Guy Taylor/Henry Strudwick Staking Dispute

Henry Strudwick, a.k.a 'Strudman'
Location: Chessington, London (previously Nottingham)
Remaining makeup: £32,388.

Henry took actions to forcibly ended his staking agreement in order to skip his playing through his losses. He has taken on a new staking deal behind my back without informing his new backers of his existing makeup.

Alias
Pokerstars - strudman
GGNetwork - strudman
WPN - twitchTv_strudmann
Twitch - Strudmann

Socials
Skype - live:henrystrudwick
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/henrystrudwick
Twitter - https://twitter.com/strudders123
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/strudss/
LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/henry-strudwi...

Background
Henry's staking came from 3 parties; myself, and two other pokerstars regulars; ThusPrider and Adzman300. We each provided 1/3 of the stake, and took part in mentoring, coaching, providing learning resources for Henry to improve and maintain his game, and arranged transfers to his Pokerstars account.

History
Henry initially won at $100 and $200 zoom. Results started to suffer from April 2020 onwards. Over time, Henry became resistant to advice, and his approach to the grind was increasingly unprofessional.
In October 2020, Henry subjected me to a barrage of verbal abuse in a group skype call, and attempted to forcibly drop me as one of his backers. He removed me from the staking group chats and blocked me from contacting him. ThusPrider/Adzman were able to talk Henry around to adding me back into the staking group chat, after a couple of weeks. Shortly thereafter, Henry had another losing session and required a top-up to continue playing. At this point in time, Adzman stated he no longer wanted to back Henry. Myself and ThusPrider expressed a desire to continue with the staking arrangement.

It was agreed that Henry would pause playing until a solution was found. Adzman had dropped Henry, but did nothing to seek out a replacement backer for his 1/3 of the stake. Myself and ThusPrider began a search, but suggestions of new stakers were consistently met with resistance from Henry. The potential sale of the entire stake to a stable was discussed, but Henry expressed he did not want to be part of any stable. Henry also rejected the idea being advertised to the poker market on forums in order to sell the stake.

The potential restart of the staking arrangement was brought up towards the end of 2020, with Adzman offering continued involvement, however, Henry stated that he had no motivation to play and would be working on his CV in order to get a job - something which I supported. Around the new year, without any warning or incident, Henry blocked on all social media.

In January, I noticed Henry playing $100 zoom, and his sharkscope results showed that he had played some MTTs. I messaged the staking group chat and informed Henry directly that he was breaking his staking contract if he'd taken a deal with another backer. His response, which came days later, was littered with lies and supposed misunderstandings about how staking contracts work. In further discussions, he had such a delusional version of events that I decided my only option was to find his new backers in order to resolve the matter. After speaking to his new backers, it was clear that he had not made them aware of his outstanding makeup. They did not wish to purchase it, and paused Henry's new deal while we worked on a resolution.

In an attempt to find a solution that worked for everyone, myself, ThusPrider, Adzman and Henry discussed selling the stake once again. Henry initially agreed to exploring this option. However, immediately after this group call, Henry wrote out a list of absurd demands about what any new backer had to stake him for. These included; 500 NL online, £1k NL live, and MTTs (something he does not even have enough volume for in order to be considered for staking). This was all in spite of the fact that the staking deal Henry had signed behind my back was just for $100 zoom initially. These demands were obviously impossible to meet, and by not backing down, Henry essentially blocked the sale of his makeup. He also seemed determined to avoid any form of repaying any of the debt, despite generous repayment plans suggested by myself and ThusPrider. When holding him to account, he attacked my character to his new backer's representative, suggesting I was 'abusive' - even after I'd repeatedly offered to help him in the process by writing off a portion of his makeup as part of any sale.

Current Status
ThusPrider is happy to put his portion of Henry's makeup on hiatus, he has stated that he doesn't have much time to work with Henry at this time but believes there may be opportunities in the future. He stated to me that he was unaware of Henry's actions in terms of seeking out a new staking deal without letting us know.

Adzman is happy to put Henry's makeup on hiatus. However, it is important to note that he was the person that dropped Henry and did nothing to help find a new backer in order for the stake continue. Having spoken to other professional stakers, it's evident that Adzman's portion of the makeup should have been transferred to myself and ThusPrider, or entirely wiped out. The reason he wasn't removed from the staking group after dropping Henry was that I believed Adzman to be acting in good faith at the time. It has come to light that he was in fact aware of what Henry was doing the entire time. Allowing this to happen behind the back of a business partner (or former business partner) is clearly out of line.

I have no confidence in Henry ever reopening a staking deal with over £30k of attached makeup, especially since he already went behind my back to secure himself a fresh new deal. As such, a hiatus is not something I am willing to accept. I am certain Henry was desperate to avoid playing through the makeup, as it exemplified by his attempts to write-off some of the makeup by dropping me as a backer.

Henry has admitted some fault in the matter, but only offered me £1500 to buy out the £10,796 debt that he owes to my 1/3 of the stake. After consulting other staking professionals about what would be a reasonable settlement, this seems to fall well below the mark. To avoid having to out Henry, I asked for an initial £3000 repayment, with a further £3000 within the calendar year from Henry's future profits. This would write off almost half of the debt. Nonetheless, Henry refused to negotiate, and told me he doesn't care if I out him. So here we are.

Henry owes me £10,796.

Henry's primary defence to his actions has been that I don't deserve my money back on account of being 'abusive.' Something that anyone who knows me remotely well would find laughable. Nonetheless, I attach below a voice clip of the event where Henry first attempted to skip his makeup by dropping me as a backer to give some insight into his true character, and who the abusive person was in this situation. Adzman (Maxwell) is present in the call, along with another player in the group who remains 'Anon'

https://youtu.be/iS3IQUkaB2M

Why is this information being released now instead of months ago?
Despite being grimmed numerous times in the 15 years I've been involved in the poker world, I've never outed anyone. I wanted to give Henry time to re-consider his position, and make sure I outed him at a time when the fallout wouldn't cause me distraction from important games. As such, I delayed this post until after SCOOP and other major events I've recently played.