Take your time, Papi. Mental health is very important.

Joey, thank you for everything you do in the poker community. Much love man, I hope your situation changes

turns out if you put all your time, energy and passion into an industry which later dies and becomes toxic beyond measure, it will take a toll on your mental health.

if you hate poker so much, then why do you even post here? pretty pathetic if you ask me

It's not hating poker, it's hating what regulation has done to poker. The entire scene is a poop show.

What industry is this not true for? I feel like they're essentially far behind all technological advancement.

that isn't what he was saying at all bro

The only reason why online poker is a graveyard is cuz of the US government and other governments gangbanged it to death. That's is what we are talking about.


Tryint to act like what happened to online poker is the same as regulation in other businesses means you don't know what you're talking about. They basically ended the industry for most people. It's not the same as when the FDA tells Taco bell you need at least 30% beef in their shitty tacos.

idk why youre typing all this level-1 political bullshit about the FDA and taco bell when the guy is clearly just some bitter losing donk

this was my first post in a month, not that it should matter. funny to see though that i can still reduce this complete childish idiot to a whining multi-day meltdown with no effort at all.
i didn't ask you nor would i ever ask you. you are nothing to me.

i guess in addition to being bad at poker, you fundamentally misunderstand the way public discussion forums work.

maybe you should find a new hobby

the only is reason online poker is a graveyard is amayastars

This + investigate the russian botfarm. Then finally the sites might do something it.

They are considering to bann all russian athletes from olympics for 4 years. In poker the cheating is much worse. Do something about it !!! Bann all russian for 4 years from Stars. Do SOMETHING !!

Papi where are u at

I think Papi's November 6th appearance on Andreas Froehli's show explains a lot. In years of watching Joey's content, I've never seen him this frustrated, and for so long. It's a long conversation, but those who would like to keep up with the topics can Google "Andreas Froehli timestamps."



One of the saddest/most frustrating parts of this interview (and there are plenty of them) is at 1:08:30, when Joey says he wishes he'd never gotten involved in all these investigations, etc. I can't say I blame him or disagree with that view though, or really anything he said while appearing on Andreas' show.

For some enlightenment, I had a convo with someone in the industry on the day following Joey's first nightly cast on the Mike Postle allegations. Maybe it was following the second stream, but I recall trying to get this person to look at the spreadsheet that viewers were working on. Point blank I got told that casino businesses (both live and online) pretty much look at Joey as a "pest" more than anything else, and that the industry would do whatever it takes not to be "compelled" by personalities such as Joey to make changes. That pretty much sums a lot of this junk up imo, whether it's poker or other casino "verticals."

I remember back in 2015 when I first watched one of Joey's podcasts, and being inspired by his talent and knowledge about the industry.

https://www.pokerupdate.com/news/ent...ler-interviews (Oct 2015)

It's ironic because I published that Oct 2015 article just as I was about to accept a job with The Stars Group (then-Amaya, it wasn't for PokerStars but for Amaya), until they surprised me with the biggest crock of sh** Non-Disclosure Agreement I've ever seen -- and I think that's saying something being that I've collaborated on corporate and government projects before and was already used to the language in them. I remember the relief I felt for not having taken the gig a month later when the Supernova/SNE changes hit.

Just seeing all the work Joey (and some others) have put in over these years, just to be marginalized as a "pest" by the very same casino interests who have brought in all this government heat with their nonstop abuses, criminal negligence, focus on revenue generation above credibility, "regulatory entrepreneurship" dogma, sh**ty lobbying, search engine gaming, and lack of vigilance (aka ignoring the "bot issue," but it goes much deeper that that) is sad. Because the vast majority of those people couldn't understand 1/100th the talent (or effort) that Joey puts forth if it slapped them in the f***ing face. What a crock of sh** TBH.

Less than a year ago, I was about to start collaborating with Joey until someone in the industry told me it was a bad idea because "you don't know where the money's coming from." You believe that? An industry that has spent years neglecting peer-to-peer games (after having relied upon poker and being fed off of it) and doing everything in its power (whether legal or not) to sh** on poker people.

If the industry was going to de-leverage poker investment they should have just done so responsibly instead of pretending that they had control over all this "online casino" stuff (which btw IS easily outperforming poker now) and were somehow going to "control" the market. All they did was segment the poker world into what we have now, a bunch of small groups of individuals who mostly keep to themselves.

It's disheartening to see Joey as upset as he was in his appearance with Andreas, but who can really blame him? He's been THE poker "personality" who's promoted collaboration beyond all others, who's reached out to just about everybody in the "poker world" throughout these years, who's attempted to help in many ways and to communicate in an effort to make changes. And changes are happening (at a snail's pace), but obviously no one in the industry is going to come out and say, "Okay, we're paying attention to this issue now that we've ignored forever because Joey (or whoever) has brought it up and presented it in a way many people can understand."

I'm just glad I was fortunate enough to fall into a part time gig writing about poker with a team that isn't sh**ting on the game at every turn, but TBH it's hard not to sh** on the game now that so much investment has been taken out, now that poker people are expected to do the job poker sites themselves should have been doing all these years... just to get marginalized in the end by glorified goons. Just my opinion.

Excellent post dhubermex. You hit the nail on the head.

Joey does himself personally no service in the short to midterm by going on about scandals. If he can survive this period and can grow to 3x his current size then it would be worth it as sites/self serving industry exec's can't afford to ignore him and he has real credibility of the masses. But on the very real flip side he can crush himself trying to reach that level. Unless he is certain he can reach that level he should back off for his own good.

For the masses who demand Joey approach a topic that's controversial I ask yourselves to bring up a sticky issue in your line of work and ignore the future consequences. Not so easy.

What's odd is Joey already stated a year ago what the problems that come with talking about taboo stuff... yet does it anyway. For that I have mad respect... but my utmost respect doesn't pay his bills.

I didn't know this about you. A lot of people in this industry would be better off with that kind of dignity. Much respect.

What is that logic. People like John Oliver eg have insane ratings and they only talk about stuff that is important and others won't cover. That logic that you describe doesn't fit journalism..

Also he is basically the only person doing this and there is a demand for it. Maybe he should try to work more with things like patroeon etc. I wouldn't mind donating smt to him for his work that he does and so do others imo.

Anyways keep up the good work.

That's nice of you to say, Sirius. Thank you.

I'm so sorry things have turned out the way they have in the poker-gambling world and wish there was more I (or anyone really) could do about it. For sure some things can and will be trialed, modified, and corrected on both the consumer and industry sides with time (the show must go on after all -- people who wanna play poker are going to find a way to do so regardless) But this Mike Postle sh** along with the latest online bot drama going on here in NVG is just too much on top of what was/has been/will continue to be too much.

Unfortunately small numbers of individuals can grab-hold of any given angle and ram it into the butthole of the general competitive and/or gambling public with more ease than perhaps some would have suspected (considering all the formal and informal testimony that's gone on for these past years regarding "game integrity"). I'm just thankful I got my personal "poker pro dream" whopped by superior (and actual) poker "players" during a time when said butt-kicking made perfect sense and had valuable lessons to provide.

But as far as casinos go, these brazen game integrity attacks on peer-to-peer gambling are going to force industry decision-makers to take an even more critical look at poker. More specifically, whether poker room revenues (live or online) are really worth the headache compared to growing (or at least comparatively stable) slots/table games/sports betting/etc -- particularly in the United States.

Think of it this way... if U.S. online poker were facing a need to convince "commercial" interests (as opposed to Wire Act enforcement scrutiny), some executive in the poker industry 15 years ago might have attracted a few high profile companies and gotten a them to put in a good word via sponsorships/advertising and LFG. I wonder how many Fortune 500 liaisons would even take such a call these days. And like Joey said in his appearance on Andreas' show... would you even want to promote such an idea with all the crap going on? Back when I was playing I used to daydream about one day introducing my kids to poker. Not anymore LOL. Same with writing. Just a few years ago, I would've encouraged individuals who were legitimately seeking opportunities to pursue poker writing. Not anymore.

I know personally I DON'T want to write up stories and consult with people about this latest "online" bot situation. Not so soon after having watched a week of streams, talked with people who had received communications from Postle at any point in the past (when he was publicly active on forums/rakeback scene/etc), who stayed up all night reviewing emails from a decade ago just to make sure there wasn't some wicked-ass bull**** there, and been maybe a quarter-step mentally as an "analyst" from sitting my ass down in the kitty litter box and just flinging sh** up in the air out of pure f***ing madness.

Great podcast, thanks for sharing.

Pappiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Love the podcasts.. Respect the mind for poker.. View him as like a less cringe worthy Doug Polk....but calling other men Daddy in spanish is not GTO yo

Joey, and the poker world, prayers. Very sad regarding online poker but, poker players can get through stuff.

https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/papi/

Yea thats a no go