NBA HOFer Chauncey Billups arrested in poker-related gambling probe

Lol not surprised that you didn't get my point, which is there is a significant value in obtaining and possessing information regarding persons who may be attempting to defraud or cheat you.

Do you disagree with that conclusion?

How high do you have to be to realize that a bong and a pipe are (2) separate delivery devices?

Before you answer let me say that I'm jealous at never having achieved an altered state of mind at that level.

Maybe you could market this new hybrid device and eventually move outta your parent's place?

Yea it will make them less likely to play if anything.

You're comparing running a business to losing poker players who have their head up their ass as it is being vigilant about cheating. Not gonna happen. They either quit or continue to play with their head up their ass. Just gives them an excuse to quit when they keep losing.

A more accurate illustration is if you owned a candy shop, many customers perceive your candy as poisonous and stay away, your employee just got in trouble for poisoning the candy in your shop, and now everyone says “see? I told you it was poisonous!” and are reinforced not to go there.

Cheating in poker is a poison and the more cases get brought to mainstream media in front of non-poker players, the worse it is for attracting new players.

well in this case if this makes people stay away from private game and direct them to public games it's kind of a good thing

private games are cancer

I have no clue what my 100% bad for poker prompted your candy store analogy?

As a small store owner you absolutely crack down on it and make examples out of the culprit and send a message to your employees

As a large business I could see how Letting certain crimes go on until they cross threshold’s for prosecution or to catch a wider scheme.

In both examples it’s awful for the business PR and the bottom line.

As for the subsequent handling of the business for customers they must feel safe and happy to spend their dollars there in the future.

Idk what prompted any of your replies or what made you misconstrue my post.

ETA you must have quoted my post on accident? Anyway, this is all bad for the gambling industry as a whole(my bread and butter)

Hoping it leads to better sources and safer options going forward.

Exactly...well put Dr. Thank you for the clarification.

I think the question that is germane to this discussion is whether there's more value in:

1. Protecting/keeping the current poker population in games that are clean.

-or-

2. Trying to attract new players.

These two tasks are not mutually exclusive.

I have conceded (in a previous post) that news stories such as this will have a negative effect on attracting (some of the) new players. Additionally, some current players - especially those who may be relatively new to poker, might also drop out or reduce their play.

My assertion is that these loses will be more than offset (in the current population) by the preclusion of future losses due to cheating. Obviously, this is not a zero-sum equation and it's very difficult to quantify. That said, I believe that jumping to the conclusion that this news is a net negative is not being able to see the forest for the trees.

Poker, like everything else, changes and evolves. If private games have to largely migrate to casinos (where being cheated is much less of a concern) that's not necessarily a bad thing for the game as a whole. Private Home Games will still have an appeal to guys who are more interested in the girls and party favors than they are in their win rate. I would like to think that these gentlemen will still be better served with the knowledge that they can glean from this story.

...still waiting for an answer to my question, but don't despair...I'm a very patient man...and nonetheless, I appreciate your contributions.

Did you read what I wrote or are you being a troll?

Sorry...let me check again (as I do require reading glasses.) Hmmmm...didn't manage to detect a "Yes" or a "No" response. Please highlight if I'm overlooking it.

P.S. I'm not gonna hate on you if you disagree with me...no hard feelings either way. 😀 I do respect your opinion/assertion that this news story is 100% bad for poker, I just disagree with your take.

The feds did need a distraction from the Epstein files, guess they got it.

My apologies...will do...was not my intention. Thank you for crafting your request in such a kind and considerate way, "please" and "thank you" are all too rare in this day and age.

P.S. I think someone may have hijacked your account and trolled one of my posts earlier today. Prob a good idea to change your password.

Now, every time a player (especially a pro) shoots an air ball, people are gonna start thinking the game might be fixed.

NBA champion and head coach of the Blazers Chauncy is a loser after all wow. He fell into the character defect of greed. Shocking that he can succumbed to that degenerate level.

thats crazy if anyone watched his podcast he always made it clear pat MacAfee was his hero and he was trying to be the pat macafee of poker

Why is Matt Berkey smirking and smiling so much? Matt told us nothing about what went down. What good is this interview and where are more details from Matt? This is nothing to laugh or smirk about wtf.

He said on his podcast two years ago a game built around Chauncey Billups was being cheated, not sure what more you need. Its definitely his moment talking to his literal ****ing hero lol. let him have his second

Imo losing players being wary of playing high stakes private games where it’s almost a certainty that they are being cheated in some way or form is a huge positive for Poker.

I don’t see how influencing whales to return to public games that are more or less fair, despite being lower action is a bad thing for poker.

A bong is a pipe.

Can we have less drug paraphernalia terminology nitpicking and more explanation of what, exactly, it even means to be "the Pat McAfee of something"?

It says a Deckmate 1 was used on an ESPN article. I've already seen the video about how the Deckmate 2 can be hacked, but what is the mechanism for the first version?

Didn’t read the whole thread but also haven’t really seen anyone else mention that KeyboardMonkey posted on X that he lost $5-10m in these games

Ouch.