Ah, so your point was how stupid US politics has become? Got it.

Yes, that was the point, placed into a Canadian context. .... The secondary point was that is such a context insulting someone seems perfectly appropriate. Whining to an American that the American is behaving like an American seemed clueless.

Also, it is funny.

Hey, saw a tiny little update relating to Baazov's charges - this article from the PokerScout news feed says that Amaya's footing his legal bills, and one of the shareholders said he wasn't super happy about that.

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/business-news/amaya-shareholders-meet-amid-uncertainty-over-online-gaming-company/


It's kind of interesting, because guess we were all wondering if it was common for people accused of insider trading to still get paid while the trial is taking place. And now there's legal bills as well - from this hedge fund CEO's reaction, it kind of seemed like paying for legal bills might not be the norm (although he didn't mention the salary, so maybe that part is)?


PS. There was also another article in the news feed with more about the shareholder meeting, for anybody that might be interested: http://www.onlinepokerreport.com/213...r-has-emerged/ . The person who collects articles for the PokerScout news feed seems to catch a lot of really interesting stuff

Online Poker Report has just called Mr Garber 'the hottest CEO in the online gambling industry'. Upon seeing the title, before clicking a link to the article, I expected to see his semi-naked pics, but instead, an OPR writer Joss Wood speculates that '[t]he Amaya board is highly likely to confirm [Rafi Ashkenazi] in the [Amaya CEO] position, but an outside chance exists that they could reach out to Mitch Garber'.

Baazov's "temporary leave of absence" is over.
He's left the company completely. http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news...ons-with-amaya

[x] Just another kid with a dream.

Amaya's revenues also fell 11% year on year.

Dude had the world by the balls and got greedy. Ironically, his vision was right. Poker is but one piece of the pie. Focus on other areas to grow revenue.

That would qualify for a NVG Breaking News banner .

Universe has been put back in order

My money was on Mitch Garber for new CEO.

Go Rafi !!!!

Make Poker at Least Good Again

You can do that and grow all of your other verticals as well. It's not a zero sum game between the two.

Guess if the big loan was lent to Amaya, is Baazov's only remaining tie to Amaya his 20% stock ownership? And did he own most of that before Amaya bought Stars - like if he were to sell it all now ... does that mean he'll likely wind up with a nice payday?

If so, that reminds me of Full Tilt, and how the people in charge mucked everything up for everybody else ... except themselves (eg. Ray Bitar, Howard)

Not sure?


PS. Hey Arty!! Great find - interesting to hear!!

Except for the minor point of him still being the single biggest share owner of Amaya. So he gave up his position regarding the day to day operations but he still effectively ownes the company.

It's hard to unravel the competence of PokerStars from the insanity of Amaya and Baazov. This might be the start of a good company coming out of this. Baazov under indictment and getting full pay while not even working? Getting his legal bills paid by the company? Very shady and suspect. The online poker market is getting tougher and no company no matter how rich (and Amaya is not rich) can have this type of baggage. The madness is also how Baazov has 17% of the shares considering a few years ago he hadn't a bean, and hasn't built anything, just a history of shady deals and operations. Some sense has to come out of all this. The indictment shows a bit of short sightedness from Baazov as if he didn't try to drop his friends a few bob, he could have gotten away with the whole takeover and his dream of being rich beyond his wildest dreams and in the clear would have become a reality. Was it worth to tip off a few friends and relatives? A couple of mill or whatever pales in comparison to the billions he stood to profit.

Given they are in quite some debt we can still hope he won't be able to materialize on those shares.

Keep getting the sense that we've seen this story of a 'fall from grace' play out before ...


Spoiler (possibly):




Oh well ...

To be fair, this is pretty standard for a C level exec. Not great optics, perhaps, considering the nature of the charges, but it's standard enough that I wouldn't call it 'shady'.

But... but what about the amazing promotions that he promised?

they're gone with his exit. new management will say they were part of his regime not theirs.

I'm guessing that Baazov wasn't the real CEO anyway...he was just the front man for his brother..it doesn't matter who they appoint if the brother is making the decisions.

The quickest way to get rich is to hang around rich people.

So get yourself a tidy haircut, put on a sharp suit, prepare a good marketing pitch, arrange a meeting with a hedge fund, sell them on your vision, use their money to buy a multi-billion dollar company while negotiating 20% for yourself, pay yourself a million bucks a year as the CEO, (mis)manage said company for a couple of years, and then quit keeping your stock. When the company is sold on in an all cash deal to the next crowd trouser a billion dollars yourself, easy peasy ! That's the American dream folks !

Mr Baazov has gamed the system harder than anyone could imagine, when's the book & film coming out?

can't help but wonder if his decision to step down was because the charges against him just might stick and it was done to try to minimize the damage to the company (whatever stock value for what hes allowed to keep) when he takes a plea deal or gets convicted.

but i dont know how such things work. i just feel like if he was going to beat the charges he wouldnt step down from his position

Publicly traded stock doesn't often benefit from a CEO that may or may not be found guilty. Even if he knows for a fact they can't prove anything, his company suffers from the suspicion.

though I have no direct knowledge, seriously doubt it was his decision to sever ties with Amaya. the board seemed to be too friendly with him.

so, likely hedge fund dudes in NY decided his shine had worn off and forced him being shown the door. sick run for him though. turned air into 100s of millions for himself in a few short years..

4 sure

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle31761550/


There is a reason the U.S banned online poker, not the least of which is the characters who were surrounding this industry...

I know why the "US banned online poker" (it isn't banned) and it has nothing to do with the players' interest or the schemes of higher ups in the poker rooms.

If you are referring to Black Friday as your "ban", you need to check your timeline.

Black Friday was in 2011. Amaya acquired Stars in 2014.

If this line of "reasoning" you offer relies on the Amaya article at its center, it implies that Black Friday enabled Amaya to buy Stars by putting it into play.

Holy chit on more Baazov details in that article.

Sounds like dude was gonna self implode no matter what.


So sad that old Pokerstars got all effed up in his vortex of self destruction.

Banking transactions with online sites were banned because they were perceived at competition, not because of the people surrounding the industry.