was me who was owed the money I would say give it your best shot, but if i was a family member or someone who actually cared I would seriously be suggesting that the gambling world is not for him.

Incredibly sad.

Playing the wsop in the state he's in is the worst thing he could do. Pissing money against the wall.

Unless he's acting for this video and doesn't actually mean everything he says (definitely a possibility.. problem gamblers will say anything that best keeps them in action).

First of all he's backed for the wsop so why would he not take the shot to get out?? He has a great opportunity to make money at something he's good at with no downside. As for the notion of him getting a 9-5 will cure his gambling problem that's just ridiculous.

This seems very similar to Marc's thread. Wonder if he's earnt more since playing mtts or if tesco would pay as well?

I genuinely feel sorry for him, and I felt sorry for Marc on here after reading his explanations of what happened and best of all I even felt sorry for blatch despite him nearly doing me out of 2k!!There will be people that argue my view is naive and gulable but I feel sorry for them because I think I can understand how they got there - The caveat to that is I'm only going on whats plastered all over the forums !  I'm not saying its right or that they should be excused, but I can understand it.  When people become desperate they lose control.. Its easy to say its dispicable and they are scum etc but not everyone is the same and not everyone is capable of controlling their emotions aswell as others. I dont know Marc but from what I've read I've got massive respect for him for working (and it is work imo) the hours he did to pay back all the money he owed, shows amazing strength of character to come back from something like that - I'm not sure about Brad, seems like a spin up playing wsop.. It maybe that playing poker is the best way for him to make a living and pay people back in the long run, but getting his down and grinding it out rather than suggesting he's going to win 500k this summer would be a better way for him to approach it I think

He does grind a lot of hours playing 5-10 in Vegas, that's what makes this blowup so upsetting as he had grinded so hard for 6 months straight.

I don't know the guy, and I appreciate you do. But I don't really get this.

1. How about the downside of a man who appears to have a gambling problem/addiction. Surely being removed from a gambling environment entirely would be good for him as opposed to be being totally immersed in it for 6 weeks. Binking a WSOP might solve his short term problems but exacerbate his long term problems.

2. Why would a 9-5 not help him?

+1000000

No financial downside.

Obv it takes a lot more to cure gambling addiction if that is at all curable, a 9-5 is about breaking the cycle of busto, borrow, bink, busto, borrow... especially when there are bits in the middle where you can't payback or take less than morale avenues to securing funds.

I can't be the only one who thinks he is odds on to do the exact same thing all over again if he binks in Vegas this summer?

That said if I was him I would snap be playing, it's a no brainer but that still doesn't mean it is the best thing for him to do overall.

This. So much to be gained by leaving that environment, as well as the sheer proximity that live poker brings to what made him busto in the first place.
As well as that, look at all you can gain in a 9-5. To rewind a little, the guy's problem probably doesn't start with a gambling problem, it could well be other issues that express themselves in the escape, risk-taking and impulsivity that gambling provides. So enter the 9-5, meet a different kind of folk, meet some stability, maybe do something to directly improve the lives of others, all +EV for the soul and some kind of exit from his current hell.
Probs won't win a bunch in the WSOP, and will be in the same place in a year, unless he moves to something different.

Apart from that, +111 to Camel's point about winning $ at WSOP in his current state. gl with that.