Never one to remain silent on his opinions about situations in the poker world, Poker Hall of Famer Daniel Negreanu has once again opened up his mind on a poker issue. In this particular case, Negreanu has compiled a list of players that may be banned from participating at the World Series of Poker and his reasoning for and against them playing on poker’s greatest stage.
“(The WSOP) is around the corner and rumor has it that we may see some faces we haven’t seen there in a while,” Negreanu writes in his blog at Full Contact Poker. “I’ve always been of the position that, unless people have been found to actually cheat at poker, they should be allowed to attend.” With this qualification in mind, Negreanu then goes on to list off six people that may make an appearance at the 2015 WSOP and whether they should be allowed to take part.
Negreanu puts two former World Champions, Russ Hamilton (1995) and Mansour Matloubi (1990) together as his choices for banishment from the WSOP. “I’m grouping these two together since they are guilty of the same crime, using a ‘God mode’ program allowing them to see their opponents hole cards (both men were among the hierarchy of Ultimate Bet in the mid-2000s),” Negreanu states. “While this isn’t a case that has been ruled on in the court of law, the evidence is overwhelmingly one-sided that, at the very least, these two men were involved in cheating players out of millions.”
In discussing former World Champion Chris Ferguson (2001), Negreanu softens his stance somewhat. “At this point, it appears that (Ferguson’s) role in the demise of Full Tilt Poker was that of a board member,” Negreanu writes. “Once Black Friday hit, he has completely disappeared. No statement, no sight of the man in almost four years since that dreaded day.”
But Negreanu hints that Ferguson shouldn’t be one to be banned from proceedings at the WSOP. “Does his behavior and lack of willingness to stand responsible for his role in the crash of Full Tilt warrant a WSOP ban?” Negreanu asks. “No, I don’t think so. I’m not pleased by how he handled things…but, to my knowledge, Chris has never cheated anyone at the poker table.”
Those sentiments also extend to a man that many in the poker community have brandished as the “fall guy” from the Full Tilt Poker fiasco. “As many of you know, I’ve been very critical of Howard Lederer and his handling of the Full Tilt mess,” Negreanu states. “Do I think it was a Ponzi scheme? That’s an absurd notion. Do I think it was gross negligence by management? Absolutely. A lack of oversight allowed for Ray Bitar to run the company into the ground.”
Negreanu lets Lederer off the hook, however, in discussing his opinion. “Howard, for many years, was an integral part of operations at Full Tilt before stepping down at some point before Black Friday,” Negreanu says. “Most people assume that he was still running things, and Howard certainly played the part of the “guy behind the guy,” if you will.” Even with this evidence, Negreanu doesn’t believe Lederer should be banned, writing, “While you can like or dislike Howard Lederer as a person…I think it’s clear that he should have every right to play in WSOP events. To my knowledge, he has never cheated at poker, nor have there ever been rumors about him doing so.”
Surprisingly, Negreanu also goes lightly on two other poker figures that he has previously bashed. “I am grouping Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack together because of their association with the Epic Poker League, which defrauded players out of a “guaranteed” million dollar freeroll,” Negreanu writes. “Players are owed money and these two were responsible to varying degrees for that. Should it warrant a WSOP ban? As wrong as I think it is to not even acknowledge this debt or make strides towards making the players whole, I still don’t think it warrants a WSOP ban…there are plenty of poker players playing the WSOP that owe people money with no intention of ever paying.”
All of the players (save for Pollack, who never approached playing in an event) haven’t had a live tournament cash since 2011. Lederer’s last cash was at the 2011 Aussie Millions Main Event; Duke’s last cash, interestingly, was in a charity event for the Epic Poker League at the end of 2011. Ferguson was last seen cashing in an episode of “Poker After Dark” in 2010, while neither Matloubi nor Hamilton has cashed in a tournament since 2006 (thank you, Hendon Mob database!).
The poker community’s thoughts on the subject of these players – and whether they should be welcomed back into poker’s inner circle – has been hotly debated for the past four years. Whether Negreanu’s relative “forgiveness” of their multitude of sins (save for Hamilton and Matloubi) will sway opinion on them amongst the poker community remains to be seen.
