Agreed. If the "victims" were really concerned about being repaid, they would have run a credit check on Mike, researched for any criminal history, asked for references from previous banking relationships, entered into a written promissory note, and taken some collateral. From what we have heard none of these were performed so, if they were truly making loans, they performed shoddy credit analysis on Mike. Rather I think from most victims' points of view, they felt they were just doing a kind deed based on Mike's story of woe.

Why use quotes around the word victims? They are victims. They got screwed by this POS. Run a credit check and get collateral?? Do this at an airport?? What, should they ask for his Penn St hat?? The guy has nothing. You're not very bright to imply these people did anything wrong or that they somehow deserved this.

Why refer to Mike as a POS? Everyone that has met him says he is a great guy and quite personable. Sure he has got on some dealers once in a while due to his addiction but for the most part he is a great guy.

GPAD you forgot about all the lassies who say how charming and witty he is. Could you imagine if he used all his hustle energy to get poontang. Even his gumpy looking behind could of got plenty of tail.

If he stops degenerate gambling one day, perhaps he will fill the void with women.

p.s. Has a cougar ever said, you can stay with me tonight with thoughts of a pity [insert word here] later in the evening.

Regardless of what Mike ultimately winds up doing, this thread should never be closed. At the WSOP this year I heard this thread mentioned time and again, and I really believe that it is a great reminder to many of us just how shady our world can be.

This thread serves as a greater anti-degeneracy PSA than any commercial or GA pamphlet that I've ever seen, and I can guarantee you that a few people have reflected and made positive changes to their lives as a result of this thread.

This guy is an absolute jerk, nothing could garner any sympathy from me.

Haha loved your edit, swish.

I was wondering if I was the only one thinking this.

Lol.

I am looking forward to reading the next 20+ pages.

Yeah this will be my last post in this thread going forward, at least for a very very long while.

When this thread was started almost 5 weeks ago, I made a decision to post my "2nd half" life story as a way to explain what led up to me going to airports, getting in trouble with the law as well as my homelessness and gambling degeneracy. I wanted to do something different in these kinds of threads, as the vast majority of them usually are people stating their opinions about the person with the "focal point" nowhere to be found. I answered questions, explained day by day activities for a while of what I was doing - heck even mentioned my burning desire to play the monster stack which I ended up playing.

Unfortunately, as a few others on here have recently mentioned - this thread has turned into something I no longer want to participate in. It's the same 5-6 people on here that come on attacking me, insulting me, trolling me, whatever term you want to use. At 1st I got defensive and tried to defend myself but it just has become repetitive and unproductive. Those 5-6 know all - they are experts and emphasize in nearly every post what a scumbag I am. Fine and go ahead and keep doing it - I won't be a part of it anymore because no matter what I decide to do with my life(GA, poker tournaments, rehabs, relapsing, etc...) I will be insulted. Not healthy to read and not healthy to go back and forth about it.

A quick couple of last points before I sign off from this thread - 1) I do from the bottom of my heart appreciate all the positive feedback/advice and well-wishes from all you guys who have done that. I have tried to answer all the pm's and have even sent a few unsolicited ones on my own. Someone mentioned today about my last "activity" on 2+2 today - for the record, I was off 2+2 for the 1st 4 days this past week and logged on a couple of times today, yesterday and Friday to answer pm's and do a quick read of the thread. Going forward I will no longer read the thread at all(except on the extremely rare occasion I decide to post something new) since the same 5-6 guys have essentially hijacked it. Message to JMan220, Yapping Yoda, Harkin, VPIP, Ihavethewheel and golfnutt - the floor is all yours - continue your attacks, analysis, description of my poker playing, my dying in jail, etc... have at it!!!

2)I am leaning towards taking up an offer of poker tournament staking on a part/semi-regular basis. This person believes(like Mike Sica) that I can make money at tournaments and will help me stay away from the pits. I also spoke with Allen and he said he would hold my money if I hit a score. I trust Allen 110%. I have also begun writing a book about my FULL LIFE - childhood all the way to present day. It will include a ton more stories of all the crazy stuff that has happened to me - as well as more details of the airport thing(how much I averaged a day, biggest amount made in 1 day, best airports to go to, etc...) I have been talking with someone recently in publishing who has contacts and 1 of the contacts read my story and was engrossed. He thinks the book will sell as well as a screenplay. We shall see.

Anyways, the haters I'm sure will have at least a few days of fun with this last post of mine("I'll never give Allen the money to hold if I win", "who would want to stake me", "he stinks as a player", "he is a scumbag", "if he pms you he is gonna use you as a mark", etc...) all the usual stuff.

1 last thing - have to state for the record though that the guy that gave me $500 at an airport almost 1 1/2 years ago was paid back in full 3 months later. I western unioned him the money. I'm sure some won't believe it but it is true.

I also will be doing an interview for a national publication online(bigger than Deadspin) in the near future. Stay tuned.

Your story is boring.

Maybe you could though combine your "story" with the person below.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-...727-story.html

For 15 years Jubreal Chahine has lurked at the illicit edges of the gambling tables, a habitual casino cheat who made his living by an opportunistic sleight-of-hand that landed him top ranking on the Nevada Gaming Control Board's "most-wanted" list.

His system was designed to make him nearly invisible to the eye-in-the-sky casino surveillance systems ubiquitous at gambling houses nationwide: He never bet the house, avoiding the high-profile big score.

lol at this Jubreal dude getting caught because he applied for a player card at one of Sheldon Adelson's casinos, near Penn St of all places.

Maybe Jubreal reads this thread an heard that if your going to scam, use your own identity and you won't get into as much trouble if you get caught.

Lol'd. This made me want to read the rest of your post to see how full of **** you are, but I'm too lazy.

PSUMike1999:
1. You started the thread. I'm certain that you anticipated some blowback. Thus, there's no reason for you to be disappointed. The positive and negative input is going to come. To think anything different means you were delusional. Either read the thread regularly or do not. Jumping into the thread only to say "this is your last time" comes across as very suspect. And, my assumption is that you do not want to continually pile on to your suspect reputation.

2. You solicited money from total strangers w/ a concocted story. You flat out purposefully deceived people. Whether you intended to pay them back OR did in fact pay some of them back is besides the point. I do not think you are understanding that simple logic. Or, maybe you are ... and still having fun with it. The first problem is not failing to pay back. The main problem is that you lied to get money out of people. The failure to payback comes later.

3. Your turnaround plan is insane. You seem to have led a normal, healthy life. You even have an engineering degree which, in today's climate, is a valuable asset. Technical skills and credentials are so valuable. All things appear to have started downhill due to gambling - including poker. Separating pit games and sports wagering with poker is silly. For you, the two are one in the same. Like an engineered system, both feed the other. And, yet, your turnaround plan is to get staked or backed so you can continue to waste your hours and days away doing the same thing that has brought you to this position in life.

4. Anonymity is not only a good thing but also vital to recuperation and rehabilitation. In any walk of life, a person who is trying to turn things around immediately goes anonymous. Going anonymous is not just being silent while repairs are made. Some people even move to a new state or country. Some people change jobs or even circle of friends. Others go far as to even breakup marriages with the hopes that the future will have a chance to turn course. However, you are a person who claims to want a turnaround but chosen the reverse course of anonymity. Baffling.

5. Like a Ponzi scheme, it always appears that there will be no end to the long line of (new) marks that will fall into your trap. I say trap loosely here since you may or may not consciously be looking to deceive people going forward. Maybe it is calculated or not - I do think part of dysfunction is that you are not able to identify what you are doing as it is a hard reality to confront or recognize. But, at what cost? With every negative thing you do to others, you are piling on more and more emotional debt. It's not just the money debt that will be destructive. The emotional debt you carry (from shame, guilt, anger, and so on) both internalized and applied from people will get heavy to the point you no longer can withstand it. If it has not crept in already, this feeling will lead to self loathing which, in turn, will lead to irrational (and destructive) choices.

To conclude, it is never ever too late to turn your life around. But, you have to escape or run away from your current self. I'll share a story near and dear to me ...

I knew a guy ... yes, a real living, breathing guy. He dropped out of school after being a straight arrow student through h.s. He went to an Ivy league university. In his 20s, he gambled a lot. Many relationships were strained. He, too, borrowed or took money from friends and family. He always thought things would get better. Finally, after years of this kind of life he hit a wall. Won't share details of why he hit the wall. But, he hit it hardcore.

Then, his life really turned around. But, it took nearly 15 years to realize that he had made it full circle. In his late 20s, he got a job just above entry level. I believe his salary was about $25-30k or thereabouts. He worked extremely hard. Working 70-80 work weeks for 4 years. Eventually, he ended up getting another job that not only paid better but gave him a chance to work alongside people who would later help him on his way to the top.

In his 30s, he became a middle manager at a startup. He worked another 3 years before the company was acquired for a ton of money. He made enough cash from this endeavor to buy a home in cash, get married to a co-worker, and have a child. He then spent the next half decade moving up to become the Executive VP at a large, $multi-billion NYSE traded tech company. His salary is now near $500k per year with an additional $3M per annum in restricted stock units and other comp. He is now in his early 40s.

At one point, all of us (his close friends) thought he would jump off a bridge or do something scary. He sometimes looked zoned out. However, we tried to take him out a lot. We figured that the more time he spends wasting time with us, the less time he has to himself to compound his worries and sorrows (AND, stay away from gambling). Looking back, we're still amazed at the transformation. But, ever since he got that low paying job, things got brighter. In hindsight, that propelled him to who he is today. He stopped playing poker and gambling. Years later, he told us that he could go play poker during a trade show trip for his company and not worry about bad memories.

When we asked him what just snapped? He said it was spending time and looking at his small time job and seeing some small sliver of hope in it.

So, go and get yourself friends who can take you away from the casinos and card clubs - not TO it.

And, get a job even if it feels beneath you. The job itself or the salary is not what is important. The job is a proxy - nothing more. It is a proxy for showing you that there is something you can start to build upon. And, since you are in your 30s or 40s (I don't know) you may easily dismiss redemption as being "Too late for me." It is never too late.

If I did not see it with my own eyes, I'd be pessimistic that you could turn it around given your track record. But, I saw it happen. The critical thing though is that it happened with specific, unwavering exceptions.

Don't be an individual LLC that files Chapter 7 bankruptcy only to re-start the same business. Do not do it.

Utter misery and depression comes not from just financial problems. It comes from the self hatred, loss of hope, and ostracization that comes along with it. Get friends. Get a job. That will put you on a path to rebuilding your true self.

If our friend could do it with no job history to leverage nor a college degree, anyone can do it. Maybe not rise up to be a named exec at a publicly held corporation but something nonetheless positive and just good.

Then it's clearly not meant for you.

You're a loser, Mike. That's just the truth. You've wasted 20 years of your life, expressed regret and shame, talked about your desire to get away from gambling....and then, in the same breath, talk about entering tournaments. For playing almost two decades, one would think you're career winnings would be good. $500,000 in 2 decades is laughable. You are a losing poker player, Mike. I'm not a hater, nor a supporter of you. I just read this thread and laugh at the absurdity of you trying to rationalize, and actually believe, that you can somehow make this work. You won't. You can't. You never, ever will.

Yeah uhhh, no he didn't there sparky.

Didn't read the rest.

lol. you're not a winning poker player and never will be.

do you even triple range merge?

We gotta pay for the good stuff eh?

Not sure why one of these Einstein Mod's deleted my post. but when you post a long post and start it out with Mike started this thread when he didn't you lose all credibility.

So in the end, this thread accomplished exactly what Mike hoped it would. He found another rich sucker to back him in tournaments, probably at a ridiculously favorable cut, and is back to the "good life" he lived with Mike Sica. Great job Borowitz, you're an inspiration to us all. Hope this new sucker doesn't kick the bucket too soon.

Oh look. More complaining from Mike about how he is actually the victim in this because he has "haters." News flash: The main reasons that people don't like you are your own actions and words.

You supported yourself by taking from others for years. You spend more time defending your scamming than you do apologizing for it. You're constantly looking for an easy way out and you're too lazy and/or arrogant to even consider trying to work (in more ways than one.) That's why people don't like you.

Hopefully whoever's couch that you sleep on or whoever funds you realizes that writing books is actually extremely difficult and that your chances of succeeding at it are next to zero. I would say the same for staking you at poker, but that advice is too obvious to be of any help to anyone that would actually need it.

Personally, I don't wish anything bad on you as long as you never scam anyone again. If you do, I hope that you get caught. Hopefully you'll squeeze just enough fame out of this that it won't be an option anymore.

Nice spin, you feel you " have to state for the record" that you paid one guy back, but still no statement/indication that you have ever stopped your criminal career as a scamming goniff, not even for one day.

Good riddance.

+1,000,000. Please go away

Glorified staking thread?

Time to lock it finally.

Mike will always play the victim. It's what con artists like him do. I love how he points out that he repaid one of his victims (without proof). How about the hundreds of others? I really hope he's gone for good, but I guarantee he's back on here by tomorrow at the latest, reading the new comments. It's funny that he pointed me out as a hater, but never addressed any of my comments. You know why you didn't Mike? Because you know I'm right. Don't go away mad Mike, just go away.

Yes, you are correct. I should have written "You posted on the thread" or something to that effect - my bad. It's a leap to say "lose credibility". Lol. Thanks for being clever though. If you don't like a forum members response b/c its too long or whatever, just ignore it. Pretty simple.

I thought you've know Mike for many years?