Nice post, Brandon.

brandon cantu and i were born in the same year in the same city and somehow i never knew him growing up. i spotting him a few times last week at the rio and thought about approaching him to introduce himself, but the dude gives off this arrogant, cold, and unpleasant vibe that is palpable and uncomfortable.

Jesus Christ... boring videos are BORING

I don't care about any of the people at the WSOP, but this poster should get at least a temp-banning for quoting that whole wall of text.

Cantu is just about everything anyone wants to call him. Complete idiot that seems to be doing some decent drugs according to that interview.

With that being said, I couldn't even make it 2mins into the Jesse Martin video, guy just tilts the hell out of me. There is 0 chance he knows exactly what happened in the hand and only gets involved because he sees an opportunity to publicly bash Cantu's reputation. I see all the time where people seem to make a tapping motion on the cards or table, but haven't actually checked. It confuses the hell out of you but obviously you shouldn't table your hand until the dealer confirms the check. Maybe it was a motion that was so obvious it wasn't a check but Cantu saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of his relationship with the floor. Either way, Jesse didn't see the incident so no way for him to know exactly what happened. It's just a character argument, which no one should care about when making a ruling on the hand. What Cantu did after being provoked needs to looked into though and probably banned from Rio.

My favorite part of it all was someone on Twitter posting that he should file a police report for assault and Jesse re-tweeting it. That's exactly how it should work, someone says all the right things to completely tilt-rage someone and then file a police report for getting pushed by them. GTFO

bro you need to rethink just about everything in this post

Martin doesn't exactly cover himself in glory but I'm convinced by his reasoning for his actions. It was his friend, a lot in here would do the same.

Cantu probably wasn't angling, it was probably a misunderstanding (Cantu alluded to this), where the ruling was supposed to go in Cantu's favour. This doesn't really matter, this or equivalent situations happened hundreds of times today (the dealers and floor were actually brilliant).

Having played with Cantu this Summer (had heard the name before obviously but didn't think anyone who was so arrogant and aloof and frankly terrible at the game we were playing, could be anyone of note) and subsequently researched him, I have no problem with Martin or anyone else calling him out at any time. His reputation is as ridiculous as Martin makes out. This simply adds to it.

Those defending Cantu in this thread regarding the incident definitely have a point. But the guy was violent in a poker room, 95+% of the time, that will result in an ejection and permaban. On top of that, Cantu is scum to the point that I have no sympathy. If you're unconvinced by that, Google him.

I'd also add that Martin is also a bracelet winner (10k deuce, hero), something that adds credence to his assertion that Cantu gets special treatment.

How is that 2nd paragraph helpful? He doesn't care about legality.

Can he fight the hooker and still be allowed into Venetian???

+1

I understand it's a good friend of his who he believes would never angle shoot etc... but stay out of it and let the floor handle it. Screaming from across the room is only going to escalate the situation.

What's wrong with talking to his friend afterwards, then talking to Cantu and tell him something like...

"Hey, I just want you to know that XXXX is a good friend of mine. He plays in Bobby's room all the time and is one of the most honorable guys I know and he wouldn't intentionally angle. He problem checked on accident like everybody has done at some point. etc...."

Or is acting like an adult asking to much?

Yes, I'm not the biggest Cantu fan either, but lol at most of this thread taking Martin's side in this only because it's Cantu. Getting involved and yelling from across the room is not OK just because it was directed at Cantu.

Yelling over from another table will rarely help the situation. In fact, just like this, it will only lead to escalation. I think both players should have been penalized.

lol this guy is unreal. ppl hate on cantu because he is involved in incidents once a week. we never have threads about ppl who don't cause fights because there is nothing to talk about. cantu causes a lot of drama and has many enemies because of the things he does.

cantu is a child if he's doing this in a wsop, any casino for that matter. take it to the streets bro. a 80s baby, I'll fight a *****

Martin is also one of the best limit cash game players in the world, fwiw.

I thought guys who choose online over live poker did so because they're social ******s who can't relate to or carry on a conversation with an actual live person. Thanks for correcting me.

Slow day at WSOP.....again. It would appear Cantu and Martin were given a reality TV fee to stage this, surely people who have that kind of $ to buyin are a little more sophisticated.


Shame on Pokernews for sensationalizing something that would have been forgotten within minutes of it happening.

Great for the website hits though and that translates into more paid dumb ads for bookiesmash and pokersmash dot com

After school.

How do you have a conversation with a person wearing a hoodie, sunglasses, and headphones that is on the phone the entire time?

I'll chime in support for jesse too. Could he have handled it more professionally? Sure, but when dealing w the cantu's of the world sometimes people stay too quiet out of some sort of respect for professionalism. If it were the other way around I promise you cantu wouldn't stay quiet, he doesn't know what the word professionalism means.

When you play years of high stakes poker you have to swallow a lot of ****, like playing a cash game w a guy that owes you a lot of money and can't / won't pay and then hearing him question someone else's ethics. I've played high limit cash games w Jesse and Matt for over 7 years, not many have as stellar a reputation as either of them. Meanwhile cantu has a horrible reputation in high stakes cash circles. It is what it is. The only thing Jesse did wrong IMO is tap the glass but some days it's hard to just grin and bear it.

Brandon is simply a whiney douchebag, anyone remember this gem?:

http://youtu.be/Jc2G4piQoYA

Except that what Jesse actually said was that Brandons dumb admission just confirmed for the public what he and high stakes players who played with Brandon already knew, Brandon is an angle shooter.

Low stakes players & tourney donks never understand the things that successful high stakes do and know. Never **** where you eat. Treat people honorably, protect all the players in your games, don't allow unethical acts or it will poison the small player pool your games depend on.

Always behave honorably and pay your debts,if you damage your reputation you will find it impossible to borrow, and never get called when the games run. Wealthy successful business people don't want to play with players who angle, cheat, or stiff them. One guy I used to play with was owed a large sum of money by a player, the player tried to negotiate the debt to a smaller amount. The businessman said **** you I won't miss it or you, and after that whenever that player attempted to sit in the rich guys game it would break.

Jesse is a winning high stakes player at the highest levels and a bracelet winner. I'm pretty sure he plays in Bobby's room, I've personally railed him in 300-600 games. And Jesses reputation is impeccable.

Brandon is a degen with terrible table behavior who apparently owes lots of money, but dumps money into events that he should be using to repay others.

Those things are far more important than whether Jesse misspoke slightly in the heat of the moment about his impressive tournament history. Jesse is going to be winning money in poker long after Cantu is gone.

Look at this thread. Cantu supporters are almost entirely unknown internet posters, while a coterie of the most respected 2p2 players/posters* have taken time to post their support for Jesse. And it's not just because of their personal experiences with Jesse, but also because most of these guys also have personal experience with Brandon.

* let's be clear that I'm not putting myself in that category, I'm a wingnut. But I know him and have felt he's a pro that good players should emulate in every respect.

Great post DesertCat I learned a lot about the players involved in the incident.

Needs more sideboob, less whiney poker player.

i'm a survivalist: i've got my fish hooks, pocket water purifier, and ham radio. if IT starts at the Venetian I just want to know if I can fight my out before the fuzz gets their hands on me

Does Cantu act and talk this way when sober? He seems crazy high in that interview.

No, some unknown internet posters* are able to look at this objectively that someone at a different table, not involved in the hand, will never ameliorate a situation. Who made "the friend" captain? He is more guilty in my mind than Cantu for getting involved.

*me