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17 tables
6508 Antelope Road
916-735-8440
Open air 8 handed poker
To:
Justin Kuraitis <email address not displayed>
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Justin Kuraitis wrote on the message board: > Dear poker community > I am happy to announce that 62 plaintiffs and their counsel Maurice > VerStandig have agreed to dismiss all claims against me in the > Veronica Brill vs. Mike Postle case. They have also confirmed they > have found no evidence against myself or Stones and have concluded I > was not involved in any cheating at Stones. While I am gratified that > they now acknowledge the truth, the pain and unfairness of their > allegations and the wrath of the social media mob and internet > bullying lingers. > On the advice of counsel, I have remained silent and not commented on > the parade of false accusations that have been leveled against me. Now > that this is over, I want to move on and not spend the next 5 years in > the muck. There are some things I need to say before I move on, > because the process has been so disheartening and upsetting. > In the fall of 2019, I watched as the “poker community” and > wanna-be “celebrity” commentators on Twitter/YouTube falsely > accused me of being a knowing participant in what was allegedly the > “biggest poker cheating scandal in history.” > The allegations against me were false. However, the California > Department of Justice’s Bureau of Gambling Control still conducted > an investigation with which I completely and voluntarily cooperated. > Because of the investigation and then civil litigation, I was > counseled to remain silent and let the process play out without making > public com- ment. I did so, all the while wondering if the record > would ever be set straight, if the poker community would ever take me > back and if those that falsely accused me would ever apologize or if > they would just go on to the next effort to collect clicks and follow- > ers. > I watched in utter amazement as Joey Ingram devoted hour after hour to > “PostleGate.” Some of the videos were entertaining and they > certainly were great for increasing In- gram’s popularity, but as I > watched them it became clear that Ingram was peddling false > statistics, cherry-picking hands to fit his theories and ignoring data > that did not fit his version of the story. > Suddenly facts ceased to be important anymore and it all became about > who could come up with the most outlandish story. For example, Marle > Cordeiro fanned the flames regarding me and seemed to imply on twitter > that my car was purchased with money I obtained from the cheating > scandal. In fact, I bought that car from an acquain- tance on December > 4th 2017 which was more than 8 months before the alleged cheat- ing > supposedly started. Doug Polk, Daniel Negreanu, Matt Berkey, Jason > Somerville and many others not worth naming also jumped at the chance > to be in the spotlight with numerous false claims. > The propaganda machine that these guys created was prolific but it was > all a case of confirmation bias. Anything that fit in their narrative > was trumpeted and the many things that contradicted their story were > simply ignored. > > I am ashamed to say that back in October 2019 after listening to so > much propaganda, I even went through a period of time where I wondered > if it was possible that Mike Pos- tle had cheated. I remember being so > depressed with the thought that I could have missed something so > “obvious.” The news spiraled out of control with PokerNews making > ridiculous claims, countless op-eds mindlessly parroted and even some > main- stream media attention by ESPN, Barstool Sports and Haralabos > Voulgaris. > During this time, a Poker media company called Rounderlife emerged > from the dark- ness and was the only one doing actual research. Even > the suing parties were relying on the made up internet sleuth data. > The “poker community” systematically shut out and ignored > RounderLife magazine to make sure that their content did not go main- > stream. Why wouldn’t they want it to go mainstream? Was it because > RounderLife was putting out factual content that did not support their > narrative? Was it easier for Brill and company to claim Rounderlife > was biased than to actually address the facts pre- sented? > For example Rounderlife put out an article regarding me that > accurately pointed out there were multiple instances where Postle wins > big when I am verifiably out of town and loses big when I am > verifiably at Stones Gambling Hall (My locations are verifiable by my > social media post). This information was COMPLETELY IGNORED by the > poker media and conspiracy theorists! > There’s another Rounderlife article which points out that Postle’s > win rate was overly inflated by systematically leaving losing sessions > off of the lawsuit. If you intentionally exclude losing sessions, > guess how that affects the “win rate.” The irony is that multi- > ple losing sessions were unknowingly included in the lawsuit too > because the plaintiffs had bad data that said those session were wins > when in fact, they were losing ses- sions. The videos are right there > on YouTube and anyone that wants to spend the time to go through them > can confirm the objective proof published by Rounderlife. > How would you accurately determine how much Postle won or lost? You > would watch the YouTube videos and evaluate the amount of money Postle > bet, then deduct it from the pots he won. This would provide his > actual win/loss rate. Other than Rounderlife, not one internet outlet > took the time to evaluate and compute the real Postle win rates. > In the middle of all of this, the “poker community” celebrates > Veronica Brill for being the whistle blower and the hero of the story. > For the record this story was entirely built on half-truths. Veronica > did approach me in March 2019 and she did claim that Mike Postle was > cheating. When I asked her if she had any basis for her claim or > anything to support it, Veronica had nothing but her suspicion. Still > she demanded that I pull Postle from the game right away. To be clear, > Brill provided me with no numbers, no video of suspected hands, no > charts and no evidence/facts whatsoever. She has since appar- ently > claimed that she provided me with a collection of videos showing weird > plays but that is false as well. Brill only presented to me her > “belief” that Postle was cheating. > > I told Veronica that I thought she was wrong but I also told her if > she really thought Mike was doing something underhanded, she should > stop inviting him to her “Veronica and Friends” game. That was her > game. She decided who to invite (or not invite), not me, not anyone > else at Stones. So what did Veronica do? The very next month, Veroni- > ca texted her player list to me for her game and Mike Postle was on > it. In fact, Veronica continued to invite Postle on every list that > she sent me after that conversation. If Veronica thought Postle was > cheating, why did she invite him to all of her games? > In any event, the fact that Veronica invited Postle to her game > shortly after she made her comments to me seemed to confirm that this > was just “Veronica being Veronica.” You see, Veronica has this > penchant for making outrageous statements and frivolous claims about > people. The irony is she has done this in the past to some of her > co-plain- tiffs in this lawsuit, who now publicly claim to be her > friends. She would often make these claims to me and after a while, it > became a lot like “the boy who cried wolf.” > For those of you who think Veronica is a hero, do you think she told > the other people she invited to the games that she thought Postle was > cheating? What kind of hero in- vites her other friends to a game with > someone she suspected of cheating? > In the last year I have seen a community that I considered family turn > against me. Those close to me know that I would never stand for or be > involved in anything close to what I was accused of. Many of the > people that joined the lawsuit and spoke out against me were people > that I once called friends. Some of them, I even considered family. I > cared about these people, I put a lot of effort into creating > events/programs for them and I cared deeply about my work and my > integrity. I took it all very seriously. I put everything I had into > it. I loved making my poker people happy. > Turns out this “community” did not care about right or wrong, > fairness or a critical re- view of the actual facts. It was a rush to > judgment with the twitter mob interested in saying outrageous things > and jumping to unwarranted conclusions, all in an effort to get > followers, clicks and likes. It is all ego driven. Even the ones that > could have spo- ken out and knew this whole thing was all bullshit > were silenced by their sponsors. > On another note, I am just so sad that so many of you soiled Kevin > Racks’ name to fur- ther the hate and incite the Twitter mob. Kevin > was an incredible person. I had the privi- lege of knowing him and > becoming friends with him at the end of his life. Kevin should be > remembered for all of the goodness within him and as a bright light in > the poker community. The fact that he has been tied to this situation > in such a manipulative and cynical way makes his loss that much more > painful. > Lastly I want to publicly thank Rudy Robledo, Kirk Rexford and the > countless local Sacramento poker players who had my back and > circulated a petition to bring me back to Stones. This of course was > never tweeted about or reported by PokerNews but by the time it > happened, I was used to anything positive about me being ignored. It > is in times like these that you find out who your real friends are and > their character is re- > > vealed. I found out that I don’t have nearly as many friends as I > thought I did, but the ones that I do have are really incredible. > The Twitter mob is real, it is ugly, and it has real life > consequences. I have never before experienced so much hatred, > ignorance and even threats of violence. All this just be- cause of one > person on Twitter and the mob of people who were willing to believe > her without facts. It is pretty surreal to think about in retrospect. > These social media influ- encers need to be held accountable for what > they say against people and especially if they are accusing someone of > illegal activity without evidence. Social media provided them with a > platform to hide behind a computer while hurling false accusations at > me. Right or wrong doesn’t seem to matter to them. It is the person > with the loudest plat- form and the most followers that will get heard > and ultimately believed and that is a dark commentary on the poker > community that must be reconciled for the good of its own future. > Sincerely Justin Kuraitis
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