Poker - it's a messy business.....

[tikay]

I get e-Mails from a lot of cardrooms, not sure why.

I had this one on Tuesday, from Ladbrokes.....(my enboldenment).

Danish Team Ladbrokes player Peter Eastgate brings home the bacon!

Peter Eastgate a Team Ladbrokes player aged 22 from Odense in Denmark is bringing home the bacon (at least $900,670) after making the final table of the World Series of Poker 2008. Peter succeeded where 6835 players have failed and will return to Las Vegas in November to play on the WSOP final table on the 9th November against eight other players for the WSOP Main event bracelet.

Edward Ihre, MD of Ladbrokes Poker commented: "Its great to see a Ladbrokes Poker player make it through to the final table.  He's done brilliantly and definitely is a pro in the making.  We're proud to call him a Ladbrokes regular - he's qualified through to the televised stages of Poker Million twice (2006 and 2007), so he's no stranger to high stakes pressure."   

Peter is the last of a 120 strong Team Ladbrokes contingent that boasted Jon 'skalie' Kalmar who came fifth in last years event, new signee to the Ladbrokes stable Jonas 'Nebuchad' Danielsson and Jeff Kimber a Ladbrokes sponsored pro who busted out in 120th position cashing $41k after his pocket were cracked by a full house.   

In total 81 of the 120 starters of Team Ladbrokes players made it through to day two.  Eastgate began the penultimate day in 4th place with over nine million chips and finished the day in joint 3rd place with 19,300,000 chips.   

[tikay]

And yesterday, I had this one from PokerStars......

POKERSTARS MILLION DOLLAR MEN DOMINATE
THE 2008 WSOP FINAL TABLE

2008 World Series of Poker, LAS VEGAS – JULY 17, 2008: Six PokerStars players have made it to the final table of the 2008 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event and a shot at the $9,119,517 first prize.  Out of a 6,844-strong starting field, each of the nine final table players will walk away with at least $1 million in prize money when they return to Las Vegas to conclude the Main Event final table on November 9.


The “PokerStars Million Dollar Men” are the six PokerStars players who will take part in this final table battle for their share of the $32.6 million prize money that remains to be won:

Dennis Phillips, 53 from Missouri, USA; has been one of the chip leaders throughout the last few days of the main event. He enters the final table as chip leader with 26,295,000 chips

Ivan Demidov, 27 from Moscow, Russia; has had a phenomenal event with this year’s WSOP being his first major live tournament. He enters the final table in second position with 24,400,000 chips and if he walks away with the title will become the first Russian to win the WSOP Main Event

Peter Eastgate, 22 from Odense, Denmark; a fearless and unpredictable player, Peter ranks as one of the top five online pros in Denmark and enters the final table with 18,375,000 chips

Ylon Schwarz, 38, New York, USA; no stranger to WSOP tournaments and has had 11 cashes in WSOP events since 2005. He enters the final table with 12,525,000 chips

Darus "Dennis_TO" Suharto, 39, Ontario, Canada; paid $80 for a seat in a satellite tournament on PokerStars and progressed through two levels of online tournaments to win his seat in the WSOP.  He enters the final table with 12,520,000 chips

David “Chino” Rheem, 28 from Californian, USA; has had five WSOP cashes in the last three years and has been among the chip leaders throughout the Main Event – entering the final nine with 10,230,000 chips

[Mango99]

Aye, sounds similar to the stuff kicking off with PokerNews and their player, Tiffany Michelle. This has probably been posted here before, but I can't see it, so here's the linko: http://www.pokernews.com/news/2008/07/pokernews-official-statement.htm

Here's Tony G's response to the situation: http://tonyg.pokerworks.com/2008/07/the-integrity-of-poker.html

As someone said on another forum recently: "One thing that winds me up about modern business in general: What has happened to the good old fashioned verbal agreement and hand shake? There is massive lack of loyality and people not sticking to their word nowadays.
 
Maybe iam a bit naive and old fashioned, but if i say i am going to do something and have a verbal agreement/hand shake then i stick to it. Simple!"

I totally agree with this quote, and feel it's a massive shame that people are so disloyal / scheming these days, always out for what's best for them, rather than behaving in an honourable / fair manner.

[Colchester Kev]

Here's Tony G's response to the situation: http://tonyg.pokerworks.com/2008/07/the-integrity-of-poker.html

wow, thanks for the link Matt ... thats a real eye opener.

[tao82]

very sad to see in both cases. espically tiffany michelle they put her where she is today and she basically stabed pokernews in the back.

[byronkincaid]

andy black set the precedent, they paid rake when they played the sats presumably, so can do whatever thay want imo

[Mango99]

andy black set the precedent, they paid rake when they played the sats presumably, so can do whatever thay want imo

Agreed, if they haven't been sponsored in (or had expenses paid on the understanding they wear a certain rooms gear) they don't owe the room they qualified through anything. However, in the case of Tiffany Michelle, she was bought in by PokerNews / TonyG.

[celtic]

thanks for the tony g link mango.

[ariston]

whatever happened to a players word being his bond?

First we get gold trying to renege on a % deal now we get players whoring themselves to the highest bidder for a few peices of silver. If you do a deal with a site to play the event you stick to it. A few years ago when I played my first wsop ME I didnt even have a contract- it was done with a handshake and a verbal deal, if I had won big I would've stuck to the terms we agreed or not been able to look at myself in the mirror- there are more important things in life than money.

[Claw75]

I totally agree with this quote, and feel it's a massive shame that people are so disloyal / scheming these days, always out for what's best for them, rather than behaving in an honourable / fair manner.

+ me

[Longy]

Wow, interesting stuff. If what Tony G say is true about stars wanting to sponsor her to the tune of million dollars in buyins, she has really dropped the ball on this one. As well as looking totally dishonest.

[Dry em]

Thursday, July 17, 2008

  Official Statement in response to Pokernews

Tiffany Michelle Official Statement
Thursday, July 17, 2008

It is with great sadness that I've had to see my accomplishment of finishing 17th in the WSOP Main Event clouded by slanderous accusations and inaccurate information. I have been humbled by the overwhelming support from friends, fans and the media and for their sake as well as mine I feel as if I must respond and bring clarity to the situation.

There is no denying the positive press and exposure I brought Pokernews by wearing their logo and being their representative during the 2008 World Series of Poker main event. After such a successful series, I am greatly dismayed by Pokernews' subsequent actions. No one has ever questioned my integrity before this and I am so distressed that Pokernews is using their powerful public forum to spin such a negative recounting of the facts of what occurred during the final two days of the main event.

As we all know, it is standard practice for players to wear multiple logos during the main event. Pokernews was aware of this, having placed their logos on a number of players with sponsorship deals with other companies. Throughout the World Series I saw several players wear the Pokernews logo alongside the logos of online card rooms such as Pokerstars and T6. This makes it very clear that Pokernews supported this practice as a rule and were not against players wearing their logo in conjunction with the logo of an online card room. Like many other people, I wore multiple logos but in no way diminished the presence of Pokernews in doing so.

Unfortunately in this instance, Pokernews suddenly felt that I was in violation of my backing deal by wearing another logo. I have a written contract that has been reviewed by legal counsel – and it is very clearly a non-exclusive contract meaning that while I was expected to wear the Pokernews logo – I was in no way prevented from wearing any other logo. Furthermore Pokernews did not possess any power to make, advise or negotiate any kind of logo or sponsorship deal that came about via my playing the main event. In light of recent allegations by Pokernews, I have had this contract reviewed again by legal counsel to reconfirm my stance – that I in no way was in violation. It was never even said to me verbally until after the fact that there was an expectation of exclusivity. Even in my previous dealings with Pokernews, as their On-Camera Host I have made a point to never agree to any kind of exclusivity with their company as advised by my talent manager. The first I heard of Pokernews' disapproval to me wearing the UB logo was after I already had it on and was playing on the featured table.

It was unfortunate that while I was working hard to try to win the main event (and in so doing help to further promote Pokernews) I was chastised by Pokernews representatives at all hours of the day and night for wearing a second logo. Despite my repeated requests that they go through my manager and let me just concentrate on playing, they insisted on contacting me directly, greatly upsetting me during the most important weekend of my life. These representatives of Pokernews kept repeatedly telling me they had nothing but 'my best interests at heart' yet I felt bombarded by several parties trying to control my decisions and pressure my actions.

A fact that is known to Pokernews is that I was approached by many online poker sites wanting me to represent them during the last few days of the event; however I chose to work with UltimateBet. Tony G even quotes in his BLOG "I had been working on putting a deal together for Tiff with PokerStars and they had just emailed me. I knew Tiff could become a huge star and I was going to allow her to do a deal that would protect Pokernews also for the main event". The fact that Pokernews was willing to work with PokerStars on a joint deal says it all – the contract was NONEXCLUSIVE.

I am a grown woman and I can decide for myself who I choose to associate myself with. That should not be Tony G's decision. Just because Tony G. backed me in the event (and profited quite nicely by doing so) does not mean that he should be able to control or profit from any logo or sponsorship deal I might make or have any say in how I handle my career. I have been around poker a long time and it's widely known that a backer has no say or cut of a player's sponsorship or logo deal. Again, I had seen several Pokernews sponsored players wearing online card room logos already so clearly the backing deal and the logo deals were separate for every other player wearing Pokernews. Why would it be different just for me?

In the end, I completely stand by my decision and I feel that UltimateBet was the one site that treated me with the respect and dignity deserving of someone in my stressful situation. Throughout the whole event they were insistent on wanting me to just concentrate on my play and were clear that the decision in the end was mine and I should do what I felt was best for me.

It is unfortunate that Pokernews has taken the step of publicly accusing me of breaching their contract when I have been scrupulous in fulfilling my obligations. I have always felt that disputes like this should be handled privately and in this case using such a broad reaching platform to air such a dispute seems really inappropriate to me. Still, I want to say how much I appreciate the opportunities that Pokernews has given me. I am deeply grateful to Jeff Lisandro and Tony G for backing me in the event and giving me this opportunity to play in the most exciting event of my life.
 
from http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=82977901&blogID=415796002

[julian]

i blame the sites, not the players.
harrahs & espn happily have a nazi vice-like grip on the reporting of the wsop but care not about allowing sales reps for the big sites to approach & poach players minutes before play begins, no doubt often putting the players in a very awkward spot when their focus should be entirely on the days play.
deals/swaps should be watertight; i'd never sh1t on mates or my own sponsors william hill, but outside of that arena, lets be frank, it's hard enough to make a good living in this game.
if certain sites are allowed & willing to keep offering ridiculous piles of dollars to those who run deep then i really do believe you'd be mad to not consider taking what you can get.
barring fpp/mpp freerolls, the site you qualify on was just the vehicle to get you there, what happens once there is up to the individual.

[Pelham Boy]

Thursday, July 17, 2008

  Official Statement in response to Pokernews

Tiffany Michelle Official Statement
Thursday, July 17, 2008

 Tony G even quotes in his BLOG "I had been working on putting a deal together for Tiff with PokerStars and they had just emailed me. I knew Tiff could become a huge star and I was going to allow her to do a deal that would protect Pokernews also for the main event". The fact that Pokernews was willing to work with PokerStars on a joint deal says it all – the contract was NONEXCLUSIVE.
 

I understood this to mean for future events from the way Tony G wrote it.

[boldie]

A 24 YO poker player with a talent manager? ..Poker is going the way of footie, me thinks.

I don't like Tony G's whine, it's pathetic.."I even had to borrow money to stake her" (he probably borrowed it from those dodgy blokes that he's in league with in T6 poker) ..sure he got screwed over by her, but really..who couldn't see that one coming? She is a 24YO pokerplayer with a talent manager FFS, all the publicity she can get she will take and he should have known this.


In the case of Peter, well..he apparently lost 1 million chips by signing with pokerstars (If you believe the pressreleased chipcounts Laddies and stars posted above) he got what he deserved (Seriously though, I though he had bought in on the Laddies site and therefore does not owe Laddies anything as he didn't qualify on it)