Mason Malmuth is my dad?

thinly veiled olive branch being crushed ITT

This. I don't think I've ever seen someone soulcrushed to the extent mason was in that thread. El Diablo in his prime.

Dandruff and micon don't like him.

Thanks for the clarification.

Ty I needed that.

I think it has to do with the way he communicates with people. He might be a knowledgeable poker player, author, and website owner. However, he might be lacking in the social skills department...just based on my short interactions with him.

Which means nothing.

Mason seems cool.

Haters Gonna Hate, etc

It sounds like you were personally insulted because he made an unrealistic offer for a business relationship.

Unless you're leaving some key details out (ie: he was suggesting you two do something illegal or at least highly unethical), that doesnt seem like a good reason to cut off contact with someone and put them on your **** list.

It's also petty to hide behind 'general policy', when you're the one who makes the general policy.


Is there something else that went on behind the scenes, or is this all because you were insulted by his offer?

i've stopped listening to those blowhards on the poker beat. 2+2 shows much better assessment of what is quality programming with the 2+2 pokercast

Interesting thread. How Mason handles his business is .... his business. If it weren't for the standards he has set, we probably wouldn't enjoy this forum as much as we do. Have never met the man, but exchanged a few emails with him a few years ago on a certain incident, the man left me with the impression that he is a fair minded, and decent fella. He's the captain of the ship, and it seems to me he's done a good job steering her in the right direction.

Just think, he does have to keep Sklansky in check, he hasn't strangled Micon (which no jury would convict him if he did), and then there are all those strange pics floating around that show him to be an eccentric school teacher. In reality, he is the man behind the curtain trying to keep things going in Oz. Mason is okay.

i have one of his jars. i like it a lot. tk

Those are good jars. I have a whole set. Never know when guests will drop in. Unless it's the mother-in-law, I have an old snuff jar that she drinks out of.

Not commenting on this specifically, but usually if people show bad judgment you don't do business with them.

I mean, if you own a dealership and a guy comes in saying he'll keep telling everyone about how great your cars are if you give him a free car, is that somebody you're going to call next time you need a business partner?

this guys sounds like the biggest nerd lmao

If it was blatantly a "give me free advertising, or else ill start hating on your website" kind of thing, then yea - the guy is sketchy. And I would agree it's best to avoid dealing with him if possible. But this grudge seems to have gone beyond that.

And everything is alluded to in a wink-wink nudge-nudge sort of way, which makes me feel like some of the details might be exaggerated. It's hard to tell.


Obviously mason doesnt owe us anything, but if he believes the original email was that offensive - he should just post it (ideally with gary wise' permission). And if gary wise doesn't give his consent, that in itself should be pretty telling.

No one was personally insulted. But over the years, and especially after the poker boom began in 2003, we have received a number of offers where the person making the offer wants to use our website to promote their product/website and in return we'll get part of the revenue that the deal creates.

In this particular case with Wise, we were told (four years ago) that:

It was also never explained exactly what the affiliate was but there was mention of some other business partners.

Anyway, when we get stuff like this, and some of the time it might even be sincere (but very naive), it's our policy not to do anything with the person making the offer in the future (even though we might answer, as I did in this case) the initial email.

Best wishes,
Mason

Hey Mason. Briefly encountered you last week at the Aria and you seemed like a gentleman. I don't how people can be so non-appreciative of your work especially doing so while using a medium that you created. I know I told you this in person but I don't think it is being said enough on these boards so I will say it again, Thank you very much for your work and everything you have added to the poker community. Without stumbling onto your books or this website I wouldn't be the poker player I am today. Thank you for these forums and thank you for your selfless generosity to poker.

Once someone goes on an Internet show and makes a personal attack on either Two Plus Two or myself, I don't think it's necessary to get his consent to post his email. However, with that being said, for the purpose of this thread, I don't think it's necessary to produce more of what Wise originally wrote (four years ago). In fact, upon listening to his comments, they didn't bother me that much.

It's always been my understanding that people sometimes have the need to release pressure, and they sometimes will say something which with hind sight they wouldn't have said. But since this topic was brought up here, it's seemed for the purpose of our posters, like yourself, it needed to be addressed.

As for Gary Wise, if he wants to give our office a call, I'm usually there in the afternoon, and either myself or Mat Sklansky can a spend a few minutes on the phone with him. But he won't be told anything different than what has already be mentioned in this thread.

Best wishes,
Mason

When a lot of people don't like you, you're doing at least a few things right.

such win.

Mason, you are wrong. I'll let others elaborate.

Best wishes,
SoLost

I see mason let the smoke monster out of his cave to post. Better not post on RGP because that costs Mason -.34 in possible 2+2 earnings.

Yeah, "How to Make $100,000 a Year Gambling for a Living." wasn't a poor attempt to squeeze a few more bucks from readers before the poker boom, It is chock full of great advice.

Back When Mason actually had to post here to keep this place going, Abdul was killing Mason in strategy discussions. Abdul was also advocating slightly different values for starting hands.

Mason banished Michael Hall(who became Abdul Jalib) for dispensing poker advice that didn't fit in with 2+2 philosophy of playing only group 1+2 hands in a robotic fashion. This style was actually pretty effective for that time, but Abdul knew if he wanted to keep moving up in limits the 2+2 style wouldn't keep working.

Abdul made a lot of good posts on RGP rec.gambling.poker which cover the game conditions in the mid '90s. He only writes about poo flinging limit poker.

This.

If you believe people don't like Mason because they're jealous of his success or because of his supposedly high standard of strategy advice, you just don't know the man and his history.

Sklansky is an instructive comparison. People love to rip into Sklansky for his sometimes comical arrogance but people who meet him IRL usually like him. And of course Sklansky is extremely quick to criticize other people for what he believes is bad advice. Yet people generally like him.

Malmuth on the other hand rarely directly criticizes anyone. Look at his hyper-composed posts with their habitual veiled insults. Notice the complete absence of spontaneity or relaxed emotion. If you only know him from his 2+2 posts there is a lot more than meets the eye... which is why people react so badly to him in person. The guy has a personality disorder.

Best wishes!