Right after talking about perspective Mike began ranting about the "trolls" again. Maybe he saw, for one brief moment, his addiction and scamming as trivial but he has been very consistent in seeing people mocking him as being a serious matter

I love how during this entire thread including him "going" to GA meetings he's never admitted to stopping his airport scams. I know you have a sick sick addiction mike, but it has turned you into a well known untrustworthy scum in most peoples eyes. I hope to god you ban yourself from casinos so you can get some sort of reputable life in order.

You're right I should but then again no-one is forcing him to take the money.

Is what Mike did wrong/illegal. Sure it was….but in the big picture him telling a story/lie to get people to voluntarily give him money with or without a promise to pay people back is just not a big deal. a percentage of people either knew he was scamming them or simply paid him to go away….

Knew they were being scammed and or paid him to go away? Lol really?That's a pathetic excuse for his scumbag life. His tale of his woes don't make up for what he did and what he legit will be doing until he's back in jail. He won't stop gambling/scamming. It's the inconvenient truth. Accept it.

The Justice Dept has already decided the severity of Mikes crime…How much jail time did he get? Did he pay a fine or restitution to the victims? Seems to me a little jail time and no fine or restitution dictates a less serious crime…i.e not a big deal

Good grief... if someone were studying vivtim mentality, they should make this guy the case study.

It's like every d-bag who ever enabled a scumbag to continue their scumbag activity has decided to weigh in on this thread.

Says a lot about the poker community that so many see theft and con-artistry as no big deal.

Would be a completely different story if it was their money but we already know that. Want proof? Ask them to make good Mike's debts, after all they are "just not a big deal", right?

Now watch them scatter like cockroaches.

It would be great if Mike can get himself to a point where he can pay his victims back, but honestly, it's simply not wise for him to try for "a huge score." If you're truly a friend of his, please don't suggest this. You really should know better.

Mike...Drop 2p2, drop poker, drop all gambling activity and go on with repairing your life. Find a GA and a sponsor that can help you. Otherwise this story gonna end the same way it always does.........

Gl mike just get your stuff together man no one is perfect.

He had only been arrested 31 times he soundly lovely. I am sure the 31 victims of his crimes thought he was a real sweetheart.

The only thing Big E was guilty of was being born black in a white man's world. RIP Big E. The poker community will not forget you.

did you get your lunch money taken away from you in grade school a few years ago and now need others to protect you from getting scammed?…

This just seems to demonstrate a deep, deep cynicism rooted in basic lack of human understanding. His addiction is gambling, it isn't scamming. Scamming is a means to an end for Mike. Crack addicts are addicted to crack which fosters them stealing stuff and letting them fall down the rabbit hole of despicable behavior.

Sin...crime isn't that goddamn hard! In this scam for instance, all Mike really had to do was think about it, game-tree it out in his head, try it. Repeat. That's it. He's a smart guy, but he's not some mad genius for this and frankly those that can't let go of the "are you still scamming?" thing are giving it far too much credit. You're romanticizing it then putting it in the "other people's problem" category and then screaming "let's lynch him!" That sanitizes it even MORE than Mike's deflections.

Why am I so sure that he's no longer scamming? Because his continued scamming based on everything we've learned about Mike in this thread fails Occam's razor SO hard. He left Vegas with a roll. He got into an extended stay hotel. He went to some GA meetings. He relapsed and actually WON. What's his need to scam if he won?

If you think this is a defense of Mike's criminal activities, reread the the first sentence about 7000 more times.

Also, I'd dare say that those that are so hard on his defensive posturing have never been married and thought these words "Shut the **** up, honey. I'm sorry! I said it 30 times already! What I did was bad, but for the love of Christ! ...."

Life....really does go on. Even after people have been wronged. The cessation of criminal activity has been proffered. The cessation of gambling activity is being attempted. Really, I think the right posture for us is to sit back and hope for the best and/or assume the comfortable, assholish role of internet troll and hope for the train wreck.

Personally I believe in the triumph of the human spirit. I believe that Mike will get to a point where he weeps in a dark, quiet room about what he's done and vows to never do these things again. He'll understand that it was the gambling that led him there and will face that demon and wrestle him and come away bruised and battered but victorious -- never to gamble or scam again.

Is that romantic? Sure. But noone ever really becomes a hero without some support and confidence -- from within and without. Nagging wives sure don't create heroes. Consider that.

well said for a guy with 10 post since 2006, maybe the troll's will realize you don't need 11,000 post to convince people they are right. by the way, good luck with your wife.

To clear up some of the chatter earlier, I offered Mike $50 to prove the legitimacy of those Borgata e-mails. I explained to him that it smelled fishy and did not know for sure if this was an attempt to set up a scam.

Mike forwarded the e-mails to me and I had a conversation with Mario (the Director of Guest Relations?) at the Borgata and he explained that since he was a valuable guest that has been inactive for a bit, this was a legitimate offer to bring him back to the Borgata.

All was straightforward except the grammar and structure of the e-mail he posted seemed like there was a ~5% chance of it being real.

I do regret not following this thread a little closer though because had I known that there were still people ITT that were owed money, I would have rather donated the $50 to one of those guys rather than Mike.

Always trying to minimize your conduct, still not responding to questions as to whether you are still actively scamming. The only thing that is going to finally end Mike's criminal career or severely curtail it is the passage of time. He's not going to be able to pass off the stranded college kid/ stranded job interviewee act when he's toothless and in his 50's.

Yeah this whole thread is one long con by Mike. He trys to deflect criticism for his criminal conduct by "immediately coming clean," that doesn't work for the vast majority so then he tries to deflect by "leaving the thread," that doesn't work, thread is still top of NVG, so now he tries to derail with a tragic story that has nothing to do with him but he hopes to use to generate more sympathy for himself because he was friends with the guy.

Bingo.

How was it a bet? Even if mike somehow had the possibility of losing, which he didn't, it's not like he was going to ship $50 if he lost, so it's not a bet. That was more just earning $50 for putting in some work proving a fact.

His addiction is easy money, regardless of who he hurts to get it, and he's lazy to boot. IF this wasn't the case he'd be holding down a job at Burger King right now instead of continuing to prey on the type of people who would pity a stranded passenger and give them money out of the goodness of their hearts.

+1.

Mike sucking up to RJ is pathetic. 95 other people in this thread gave you the same advice as RJ did. Mike chooses to 'listen' to her bc she has banning abilities and if he gets banned, his 15 minutes are up.

At least he isn't losing his conning skills as shown by the PM con he just put on RJ

How do we buy a ticket to the fantasy world you live in, where being arrested is related to committing crimes and not being poor and/or stupid? The vast majority of arrests are due to probation violations and drugs, where the only victim is the person being arrested and the taxpayer shelling out billions a year to support idiotic laws.

You have to steal a ticket then cry when the police come and arrest you.