Are you dumb? Ignorant asswipe...

The story isn't even remotely biased - it's a news story relating to Tsoukernik's counterclaim. Of course I wasn't paid by him or anyone connected to him.

I've covered everything connected with the case...why don't you ask me if Tsang paid me for the very first article about Tsoukernik? Or the one after his Calvin Ayre interview? Or Kirk when I covered his lawsuit? Or when I wrote about all the Twitter **** aimed at Tsoukernik? Or any of the other articles about them all? Or maybe, just maybe, you haven't even read any of them???

How about asking Brian Pempus at Cardplayer who paid him? Or ask the Pokernews guys who pays them? Oh, that's right, they don't come on here and share anything do they? Or discuss things with you all? I wonder f-ing why?

yes, eerily similar.

sort of shocked any casino under even the most basic regulatory would allow owner to participate in any game.

other than that... others please continue with the mud slinging and claims of fake news.

an apple is just an apple.

So you write a negative review about Leon and he immediately contacts you flys you to czech gives you vip service then you magically write a fully biased made up story and defend him...ok ok

I live an hour from Kings casino Nice try! Keep making **** up instead of asking questions about everybody involved goofbum. What was the made-up story btw? I'm genuinely curious what you think you've been reading

I don’t remember Matt ever saying that Leon agreed to pay him in full but then ok actually I will take less then some mystery phone call then deal off I’ll spend millions to sue to get back the money you already said you would pay

That isn’t a believable sorry

Did Matt ever confirm this was true ???

This is very simple....Leon has made legal counterclaims (which I reported, straight from the court documents - everything I wrote is in there, I didn't make anything up) and when Matt gives his version in court (unless they settle out of court) then we'll know what he thinks (and I will report that too).


It might not seem believeable to you or many others, but the inclusion of Rob Yong as a witness changes that almost completely.

I don't know if you are from the USA or not, but there hasn't been a single person this side of the Atlantic (UK/Europe) who has said that Rob Yong has been paid to say this or made it up himself. If you don't know who he is or what he has done for poker over here, you need to look it up. I'd be hugely surprised if what he says isn't really close to what actually happened.

THAT'S why just slagging Leon off is a silly approach - a very well-thought of witness has said Matt has been playing silly buggers, and it's claimed there is somebody behind Matt's actions.

Leon Tsoukernik may well be at fault, but I certainly don't think it's the one-sided story that it's being made out to be. That's all I've been trying to say...

By the way, if it turns out Matt Kirk has been less than forthcoming with the truth (suing someone after being offered a deal and accepting it, then reneging on it after someone tells you not to accept it, for example) what would you think of it all then?

What Rob said is hearsay and means nothing...If Matt says that’s true then I’ll beleive it. Why don’t you seek and write about his side of the story ?

Maybe then it wouldn’t seem so biased

Honestly, this is ******ed mate! So you will only believe one person, regardless? And I have written Matt Kirk's side of it! Are you for real??? Please, ffs, stop being so f-ing dumb!

OK, no more, I'm done here - evolution has a lot to answer for

Ok can you post it again please I think I missed it.

Thanks

No, enough, stop trolling. Someone stop him, lock him up, throw away the key. This guy could be on your jury someday!

Why did you say you wrote his side if you didn’t ? Lol

For a professional writer you don’t come across very professional

Are you an ambassador for Kings casino?

You shill!

A professional writer wouldn´t accept an invitation by Leon only to be shown that everything is fine in Kings Casino. You could have meet at a neutral location, make a TV interview with him, ask unmasking question, take a look at his mimic, same applies to Mr. Yong.
Yong was playing High Stakes Private Cashgame with Leon and Claude at WSOPE, and nobody other was allowed. Of course Yong can be biased. They are best friends, its self-evident.
Right now there are two versions out, as long as Matt doesn´t say it´s true what Leon is saying (or vice versa), I don´t believe both of them. But as a journalist you should be objective, write down pure facts and let the readers decide which side they are on.
I also wonder why those facts weren´t mention at the first defendant´s plea?

You have no idea what a professional writer would or wouldn't do, or can and can't do, just as you have no idea why I was at Kings Casino (reporting on the WSOP Circuit event and whatever else took my fancy: casino expansion and dealer's school as I recall, both of which I consider to be worthy of writing about).

I have covered every step of the story as I already said, from Tsang's initial anonymous claims to Tsoukernik's counterclaims against Kirk, and every step inbetween - try reading them before you jump to conclusions and get all high and mighty.

Sure Rob Yong can be biased, but for a man of his position to offer to stand up in court and say these things? Well, that would be something if he was lying wouldn't it? Just as it would be if Leon Tsouekrnik or Matt Kirk were lying, and right now I have no idea what the 'truth' of the matter is. Sounds to me like they have both (Leon and Matt) got themselves in **** that could have been avoided.

It's also fairly obvious why these things weren't mentioned first time round, but I'll let you work that one out for yourself.

Lol yeah could of been resolved if Leon wasnt a sore loser and paid his debt!

How much has he stolen that know of ? 3 million euors from tsang and 3 million usd from Kirk ?

And why lie about petty things ?

Now you say you were there reporting on wsope and dealers school but at the time you said after your tsang article Leon invited you for an all access pass vip style tour + interview then come on here as ambassador of Kings casino

So which one is it ?

Don’t know any of the parties involved. Hedgecock seems very biased towards Leon from everything he has written.

Rob's claims are that he was heavily involved in the brokering of that deal (the $2m+$1m HU) he suggested it, called Leon down to the pool, witnessed the agreement and was called over by Kirk when the deal got cancelled...

This isn't hearsay, its very black or white. Either, Rob's version is true, or Rob is lying. From his version of events there is no way he's misinterpreted anything, except possibly the phone call.

So, decide, Rob's lying - or there's some more stuff to this.

Wow, so Elton Tsang is considered a good guy in Europe and US? I am from Hong Kong and I think I can give you more insights about this guy. I hope this will warn you not to enter any cash game with him and his friends. Let me share my personal experience with them.

We are talking about an organized group that works very closely together. You will only realize the fact once it is too late. Maybe you think that one must be stupid to fall into their trap, but trust me that these guys know what they are doing!

The key names in this group are Elton Tsang, Winfred Yu, Richard Yong and Paul Phua. Only Winfred Yu as far as I know has a clean criminal record. The other guys have been at least once convicted of illegal gaming activities. Below are some facts about them you should know:

Richard and Paul have been big junket operators in China. Their core business was to find rich Chinese customers, credit them and bring them to gamble to different casinos around the globe. They would get commission from the casino (something like 50% of casino profits) and even more money they would make on crediting the players (10% interest per month is nothing rare in China). But if any word describes these guys well it is “Greed”. They wanted more. So instead of still taking their clients to London, Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Richard and Paul acquired not very well performing Maestral Hotel and Casino in Monte Negro for around 25 mil.USD. From now on they had their own casino operations in Europe and they didn’t have to share profits with the Brits, Spaniards or Frenchmen.

Baccarat was the first game these guys focused on as it is by far the most popular game in China. Until 2010 Elton Tsang ran the illegal poker club called “Blue Room” in Hong Kong. This is also where I met Elton. Thanks to this room Elton was introduced to Richard and Paul. He joined the party and you could see them together very often. Later Elton with other 2 guys was convinced of running the illegal casino operation. He would downplay it as a harmless play-for-fun poker club. But the truth was that millions of USD were on tables of this room. And it was all backed by Richard Yong and Paul Phua.

Nowadays the group operates 3 main poker rooms. One in the Philippines, one in Monte Negro and the last in Macau. They all have their roles. Winfred Yu organizes the game. Elton Tsang is a key house player. Richard and Paul are looking for rich businessmen, crediting them and then eventually collecting debts from losing players. Richard and Paul are famous for their ability to collect debts with utmost efficiency. If you ask how, try to google some of the triad methods.

This is how my story began. I was invited to play a poker tournament with famous poker players from around the world. I was quite impressed that all these poker superstars work with them. But basically I later realized that these pros serve to the whole show only as a bait to get interest of the rich businessmen who are the prey.

The poker tournaments itself are not profitable. The tournaments are just a show to bring the prey to their tables. Take the one in Monte Negro, that is quite obvious. You don’t have to be a genius to see that they can’t make back a 25 mil. USD investment by doing one tournament per year. And on top of that almost everything is free (accommodation, food, entertainment) and they even pay to some of the players a private jet from China! Where do they get the money from then?

The answer is “Cash Game”. This game is by invitation only and normally you can only see there Chinese businessmen playing with some of the famous pros. They bring you to the table and let you play with big poker names. All of the “allowed” poker professionals are staked fully by Richard and Winfred. Elton Tsang is one of their main house players, he has always played their money. If you are lucky or smart you will find out that this whole show is just a set-up to take all your money.

Why all these famous poker players like Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, Daniel Cates, Philipp Gruissem etc. are involved in this scam? The reason is not that they are willing to participate in that, but they have to! Why? All of these guys owe big money to the group. These debts are normally a result of high self-confidence, underestimation of unknown environment and illegal technologies that can beat even the best poker players in the world...

When you meet Winfred, Elton, Richard and Paul they are very friendly but as soon as you lose everything they turn into who they really are: gangsters using any means to get their money. Trust me that these guys can put enough pressure to break even very rich and influential businessmen in China.

When one owes them money one has to do what they ask him to do. No questions asked. If you refuse... Well, you do not refuse. You can maybe ask Tom Dwan where he had been for 2 years... No, he would not tell. None of these pro poker players will ever tell because they very well know what Richard and Paul are capable of. Tom has apparently made enough money to get his life back thanks to winning insane amount over one of the biggest gamblers in the world a Chinese guy with nickname “Chairman”.

I was ripped off completely. My bad, now I have no chance to get anything back. Now I can’t prove anything. Later one of the professional poker players, whom I met in Hong Kong told me that my feelings are right and that the game wasn’t fair...

For obvious reasons I cannot put my name below this post. You can think about this whatever you want – bull****, rumour or just an insane man’s story. You can believe that this is happening or not. It is purely up to your decision. Whatever is your opinion about this post I would only like to ask you for one thing:

Please always reconsider carefully before entering into any contact or business with these guys as you will save lot of sleepless nights in your life... I was foolish and took their bait...

If you have doubts about whether something like this could be possible, I can share for you some “small” leaks that have appeared in trusted media in last few years...

1) Details about Paul Phua and Richard Yong arrest. You can also find some juicy details about size of their illegal operations. I think you will be surprised. I recommend to check for more details (e.g. who paid the bail for them...)

http://www.scmp.com/news/world/artic...sian-paul-phua

2) Article about Elton Tsang and his sentence for illegal poker room operation. Elton says that it was just a small stupid mistake. He will certainly deny that it was a poker room operated for Richard Yong where all of the games were played cash under the table and presented to public as friendly no-cash game.

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

For somebody just the fact that all these guys have criminal record related to illegal gaming operations would be enough to be careful about calling them fair businessmen. Or do you need the fact that they are blacklisted from majority of the respected casinos in the US/Europe. Or maybe the fact that they do not appear in any of the top poker events and high-roller tournaments (except of their own, because they are blacklisted there too, PokerStars banned them altogether).

Yet still some people consider them honest and fair entrepreneurs and poker players. This is just ridiculous! Sorry for a long text but I can't bear that these crooks are justified anywhere...

If even half of the above stuff is true that is just absolutely crazy

Maybe I'm naive, but you lost me here

In the game Elton was stuffed Leon had 90% of jugleman and gruissem?
Seems to contradict what he said...

But nothing really new we didn’t know..

Obviously if your borrow and lose millions of dollars they will try to collect it ?
Why is that surprising ?

I get a 24 -hour ban and my PM's ignored... and yet this future Darwin Award winner still gets to post whatever ******ed nonsense he wants? Well done 2+2 mods! He's ruining what is an otherwise good and important thread, sort it out.

Leon is a bully, he gets sued so he hires a supposed professional writer to spread his made up story all over the internet and defend it, then he calls up his best friend with great reputation to back it and counter sues Kirk! Because no one messes with Leon! Leon gets what leon wants or else.

I don’t even know what you are arguing...he borrowed like 7-8mill and didn’t pay it back lol

How can you even defend that...

....