Poker Phil Galfond
When Winston Churchill advised defiance in defeat and magnanimity in victory, he was giving practical advice. In Justin Kuraitis’s response to the Postlegate court case, we can see why the latter is so important.
The ruling was made, his job was safe, and the case was done. Kuraitis could have let things cool down and the poker world might have forgotten him. Postle was the face of the scandal, and any future agro would be going that way.
Galfond is one of the most respected and beloved players in the game, and he made his name during the online poker boom of the 2003-20l1. He was a regular in the nosebleed games called “Rail. High stakes poker pro and partypoker ambassador, Isaac “Ike” Haxton is the latest guest on the Weekly Poker Showdown podcast with host and fellow Team partypoker member Jaime Staples. Watch: The Hand that Led Phil Galfond to an Epic Victory Versus Venividi. ICYMI, YESSS Phil Galfond did it!
Phil Galfond Poker Philosophy
Mac VerStandig even put his signature to a piece of paper that more or less acquitted Kuraitis.
Kuraitis had won. It was a time for magnanimity in victory.
Instead, Kuraitis seems to have taken a different path and the poker world is not taking it lightly.
The former defendant posted a four-page missive against the cheating allegations. And then he set about typing up a barrage of tweets that riled Phil Galfond into putting his own time and money into reopening the investigation.
“I’m a busy guy,” wrote Galfond. “I probably wasn’t ever going to think about Postle again, but @JFKPokerTD & @StonesGambling responded to a legal “victory” by taunting the victims. If we get all HHs into PT or a spreadsheet, I’ll create a detailed report with proof (or lack thereof) myself.”
I'm a busy guy. I probably wasn't ever going to think about Postle again, but @JFKPokerTD & @StonesGambling responded to a legal 'victory' by taunting the victims.🤮
If we get all HHs into PT or a spreadsheet, I'll create a detailed report with proof (or lack thereof) myself.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 19, 2020
Data, data, data
Nor was this an idle threat.
The founder of RunItOnce has already downloaded the relevant videos and is coordinating a team of volunteer researchers. They will be turning video streams into the kind of hand histories that a computer can understand and analyze.
Despite the fact that Galfond is aiming the investigation at him, Kuraitis been generally supportive of this undertaking. He even Tweeted that he is “looking forward” to the results.
Imagine an entire community accusing a man of cheating, destroying his life, name, reputation and then publicly admitting they haven't even compiled the data yet.
Don't stop until you hit +$100k in inflated winnings.
I'm looking forward to your findings. https://t.co/HHuoERHbSN
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 20, 2020
Galfond is clearly keen to avoid what is known as P-hunting in science. (This is where a large body of data is analyzed using many different parameters as it takes to find a “statistically significant” correlation. In a large enough data set there will be some of these correlations just by chance.)
To avoid this, Galfond had laid out an initial list of 17 tests he wants to run before he has seen the data.
These include things like Postle’s river bluff success rates and comparing scenarios like how often he folds to a flop raise when the raiser is paired or unpaired.
These analyses will go some way to quantifying whether Postle was playing well or too well.
In order to be fair, I plan to pick the stats I look at before seeing the data (or at least most of them – I may think of others later but I’ll note which were planned before seeing the data).
Here’s a quick draft. Any suggestions? pic.twitter.com/bWc5L2zYom
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
Why keep digging?
To those wondering why such an effort is worthwhile when the courts have ruled on the case, Galfond has two replies.
In one tweet, he states that he thinks “that the poker community banding together to self-police and protect their own when the courts won’t is a good look.”
GoFundMe adds organization and public record of the effort, which is worth the 10% imo. I think that the poker community banding together to self-police and protect their own when the courts won't is a good look.
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 17, 2020
In another tweet, he references the continued threats of legal actions that Veronica Brill claims to be receiving from Postle and his associates.
Reading about those threats, one is reminded of how Oscar Wilde took the Marquess of Queensbury to court for libel. Wilde ended up paying Queensbury off and still went to prison.
Though in this case, Kuraitis gets a freeroll. If Postle is proven innocent, the Kuraitis name is cleared. If not, there is no honor among cheats and Kuraitis can still claim Postle acted alone.
For those asking “what’s the point of trying to prove he was cheating now?”… https://t.co/xOYIo1dZun
— Phil Galfond (@PhilGalfond) September 20, 2020
Mike Postle, the professional poker player that was sued for $30 million over cheating accusations, has now filed his own lawsuit against those he says defamed him and caused him emotional distress, among other accusations.
News of the lawsuit hit social media on Friday as fellow poker pro, Todd Witteles took to Twitter posting a copy of the first page of the suit which shows other defendants include:
- ESPN – which covered the investigation into the cheating allegations
- Veronica Brill – the poker player and broadcaster that initially brought the accusations to light
- Joey Ingram – the professional poker player and podcaster that performed an in-depth investigation into the recoded streams
- PokerNews – presumably for their coverage of the accusations
- Daniel Negreanu – presumably for comments he made about Postle and the accusations
- Run It Once – a company founded by poker professional Phil Galfond
This will be drowned out by the Trump news, but Mike Postle is suing me, @Angry_Polak, @ESPN, @Pokernews,… https://t.co/w0OKO1SA0f— Todd Witteles (@ToddWitteles) October 02, 2020
Phil Galfond Poker
Other individuals and poker related companies are also listed as Defendants in the suit.
Poker Player Phil Galfond
The suit comes just days after Galfond appeared on the podcast sponsored by Run It Once Poker (also founded by Galfond) called The Rake to discuss his statistical analysis of the available hands that were at least part of the basis of the accusations and subsequent media coverage.