Apologies for posting 3 consecutive posts, but I feel I am starting to get to the bottom of all of this, what I believe is some Poker Vloggers exploiting their own fan base:

Let's bring another, super friendly, smiley faced, acts like your best friend, vlogger into it.....

Wolfgang Poker: 55K subscribers on YT, 31K followers on IG.

Please watch from 8 mins 20 secs to 9 minutes (the link might not be set to that starting time)

He is promoting what clearly comes across as an app game/club, saying "if you wanna play in a good online game..... it's absolutely awesome..... play with me, Mariano, Rampage and Kiran (close2broke, yet another vlogger.)...."

No mention of the high rake, increased chance of collusion, that it's unregulated, that it might be illegal, that you may have your funds withheld if you win too much, or if he and/or the other people he mentioned are agents or owners that benefit from rake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVZMBVcIA2U

(sorry, tried embedding the actual video, didn't work.)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, found this on another thread on this forum, a report of a Tweet involving Lynne Ji:

She is asked, "How did you make the majority of your capital?"

She replies: "Poker".

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...&postcount=117

If your implying lynn gets all her money from apps that would be incorrect. but its kind of already well known that a good percentage of poker bloggers money comes from apps already

If we want to call out where vloggers get their money can we at least mention how most of them are trust fund kids.

Also shouldn’t we go after the bad agents like mamacita in that other thread instead of agents that actually pay.

I first hand got paid by them.

Yes there might be cheating. But honestly it’s natural to feel cheated when you lose in poker. I ran A hi flush into straight flush at the casino the other day and I was convinced it was BOTS!

I honestly have no problem with vloggers running mini poker sites and making some money better then ******* corporations. What I do have a problem with is the greed (rake) and the fact they apparently ban winning players something even the greediest poker sites wont do.

I created a user just to post in this thread.

I have been playing poker for 15+ years. Mostly 1/3+2/5 and some 5/10 for fun (not a full time grinder. I have a job in biotech). A few months ago, I deposited 1k to play in the club. I was playing 2/4+3/6+5/10. TLDR lost the 1k, then redeposited another $1k. I played several times within a month here and there. Something just didn’t feel right. I am confident that players collude. Honestly would not be surprised if most of the players there are working together in someway. I decided to withdraw my remaining balance.

I messaged the mods in the telegram chat and mentioned that there was collusion. Few days later, 95% of the players I played against were no longer there and different usernames were in the games. I kept an eye on the games for a few weeks and those who left the game never came back and it was the players with the new names grinding the games.

I would stay away from this club. I mean honestly, I would stay away from all online + app poker games but play at your own risk.

It’s a shame these vloggers would do anything for $$$ and support an illegitimate club. SMH.

Rampage just won a $188K pot on Hustler stream now lol

This club actually belongs to JohnnieVibes from what multiple agents have told me. Also in the app game world/sports betting world your agent is always responsible for collecting or paying you out that is why they receive rakeback for bringing you in. If they had no risk of not getting burned there would be no reason to give them rakeback. So if yo i didn’t get paid the responsibility is on your agent to get you paid. And el o ****ing el to them telling you they’re not going to pay you because “because you were banned before” it’s an illegally run app just threaten to turn them in and watch that deposit drop so fast in your account.

Poker vloggers whom I as yet cannot find any evidence of them promoting poker app clubs: (in no particular order)

Jeff Gross
The Trooper87 - Tim Watts
Lex O Poker
Ryan De Paulo
Jeff Boski
Jamon Burton
Check Raise Charles
Andrew Lok
Marle Spragg
Solve 4 Why YouTube channel

So this shows that it isn't a given that if you are a poker vlogger then you automatically promote illegal money games on a play money app and exploit your followers.

I am pretty certain that the vloggers that are doing this know exactly what they are doing and are aware that at best they are operating in a gray area legally, and at worst
are committing outright crime.

Poker Bunny (Paulina Loeliger) also promoting an illegal scheme, IMO

Her pinned Tweet as of 28/10/22 says:

"Hey guys click my link to get in touch w Matt Vaughn to play on a soft af club gg site. Quick af deposits and withdrawals.

Also clubGG got updated since last time I was promoting it it’s now a way better app."

https://mobile.twitter.com/PokerBunn...Cg_aPf9_0rAAAA

(can't get print screen to work at this moment, but below is what it currently says on her telegram page)

PokerBunny ClubGG Channel
443 subscribers
JOIN CHANNEL

People commit crimes all the time, to me and most people they’re just entertainment on YouTube/social media

Yes I agree that a lot of crimes are committed and that this will always be the way, but there is a big distinction IMO between for example a Lex O Poker who is travelling around playing games that are affordable to him within his organically grown/earned bankroll, and earning a little extra money through YouTube revenue and maybe is also paid when hosting a Meetup game or for appearing on a live stream, TheTrooper87 who makes money from YouTube revenue and selling GoGamble merch, coffee and other bits and pieces, and some of the other vloggers mentioned (and shown to be making rake from illegal games), who are targeting their own subscribers and fan base by luring them into poker app games.

I totally get it, that poker by its very nature is a predatory game, and it is all about trying to gain all advantages wherever possible, with the end goal to make as much money as possible. However, most poker players and most, or many, poker vloggers are doing it within the acceptable boundaries of poker and business ethics.

If the vloggers who are promoting these apps and benefiting from them financially, were open about the pros and cons of playing on the apps, then I would have no problem with it, as anyone choosing to play on the app would go in eyes wide open and know all of the pluses and minuses and all of the risks.

But this is not what is happening, the vloggers are portraying very friendly personas in their vlogs, and then outright telling their viewers that the app games are great, but are deliberately omitting a lot of important information.

Matt Vaughan appears to be doing the same thing, promoting a clubGG play money games as a vehicle for IMO illegally operating real money games:




Ben Deach, also appears to be doing the same thing: (albeit he only has 12 subscribers on his telegram)

This is a copy and paste from his YouTube channel of info under a vlog that he posted 3 days ago: (please scroll down to see the clubGG part)

Ben Deach
30.2K subscribers
➢ THE PEPPERMILL POKER PALOOZA IS SET FOR OCTOBER 21-31:
https://www.peppermillreno.com/calend...

Book your stay now and save 20% with Promo Code: DEACH

https://peppermillreno.com/offers?o=d...

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

email bdeach@yahoo.com to get on list for the MEET UP GAME on October 28th at 5pm!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

➢ Play with me on ClubGG by doing the following:

Step 1: Download the app "ClubGG Poker" ❤️

Step 2: Join Carolina Poker

https://t.me/+zyaAaLOP_xZhNGYx

❤️Club ID = 253641
❤️Refferer ID = 75133463

Step 3: Download the telegram app and Message one of the following! @cpowner @cpowner2 @cphelper

❤️ Give your 8-digit player ID (XXXX-XXXX)
❤️Deposit/withdraw method (Apple pay, Venmo, Cash app, Zelle)
❤️Deposit/withdraw amount (in USD)

IMPORTANT: Always check in with hosts BEFORE sending money, as it may not go to the same place as previously.

Step 4: Play some cards! ��
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

➢ Check out CRUSH LIVE POKER - the best live poker training material available and get 25% off for life on a basic or premium membership by using this link:

http://www.crushlivepoker.com/a/bend5
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Music - This Aint the end of me by White Comic

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bendeach/?h...

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bendeach?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KOLOBENDEACH/

Poker Vlog Central: https://9to5poker.com

Camera: Sony RX100 V

#poker #pokervlog #cashgame #pokerlife


If you haven’t watched my debut vlog:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAKQW...

Mariano's clubbGG telegram with 2680 subscribers as of 28/10/22

https://t.me/joinchat/ZiDijWgOfE9kOTg5

(sorry, print screen won't screen shot it for me.)

Updated list of poker vloggers and poker content channels that I see no evidence of as yet of them promoting play money apps as a vehicle for real money games:

(in no particular order)

Jeff Gross
The Trooper87 - Tim Watts
Lex O Poker
Ryan De Paulo
Jeff Boski
Jamon Burton
Check Raise Charles
Andrew Lok
Marle Spragg
Solve 4 Why YouTube channel
Ebony Kenney
Matt Staples
Jamie Staples
Joey Ingram
Doug Polk
Jonathan Little

Potentially Very Important:

I can't find anything that directly links Johnny "Vibes" Moreno to Splash Squad clubGG apart from a private Facebook group with a similar name:

Vibes Poker Squad

https://www.facebook.com/groups/JVibesPokerSquad

I haven't joined it so I don't know what is in there. Maybe someone who has joined could let us know.

Posters ITT and on other forums have said that he owns/runs Splash Squad but I can't see anything on his IG, TikTok or Twitter page with a link to it, so those posters/people may be mistaken.

Maybe he has nothing to do with Splash Squad clubGG and people are just mixing it up with his similarly named Poker Squad Facebook group.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If this is the case, that he is not involved, then what we appear to have is a small minority of poker vloggers exploiting their fan base, i.e. Rampage, Wolfgang and Mariano (plus some bit part players joining in), and separate to them, some other smaller examples of vloggers doing similar (with way less subscribers), Matt Vaughan, Poker Bunny, Lynne Ji, Ben Deach.

Even if Vibes is involved (for me, it is not proven as of now), by looking at the long list of vloggers / podcasters that are not running illegal operations, it demonstrates IMO that we are looking at only a small minority of bad apples in the community.

Yea but who’s gonna say hey we’re charging extremely high rake and there’s potential colluding going on in our games, come hop in and lose all your money!

This is exactly my point, that they are knowingly getting people into something potentially bad, while at the same time playing Mr Nice Guy.

It is very deceptive behaviour.

Then, as it seems, with the profits they are entering bigger and bigger games, making themselves look even more attractive and more successful to subscribers, which will in turn encourage even more of their vlog viewers to play within an illegal poker operation.

I would like to see someone like Lex O poker do an exposé video of these vloggers that are unethically shortcutting their way up the poker ladder while he is staying in motels with his dog, grinding out a slow but steady living and genuinely working hard for it.

If indeed Rampage and Mariano are promoting illegal poker and causing losses to 100s or 1000s of players, as well as putting said players in potential legal harm's way, then this is a bigger scandal IMO than the Hustler cheating one, because that one was potentially 3 or 4 people cheating 1 to 20 other people, whereas this involves potentially 100s or 1000s of players being potentially cheated and/or tricked into breaking the law.

I mean it’s a very easy assumption to make, but I don’t know where any of these vloggers get their bankrolls from, and most likely neither do you. And I’m not one to pocket watch, so they get it how they live. Now would I participate in these online games? Maaaybe, but not for heavy money and if I lost I’d keep it pushing. Whoever signs up and plays should know what they’re getting into.

Perhaps you didn't notice, but this thread's still here. Whatever it was that was deleted before, if anything, likely was done for a specific reason. I'd think after 20 or so years of thousands of threads criticizing pretty much every poker site/app there is, it should be pretty obvious that sweeping things under the rug is not standard policy around here.

Bro I put like $300 I could afford to lose in attempt to play with splashy vloggers I follow and i cashed out over 2k...

The rake was high but I didn’t feel anymore colluded than other sites.

If I were to recommend someone play online poker I would suggest the apps over sites like ACR.

Quite a few threads, I am guessing/estimating 4 to 8 were either deleted or fairly quickly closed on this forum, I know this from memory and from doing some recent Googling. Some of them included damning allegations against Rampage poker and/or Johnny Vibes, and named other people. (N.B. Johnny Vibes may have nothing to do with Splash Squad clubGG)

This is the first thread in the topic, afaik, that has been left to run its course.

The reason(s) why some of those other threads were deleted was I think because they didn't have "receipts", and also because in some of them the initial replies were things like "you're just jealous of Rampage", "so what", "or show screenshots or GTFO", "bad loser", that kind of thing.

So all/most replies were very dismissive of each OP and this may have influenced the moderators.

That's all good, but you may still have been breaking the law and my main point is that the vloggers doing the promoting are not being transparent, they are being deceitful by not mentioning a lot of important info.

I invite them to come on this thread, put their side and debate it.

Yes other threads were deleted bc no evidence was provided... not sure why this one is allowed given there’s no evidence.

For all we know OP should have been kicked out and not paid if he’s cheating.

If I report my taxes (which I do; have an accountant) then I’m not doing anything illegal by playing online poker.

I’ve looked into this and had lawyers tell me that playing is in no way illegal. These apps only become illegal when rake is taken from the pot. Same goes for home games and underground games. The thing that crosses the line of legality is taking of the rake.

That is precisely why I’ve never been an agent in any app poker and never will.

We agree then that agents and game runners/club owners are acting illegally by taking rake and juice, I mean there's evidence ITT in the screenshot where they * 0.95 the player's balance and plenty of other evidence elsewhere.

As I mentioned earlier ITT, if you facilitated the overall scheme by making and/or receiving transfers to/from random people, in agreement with or under the instruction of the agent, then you may be guilty of breaking The Federal Wire Act (if you are in the USA) or equivalent wire acts if you are in another country. You may also be breaking money laundering laws.

If your transactions were all in Crypto then the above two things are a lot less likely, although still possible.

These friendly faced, in effect real money app promoting vloggers, do not tell you any of this.

They don't care if you go broke or go to jail, they just want rake and juice from you.