Originally Posted by 88Orange
Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Casino :
v. :
Todd ‘HEK’ :
v. :
Frankie Flowers & Mike Dentale :
O P I N I O N
JTL, writing for the Court. The defendant, Todd HEK, convicted by a jury of Foxwoods security, appealed from the judgment to the two plus two court of appeals. He contended (1) that he was unfairly deprived of more than $2,000.00 by Mike Dentale’s breach of a pot equity contract, (2) that the trial court jury erred by excluding at trial hearsay statements that Mike the floor allegedly made to the parties to the contract, and (3) that a lifetime ban is cruel and unusual punishment for the crime for which the jury convicted the defendant.
Before the court addresses the defendant’s issues raised on appeal, it is necessary to delve into the historical relationship between the parties in the matter in order to meet out justice in the case before the bar.
Although the court’s understanding of the event significant to the parties’ history originates solely from hearsay it is nevertheless sufficiently certain of the circumstances to re-state that history here:
Several months ago, HEK was in a five or six-handed NLH game with FF and someone who is friendly with FF. There was aggressive betting action pre-flop that seemed not have made perfect poker sense to a high-level poker professional . . . something similar to FF flat calling a raise, a raise by FF’s friend, a call by HEK and then an all-in raise by FF. After said action, HEK thought that the action by FF and his friend seemed sufficiently dubious for HEK instruct the dealer to not muck the hands of the participants and to call the floor supervisor (hereinafter referred to as floor). HEK pleaded his case to the floor, who stopped the game, spoke individually to FF and then to his friend, and then examined FF’s hand and his friend’s hand. At the conclusion of the floor’s investigation, the floor was not convinced that collusion occurred. The game continued with all persons continuing to participate, and with no person receiving a sanction.
Since HEK accused FF of cheating, FF has harbored extreme disdain and ill will toward HEK. This court believes FF is seeking retribution for being maligned before his of his peers and since that day has sought revenge. FF recognized the pot equity dispute as an opportunity for retaliation and seized upon this fortuitous circumstance to torment the defendant, HEK.
While the court does not sanction FF’s actions, as those actions interfered with a fair pot equity agreement between parties who had a mutual understanding and meeting of the minds, FF’s actions, though not honorable, are somewhat mitigated when one considers FF’s hatred for HEK slandering FF’s name by accusing him as a cheater, with, at a minimum, insufficient evidence to warrant such a public and persistent accusation. Moreover, as HIV astutely brought to the court’s attention, it is extremely unlikely that FF was staking Mike Dentale. FF would not be playing $5 $10 while having his horse play in a bigger game. If FF's bankroll would have allowed, he would most certainly have been playing in the bigger game.
Similarly, despite his frustration at believing he was being colluded against, it is less than honorable for HEK to post on the most well-known internet poker forum that “I caught Frankie Flowers cheating in a 10/20nl game we were playing in. He was working with another player at the table to collude. I caught him in the act of doing so.” HEK may have then suspected and may now still believe FF was colluding against him, but HEK certainly does not have the proof of that sufficient to make the above statement. It’s unfair and inaccurate to say HEK caught FF in the act of cheating. One can imagine the disdain for HEK one would have if one were not colluding and in FF’s situation . . . being accused of cheating, having the floor investigate, having the floor conclude that there is insufficient evidence to justify the accusation, and then have the accuser continue to tell people, “I caught FF cheating.” One may even resort to telling others to ‘F HEK’, whether or not HEK deserves to get F’ed in an unrelated situation.
Based on the testimony of the parties and the brief of the defendant, the court holds as follows:
1. The only villain here is Mike Dentale. He agreed to a pot equity chop, whether or not it was sanctioned by the casino. He agreed; he didn’t pay. He should be shunned as the dishonorable and untrustworthy person he is for breaking his word and stealing $2,000.00 from HEK.
2. For all the ways HEK exacerbated the situation, contributed to getting himself thrown out, and gave an incomplete version of an essential back-story involving himself and FF, he isn’t a villain. This author has not seen HEK do anything shady in the many hours I’ve played with him. I think sneaking extra chips on the table in a capped game is shady and cheating; I haven’t seen him do even that.
3. FF did to HEK in real life what HEK is doing to FF in this post: throwing gas on a bad situation and fanning the flames in an effort to see his nemesis get burned, irrespective of whether throwing gas is the warranted and uncaring if the flames get so big that the nemisis gets burned more than he deserves. Imagine, HEK if FF stated to all who would listen at FW: “Yeah, Foxwoods banned HEK - for life - because that scumbag cheater was caught breaking the rules and was caught trying to take chips from another player’s stack.” While technically true, it is wholly inaccurate . . . not that dissimilar to “I caught FF cheating.”
4. FF shouldn’t have advised Mike Dentale to “ ‘F’ Todd (HEK) – don’t pay him anything; tell him I put you in the game and tell him if he has a problem with not getting paid to see me about that problem’” in retaliation for HEK accusing him of colluding.
5. HEK most certainly does not deserve to get banned from FW, not even for a day. He did, however, contribute to his own banning by going to FF, who was playing poker at another table, and engage him in a discussion that began, essentially, “despite that you are a scumbag, I am taking the high road and moving on” . . . a discussion that may very well have inflamed an already tense situation. HEK did not get thrown out after the pot equity chop; he got thrown out after he lit a small spark on the casino floor by confronting FF and it turned into a three alarm conflagration, necessitating that security be dispatched hose down the arsonist.
And, all concerned should know that the floor was not out to get HEK, nor was he favoring FF or Mike Dentale. The floors are not allowed to take tips. I have never seen a floor take a tip, nor have I ever in my four years of playing at FW heard of any floor ever taking a tip. I am not justifying the floor’s ruling or behavior, but it was not to favor anyone nor to influence HEK getting thrown out. The Foxwoods floors’ rulings are as random as the distribution of cards, but like cards, they are equally random for all players. (There are good floors, too, such as Mark Rathburn, who consistently makes appropriate rulings and goes to bat for the players’ rights).
In addition, the court recommends that in order to address the third of defendant/appeallant's claims, HEK, sans legal representation (at first), take direct appeal of the Foxwood’s security jury’s ruling by requesting an in-person meeting with someone higher than anyone on the security team. Once before that higher-up, state the truth: that HEK was under the misimpression that he and another consenting player could chop a pot; he proceeded to attempt to chop the pot under the floor supervisor’s supervision (as evidence that HEK had no bad or surreptitious intentions). When the floor supervisor clarified that chips can not go from one player’s stack to another player’s stack other than as a result of the outcome of a hand, HEK made no further attempts to take chips from the other persons’ chip stack. Further, the unintentional conflagration ensued much later, when HEK addressed the misimpression with someone believed to be involved in the decision not to abide by the two players’ mutual agreement. HEK is sorry for the trouble he caused as a result of a misimpression; it will never occur again; HEK will never light a spark at FW casino again, and that he's supporting his family, kids, dog, etc. . . . good luck to HEK.
Lastly, for all those posters who say "FF is a scumbag" I bet few of you know him and none of you has the guts to say what you posted to his face . . . you are also the ones on whom judgment should be passed.
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