It’s been a number of years because the Mike Postle dishonest allegations had been on the heart of the poker world, however the saga lately returned to the mainstream.
Veronica Brill, former commentator of Stones Live Poker at Stones Gambling Hall in Sacramento, started an animated YouTube sequence retelling the story.
Brill, additionally thought-about the whistleblower within the alleged dishonest, dubbed the sequence “God Mode.” She revealed it on her private YouTube channel, and 4 episodes had been out there on the time of publishing.
Brill launched the primary episode simply shy of two weeks in the past, and every episode is 14-18 minutes lengthy. The sequence title alludes to Postle’s fame and nickname as a poker God on the Stones Livestream.
Postle’s Incredible Win Rate
In September 2019, Brill accused Postle of dishonest on the stream in a sequence of tweets. She didn’t have any theories about how he did it, however his extremely unorthodox model, mixed together with his seemingly unachievable win fee, led her to imagine foul play was concerned.
Over the course of Postle’s year-plus on the present, he gained upwards of $300,000 primarily enjoying $1-$3 and $5-$5 no-limit maintain ’em video games. The video games had been often extremely deep-stacked, however successful that a lot in that timeframe was sufficient to lift her suspicions.
Brill had a front-row seat to Postle’s dominance almost the entire time he performed. In addition to being one of many rotating forged of commentators, she additionally hosted one of many video games, an uncapped $1-$3 no-limit maintain ’em sport referred to as “Veronica and Friends.”
Her preliminary accusation was much less of an accusation and extra of a warning to these within the space. She included an 18-minute YouTube clip with a number of curiously performed palms, all leading to Postle successful the pot.
In one hand, he was on the unsuitable finish of a chilly deck with a full home in opposition to a much bigger full home. He simply referred to as the river guess. On the opposite hand, in a four-way pot, he guess and four-bet to $5,000 (sure, $5,000) with A-2 on Q-Q-4-5 after the flop was checked by.
The tweets and hand clips sparked nightly investigations by poker podcaster Joey Ingram, and web sleuths started hypothesizing how Postle was dishonest.
Eventually, the main idea was that Postle was receiving gap card data to his cellphone from the manufacturing studio. Many theorized Justin Kuraitis, Stones’ match director who ran the stream, was Postle’s confederate.
Brill particulars the allegations in her sequence. You can watch the primary episode beneath:
Legal Battle Ensues
After the theories grew to become mainstream, 88 gamers who misplaced cash to Postle filed a $30 million lawsuit in opposition to him, Kuraitis, and Stones Gambling Hall.
A couple of months later, a U.S. District Judge in Sacramento dismissed the fees. However, the plaintiffs reached an undisclosed settlement with Stones as an alternative of infinite appeals.
But it didn’t finish there. Postle filed a $330 million countersuit for defamation in opposition to a number of within the poker group. But two months after the swimsuit was filed, Postle’s legal professionals dropped him as a shopper.
The swimsuit was formally dropped simply 4 months later. Aside from an look in 2023 at a match in Biloxi, Postle has deserted the dwell poker scene.
Postle And Kuraitis Re-Emerge
Despite being absent from most cardrooms, Postle nonetheless pays consideration to the poker world. During a latest Solve For Why podcast, high-stakes professional and present host Matt Berkey mentioned Brill’s sequence.
Then, Postle confirmed up within the dwell chat and continued to assert his innocence. There was a quick try and get him on the present, however nothing materialized.
It’s doable it wasn’t truly Postle on the opposite finish of the web connection, however Kuraitis reappeared on the similar time, making it extra seemingly it was Postle making an attempt to get on the present.
During an X (previously Twitter) areas that very same day, Kuraitis publicly spoke concerning the scenario for the primary time in almost 5 years.
In earlier statements, Kuraitis maintained that Postle was harmless. But on this event, Kuraitis mentioned he was about 80% positive Postle didn’t cheat, and if he did cheat, he was pleased that he cheated those on the stream.
“Because the people that [claim] he cheated, the people that joined the lawsuit to try and get a couple extra bucks for their gambling addiction and sued me and dragged my name through the mud with nothing but fake, made-up data, I honestly hope they got cheated out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,” mentioned Kuraitis. “I really hope they did. So if he did cheat, at least he cheated those people.”
