PODCASTS

Poker Headlines | Ep. 18 | Mike Postle Sues Poker Heroes | Guest Co-host Paul Smith

By Gillian Epp
October 22, 2020

Poker Headlines is a weekly Interactive Poker Talk Show live on Twitch, where we debate Hot Topics in the poker world, and deliver gaming news from around the globe.

Filmed lived on Sundays at 12PM Pacific Time, full episodes can be found at www.twitch.tv/hustlerhunny for a month after the stream date, and highlights can be found at www.youtube.com/hustlerhunny

On this week’s show October 18, 2020, I had Paul Smith as guest co-host to discuss the Hot topics. Paul Smith is lawyer turned professional poker player. Below, you can watch the show highlights, which is followed by a recap of the full episode.

Question 1: In the Negreanu vs Polk grudge match do they each respectively have 100% of themselves?

This truly is a grudge match, six years in the making. The players disdain for each other is ugly and yet addictive to watch. Both players egos are on full display so it came as no surprise to us that Daniel Negreanu announced he had 100% of himself and Doug Polk said he’s unwilling to sell action because “… not going to be able to pass up that sweet value.”

Question 2: Was Doug Polk’s Twitter Rampage Expert Marketing?

Doug Polk lashed out on Twitter this week, sending out a series of tweets, trolling Johnnie Vibes, Alec Torelli, Charlie Carrel, Luke Schwartz, Matt Berkey, Chrisitan Soto and Daniel Negreanu. The CEO of Upswing Poker is the most watched Poker Youtuber and has entertained audiences for years with his no-holds-barred attacks against many of the most popular poker players. But Doug has all but retired from Youtube content creation, making us question the purpose of his most recent attacks.

Polk is an expert marketer and troller.

The Grudge Match is happening because Doug has been pursuing it since Daniel Negreanu made a comment implying he could beat 25/50NL online back in 2014.

Yet it’s hard to believe Doug’s endgame is a heads-up match against the above victims, many of whom have never competed at Doug’s stakes.

Question 3: Who is winning the pregame in the Grudge Match?

Although we credit Doug for landing the Negreanu Grudge match. Daniel has won the pregame warfare.

Many of us, myself included never believe this match would come to fruition. “Negreanu has nothing to gain from this!” I exclaimed on multiple occasions. But Daniel was able to turn that around, to him having everything to gain and nothing but cash to loose.

Daniel has agreed to play Doug’s preferred format on Doug’s preferred medium, leaving him to proclaim he’s the underdog. This has set him up in a nothing to lose but money scenario.

Polk on the other hand, started with a huge player base rooting for him, but after his latest Twitter behaviour from whining about not being allowed to use charts, to calling out a 2-5NL grinder, many of that base has flipped to now be rooting against him.

If Doug does lose the match, it’ll be hard for him to live this down after making himself out to be such a huge favourite.

Tweet of the Week

Our tweet of the week was awarded to Barry Carter whose tweet referenced the Polk, Negreanu Chart saga from last week. Barry said “Next year when the WSOP is back, I plan on going and railing all my favourite poker players with this new t-shirt on, it’s gonna be lit” posting a picture of a t-shirt with a push-shove chart on it.

Question 4: Which platform possesses more of a chance of being cheated, online or live?

Two legends of the game, Barry Greenstein and Phil Ivey sat down on Poker King Youtube channel to discuss all things poker.

Paul and I were surprised to hear both players state online poker is safer than live poker, it’s easier to get cheated live.

Playing online on an unregulated site, as most American players are forced to do, is not safer. There are many ways to be cheated and the unregulated sites are not as incentivized to prevent cheating as regulated sites are.

The same goes for home games versus casino-ran games. Phil Ivey specifically mentioned being robbed at gunpoint at a game, which we are assuming was not inside a casino, where we feel we are paying the casino to protect us and the integrity of the game.

Question 5: Are casinos responsible for preventing cheating in their poker games?

Both Paul and I were previously under the impression that we pay rake for the privilege of playing in a safe, and fair game. So the verdict in the Postle-Stones case, was extremely upsetting to us as poker players.

The California law states it does not allow courts to settle gambling disputes.

There is legal gambling in the state of California, so how is there no way to enforce disputes that arise from gambling?

The Brill vs Postle & Stones case was not dismissed because the defendants were innocent. It was settled due to the inability to sue for gambling losses. This also mean Stones and every other California casino cannot be held responsible for any cheating in their poker games and therefore every poker player in California should care about this. It’s a blow for poker and for all players who are wanting to play in a safe legal environment.

Question 6: Is Online Poker over in Germany?

Germany moves towards fully legal online poker in 2021. Currently, online gambling including poker is a grey area.

To protect its citizens, Germany has implemented some rules for online poker sites that went into effect October 15th. The new rules included:

  • 4 Tables Max
  • No seat or table selection
  • €1,000 MAX deposit per rolling 30 days

A lot of the poker heroes we’ve come to think of as German don’t actually live or play in Germany due to the already high taxes. The four-table max rule would normally not affect high stakes cash players very much, but given that there isn’t a lot of high stakes action in Germany anyways, it seems that most serious players will be affected by the new law, and likely even not very serious tournament players.

Another problem discovered from the four table max rules, is that you cannot have more than four tables open, even if you are only viewing and not playing! Poker live reporter Christian Zetzsche quickly discovered this and claimed that he will be forced to relocate outside of Germany to continue doing his reporter duties.

The no seat or table selection rule, I am all for. We’ve discussed in the past that a big problem with online poker is bumhunting and this is a method of greatly reducing players only playing against certain weaker fish.

The €1,000 MAX deposit per month rule is the nail in the coffin for pro players. The players will not be allowed to maintain a large balance on the site, so reloading would need to occur by playing decent stakes. I believe online poker as a profession in Germany will no longer be possible due to this rule.

I always enjoy hearing other opinions and discussing poker with brilliant people so it was a pleasure having Paul Smith on the show.

Next week I expect my regular co-host, Maureen Bloechlinger, to return and I look forward to debating whether VPNs should or should not be allowed to access geoblocked poker sites.

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Gillian Epp poker author
Written By.

Gillian Epp

Gillian Epp is a high- and mid-stakes poker player and content creator. As a live grinder, Gillian travels around the world to play no-limit cash games. When she’s not traveling for poker she enjoys spending time with her dog, Tyra, and creating poker edutainment content: Poker-related material with a focus on being educational but entertaining […]

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