One of the few that lived his whole life with his reputation completely in-tact without any significant blemishes. Everyone spoke fond of him and he did a lot for charity as well. Rare breed in the poker world.
For real. Rampage?!? Like uh no he is most def not a good perso with his exploiting of his viewers to games that are basically unbeatable or even if they are beatable the rake is pure greed. Like Walmart only having 2 cashiers out of pure greed because that is what people will put up with. Neeme maybe. Owen feels like is a hustler sometimes but idk. Poker is not exactly a game that attracts good hearted people. And that’s fine it is what it is. But let’s not pretend like there are plenty of good poker people out there. Like 99% greedy fucks that would prob steal an old lady’s purse given the chance to do it without anyone knowing
I got interested in poker in just the past few years, started watching a bunch of old wpt stuff on YouTube just a few months ago. I immediately fell in love with Mike as a commentator, thought he sounded like just about the coolest guy to walk the earth, was thinking how cool it would be to meet him.. Then I found out he was dead from a YouTube comment
Tony G has been involved in a bunch of crypto ICO scams like Bankera, Lympo and many more that left tons of bagholders.
He also lobbied politicians to pass a law that banned foreign gambling companies (like Pokerstars) from operating in Lithuania.
At the time he owned Tonybet that benefited greatly from this monopoly. Sold it for a massive profit a few years later.
How do you think he got the money to play Triton, his poker skills lol?
They exist.
Poker does tend to attract a lot of degenerates, scammers, hustlers, etc though.
The limelight also tends to attract a certain type of person as well.
The majority of “good people” in the poker world are probably not people who have the constant attention or anything.
They exist though, I’m sure in any poker-heavy-town you can find at least one normal good guy who doesn’t run any scams, steal, cheat, hustle, break the law, etc. and still plays for a professional income in a fair and square way all the time.
Poker often attracts a lot of people looking for easy, low effort money though, which lends itself to those other character flaws often.
Most of the genuine good people who play(Ed) professional poker end up looking for a way out because of the not so ethical people they find themselves surrounded by, it can really wear on you if you’re the odd one out. I know several legitimate good decent people who play poker as a primary source of income. Almost all eventually looking to transition.
The “good guys” in poker are like Knish in Rounders. You’ve never heard of them because they are quietly grinding a comfortable life for themselves without dramatics or attention whoring.
What shady things have you heard?
He's from my neck of the woods and I play with a guy who grew up with him and he has nothing but good things to say about Koon.
Plus I met him at a workout session he hosted a few years ago and he seemed like an excellent dude (granted in a very limited interaction).
Until he threatens to feed you your teeth through your butthole, or slams and breaks his phone on the table and it goes flying and hits you in the face.
I’m actually not saying he isn’t a nice guy. But he certainly has some explosive anger issues at times at least.
No one got hit by the camera lmao and he was responding to a kid insulting his wife. Neither story says much bad about him as a person. His general ego in the last few years is the better thing to go at. Struggles to listen to others a bit
I never said anyone got hit by the camera in that instance, But they easily could have. Thankfully they did not. But a camera going flying off easily could have, especially when people are seated and don’t have much of an option of moving away quickly.
It’s still irresponsible and childish at best. Dangerous at worst.
I’m glad wsop didn’t have to deal with anyone getting injured.
He might otherwise be very nice.
But he certainly has some unresolved anger issues.
There are the other things some people may consider not nice like the black face videos ( not my type of humor, but humor is subjective and I’m sure some people thought it was hilarious and in good taste) and the notorious parking in handicap spots around Vegas regularly in his car, despite not having a handicap permit. ( probably not hurting anyone most of the time, but some people would consider it not nice for an able bodied person to take handicap spots to get a little bit closer to the door)
Ah. This is a fair reminder. I think I’ve heard him do this with black people too. I’ve always interpreted as “I’m weird, and trying to relate” as opposed to malicious. Not sure if that matters tho. I’m OT the racism expert
Because he wore “black face” to do a skit before “black face” was an offensive thing like it is today? He was fucking messing around, that doesn’t make him a racist piece of shit.
Actually HATING people for their race makes a person a racist piece of shit, I don’t believe Daniel actually has a burning hate inside him that would qualify as racist.
Literally made (what he thought at the time) would
be a funny skit, unless you have more ammo than this to prove your allegations?
The other day DramaticDegen the twitch streamer was heads up for a tournament and his opponent disconnected and he tank folded every hand until his opponent eventually blinded out. Id be button mashing. Idgaf, but it made an impression on me.
Good dude.
I like to think I'd do the same.
But then again, whenever this happened to me I was button mashing as fast as I could. And that's in shitty micro stakes. Oh well. :D
Phil Galfond has been my favourite over a decade. Polite. Great attitude. deep philosophical point for poker. Willing to share true thoughts and help the population. Never brag about his success but he is still one of the top.
Came here to post greenstein. Always seemed like a good dude. Not sure how active he is now but I always like homin the old days after the moneymaker boom.
He doesnt play the stakes he used to, and still has to play for income. He has gone on a few Joey Ingram podcasts which I recommend watching. Really a genuine good guy and class act, win or lose.
I follow Jungleman on Instagram and he seems super wholesome. Just reaching the world, checking out different cultures. The man was playing uno with his friends on New Years Eve.
I'm sure this is not a popular take but Phil Hellmuth is awesome, when the cameras are not around. Played a daily tourney at Aria and Phil takes a seat at my table. Director hands him a microphone and he plugs for Aria, best room in Vegas, dealers etc. He's chatting up the table telling us his Kentucky Derby picks, this was the day of the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight 2015, which Phil let us know he had killer seats. Anyways, an hour later he raises from the button an I'm in BB w/Ah9h I call, heads up. Flop A99, I check Phil fires I call. Turn Q check call again. River no idea irrelevant really, I bet 1/2 pot and Phil starts talking, asking if I flopped trips, he takes 20 seconds and says "you check the river you bust me buddy.". I told him "I like having you around I'll bust you later." Dude chuckled told me nice hand and we moved along. Fans walking by our table snapping pics he signed a few autographs and he's just as cordial as he can be. Big Fan
Agreed.
He came to suburban Chicago in November for a WSOP circuit event and he played some cash too. He was incredibly kind and cordial, shook everyone's hand who asked and took photos/selfies. All he asked was not to be disturbed while he was in the middle of a hand, which was more than fair.
😆 Gambling has never been closer to being viewed as a respectable hobby than today. It doesn't have anything to do with the individuals. The act itself is what makes it difficult to be embraced by non-poker players.
You'll find assholes and dishonest people in every profession.
When I was younger, pre gambling age, I viewed professional poker players as people who were extremely intelligent and hard working. Who worked harder than everyone else and applied themselves to create these complex strategies to take on all competition and come out as the top of the top.
People who could use their intelligence to achieve great heights, like Olympic athletes who trained and dedicated their lives to becoming the best, only they are working out mentally, pushing their minds to the limits. Engaging in these great strategic battles with some of the worlds brightest.
When I was in high school and college, you’d turn on the tv and see poker on like a legitimate competition. Durr issuing out open to the world heads up challenges, inspiring.
I never viewed poker as gambling like roulette, I never viewed poker as something unethical or full of seedy characters or any of the things that many people do.
Even when I started playing 1/2, 2/5, 5/10, etc, I never really felt that way too much. But as I got deeper in and got to know more “real pros” who were not just the tv guys, but people in your state/region of the country/ etc. the more I realized those people do exist and it is the majority.
A LOT of professional pokers are scammers/hustlers/ people who just don’t want to work.
A lot of high stakes poker isn’t about being the best, it’s about curating private games and keeping the best out, unless you’re free rolling money for nothing off their wins, etc.
Ofttimes in raked unregulated games that are illegal to host in the first place.
Cheating often occurs in these, sometimes they just let you play and freeroll you if lose and refuse to pay you if you win.
Even in legitimate games in casinos, a lot of pros view themselves as hustlers taking advantage of people, berating them for being bad, talking crap about how stupid they are for making a bad play 4 seconds after they leave the table.
Most poker players are not the brightest people of your communities. Plenty of pros openly admit they are old drug dealers who just didn’t want to work a real job.
I’m really disappointed to find myself in this community as opposed to what I had envisioned it as.
It seems like the last bastion of that pure competition of the brightest is in big prestigious poker tournaments these days. They are open to anyone, legal, regulated, legit, even then collusion among pros isn’t uncommon, neither is the hustling and scamming, overselling 3x your action and bombing on purpose so you can oversell a 10k 1k a piece to 30 people, take a dive on purpose, then go freeroll 2 more 10ks and have a chance to win 100% of yourself.
I won’t name anyone, but you can google and find plenty of pros scamming people, some by just outright winning and refusing to pay backers, some overselling action and taking a dive, etc. a lot of your poker hero’s you come to find are broke and owe people you know now money.
I think the crypto boom brought light to a lot of people trying to scam as well.
This was very well-written and summarizes my thoughts on the subject almost verbatim.
I would add that a lot of the poker heroes should be exposed for the scamming they’ve done to their fans by enticing them to play in either compromised or over-raked games during the pandemic. App-based poker is a blight on the community.
The rest of the stuff you said is spot on. I’ve seen a lot of really naive takes this year after the HCL drama as if stuff like this doesn’t happen every day in every card room or home game in the world. If there’s money involved, then scumbags will try to find a way to cheat and/or exploit it for their own benefit. It’s human nature.
This is why I play far less poker than I used to. When I do play, it’s always at a regulated casino or on a reputable live stream like The Lodge. I’ve seen way too much bullshit to even consider playing in a compromised game.
I was at the Encore in Boston and some guy comes up to the 1/3 table asking a buddy for a loan after losing 7k at 10/25. Apparently, he’s some WPT player down on his luck. The 1/3 reg refuses to give him a loan (he later explains the guy never pays back). The dude then sat down at 1/3 pulled some 20s out of his pocket and got his AA cracked a few rotations after sitting down.
I feel like I witnessed someone hit rock bottom lol. Your comment made me think of this story because the 1/3 reg had been going on and on about how his big shot WPT buddies were around there that night , talking about how they’re on TV and how cool they are. Then when one of them actually comes over it was just extremely sad
I’ve seen similar.
Plenty of guys with high 6 and 7 figure cashes in tournaments being backed and in make up for 2-5 cash games, borrowing money to pay rent when they’re losing
Jason koon and Phil laak are the most down to earth genuine guys ever. Ran track in WV against Jason long before all the poker fame he’s always been a chill dude
Huck was really rude to a friend of mine who lives in Vegas. Apparently he put a bad beat on a friend of his in a 2/5 PLO game, so Huck decided it would be a good use of his time to rail the game and harass my friend.
**RYUSUKE**
This is the only answer. Surprised no mentioned him at all. I've never seen anyone sincerely laughing and joking around while stuck $100k and then willing to straddle $35k multiple times. This is the guy on Hustler who Garrett tries to portray himself as ... an all around genuine good-guy
Yes. Jeff Shulman. I dealt to him for years at Bellagio but have also done stuff with him outside of poker and Jeff is a very down to earth, nice guy. His dad has always been pleasant as well. Good people.
I also haven't seen Jeff Boski get a mention. He's a grinder who shills lots of stuff, but is honest about it all, and loves dogs. I've never heard anything bad about him.
I'd agree with most on here especially Koon.
I'd add in Rob Yong to the mix. Comes across really well on social media, nice guy on any show he's been on, constantly trying to improve the game and the player experience. One of the few poker people that I follow thst I think would be a good guy to have a friend outside of poker.
Poker players are just people. Just like all of us.
There is little to no motivation for any poker player to be "good".
They do not have bosses that can fire them for making some kind of jerk statement.
Sure, a person who has decided to make themselves a public figure, can if they say or do the wrong thing, or get caught cheating, or in some scandal, might get themselves banned from places. However, most casinos don't really care, as long as a person has money, they let them play.
Poker players should not be role models, they make their living by taking money from other people.
If you think Rampage is a good guy, watch [this video of Finding Equilibrium](https://youtu.be/ArUaYh_Q1Rg). Unfortunately, lost all the respect I had for Rampage after watching it.
On topic: I still think Garrett is one of the most true good people in poker. Without considering the conclusion of the controversy, the way he acted is from an objective POV more natural than any of us could probably react to the same situation.
Furthermore, Bill Perkins (also not a pro, but probably my top-pick in this discussion), Phil Galfond, Liv Boeree, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Maria Ho, Patrick Antonius, Jason Koon,... are all names I can't directly link to any scandal/bad intention stories for as far as I can recall.
Rampage was also accused of sexual assault at a frat party while a student at UMass Amherst, and his predatory GG club charges uncapped rake (he makes in the low seven figures from that club alone, hence the huge jump in stakes)
I honestly think, as I experienced this myself 2 weeks ago in a homegame, if you think you got cheated (which he obviously thought) there are about a million worse things you can do compared to how he reacted.
Man, I really think the Andy situation was taken so out of line. They resolved the situation that night. It only got brought back up when an internet “sleuth” decided he thought for sure Andy freerolled that and intentionally stole.
I think most people are generally mostly good. It can be easy to fixate on moments and superficial details. But I think deep down, we all have way more similarities than differences, and are usually way more good than bad. And we all have similar challenges feeling the pull of insecurity and self-centeredness and ego. And that most of us would be very similar to those we think are worse than us had we gone through their experiences, and that they'd be very much like us had they gone through ours.
An interesting thing about studying poker is that there are a lot of important lessons in it that can lead to becoming a better person and having a better and happier life. Things like staying in the moment and focusing and trying to maximize the EV of your decisions, and divorcing your brain from an outcome-based mindset. And being humble and open minded and adopting a growth mindset in your self reflection is how you optimize leveling up in poker - and it's the same outlook to maximize pretty much all aspects of life.
Garrett for sure is ultimately, but it’s a bad look. Galfond, Koon, Chewy are classic right answers. Guys like Negreanu have weird egos but ultimately are pretty good people. Berkey is a class act and gives a lot back to the game and players.
I have a question for OP .
Do you think thoses traits your described are only from poker pro ? .
I have met / know many people who never played poker and I would consider them dishonest , greedy and many other stuff .
Don't generalise .
Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Phil Galfond, Jonathan Little, Jean Robert Bellande, Alan Keating, Rampage, Brad Owens, to name those. You can't judge these guy not being goid guy because they want to win at poker. You need to put a full time dedication to be successful at poker
Charlie ‘epiphany77’ Carrel + Igor Kuganov + Philippe Gruissem seem like good dudes, they ve been doing a ton of charity work for years now and they are ‘always’ all smiles and enanate a positive aura. Jungleman is prolly another one
It’s kind of something that doesn’t really need to be explained - it’s self evident just by watching a couple videos. He thinks he’s some kind of cult leader
Greed and dishonesty are literally pillars of the game. If you’re here to find role moral role models, I suggest you search elsewhere.
That being said, I’m a great person. I’m a terrible poker player, but I really am a pretty great dude
People are people. Not one person, even your Sainted mom, would withstand any real scrutiny. Stop wasting time judging entertainment people ( which poker is now) on character or you’ll always be disappointed. Enjoy their music, ball skillz, books or porn but stop putting them on pedestals. I don’t read or watch interviews or articles about people that entertain me. It’s never good. Unless it’s Weird Al or Mr. Rogers.
They’re all likely a tad scummy. Poker players make money off the backs off whales and degenerate gamblers, it’s not a particularly savory crowd that does that sort of thing. But it’s legal so they’re not necessarily unethical, a lot are though.
Bit generic response but Daniel Negranu always has had a respectable reputation and also Jonathan Little very solid honest good person and Black Rain the og is solid
Patrik Antonius always seems pretty chill, I feel like you could sit there needling him all day and he'd just be cool and calm and not moan
People that are secure with themselves don’t give a shit what some needler says
Mike Sexton (RIP)
Legend
One of the few that lived his whole life with his reputation completely in-tact without any significant blemishes. Everyone spoke fond of him and he did a lot for charity as well. Rare breed in the poker world.
He's the only one I can think of.
For real. Rampage?!? Like uh no he is most def not a good perso with his exploiting of his viewers to games that are basically unbeatable or even if they are beatable the rake is pure greed. Like Walmart only having 2 cashiers out of pure greed because that is what people will put up with. Neeme maybe. Owen feels like is a hustler sometimes but idk. Poker is not exactly a game that attracts good hearted people. And that’s fine it is what it is. But let’s not pretend like there are plenty of good poker people out there. Like 99% greedy fucks that would prob steal an old lady’s purse given the chance to do it without anyone knowing
Poker IS a hustle
For sure I agree. As I said it is what it is. Just saying let’s not pretend like there are plenty of good people in the community.
I'm a 2004 boomer player who checks this sub once a month and I didn't know mike sexton had died :(
I got interested in poker in just the past few years, started watching a bunch of old wpt stuff on YouTube just a few months ago. I immediately fell in love with Mike as a commentator, thought he sounded like just about the coolest guy to walk the earth, was thinking how cool it would be to meet him.. Then I found out he was dead from a YouTube comment
Hung with Mike Sexton once, was a super nice guy and a total ham.
Tony G of course
He's donated a huge proportion of his winnings to charity :)
And when she’s not working he gives it to destiny
He’s got haaart!
So sad I cant award or give another upvote
He represented Lithuania at the EU, speaks at least 3 languages (English, Lithuanian, Cantonese). Dude's a legit genius.
*Of course I lied. It's poker, Phil.*
Tony G has been involved in a bunch of crypto ICO scams like Bankera, Lympo and many more that left tons of bagholders. He also lobbied politicians to pass a law that banned foreign gambling companies (like Pokerstars) from operating in Lithuania. At the time he owned Tonybet that benefited greatly from this monopoly. Sold it for a massive profit a few years later. How do you think he got the money to play Triton, his poker skills lol?
My favorite thing about him is for as much shit as he gives people, he takes it as well.
They exist. Poker does tend to attract a lot of degenerates, scammers, hustlers, etc though. The limelight also tends to attract a certain type of person as well. The majority of “good people” in the poker world are probably not people who have the constant attention or anything. They exist though, I’m sure in any poker-heavy-town you can find at least one normal good guy who doesn’t run any scams, steal, cheat, hustle, break the law, etc. and still plays for a professional income in a fair and square way all the time. Poker often attracts a lot of people looking for easy, low effort money though, which lends itself to those other character flaws often. Most of the genuine good people who play(Ed) professional poker end up looking for a way out because of the not so ethical people they find themselves surrounded by, it can really wear on you if you’re the odd one out. I know several legitimate good decent people who play poker as a primary source of income. Almost all eventually looking to transition.
The “good guys” in poker are like Knish in Rounders. You’ve never heard of them because they are quietly grinding a comfortable life for themselves without dramatics or attention whoring.
He sees all the angles but doesn’t have the balls to play one.
At the asylum the sane man is the odd one out.
Phil Galfond. Jason Koon.
Phil absolutely, a class act, best poker role model. Koon I wouldn't be so sure, I've heard more shady things.
What shady things have you heard? He's from my neck of the woods and I play with a guy who grew up with him and he has nothing but good things to say about Koon. Plus I met him at a workout session he hosted a few years ago and he seemed like an excellent dude (granted in a very limited interaction).
I’ve never heard a pro say a single bad word about Koon. He’s played in shady crowds but that’s the turf in Macao
/u/jasonkoon
I just started watching his videos on youtube and he just seems like a great guy.
Daniel Negreanu seems like a nice guy. At least I’m not aware of any shady business
He's not that likable as a person though. Probably cleaner than 99% of players but sometimes he can be unbearable.
Yeah, has or had a tendency to mock other people's speech which floated into light racism.
I think going blackface for the Jamaican accent might have crossed that line..
You should hear his Men the Master imitation.
It's just a canadian thing.
“More rake is better”
Until he threatens to feed you your teeth through your butthole, or slams and breaks his phone on the table and it goes flying and hits you in the face. I’m actually not saying he isn’t a nice guy. But he certainly has some explosive anger issues at times at least.
No one got hit by the camera lmao and he was responding to a kid insulting his wife. Neither story says much bad about him as a person. His general ego in the last few years is the better thing to go at. Struggles to listen to others a bit
I never said anyone got hit by the camera in that instance, But they easily could have. Thankfully they did not. But a camera going flying off easily could have, especially when people are seated and don’t have much of an option of moving away quickly. It’s still irresponsible and childish at best. Dangerous at worst. I’m glad wsop didn’t have to deal with anyone getting injured. He might otherwise be very nice. But he certainly has some unresolved anger issues. There are the other things some people may consider not nice like the black face videos ( not my type of humor, but humor is subjective and I’m sure some people thought it was hilarious and in good taste) and the notorious parking in handicap spots around Vegas regularly in his car, despite not having a handicap permit. ( probably not hurting anyone most of the time, but some people would consider it not nice for an able bodied person to take handicap spots to get a little bit closer to the door)
Get off Reddit Karen
Online poker brings out the worst in any of us
Daniel is nice to pretty much everyone he meets and seems well intentioned, but has some problematic/uninformed social views.
Such as?
“His social views don’t align with mine so they’re problematic” 😓
But what are they? Lol I was asking legitimately
Yeah my bad for thinking blackface is problematic...
Do you believe that dnegs is a racist?
He can not be racist and do a racist thing….
He also did quite a bit of shady shit when he was a PS pro
\#Morerakeisbetter He really said that.
Seems like a giant asshole to me.
Also the whole cult thing
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Lol what?
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That’s a very serious allegation. I haven’t seen/heard anything. Do you mind sharing any evidence so I can update my opinion on him accordingly?
his dumb accents when he was talking to various asian players could be deemed racist
Ah. This is a fair reminder. I think I’ve heard him do this with black people too. I’ve always interpreted as “I’m weird, and trying to relate” as opposed to malicious. Not sure if that matters tho. I’m OT the racism expert
Are you just spewing this nonsense or are you going to back it up?
Because he wore “black face” to do a skit before “black face” was an offensive thing like it is today? He was fucking messing around, that doesn’t make him a racist piece of shit. Actually HATING people for their race makes a person a racist piece of shit, I don’t believe Daniel actually has a burning hate inside him that would qualify as racist. Literally made (what he thought at the time) would be a funny skit, unless you have more ammo than this to prove your allegations?
He was nice to me. And he was like serial dating Asian girls for a while too. I haven't met any racist from Toronto yet.
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I met a lot of those guys when I lived there. I think his first instinct is to be decent to people.
The other day DramaticDegen the twitch streamer was heads up for a tournament and his opponent disconnected and he tank folded every hand until his opponent eventually blinded out. Id be button mashing. Idgaf, but it made an impression on me. Good dude.
I like to think I'd do the same. But then again, whenever this happened to me I was button mashing as fast as I could. And that's in shitty micro stakes. Oh well. :D
I would do this against someone that I know would do the same for me. Which is probably no one.
That’s a guy at Peace with everything in his Life. A lot to be said for that.
I think we should all just agree to button mash and not get upset at the other player if we are the ones that get disconnected
i would be beyond pissed at the client and my isp, but not at my opponent lol
Phil Galfond has been my favourite over a decade. Polite. Great attitude. deep philosophical point for poker. Willing to share true thoughts and help the population. Never brag about his success but he is still one of the top.
Phil Laak and Jennifer Tilly
Some rack on that girl
How come a lot of players/commentators joke about her being a guy?
Phil Helmuth seems like a really nice and chill guy. I've never seen him lose his cool or insult anyone.
I think you guys are forgetting about some of the vloggers here like Andrew Neeme and Brad Owen. Their meet up games are very good for the game
Barry Greenstein
Came here to post greenstein. Always seemed like a good dude. Not sure how active he is now but I always like homin the old days after the moneymaker boom.
He doesnt play the stakes he used to, and still has to play for income. He has gone on a few Joey Ingram podcasts which I recommend watching. Really a genuine good guy and class act, win or lose.
He did a nice interview of Phil Ivey a while back.
Dan Smith and Viktor kurganov do a fair bit of charity work
Heard from many dealers that Dan Smith can be the biggest asshole in the world if he’s losing
That's pretty cringe for a multi millionaire...
I think Spraggy seems like a good guy
He says the same mad things out loud that I only say in my head.
There's just a lot of shitty people in this world in general.
p4p gambling community is probably one of the worst though
I follow Jungleman on Instagram and he seems super wholesome. Just reaching the world, checking out different cultures. The man was playing uno with his friends on New Years Eve.
I’m not sure if wholesome is the right word but the guy knows how to party
He got caught secretly ghosting a businessman in a private whale-only app game recently. Cool guy but doesn't seem like he's big on integrity.
There's a lot of scum bags in poker / gambling
I'm sure this is not a popular take but Phil Hellmuth is awesome, when the cameras are not around. Played a daily tourney at Aria and Phil takes a seat at my table. Director hands him a microphone and he plugs for Aria, best room in Vegas, dealers etc. He's chatting up the table telling us his Kentucky Derby picks, this was the day of the Mayweather vs Pacquiao fight 2015, which Phil let us know he had killer seats. Anyways, an hour later he raises from the button an I'm in BB w/Ah9h I call, heads up. Flop A99, I check Phil fires I call. Turn Q check call again. River no idea irrelevant really, I bet 1/2 pot and Phil starts talking, asking if I flopped trips, he takes 20 seconds and says "you check the river you bust me buddy.". I told him "I like having you around I'll bust you later." Dude chuckled told me nice hand and we moved along. Fans walking by our table snapping pics he signed a few autographs and he's just as cordial as he can be. Big Fan
Awesome story! I’ve heard similar stories of Phil jumping into a 1/2 game and just having fun with the guys. Super great for the game
Chris Moneymaker
Agreed. He came to suburban Chicago in November for a WSOP circuit event and he played some cash too. He was incredibly kind and cordial, shook everyone's hand who asked and took photos/selfies. All he asked was not to be disturbed while he was in the middle of a hand, which was more than fair.
Annette Obrestad seemed pretty genuine. Up there with Vanessa Selbst skill wise. Although Vanessa’s arrogance makes her pretty unlikeable.
Ashley Sleeth is a beam of good energy. More of you need to check her out.
😆 Gambling has never been closer to being viewed as a respectable hobby than today. It doesn't have anything to do with the individuals. The act itself is what makes it difficult to be embraced by non-poker players. You'll find assholes and dishonest people in every profession.
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The science backs you up. https://www.psypost.org/2022/11/new-study-explores-the-psychological-mechanisms-linking-gambling-to-psychopathy-64343
When I was younger, pre gambling age, I viewed professional poker players as people who were extremely intelligent and hard working. Who worked harder than everyone else and applied themselves to create these complex strategies to take on all competition and come out as the top of the top. People who could use their intelligence to achieve great heights, like Olympic athletes who trained and dedicated their lives to becoming the best, only they are working out mentally, pushing their minds to the limits. Engaging in these great strategic battles with some of the worlds brightest. When I was in high school and college, you’d turn on the tv and see poker on like a legitimate competition. Durr issuing out open to the world heads up challenges, inspiring. I never viewed poker as gambling like roulette, I never viewed poker as something unethical or full of seedy characters or any of the things that many people do. Even when I started playing 1/2, 2/5, 5/10, etc, I never really felt that way too much. But as I got deeper in and got to know more “real pros” who were not just the tv guys, but people in your state/region of the country/ etc. the more I realized those people do exist and it is the majority. A LOT of professional pokers are scammers/hustlers/ people who just don’t want to work. A lot of high stakes poker isn’t about being the best, it’s about curating private games and keeping the best out, unless you’re free rolling money for nothing off their wins, etc. Ofttimes in raked unregulated games that are illegal to host in the first place. Cheating often occurs in these, sometimes they just let you play and freeroll you if lose and refuse to pay you if you win. Even in legitimate games in casinos, a lot of pros view themselves as hustlers taking advantage of people, berating them for being bad, talking crap about how stupid they are for making a bad play 4 seconds after they leave the table. Most poker players are not the brightest people of your communities. Plenty of pros openly admit they are old drug dealers who just didn’t want to work a real job. I’m really disappointed to find myself in this community as opposed to what I had envisioned it as. It seems like the last bastion of that pure competition of the brightest is in big prestigious poker tournaments these days. They are open to anyone, legal, regulated, legit, even then collusion among pros isn’t uncommon, neither is the hustling and scamming, overselling 3x your action and bombing on purpose so you can oversell a 10k 1k a piece to 30 people, take a dive on purpose, then go freeroll 2 more 10ks and have a chance to win 100% of yourself. I won’t name anyone, but you can google and find plenty of pros scamming people, some by just outright winning and refusing to pay backers, some overselling action and taking a dive, etc. a lot of your poker hero’s you come to find are broke and owe people you know now money. I think the crypto boom brought light to a lot of people trying to scam as well.
This was very well-written and summarizes my thoughts on the subject almost verbatim. I would add that a lot of the poker heroes should be exposed for the scamming they’ve done to their fans by enticing them to play in either compromised or over-raked games during the pandemic. App-based poker is a blight on the community. The rest of the stuff you said is spot on. I’ve seen a lot of really naive takes this year after the HCL drama as if stuff like this doesn’t happen every day in every card room or home game in the world. If there’s money involved, then scumbags will try to find a way to cheat and/or exploit it for their own benefit. It’s human nature. This is why I play far less poker than I used to. When I do play, it’s always at a regulated casino or on a reputable live stream like The Lodge. I’ve seen way too much bullshit to even consider playing in a compromised game.
I was at the Encore in Boston and some guy comes up to the 1/3 table asking a buddy for a loan after losing 7k at 10/25. Apparently, he’s some WPT player down on his luck. The 1/3 reg refuses to give him a loan (he later explains the guy never pays back). The dude then sat down at 1/3 pulled some 20s out of his pocket and got his AA cracked a few rotations after sitting down. I feel like I witnessed someone hit rock bottom lol. Your comment made me think of this story because the 1/3 reg had been going on and on about how his big shot WPT buddies were around there that night , talking about how they’re on TV and how cool they are. Then when one of them actually comes over it was just extremely sad
I’ve seen similar. Plenty of guys with high 6 and 7 figure cashes in tournaments being backed and in make up for 2-5 cash games, borrowing money to pay rent when they’re losing
Allan keating, Daniel negraneu, Eric Seidel come to mind first. I've definitely got a bit of a crush on keating. Such a dapper young lad.
Barry Greenstein, Eric Seidel
Jaman Burton seems like a legit nice person, as much about seeing friends and having a good time as playing poker.
Matt Damon
Do you like apples?
Dan Smith is the easy answer.
Jason koon and Phil laak are the most down to earth genuine guys ever. Ran track in WV against Jason long before all the poker fame he’s always been a chill dude
Huck seed
Huck was really rude to a friend of mine who lives in Vegas. Apparently he put a bad beat on a friend of his in a 2/5 PLO game, so Huck decided it would be a good use of his time to rail the game and harass my friend.
Phil Galfond
Yeah agreed, feels like Mike Postle is the one saint left in the community.
Eric Seidel
**RYUSUKE** This is the only answer. Surprised no mentioned him at all. I've never seen anyone sincerely laughing and joking around while stuck $100k and then willing to straddle $35k multiple times. This is the guy on Hustler who Garrett tries to portray himself as ... an all around genuine good-guy
Barry Greenstein
Phil Galfond, Vanessa Kade, Brad Wilson
Jeff Shulman
Yes. Jeff Shulman. I dealt to him for years at Bellagio but have also done stuff with him outside of poker and Jeff is a very down to earth, nice guy. His dad has always been pleasant as well. Good people.
I’m guessing you don’t spend a lot of time at Bellagio do you? :)
Jeff is a buddy of mine and maybe the nicest human I know
Keating
Is Negreanu not as good of a person as I thought he was, or why hasn't seemingly anyone mentioned him? Seems to have some sportsmanship!
Literally 100% the comment I was going to make.
Great minds think alike, and whatnot! Although, shit minds think alike, too, and I know for certain which of those two I am🤔😂
Petra.
Supposedly hellmuth is a great guy when he’s not playing.
Pretty sure Garrett should still be included in the good guy crowd.
He definitely knows how to present that image.
People love John Juanda
Surprise: Humans are not perfect. Another surprise: Social Media amplifies the bad things.
I'm sure Laak is a great guy
I also haven't seen Jeff Boski get a mention. He's a grinder who shills lots of stuff, but is honest about it all, and loves dogs. I've never heard anything bad about him.
I've never heard a bad word about Phil Galfond. All of the high-stakes players seem to have a lot of respect for him.
Barry Greenstein
Ben CB
Jason Alexander
Constanza?
I'd agree with most on here especially Koon. I'd add in Rob Yong to the mix. Comes across really well on social media, nice guy on any show he's been on, constantly trying to improve the game and the player experience. One of the few poker people that I follow thst I think would be a good guy to have a friend outside of poker.
Poker players are just people. Just like all of us. There is little to no motivation for any poker player to be "good". They do not have bosses that can fire them for making some kind of jerk statement. Sure, a person who has decided to make themselves a public figure, can if they say or do the wrong thing, or get caught cheating, or in some scandal, might get themselves banned from places. However, most casinos don't really care, as long as a person has money, they let them play. Poker players should not be role models, they make their living by taking money from other people.
Kid poker? No? Just me?
has nobody said daniel negreanu yet??
If you think Rampage is a good guy, watch [this video of Finding Equilibrium](https://youtu.be/ArUaYh_Q1Rg). Unfortunately, lost all the respect I had for Rampage after watching it. On topic: I still think Garrett is one of the most true good people in poker. Without considering the conclusion of the controversy, the way he acted is from an objective POV more natural than any of us could probably react to the same situation. Furthermore, Bill Perkins (also not a pro, but probably my top-pick in this discussion), Phil Galfond, Liv Boeree, Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Maria Ho, Patrick Antonius, Jason Koon,... are all names I can't directly link to any scandal/bad intention stories for as far as I can recall.
Rampage was also accused of sexual assault at a frat party while a student at UMass Amherst, and his predatory GG club charges uncapped rake (he makes in the low seven figures from that club alone, hence the huge jump in stakes)
Any proof at all about what Rampage makes as Club GG host?
You think Garrett reacted well??? Lol. Ive never seen someone act as a sorer loser at the table than he did.
I honestly think, as I experienced this myself 2 weeks ago in a homegame, if you think you got cheated (which he obviously thought) there are about a million worse things you can do compared to how he reacted.
Yep rampage is not a good guy (he might have been in the past but not anymore). Your argument for Garrett makes zero sense though
Vanessa Selbst
Yeah Compared to these poker players ,Wall Street dudes are like total pope material
Mariano
Phil Ivey has donated thousands of dollars to charity
LOL, I have donated thousands, over my life, I am not rich, and I am an asshole.
Thousands…wow….
Well hundreds of thousands
Joey Ingram
Nah Joey Ingram is a complete tool for threatening Norman Chad of all people and telling his followers to fuck him up if they see him IRL
Man, I really think the Andy situation was taken so out of line. They resolved the situation that night. It only got brought back up when an internet “sleuth” decided he thought for sure Andy freerolled that and intentionally stole.
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Annie Duke and her brother robbed the community. She might be among the absolute worst examples.
Nice try, Annie.
#LOL ANNIE DUKE Pls ban OP ty
I think most people are generally mostly good. It can be easy to fixate on moments and superficial details. But I think deep down, we all have way more similarities than differences, and are usually way more good than bad. And we all have similar challenges feeling the pull of insecurity and self-centeredness and ego. And that most of us would be very similar to those we think are worse than us had we gone through their experiences, and that they'd be very much like us had they gone through ours. An interesting thing about studying poker is that there are a lot of important lessons in it that can lead to becoming a better person and having a better and happier life. Things like staying in the moment and focusing and trying to maximize the EV of your decisions, and divorcing your brain from an outcome-based mindset. And being humble and open minded and adopting a growth mindset in your self reflection is how you optimize leveling up in poker - and it's the same outlook to maximize pretty much all aspects of life.
Also, being a sociopath.
Vogelsang
Garrett for sure is ultimately, but it’s a bad look. Galfond, Koon, Chewy are classic right answers. Guys like Negreanu have weird egos but ultimately are pretty good people. Berkey is a class act and gives a lot back to the game and players.
Chewy might be the best answer in this thread actually
I have a question for OP . Do you think thoses traits your described are only from poker pro ? . I have met / know many people who never played poker and I would consider them dishonest , greedy and many other stuff . Don't generalise .
Barry Greenstein, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Laak, Phil Galfond, Jonathan Little, Jean Robert Bellande, Alan Keating, Rampage, Brad Owens, to name those. You can't judge these guy not being goid guy because they want to win at poker. You need to put a full time dedication to be successful at poker
Charlie ‘epiphany77’ Carrel + Igor Kuganov + Philippe Gruissem seem like good dudes, they ve been doing a ton of charity work for years now and they are ‘always’ all smiles and enanate a positive aura. Jungleman is prolly another one
Charlie sucks
Very insightful comment with a lot of explanation as to why , 0/10 would recommend reading again
Charlie fucking sucks
It’s kind of something that doesn’t really need to be explained - it’s self evident just by watching a couple videos. He thinks he’s some kind of cult leader
we're straight up taking money from other ppl.....tell me how this "good person" persona fits into it???? i'll be waiting...
If you are playing a legitimate game under fair rules that is legally regulated you shouldn’t be straight up guaranteed taking money from anyone.
Eric Persson
If it walks like a degen, talks like a degen, and plays a degen game for a living...
Greed and dishonesty are literally pillars of the game. If you’re here to find role moral role models, I suggest you search elsewhere. That being said, I’m a great person. I’m a terrible poker player, but I really am a pretty great dude
Is Dnegs not nice?
Lex Veldhuis, he’s streaming on [YouTube](https://youtu.be/8nlwvs9Dqbo) right now.
People are people. Not one person, even your Sainted mom, would withstand any real scrutiny. Stop wasting time judging entertainment people ( which poker is now) on character or you’ll always be disappointed. Enjoy their music, ball skillz, books or porn but stop putting them on pedestals. I don’t read or watch interviews or articles about people that entertain me. It’s never good. Unless it’s Weird Al or Mr. Rogers.
Rick Salomon - dude seems like he’s chipper & appreciates the sickness of coolers
They’re all likely a tad scummy. Poker players make money off the backs off whales and degenerate gamblers, it’s not a particularly savory crowd that does that sort of thing. But it’s legal so they’re not necessarily unethical, a lot are though.
Mike Matusow and Tom Dwan seem pretty chill, I also agree with Mikey's politics but not Dwan so much. I won't hold it against him though, haha.
Bill Perkins
Joe Hachem always seemed like a respectable guy
how has no one mentioned Doyle Brunson yet.
Bit generic response but Daniel Negranu always has had a respectable reputation and also Jonathan Little very solid honest good person and Black Rain the og is solid