The biggest poker stories of 2012 Part 1: The Ugly
This is the opening salvo in a three part series that will examine the biggest stories and themes in poker over 2012: To start this series off I will look at some of the black-eyes the poker world received in 2012. Part 2 will focus on the biggest over-arching themes from 2012, and Part 3 will finish up with a look at the biggest singular achievements in poker during 2012.
The Lederer Files
“I don’t know.”
That was the biggest takeaway from a very lengthy interview of Howard Lederer conducted by PokerNews’ Matthew Parvis, dubbed “The Lederer Files.”
The interview was the talk of the poker world from the time it was announced and for weeks after the fact. In the end the reasoning behind the interview is still unclear to many people, as Lederer came off extremely bad, and either completely ignorant or an outright liar.
More on the Lederer Files: https://pokernewsboy.com/poker-site-news/my-take-on-the-lederer-files/13119
Ray Bitar taken into custody
With rumors of a PokerStars takeover of Full Tilt Poker on everyone’s mind the poker world was more than happy to hear that Ray Bitar, the embattled CEO of Full Tilt Poker, had turned himself in to US authorities –a necessary step in the sale according to the rumors.
Bitar’s surrender was cheered by the poker community, and was in fact a stepping stone to PokerStars bailing out Full Tilt Poker and the eventual restoration of player funds.
More on Ray Bitar’s surrender: https://pokernewsboy.com/online-poker-news/what-you-need-to-know-about-ray-bitars-arrest/12654
Poker superstars unmasked
It’s safe to say that the shine is off the poker world. The image of poker players as jet-setting playboys took a serious hit this year, as the general public started to get their first real look behind the curtain, and discovered that the Great and Powerful Oz was in fact a fraud, and that far too many poker players were broke, degenerates, dishonest, or some combination of all three.
In 2012 Erick Lindgren saw his reputation nosedive after people started coming forward regarding unpaid debts, followed by Howard Lederer’s story of Lindgren borrowing $2 million from Full Tilt Poker, accidentally receiving $4 million, and then stalling and flat-out refusing to send the extra $2 million back according to Lederer.
Lindgren wasn’t the only player who had a rough 2012, many of his Full Tilt brethren saw their reputations decimated; Annie Duke and Jeffrey Pollack saw their Epic Poker League failures draw ire from the community; and then there was Matt Marafioti’s troubles just to name a few of the poker players who would likely rather relive Black Friday day-after-day than go through 2012 again.
More on Erick Lindgren: https://pokernewsboy.com/poker-player-news/team-full-tilt-pokers-lindgren-called-out-for-bad-debts/11417
Epic Poker League Bankruptcy
The poker world was once again left out in the cold when the Epic Poker League ran into financial troubles and was unable to live up to their $1,000,000 guarantee freeroll tournament, promised at the end of Season 1 (which only saw 3 of the 4 tournaments played).
Eventually the Epic Poker League was sold off in bankruptcy court with Jeffrey Pollack and Annie Duke seeing their reputations immeasurably diminished in the eyes of poker players.
More on the Epic Poker League: https://pokernewsboy.com/category/epic-poker-league-news
Tags: Black Eyes, Curtain, Full tilt Poker, Great And Powerful Oz, Howard Lederer, Lengthy Interview, Liar, Necessary Step, Online Poker, Playboys, Poker News, poker players, Poker Superstars, Poker World, PokerNews, Singular Achievements, Site News, Stepping Stone, Takeaway, Takeover
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