Anyone got cliffs on the Arizona tea incident?

Nice man

Chad posted in the zima thread yesterday

-He drank iced tea with glass in it
-there's blood
-he starts a thread about it
-got settlement for an unconfirmed amount

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/34...izona+iced+tea

Settlement was 400k, thus confirming his 400-800k income. It has been independently confirmed by me thinking about it.

He was 21 and broke. His ponzi/pyramid/ collusion ring was still in the making. Pretty obvious he took a crack at trying to scam a corporation that would rather pay a relatively small settlement rather than taking it to court. To someone that's young, naive and desperate enough, it sounds like an original idea. But it's one of the oldest plays in the book.

If I had swallowed gas shards because of Arizona Tea and then consequently was bleeding out of my ass then I would sue Arizona Tea as well.

In the past I've had to handle lots of unsavory people in and out of work. Issues like people slipping, falling, and hurting themselves on a "wet" floor. Others walking around the parking lot purposely trying to get hit by a car. Other cases where customers would intentionally try to get physical/ get one of our employees to act first so they could sue. Even employees who would lie, cheat, steal, even fake an injury. A quick look at the cameras and a brief background check almost always reveals it to be a scam and in some cases they're already listed as trying to attempt it in other locations and different businesses. I've also heard second hand accounts from ER docs about guys coming in to the ER claiming to have drunk anti freeze in order to get their drug fix.

So yeah, looking at the back story- some young broke unemployed kid with a gambling addiction. It's a red flag at the least and very likely to be a scam. Arizona Green Tea has probably handled thousands of cases just like this in the past. Sometimes it actually is a legitimate case, but in my experience they are extremely rare and they don't happen to broke, desperate people.

In other words you have absolutely no clue if it was a scam or not.

Surely your powers of rational deduction are stronger than that.

It is a relatively well known scam.

http://metro.co.uk/2007/08/16/100-00...cracked-24061/

Knowing he was a young kid with a blackjack problem adds to conjecture, and the muffin story just made sense, regardless of the source.

Did he get paid or did he not get paid?

How is that relevant to whether or not he may have lied?

This. 95% of the time the accident or the place where the scam took place is recorded and it's very easy to spot if it's a scam. In those specific cases it's an open and shut ordeal. It's rare for a corporation to file charges or pursue them. 9/10 times they flip the tables and tell them if they sue they'll file criminal charges and take it all the way to court. They're also threatened with litigation if they ever set foot in their place of business again. Other times where it's not as clear cut, they'll offer to pay all health costs and they might throw in a freebie, but they require them to sign a form preventing them from suing for further damages and an NDA to prevent bad press.

The bolded is what probably happened in this specific case. I imagine it's really expensive to fight in court and the costs associated with bad press. They probably paid his healthcare costs (they have insurance specifically for this), offered a small settlement for inconvenience, and made him sign an NDA to prevent bad press. Even if Arizona Green Tea was 99% sure it was a scam, the most cost effective thing is pay off small and semibluff with litigation to end all further negotiations for a better deal. Corporate lawyers a ****ing expensive. One of the costs of being a successful corporation is having a big mark on your back for scam artists/ desperate people.

^^ the above is just my limited experience working in corporate and dealing with scumbags trying to make a milly the easy way. It could be way different now I don't know.

I don't have it. The videos are deleted from Twitch like 30 days after they get posted.

You agreed with him that it doesn't matter if he got paid but then followed that up with multiple paragraphs which show quite the opposite. Unfortunately, you don't have any inside information so it's not really clear whether they just paid medical bills or whether he actually got a big pay day out of the deal.

Grade A+ Trolling. My apologies if you aren't.

My last response to you. Him getting paid doesn't prove his guilt or innocence. There's no audio of him admitting anything, or a video proving his guilt or innocence. If there was then Arizona Green Tea would have told him to stfu and go **** himself in a polite way or they would counter sue for defamation and fraud. Or if he was innocent he would be very well off.

Given there is no concrete proof of guilt or innocence they obviously went with some form of the bolded. At that point it's a he said she said what does each party believe type of situation. In those types of cases the Corporation or business definitely investigates the integrity of the "victim" to calculate the chances of foul play. People who are broke, desperate, and addicted to something pull these kinds of scams all the time. I'm sure Arizona Green Tea found out Kydd was broke, unemployed, a gambling degen (kinda easy to find out), and grinding poker. They definitely take that into account before they negotiate any kind of settlement.

By paying off the scammer in this situation is much more cost effective than 1. paying out the nose for corporate lawyers and court fees 2. Bad publicity second page news "Arizona Green Tea has glass bits in it" which would hurt the company far more than paying this scammer off. For Arizona Green Tea it's just some annoying fly on the wall that they make go away simply because it's not worth their time or money to squabble over.

I don't understand how you know there was no proof and also don't understand why you assume that he didn't receive a big pay day. You said dude was broke at the time and would be very well off if he was innocent. Last I heard he plays in some of the largest live cash games in the country.

As someone pointed out earlier, I am Chad from the article. Just some background info - WaPo approached me to do an article after my main event cash. I said sure. I wasn't paid or trying to advertise anything. Many people have tried to get stakes from me since the article and before it was released, and I've turned them all down because I'm not looking for new people right now. So, advertising would be pretty irrelevant.

In the article being discussed, when MGM opened, WaPo approached me again - same guy - and asked if I would be willing to do a follow up. I said sure. Again, not paid, not asking for it, just accepting because for a cash game player this was a way for me to show my non poker friends what I do.

I play in many private games. I organize them - sometimes in the casino, sometimes a rec player will want to host it at his house with his friends and I will fill the rest of the game. I play a style that recreational players enjoy playing with. To me, that's part of being a good live player - making sure the recreational players are enjoying the game. I'd rather have the connections of Dan Bilzerian than the skills of Ivey. That's not for everyone, but it certainly fits my skill set and personality.

The article states that I bought in to a $1/$3 game (the only game running) for $500. WaPo photographer asked me to sit for a picture of me playing poker. Later a half half game opened and I played that with a different buy in. I do not buy in to big games for $500. $500 is well short of the min buy.

I made less than $10k off my Az Iced Tea suit. It was legit. Guy saying it wasn't is certified crazy, and Arizona threw him out as a credible witness after they did a background check on him.

The $400k-$800k isn't an exaggeration, it's a complete guess on what average would look like. It isn't meant to look extra baller or anything, I don't care about that. It was just my guess based on my last two years. Two years ago I had a huge year. Last year I took a lot of time off with a new girlfriend and then more still with two broken ankles. I also stake 11 people and they are all profitable. More than half of them play 5/10, and occasionally some will play bigger.

I think a lot of pros have this perception of high stakes rec players that they're stupid just because they're bad at poker. They aren't. They're very often people who crushed life for so much money that now they are willing to gamble money for fun. They know their results. They know they aren't professionals, and you don't have to pretend like they don't know. "Don't **** where you eat" I would say sitting at the table, taking an extended amount of time for each decision, and playing robotic and tight is taking a giant **** at the table. No rec player I've ever met enjoys that. My oil and gas investment comes from a rec poker player who hooked me up. Last year I sold 10% of my main event at 1.0mu to a rec player who also flew me out to Vegas first class. I cashed for $25k and he told me to just keep the money, and that he only wanted a piece if I final tabled. Just the other day in the 10/25/50 game a guy sat down and said "Hey, I'm one of the whales you wrote about." He was happy to meet me, I got his number and said I would invite him to a game I organize. So while, a lot of people are talking about how bad something like this is, I'm certainly not seeing it on my end.

Would be happy to answer any questions that I missed.

I'm a rec player, and I've played with chad in the 5 10 game a couple of times. He is definitely not a nit, and in fact he is interesting and fun to play against, unlike many of the dour 5-10 grinders that are all too commonplace in that game. I thought the article made him look somewhat arrogant, but he doesn't come off that way at all IRL.

How did you break both of your ankles? Did you challenge Kevin Hart to a mixed game of PLO and basketball?

I hope you paid this dude his money regardless. Feel like that's massively taking advantage of someone even if he says you don't have to pay.

Since you opened this up to questions:
1) Isn't it illegal and/or scummy to run private games in a casino?
2) Do you only play NLHE?
3) How many 5 year olds?

LoL @ that. It was just a few thousand dollars. If Chad makes $800k in a year WTF do you think the rec player makes? This is peanuts. Also, one could easily make a case that the rec player was taking advantage of Chad by buying a piece at no markup.

Well maybe we're just cut from a different cloth, but if you make $800k/year you sure as **** do not need his $2500 charity, and considering he already flew Chad first class, that should compensate for the break he got on the markup. And regardless of whether or not the rec player makes 800k or 800 million doesn't matter whatsoever when we're talking about doing what is fair/honorable. Even if it's peanuts to him, it's a far cry from accepting a cup of coffee or lunch.

There is nothing unfair or dishonorable about accepting a gift. If it were me, I would be offended if Chad did not accept. Apparently we are just cut from a different cloth.

Regardless, LMAO @ using the phrase massively taking advantage of someone in regards to accepting a small gift.

I'm curious about the two broken ankles too. Brings to mind the movie "Misery."