For starters, thanks to Chris Moneymaker for responding.
I also think Johnson might have simply misunderstood the question. Consider the actual question:
Quote:
BRILL (at 18:39): Do you know who his current friends are, that potentially helped him with this cheating?
Johnson says she would have to look at her phone, but mentions two specific people: Moneymaker and Evert Caldwell. It's certainly fair to say that Caldwell attempted to help Postle restore his image, since Caldwell authored a couple of the articles on Rounder Life (which Caldwell co-owns) in the wake of the accusations. But "help him the cheating?" We have no reason to believe Caldwell aided in it. (Unless somehow Evert was remotely collecting the RFID info then sending it back to Postle via his phone or something.)
Soon after, Johnson explains Caldwell's assistance to Postle is to thank him "by trying to back him up on his lies." (I won't attempt to transcribe the entire response, just listen from 19:22 to 19:55.)
Put a pin in that, then reread this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by moneymaker03
He called me the day Veronica broke the story and I went to bat for him as I did not think he was cheating in the games when we played together.
Thus, it's quite possible that Johnson answered the question as if it was only "do you know who his current friends, who helped him?" Not helped him cheat, but helped him by merely being supportive. And the only two people she could name – without otherwise looking through her phone – was the owner and Rounder Life Media and one of the few poker players that even non-poker players have heard of.
I mentioned Veronica's patience in a previous post. Rewatching that interview, this is the kind of thing that made me think of that quality.
* * * * *
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bohemianwrapsody
Just putting 1 and 1 together...
She (sabina) claims postle colluded on poker stars
She throws money makers name out during convo
We know moneymaker and postle played on ps
She claims postle would collude by playing at same table as friends (2-3) and talking on phone
Moneymaker admits he has spoken to postle before
So the only logical conclusion is moneymaker may have colluded on ps w postle.
Sorry, I had to clean up the blood that started seeping from my ears. How is that the "only logical conclusion??"
At risk of feeding a troll or getting massively leveled, I'll play along by breaking this down step by step:
Quote:
We know moneymaker and postle played on ps
PokerStars was and still is a mammoth site, with literally tens of millions of players registered on there. That both Postle and Moneymaker have played on that site means almost nothing.
If we were talking some weird, obscure site with traffic in the hundreds, AND there were two people known to be close off the felt, AND it was discovered that one of them was cheating, then yes, I might look askance at the other person. But even then, I would not make my "only conclusion" to be that Person B was a colluding confederate.
Quote:
She claims postle would collude by playing at same table as friends (2-3) and talking on phone
Sabina isn't even all that sure about that, at least not with respect to his time on PokerStars. If anything, Johnson is unsure about Postle's behavior and even gets some of it conflated with a home game. The PokerStars convo begins at 4:12 of the video, with Brill asking specifically about the accusations starting at 4:38:
Quote:
BRILL: What happened... how did he end up not getting reprimanded for cheating on PokerStars?
JOHNSON: It didn't prove anything.
BRILL: Did they review the hands? Did they... like, how did he initially get accused of cheating? What did they do?
JOHNSON: They did go over the hands, but there was nothing that they could say that would solidify, that they could prove that he was cheating. And this... yeah.
BRILL: Did you think he did cheat at that time?
JOHNSON: At that time, I can honestly say that I have no idea.
BRILL: Was he playing poker with his friends, like on the same table online or anything that you know of?
JOHNSON: Uh, we did hold a table game, actually, at our house. But he– I would have to honestly say that he actually lost more than he won, so the numbers to me don't add up... as far as what he's being discussed.
BRILL: No, I mean when he was accused of cheating online, do you know if he was, like, logged on online while his friends were logged on, and they were all playing on the same virtual table?
JOHNSON: Yeah, I would say there would be two or three of them.
BRILL: And they would all communicate while they were playing or–?
JOHNSON: Oh yeah.
BRILL: So, do you think that's... because that's typically how people cheat online. They'll be on the same table and they'll communicate what they have and they just poach the other players. Did he do stuff like that, that you know of?
JOHNSON: Not to my knowledge. Not to my knowledge.
BRILL: So...
JOHNSON: However, I will tell you that he has very frequently named himself as "the fleecer." And if you know the name of a fleecer, it's a person who scams another person. He takes pride in taking money from other people without them knowing it, and I will tell you as his former wife who lived with him, I have seen it over and over and over and over again, in my different situations. It doesn't matter if it's casino-related or not.
Again, patience.
Quote:
Moneymaker admits he has spoken to postle before
Postle has been around the game for the better part of two decades, either as a dealer or as a player. Even if you assume he has only hung around Tunica and the Sacramento area (which you can't), it's fair to say he's made many poker acquaintances throughout the years, with Moneymaker being just one of them.
To run through it again:
Given how many millions of people have played on Stars in addition to Postle and Moneymaker...
Given how many other people Postle has known in the poker community besides Moneymaker...
Given that Postle's ex-wife is unsure if and how Postle cheated on PokerStars...
How is the "only logical conclusion" – your words – that Chris Moneymaker and Mike Postle may have colluded on PokerStars?
Last edited by Wilbury Twist; 06-15-2021 at 08:58 PM.