ben flat out stole from his friends. he has reacted somewhat better than hastings after they got caught but one is a cheat the other is a thief
you say that as though they aren't morally equivalent.
and cheating in poker amounts to stealing.
ben seemed to get in over his head and looks like someone that made a series of ever more abhorrent decisions to cover up his previous mistakes. mr stinger went out of his way to deceive and cheat the players in his player pool and did so over many months with premeditation. i mean he sat that blom cat heads-up: he had previously datamined him on the way to taking him for a few million $$. and there are other regs, semi-pros and recreationals that thought they were playing a rich businessman and who claim they played big pots in vastly different ways than they would of against stinger. that in my eyes is very much in the same category of stealing - and with little remorse to boot.
i really dont think warrington is a scum-bag. he's someone who was weak and who made some really shitty decisions. i guess the reputational loss, lack of future staking and lost friendships will be an apt 'punishment' for all that.
stinger has no reptutation to lose, and it seems his friends were collusive in his cheating anyway.
the way cheaters are given passes as they are "only hustling extra edge, innit" and acting like it is not morally equivalent to stealing does the community no favours whatsoever.
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