Reading all this Admo vs. CF stuff got me thinking back to my WORST poker-related experience.

A couple years ago a guy with a decent rep in my local home game asked me to take a trip to Reno with him.

He was 52 years old, I was 30. He was rich, I wasn't. He offered to give me $1,000 cash and said he would pay for the room at the Peppermill if I would drive him. In exchange, I would only have to pay him back $800 anytime during the next two months.

So we take off for Reno, I drive, he loses $100 bucks to me during the drive as we bet on the college football game on my XM radio. He tells me to take it off the debt, so now I owe him $700 within the next couple months.

We get to Reno and he give me the $1,000 in cash on the Casino floor. He also gives me a key to the room and tells me he's leaving and will be back the next day.

I asked WHERE he was going, and he said he was taking a shuttle to the airport and flying to San Fran to score some cocaine from his regular dealer friend there.

I thought he was kidding, but he promptly got on the shuttle.

I gambled that night, and after getting to the room I realized he would be back the next day and then I would be driving him AND HIS DRUGS back to Oregon.

I panicked, I don't associate with drugs or dealers, (other than friends who smoke some occasional weed or pop some vicoden) Anyways, I decided to leave his drug-using ass down there.

I left him a note and took off back to Oregon. Upon getting home I even deposited some money from my Paradise Poker account over into his account to help lower my debt with him, I really wanted to pay him off his $700 and be done with the man.

Then I get a malicious call from him. He's back in Reno and wants a ride home. I told him no, I wasn't going to be involved. He tells me if I don't come get him he will book a Limo home, (six hour drive) and bill me for it, but if I come and get him, the debt will be settled and we will be square.

AT THIS POINT I DID THE STUPIDIST THING EVER AND DROVE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO PICK HIS ASS UP.

I got to Reno, picked him up, refueled and he promptly fell asleep in my truck. Not more than 3 sentences were exchanged between us, and I drove the 6 hours back home in silence. I woke him when we got to his house and said, "Glad this is settled. We don't have to speak ever again."

About a month later, I get served by a cop with civil papers, and not just me, but ALSO my WIFE who works at a Christian School, he has a Police officer serve her with papers INSIDE the church, really LOW, especially seeing as how he had never MET or SPOKEN to my wife ever before.


We get jointly sued for $4,850, just under the magical $5,000 mark. (Again this was all from a debt of less than a grand, and he agreed to waive it if I would transport him and his drugs back from Reno to his home in Oregon.) The additional costs were for pain and suffering. lol.

Anyways, the judge hears the case, I'm honest, he lies like a son of a bitch.

I make the case that:
A. I admit I borrowed the cash, but it happened in Nevada and nothing was in writing, how does an Oregon court have jurisdiction?

B. How can someone sue a wife, when they've never even met that person?

C. I told of his flight back and forth to San Fran and how he wanted me to be his drug mule.



The result??? A judgement for $2,500 leveled against ME. In the judges letter he basically said he couldn't tell who was telling the truth conclusively, but I did admit to borrowing money and leaving him in Reno, where I left him for several days until my final midnight madness trip there and back to pick him up.

The judge also said that since he gave me cash in Reno, but I gave him back transfers online at a poker site, the poker site moneys don't count.

I lost. It was and still is, the most amazing and crushing thing that's ever happened to me.

The dude has continued to harass me for the past two years, sending letters to my bosses and even serving me with Interogatories, which I found I legally didn't have to answer.

Anyways, because he was tight with several people in the poker community, I stopped playing in the home game, and that's been that. I pray daily that he will Overdose on some Hillbilly Crank or something... I would love to publish his name on here, cause I know many of you know him, but I won't cause then this would get deleted.
PM for his name, he plays at the Bay 101 often now.

I now spend more time with my family and haven't been back to Reno since.
Sorry for the long nature, just felt the need to let you all know, civil court can backfire on you. And judges don't have to validate monies transfered through a gambling site, at least not in Oregon.

why didn't you get a lawyer to represent you? dumb, dumb, dumb. Never admit anything in court unless a lawyer tells you to. You were 30? Gotta be smarter than that.

wow crazy, but from what ive seen its pretty tough for the authorities to go after money transferred from online gaming sites. Seems Admo maybe in a bind

In Oregon, you CAN'T be represented by a lawyer in small claims court.

Trust me, I wanted to get a lawyer out of principle.

cliff notes please.

Getting a Lawyer for something so small is generally -ev just b/c of how expensive lawyers are.

LOL dumb, dumb, dumb, ...gotta be smarter....LOL

you are wrong if you think you can't put his name here...it will not (should not) get deleted and if this is true, he deserves it so badly..

sounds really unfair. you sure it happened exactly like you said?

if so then wait a couple of years then catch him off guard and hammer him to death, use a ball peen.

overall this backs up my belief that poker players are a smarmy group.

"Civil Court 4: Gambling Debt"

Sounds like a pretty sweet game, IMO.

I do not see why not either. One of the reasons Admo outed CF was to prevent the poker community from being scammed like he had. Same applies here too imo.

File a counter suit claiming emotional damages resulting from the original situation and damages accrued from gas and wear and tear on your vehicle. You have a very good chance that he will not answer the summons or show for a court date and you can easily get a default judgment from the court. If you do end up in front of the judge, bring some documentation and sell your story to the judge, sounds like a weak district court, shouldn't be difficult to get a judgment.

Allright, his name is: Larry Duban.
I might be off a year or three on his age, but he plays mostly middle limit games at Bay 101 and USED to be a lawyer himself, before he was disbarred.

If you see him, RUN. He is CRAZY.

LOL, You can still get a lawyer for advice on what to say when you go in there.

Come on, man, it is like 300 words, the guy uses paragraphs and correct punctuation...it will take you 2 minutes to read. In the time you posted 'cliff notes please' you could have read half of it. You have nothing better to do right now anyways. Just read it.

Rick - I'm not the only mod here but my opinion is only that, mine. But I think it should be allowed for you to post his name as you did.

Other mods might disagree with me and perhaps Mason or Mat or somebody will freak out and think that he'll sue us now if we let his name stay up in the thread. But even then, all we would have to do is delete the name if they think it's risky. Locking this thread wouldn't be the only remedy.

Anyway, it strikes me as reasonable that you are telling the same version of the story that you told in court and your version of events is probably in whatever court documents somewhere anyway.
And if he wants to tell his version if he finds out his name is here then he is more than welcome to.

on top of all that it's actually pretty damn interesting.

Are you a ****** or are you 12 yrs old? Either one makes sense. I am drunk but violence is not the answer, it just makes more problems most of the time.


Op pm me the info. (If possible go for an appeal and maybe a drug test. Im dont know if you can go for that but it doesnt hurt to ask the judge or whoever else.) This might be to late, just figured Id add that.

OP thanks for sharing, great story, but sorry you had to go through that.

Ya Id say so, Im surprised that transfers of monies between poker sites is not considered payment of monies. It just makes no sense imo.

You are on an internet message board, yet don't want to take the time to read a post. Nice one.

Id say this in a lot of situations but this one is worth reading imo.

So I will never be moving to Oregon.

How did the Judge decide on the magic number of $2,500? Even if you didn't pay him back, wouldn't it have been $700 + maybe a few court expensise ect? That sounds like the ****tiest case ever!

I could see this all making a lot more sense if you never went to pick him up, but you did. Wierd.

What happened to the money he gave you in Reno?

blackjack? roulette? craps?

You can retain a lawyer to advise you for small claims court in any state...