I dont really see whats so shocking here? No really new facts has come to light, what happend is: Leon lost money while drunk, refuses to pay because he was drunk. It is just presented differently this time.

The only real news here is that Matt was initially willing to settle, but that maybe just because he was being nice (remember, he is not a poker pro), but then found out that Leon has been doing same thing to others and decided to try and get some justice.

That's what you took from the article? :O

If the Aussie Matt issue was the first and only time Leon was involved in something like this, his latest claims would be a whole lot more believable to me. But because of the Elton Tsang story, I think Leons recent response is mostly fiction or half-truths.

I doubt he actually expects anything to come from his lawsuits (since he is likely full of ****). But now he has an article, which makes a pretty good argument in his favor, to point people to when someone calls him a scammer.

I don't really want to get involved in details here I guess - there is sure to be a lot more on this I will have to investigate and report - but for me the big thing is the involvement of Rob Yong.

Leon, Tsang, possibly Kirk too now have all got marks against their name for one reason or another, deserved or not - but Yong on the other hand afaik would be considered by almost everyone as a 'clean witness' (can't think of the actual phrase I want offhand!)

I would love to see a statement from him. He can put an end (or not) to these new developments with a simple yes/no answer - did those settlement talks happen?

That also, ironically, makes Tsourek's new position seem a little stronger - why make the allegations if they can so easily be debunked . . .

You´ve lost me here. Why has Tsang got a mark against his name?

His staker paid for those
The staker is also responsible for the turn of events which led to kirk not accepting the settlement.

Well, it depends whether you consider being sentenced for running an illegal poker room as bad or not I guess...

http://www.scmp.com/article/733699/p...as-holdem-case

...but he's certainly not squeaky clean.

Running a poker room ? You realize this is a poker forum ? Unless there are allegations that he was cheating the players ( like Leon has been accused in his cases) this is NOT a negative against him for me.

Leon suing Aria? is this real life lol???

http://www.pokergurublog.com/content...ue-aria-casino

I guess it depends on what kind of poker room. Could have been shady/Triad backed/whatever - or just a way of getting around stupid gambling laws. I'll ask Elton and get back to you on that one For the time being, he's on my list of 'possibly dubious poker guy'.

No issues with the quality of the writing I just don't believe that this is how the whole thing transpired. I don't believe Leon ever offered to pay the full amount owed.

Why take a million up front to pay lawyers to try and get 2 million more, when your opponent is just willing to pay 3 million up front? That's the part that doesn't make sense to me. Guy is willing to give you 3 million that he owes, but you say "No thanks" 1 million will do. Then you sue him to collect the additional 2 million that he was already willing to pay.

If what Leon is saying is true, then we have to assume that Rob Yong never told Matt that Leon was willing to pay full amount. If that's the case, Rob should never ever be used as a mediator again.

We don't know that to be true or what terms/time were associated with getting the money back. It's doubtful that the money was immediately available, there were probably long horizons associated with it.

A staker paying for lawyers? Doubtful. These are some expensive lawyers with a sunk cost (i.e. no gamble). I doubt a staker wanted to be a part of that. Besisdes, if what Tsucker says is true, the staker was (at least in part) the Aria

There's a pretty lol-worthy thread on reddit poker about this right now...

It's not big news that the Aria is alleged of not only knowingly letting a highly impaired player participate in their games but also that the person he lost the money to was a shill for the casino and that they went out of their way to take measures to make sure he wouldn't leave the game?

If a court ruled that the situation went down as described by Leon, $3 million might be a laughably small amount of money compared to the financial implications for the Aria.

casinos let people gamble drunk literally every day, they even serve alcohol. The degree of Leo's drunkness and Matt's ties to Aria (lol) are both alleged by Leon, and him saying that is not news, because it's pretty obvious that he would take that line of defence no matter what actually happened. He used "bein drunk" defence in this case before, and he used "they were teaming up against me" when he refused to pay Tsang.

So, the article reports some already known facts and then some opinions of people involved (with it being obvious that they would voice those exact opinions).

btw why are people refering to Matt's "backer"? Sure, losing players get staked all the time (hi Berkey), but they are least capable of faking some winning players' characteristics. He might have sold some action there, I mean I would stake half NVG for hu match vs Leon, but he obviously doesnt have a backer.

I wouldnt be surprised if Leon refuses to pay pretty often, pros just put up with it because of how much money they are making off him. He simply didnt realise when he tried to do it to 2 recreational players (Tsang and Kirk), who just dont think in those categories.

triple lolz. dude must be a really really really bad reg.

Which article are you talking about?? The one I wrote, linked yesterday, is an almost purely factual account of the legal filing from Tsoukernik against Kirk and the Aria.

An 'opinion' isn't going to get anyone very far in the court, so you can rest assured there is more to come I'd say.

well, ok, maybe not as much "opinion" as "his version of what happened". My point is, we already knew what he was going to say.

Btw Im not bashing the article or anything, just saying that it doesn't present us with new facts (except for the fact that "Leon said x"). Maybe Leon's line of defense is news to some people, but not those who were following the case from the beginning.

So, you are telling me that a Casino owner, whose Casino regularly serves alcohol to its patrons, pumps Oxygen in the room, usually has no clocks visable, and does every other thing in the book in order to intoxicate and try to prevent the clientele from leaving, is now arguing against this very practice? Everything this loser is saying is something he participated in, one way or another, from the opposite side of the fence, but once the shoe is on the other foot, he cries wolf? Please, gtfo.

His company takes billions from its patrons and ruins thousands of lives in they process, yet we are supposed to have pity on him when he loses a few mil. Bottom dwelling scum in my opinion. What a blowtard....

+10000

Galfond, Haralbob & Brian Rast all quite vocal on Twitter today in defence of both Matt Kirk & the Aria suggesting how ridiculous Leon's counter claims sound..

^^^^
"Pumps oxygen in the room..." Ah,no. Fire hazard.

Takes advantage of degens gambling their money away, of course as that is probably where most of his profits come from.

And?