Cool, man. You don't think integrity is important. We'll agree to disagree.

The only thing that makes sense in this post is that Mercier should not be blamed.

BH should be permabanned from Stars/Tilt.

Aren't you a lawyer and a Stars pro?

Sites probably should allow players to change their screen names, but until they do it's a level playing field for everyone. Just like the law is meant to apply equally to everyone, no matter their position of power or wealth, the rules of the game should apply equally to everyone, whether a fish or a bracelet winner/top pro.

Mercier outed the account as a MA before bakes did. He didn't specifically mention stinger but he may as well have by what he said.

Apparently he told some, but not all. And whether to tell or not to tell, isn't the the harm on the victims excactly the same regardless.

And in this case Mr. Hastings chose which ones would be the victims and which would be his "friends".
Which is disgusting right, seems like he thinks he is god or something..

Well he wasn't telling all people, now was he? Apparently only those he deemed worthy to know.
Next to that he also seemed to initially make "fishy" plays when playing vs people who didn't know.
Your posts seem very biased and you certainly could have benefitted from reading more of the thread before posting.

I have a couple of questions and statements.

Do you guys wan't to corrupt, taint and just smear poker to the brink of destruction?

Or stay within the rules and just play poker because you like it or love it or whatever?

Well, You have a choice. In fact, you have to choose!

So, do you have integrity or not? Define yourself.

Hastings said not. /Thread

The comparisons to The Tour De France seem very apt.

In order to hang in the peloton you absolutely had to take PEDs. There was virtually no way to exist at the top end of that competition without engaging in rule breaking behavior.

It seems like most high stakes pro's engage in various forms of edge pushing or rule breaking, and that it's mostly accepted and not talked about outside of the small circle of those engaging in the behavior.

Perhaps there are a very isolated few pro's who do not push boundaries, but it seems reasonable to assume that most do in fact do it. Vanessa's post kind of shows that she accepts it to some degree, as do the other high stakes insiders who are posting.

Their issues with Hastings' behavior stem more from whether or not he broke certain codes of conduct within the community or not.

But I think Limon has been the closest to the truth on this. Most high stakes pros are engaged in underhanded and deceptive practices, and they pretend not to be, because the reality would discourage the fish they prey on from entering the games.

People like Limon either will not play in such games or will be marginalized in such games.

In the end, nothing changes without strict regulations, investigations, exposing of the violators of the rules, and tough punishments.

The community of High Stakes Pros will NEVER self police.
Edited to add: I wonder if Gus Hanson, who has been nothing but scorned for his losing ways, is actually an example of a "clean" player trying to compete in an uneven playing field. If so, people may one day look back on him and realize he was better than we thought in more ways than one.

Id say shame on you Jungleman but hey I remember the whole Girah scandal, a kid who popped up and crushed everyone seemingly out of nowhere, that you coached and backed hmmmm. We all know from live poker how you handle losing money. Just another smokescreen. Don't be naive people!

Stars, for legal reasons, doesn't allow players from the US. Therefore, as much as we would like to, most US based players no longer play online.

Some players are fortunate enough to be able to afford to establish residences elsewhere to be able to continue to play. BH with his massive winnings was in this category. He chose to break this rule, as well as the one account per player rule, and at the same time put Pokerstars in legal jeapordy by playing from the US, all for his convenience.

There is not much gray area here in my opinion.

Hi 1st of good luck 2 u at wsop.

Also for the victory in the courts for freedom in the US )
But when ppl take a stand for hate in the name of oppression then we fight back. Some incident has to kick it off, maybe brian was acting in the correct way to get ppl to notice the oppression in POKER(tbh i don't think so).
"For bad men to succeed all it takes is for good men to do nothing"
When sponsored pro's do not do this it not only affects the community but also nullifies there contract with the company as they are expected to act with integrity. hearsay is 1 thing but to actually hear from the horses mouth is another. so any stars pro who got told by brian this information & didn't act on then they say good buy to being a face of pokerstars. And u know this fslexcduck.

Again Gl At the tables.

Question is whether that is because of your care free mindset or because of a similar moral compass. Hard to say..

Unreal some of the comments made in this thread - unreal and unsurprising. Never had specifics, never wanted specifics - the situations that surfaced through the years are enough to paint a clear picture.

Truly brilliant and diligent poker minds applied cleanly like those which seem to be existent in people like Sauce, and some less-known high stakes players in this thread are such an exception in high stakes online poker success imo / but that's just an assumption.

Just felt the need to send a message to any thoughtful, grounded, truly reasonable (not school xyz told me I am good therefore I am good / I made a lot of money therefore I am highly valuable) people reading this thread.

Either get on another path if it's still early (live poker if you truly love poker and that's what you want to do full-time for the next 5-20 years) or start the process of migrating to another path (if you meet all the conditions outlined above then no...not finance)

Gl

As for the mentality of 'outing people who break rules will destroy the environment which allows for the platform on which those rules are formed therefore we must be stealthy in our 'vigilance' lest we be actually vigilant and allow for significant transformation as a by-product of exposing the reality which the current platform more easily supports'...sigh

If you lie with dogs you get fleas and there seem to be a lot of flea ridden high stakes players.

Tbf, I'm no hs reg anymore, and am not very involved in the poker community. I'm barely a poker player anymore, basically only playing wsop, a few live events, and wsop.com nv a bit since black friday. So I don't want it to seem like I'm going out on a limb, and have anything to lose by posting, and certainly don't want to be considered a hero.

It is sad to see so many hs players chiming in apathetically. The fact that no one cares and there aren't serious consequences certainly helps perpetuate the cheating. No wonder cheating is so commonplace, if you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. For now, it seems a decent portion of the hs community is happy with a race to the bottom which doesn't bode well for poker.

I honestly can`t decide whether he`s just completely delusional in his million miles away from reality world and thinks he almost did nothing wrong or he`s just pure scum and doesn`t give a ****.

That post about how he was depressed and had to move back home, alone tells you he`s socially inept/outta touch and doesn`t have a clue what he`s saying.

Everyone goes trough tough times, but you fight trough it like a man and adapt, not cheat people out of $ so you can make it easier on yourself.

Remarkable thing he does this even after the Isildur thing.Just wow.

I will make it clear this is normal not some one of case,

I was playing against Venessa Selbts being ghosted by her crew on paradise poker in 2006,

The Scandinavians learn from the Americans and share accounts some not for immediate gain Boy wonder shared with his brother.

Around 2 years ago EVERY high stakes American player left from black Friday was playing most via VPN on I-Poker there were some great games.

Accounts are purchased in Neutral Country's with a reliable profession person providing the details if any security is needed and being paid a % on the transfer of winnings.

Ignorance is not a trait that will win money at high stakes the level of shadiness is unparalleled.

BTW Jose Macado was back playing on microgamming recently!

I respect your opinion - what strikes me is playing under an established name that has a history.

"Rasva" shows up - everyone gets it. "BiggestFishEver" shows up - a clear first mover advantage, but if it plays like Brian Hastings . . .

But here there was a history of the underlying account and that, to my legal mind, suggests intent to deceive. What do you think?

While I agree with this 100%, you broke my ****ing brain with this run on monstrosity.

ROT buddy, ROT.

*** SHORT CLIFFS FOR THOSE JUST ENTERING THIS THREAD ***

These are the most important posts until now. Please message me if I missed one.

The case begins with a tweet from David Baker (Bakes on 2+2):

Brian "Stinger88" Hastings reacts to this news, but does not deny nor confirm the allegations.

After a majority of posters found above reaction worthless, mr. Hastings posts the following:

Then mr. Baker came into the thread and ended the doubts about the allegations by posting a picture of a DM mr. Hastings send him.

No reaction from mr. Hasting upon that post, but SGT RJ reveals that he tried to get the post removed:

BERRI SWEET enters the thread, and provides hand histories to go with his suspicion that he too played against mr. Hastings under the screenname "NoelHayes".

I'm sorry but aren't you a Pokerstars Pro?
This is not a gray area, MA is cleary against the TOS of Pokerstars and using him beeing in the US as an excuse is pathetic.
I'm not sure if you're friends with BH and now coming to his defence, but you should think about what you're implying here, especially in your position.

leave it to Pads and vennesa selbts to totally tard the thread up.

kaizen



there can be beauty in chaos.

On a serious note - hope this thread turns to the general standards expected in online poker moving forward and less about specific individuals. gl.