Too bad the best opportunity for a full and complete interview was botched so badly by Poker News... and DF, all the power to you for keeping the anonymity.

DF,

Really looking forward to your Monday post. It's clear he's ducking b/c he's got too much to hide/lose and he knows he can be ruined by you.

Cheers,
/Jon

Shocking. So the fraud incompetent business owner couldn't get control of an interview and bailed. Or maybe the doj called his lawyer and said thanks for the evidence.

There's two issues here. First, everyone needs to realize that HL isn't doing interviews out of the goodness of his heart. He's trying for rehabilitation. He's done two. In review AB's interview with DF, the stories match up at least as far as I can see. He's done what he believes is two news outlets and the only thing that can happen now is to get caught up in a contradiction. Personally, the period between his resignation as an officer of the FTP empire and April 7, 2011 is the area where there has little investigation and HL has indicated he didn't have much understanding or control of what was going on. With Mike and Adam, he played it off as, "I'd suggest stuff to them and they'd tell me to STFU." I believe the reality is different and I believe that DF has sufficient documentation to confirm that HL was far more aware and involved in FTP than he would like to portray. There's no value to HL to face these questions.

Second, the identity of DF is a red herring and I'm disappointed in MJ for bringing it up. If he really thought this was a huge issue, he shouldn't have had DF as a guest on the Pokercast discussing FTP events. Complaining at this late stage that DF should identify herself is hypocritical. He was perfectly happy having her say stuff on his show without identifying herself.

That said, the optimal approach would be for DF to indentify herself. If she doesn't, that's her choice and everyone can evaluate how much crediability they want to give her.

You think his biggest issue is not returning disbursements? Are you serious?

who cares, he already did two interviews

It is all Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu and the DOJs fault.

I don't care what your name is. Feel free to change your name to Felipe Gutierrez, for all I care.

I am a big boy and can determine what is worthwhile or not. I don't actually know you but I can listen to your podcast and make my own determinations.

Who are these people who demanded to know who you are?

I don't understand what knowing df's real name is going to do to my reading of her articles? Seems like an attempt to discredit her.

I suspect the decision to expose yourself was your own and not forced on you as you seem to be claiming. I read lots of articles and information every day written by people who I do not know.

If you have an issue or know of a relevant issue that brings her credibility into question please bring it out in the open. Otherwise....

While my opinion isnt as aggressive as yours, I do agree with you're saying. If the guy wants to remain anonymous, who cares? If people dont like it well read somewhere else. It's really not that big of a deal

I might tend to agree with Mike if the interview had gone down face to face/on camera.

As is, I think the claim to anonymity is perfectly valid and doesn't discredit the story/reporting one bit.

In neither instance do I really care about it though.

Ok DF lets get the party started!

imo the longer you keep your anonymity the better

amount of $ ppl in this thread have on ftp = $141.21

Hi Everyone:

I spoke to Howard the day after the 2+2 Interview and he indicated to me that he was worn out from the interviews, so I'm not surprised he dropped out of the DF interview. Hopefully, he'll reconsider sometime in the future.

I also agree with Mike Johnson that Diamond Flush should identify herself (and I have no idea who she is). This is especially true if you're going to be accusing someone of specific wrong doing (which is the way I interpret her comments). In addition, true identification gives you more credibility as readers can get a better understanding of exactly who you are.

Best wishes,
Mason

I think DF has more than proven her credibility. If she wants to be anonymous then that is fine. I'm just happy she shares her information with all of us.

i dont get it... he has done countless hours of interviews already, he did what he set out to do and i dont see why the backlash cause he turns down a interview with diamondflush...

He didn't simply turn down the interview, he backed out after saying he would do it.

True identity of DF is a solid point. It can only add more cedibility to her input. It is, however, a far cry from the value of the information she supplies. As much as I wish her to expose her true identity, it is secondary to the work she has done and continues to do.

DF has earned the right to do whatever the hell she wants with her identity.

this

and I hope she crushes lederer HARD for not taking this interview.

Guy stood 0 chance in this interview and should be piled on MORE for not taking this interview. Can't wait to see him and ferguson at wsop next year

Re: anonymity, I felt the need to mention that Diamond Flush will appear in an on-camera interview with NoahSD in BOOM, a feature-length documentary about the online poker boom. She did request to be identified as Diamond Flush which, of course, we will respect. Diamond is dedicated to exposing the FTP story whole-heartedly and is more than willing to reveal as much about her true identity as is necessary to spread the information (as evidenced by her willingness to appear on-camera). While I can see where MJ and MM are coming from, knowing her real name never seemed necessary to me or, I suspect, most of the people watching our film/reading her articles. It's about the content.

Diamond Flush, the Deep Throat of poker journalism.

I totally agree.

Diamond Flush says, "Heck, plenty of writers sign their pieces with nom de plumes, and you don't really know that that is there real name either." True writers do; but journalist don't. It's long past time for DF to come out of the shadows. A name is important because much of journalism is about personal responsibility. Having the ability to start afresh under a new "nom de plume", if a journalist screws up, isn't a luxury a journalist should ever have.

Tired or not, it is probably a smart move for Lederer sit back for a while. At this point I think that it would be a lot more interesting to hear from the many other people involved with FullTilt. Chris Ferguson, Ray Bitar and Phil Ivey are the obvious choices but people like John Juanda, Phil Gordon and even Clonie McGowan would make for interesting interviews.

She's already the most credible poster on these forums, revealing her identity would be meaningless to the majority of us anyway and who knows, in future her anonymity may become important once again for anonymous sources to trust her. Revealing her identity may also put her in a position where she could be leant on to shut up.

DF has earned her credibility. Suggestions to the contrary are ludicrous. Her work speaks for itself.

And Howard, we're ****ing tired of you too.

I'm sorry but I object to this kind of thinking. Diamond Flush's attitude towards the facts, whatever they may be, should be exactly the same whether Lederer did the interview or not, and I'm sure she would be the first to tell you this.

As for what chance Lederer may have stood in the interview, you don't know the answer. First, I don't think you know what questions would have been asked, and second, you certainly don't know how Lederer would have answered anything which he has not yet answered.

In addition, what is the purpose of this interview (and the other two have already been done)? Is it to make Lederer look as bad as possible? or is it to get at the facts so the poker community has a better understanding as to exactly what happened and why FTP went down? I'll go with the second option.

Mason