So now everyone is paid off.
I'd like to repeat that I'm sorry for letting people down. A lot of people defended me, and while that fills my heart with warmth, I'm disappointed in myself that I've made other people look bad.
I'd like to say sorry publicly to all the moderators and powers that be on 2p2 for showing me patience.
I completely understand the attitude in this forum, fwiw. The poker community has been through a number of scandals and traumas in the last couple of years, and with the benefit of hindsight I can see why this looked so bad. I bear absolutely no ill will towards anyone who said anything in the slightest big negative about me, either publicly here or in private.
I would like to repeat that there was never anything scammy going on in my head whatsoever. To make up for the delay in paying out my investors, I wanted to surprise them with a little extra money, and didn't see anything wrong with making a bit for myself at the same time. When deciding to proceed with this plan, I just didn't consider it from all the angles.
For what it's worth, I did contact all my creditors and asked them whether they were happy to wait until all the stuff in London rolled round, and if they said no, I would have found a way to pay them before. They were all happy with the plan, so I saw no reason not to go ahead.
At the end of the day, in my mind, this was a mix of a lot of bad luck, from not being able to receive my winnings in my stars account to the bank screwing me over repeatedly, and a healthy dose of incompetence, lack of foresight, irresponsibiliity and arrogance on my part. I've learnt that the most important thing when it comes to debts and investors is to put them first.
This post by a good friend on another forum sums it up quite well (I really, really hate when he tells other people they've 'done a Michael'!):
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Quote:
Originally Posted by numptyd
I know Michael really well. He is not broke. He has the money and everyone will get paid. He has acted like a complete idiot in this obviously. And he has destroyed his reputation in the process (on 2+2 especially where he was pretty well-respected as a poster, coach and moderator). It's all his own fault of course. He has been lazy, irresponsible, and incompetent. And he's made some serious errors in judgement (for example massagegate was lol really, but it shows how unintentionally clueless and inappropriate he can be). But he has not ripped anyone off, is not going to do so, and he has never had any intention of doing so. He is just one of those people who has a tendency to act in totally inappropriate ways, get carried away, and **** things up by accident. He is a really nice guy, but he makes a mess of things from time to time just because, well ... he fails a bit at life. I even use the expression "you've done a Michael" when he does this sort of thing. Honestly, he is one of the good guys. He is, however, also a doofus. We all know someone like this I'm sure, and many of us (me included) have a bit of the doofus in us ourselves.
The most important thing is that Michael realises that he has ****ed up, and he is doing everything he can to make sure it's all put right as soon as possible. Go easy on him. Instead of slagging him or hating him, think of him like he is your slightly clueless 16 year old brother who keeps ****ing things up for himself and others, but whose heart is in the right place, and is learning (slowly) how to deal with life.
