Mods: If this has already been discussed here before, just lock it. I hope someone provides a link before you do.

I am watching the ESPN coverage of one of the preliminary events of this year's WSOP. The one where Rheem, Lingren, and Bonomo are in the final table. Out of nowhere, the announcer calls Justin Bonomo a cheater and that he should be banned.

Could the announcer be sued for libel? I mean, this one is a major claim! What is he talking about? Is it true?

Huh?

yea i thought it was really harsh too.

I was like, "wow, the average recreation player is not going to understand that at all. also all of justin's old high school friends and everyone who knows him from his hometown community, etc..... after watching that they'll just say, "oh well no wonder he's won so much.... it's not hard if you cheat"..... etc..... really seemed kinda unfair because Justin has a tremendous amount of poker skill.... but norman basically dis-credited it all by calling him out.



edit: i can't tell what you're really asking in your first post. if you're wondering whether or not he's cheated in the past...... yes he was banned from partypoker and pokerstars for entering multiple accounts in the big sunday tournaments.... however many high rollers from back then claim that nearly everyone was doing it and none of them viewed it as wrong. gavin smith, and the grinder have even admitted to doing it themselves.

he was caught cheating. it's just as bad to not mention it at all.

he multi-accounted in some tourneys online awhile back.....it was a little douchebaggish by Norman to bring it up and be super angry about it, when it most likely didn't affect him at all.....

yes its true

he multi accounted in the same tournaments many moons ago

he is reformed (I guess)

at least he admitted it and apologized, im sure there are hundreds more people doing the same thing right now and not admitting it.

fwiw Ill give him the benefit of the doubt and say he is sorry and isn't doing it anymore

no link avail, but search for zeejustin cheat and you should find the threads

Oh, I see. If the cool kids are doing it, then it's OK. Also, everybody thought the world was flat, and naysayers were killed, IIRC.

I'm glad Norman brought it up. Thought the commentary struck a decent chord between making clear JB was way out of bounds in his actions, while not lingering on it so long that it became obnoxious.

can any1 tell me what TV event this was?
also can any1 link a stream of it anywhere? (WSOP, youtube, or ESPN.com)

I missed 1 week of ESPN due to vaction and forgot to set my DVR.

Was this Lon McCaren or Norman Chad talking?

I think it was out of line for him. I mean yes he cheated but to bring it up for no reason. It was unprofessional and wasn't good for poker at all.

Event #4 ($5k Mixed Holdem)

check it out on pokertube.

its the last wsop event posted there, probably on page 1
erik lindgren was der too

back in the day he used to play a ton of SNGs I would think anybody looking for a slight advantage in a MTT would probably take a huge advantage by multi accounting SNGs. Course he is going to deny but common sense tells me guys looking for little edges don't stop when they can have big edges.

Old, old news. Bonomo has since apologized and he seems pretty contrite. It's also pretty clear to everyone that he can win at poker without cheating.

No matter how much Justin has atoned for his cheating, he cheated. I agree that it's bad for poker, but Norm is not out of line here in any way. He's stating a fact, followed by his opinion.

We had this same discussion concerning JJProdigy when Shaun Deeb tried to get him out of that Pokerstars tourney. Before the thread gets hijacked on how different the situations are, JJ showed no remorse and even continued to multi account after being caught. However, at the end of the day both of them cheated. Personally, I think ZeeJustin has shown for many years that he is remorseful and has paid his dues, but I can never fault someone for thinking he should never be allowed to play in the WSOP.

sorry, didn't mean for it to sound like it was okay. if it sounded that way, then my bad. was basically just trying to give evidence that he's "reformed" his habits and has been very apologetic about the situation.