On September 30th, Poker News Daily confirmed that Pitbull Poker, a small site on the Flash Poker Network, closed down amid a superuser scandal. The closing of the poker room began with an incident involving two of the site’s owners showing up at the office in the middle of the night and removing computers from the premises. On-site staff working the graveyard shift became worried and called police, leading to the two owners, Kevin Baronowski and “Justin,” being called in for questioning. Since that time, Pitbull Poker has been officially closed and no statements have been made regarding player funds, which at this point are unaccounted for.
The controversy started back on July 22nd when chesterboy, a user at the TwoPlusTwo forums, posted that he believed he had proof that there were superusers on Pitbull Poker. Chesterboy was not a whining micro-stakes player, but rather a respected mid-stakes competitor who came to the site hired as a prop player to help keep low- and mid-stakes games full. After months of discussion, including an exclusive interview with Poker News Daily, it appears that the accusations may have been true. Only a short time later, Pitbull Poker was closed and player funds disappeared.
Well-known online poker pro jasons0147 from the TwoPlusTwo forums commented on the issue by stating, “Although I am an American professional poker player and the Pitbull Poker scandal doesn’t affect me directly, it reminds me that America needs to work on the legislation and regulation of poker sites. I personally keep tens of thousands of dollars on a major site that is U.S.-friendly, but stupidly enough I couldn’t tell you where that money is held at or what assurance I have that my money will be there when I wake up. It is time for us as poker players to stand up, demand legislation, and remind our government about the amount of revenue that legislation would generate for our respective countries.”
In response to the Poker News Daily article regarding confirmation that Pitbull Poker had closed its doors, there are 35 comments and counting from angry players demanding to know how to get their funds back. When Pitbull Poker was in its final days, reports were posted around the internet that withdrawal requests were taking weeks to receive a response, with many not being answered at all. Now, it seems that poker players and affiliates are out hundreds of thousands of dollars, with the money nowhere in sight. The lost money tally just from the comments to our article adds up to $125,000, with many players banding together to work with Costa Rican authorities and the U.S. Embassy to bring the owners of Pitbull Poker to justice and recover whatever funds they can.
Players tried to find a loophole to get their funds transferred from Pitbull Poker to 5Dimes, a fellow site on the Flash Poker Network. Those who spoke with 5Dimes customer support were told it is not possible to make a player transfer from Pitbull to 5Dimes unless they had already sent money the other way first. For many, this meant another dead end in recovering funds.
Many in the poker industry do not have much sympathy for those duped by the owners of Pitbull Poker. Since the internet is a virtual and unregulated medium, it’s up to the players to do their due diligence with what online poker site they deposit their funds on. In summary, a lot of the big name players and movers and shakers in the industry say “caveat emptor.”
Moving forward, a lot of players are closely monitoring the lawsuit and legal actions by Poker News Daily reader JC Hawk as he attempts to recoup funds lost for players and affiliates from Pitbull’s owners.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily as we cover the latest information and news as it breaks on this issue.
Thank you Sean for keeping us (the pitbull poker players) informed of what’s going on with this issue. I have tried to band some players together via email with some success although none of us really know what steps to take if any to get our money back. Let me tell you that just with the players that have responded to me, the amount of money owing to us is definitely more than $125,000. I would like to know more about JC Hawk and what steps he is taking at the moment to rectify this situation. Is there any way you can put me in touch with him, or if he could email me directly? My email address is ggouthro@hotmail.com. I speak for all the poker players affected by this that we will do anything in our power to help JC Hawk with any legal action that he pursues.
Thanks,
Paddlin
Just so you know Glen,
“Dave was in charge of running the business, and when you’re in charge of operations, you know what’s going on, he knew very well what was going down. He might not have known exactly when, but he was aware of what he was doing to the players”
WRONG!
I was NOT in charge of running the business, please pay more attention… Kevin was CEO, Jordan was COO (operations) and the rest of us were mere employees. NO place as directors, associates, partners or owners in any way JUST EMPLOYEES. Neither me or any of the former employees was aware of what Kevin and Jordan planned and tried to pull off that night.
I am getting really sick of all these accusations about me people. I know you are mad and you want to take it on some one, and that I was the public liaison in many public venues, but that does not mean I was the head of the freaking company!! I was instructed to aid CS with the handling of player concerns that had been sitting for a while or had pending unresolved issues.
You want to say and think otherwise it’s your problem I am done dealing with you. I am moving forward with my life and I don’t have more time to be explaining this BS to you people.
good day and good bye sir!
Dave B
Dave if you really care about the players that are owed money, why don’t you help us recover our funds. I was a casino player and I really need to recover my money.
Ok Dave, so you’re saying that you had no idea that “something” didn’t seem right because you were only an employee. Then tell me this, why did you stop responding to my emails, why did the CS stop responding to my emails and the emails of other players? You were instructed to aid the CS with cash out issues. When you were instructed to help out, did you ask why the players weren’t getting paid? Did you wonder why the CS team was getting bombarded with emails? Did you ask any questions at all, did you wonder why I was asking for a cash out that had not been delivered two months prior? Dave, it’s the constant lies from you and the CS team that frustrated us to no end….. Your replies to my many emails were extremely vague:
Hi Glen,
I am still waiting on Accounting to provide me with an update with your payout and some others that have not been delivered. I expect to get a more positive answer this week from them. Cheers!
Regards,
Dave Brenes
Network Manager
Pitbull Gaming
That was the last email that I received from you. You stopped responding to me after that, and so did the CS team, and the poker site was still open for another 2 weeks. Do you understand where I’m coming from? The CS team actually gave me specific dates of when I would received my cash outs……LIES!!! The CS team, just like you did, would tell me that they were “looking” into it and would have a better idea of what was going on at the end of the week……STALLING!!! Do you see??? Come on man, maybe you lost a couple of weeks pay, but we lost THOUSANDS……. And if your going to reply to this, don’t pick a sentence or two from this message, answer the whole thing……. We the players just want answers, if you guys didn’t know they were going down, then why were we deceived for so long? Help us know the truth dude, that’s all we’re looking for…….the truth. And who wrote on the pitbull poker site to contact the CS team for cash outs……more lies! Stop lying to us, no one has received a response……..
Move on with your life, but tell us the truth, reply to the whole message, give us some specific answers instead of saying that you’re also a victim in this.
Paddlin
UNBELIEVABLE THIS IS! I HAVE BEEN CHEATED! WE JUST WANT THE TRUTH!
“Many in the poker industry do not have much sympathy for those duped by the owners of Pitbull Poker. Since the internet is a virtual and unregulated medium, it’s up to the players to do their due diligence with what online poker site they deposit their funds on. In summary, a lot of the big name players and movers and shakers in the industry say “caveat emptor.”
Thats the problem with this world,If it dont effect me then why bother.If it happened here it can very well happen on any site.I played on this site for over 3 years and everything always seemed on the up and up.Im out around 1,500.00 dollars,is it the end of the world-no,but it is my money and i would like to have it just like everyone else involved
I am also owed money from cash outs never paid out
my email is erichenders@yahoo.com if there becomes a class action suit.
i had $190 left in when it closed…
I had $600+ when it closed
They owe me $2000+ when they closed, and there has to be something that can be done. These people should not be allowed to get away with all of our money. Maybe we could all get together and get a lawyer to represent us.
I am owed in excess of 350 dollars. How can I contact JC Hawk?
Glen,
Every single time I received an email from a player asking for a payout I would go to Jordan who was in charge of accounting and requested him an update, whatever he would answer I would reply then to the player… after a while he started ignoring me and my requests. When they spent a complete week away from the office I felt something was wrong, but there were some payouts still being sent so I believed it was just a slow down on the operations, next week after that BAM! they tried to leave over night!! I know where you and all players are coming from, but hell! I was not the one behind such operations. Kevin would be the only to work with processors and banks, Jordan would be the one alone behind CS and payouts, I was hired to look for the network growth, but at some point I realized many players were getting faulty support, so I told Kevin if I could join a forum and tell players they could send their pending payout request and I would help them get an answer (because I could ask Jordan directly via MSN about those payouts). Many times my pressure on Jordan made thousands of dollars reach the players who asked me, but I was just a middle man, a rep for the players in front of Kevin and Jordan. I had no real power, I was never doing any payout, never had access to any funds. I simply tried to give the players an extra hand by speaking for them and look where that got me… Now you and others think I was in charge of the whole thing! Give me a break… after this none of you deserved my help, I ended up being ripped off too and you want to take it on me just because I was there on the forums every day trying to help players.
To JC Hawk, find Kevin and do your lawsuit, I have no responsibility and no liability because I was just an employee. If you feel you still need to sue me, please note that your case will fall on deaf ears because I can prove I was just an employee and had no implication on the company ownership. Should you know further about this subject, false accusation and moral damages are charged high here, careful who you sue in here, I would hate to pass along you the hefty bill of my lawyers plus damages and interests. Be wise and know who your target should be.