I heard that from dealer mention it to the floor manager.... I was at the 2-5 table. He left after no more than 30' he sat down.

To be fair, if the US gov't were investigating Russ Hamilton, then it would be taking a while, especially for a complicated financial crime like that. I'm sure that they generally don't like tipping off the subjects of their investigation that something is coming.

I would LOVE to see the FBI and IRS get involved. Somebody in Ft. Lauderdale should call the local FBI office and tell them the guy behind a 20 million dollar scandal has made a second home at gulfstream. It seems strange to me that they wouldn't already know about him, but who knows.

Good going btw sharkey!

Russ Hamilton was named by the Catania Gaming Consultants (the investigative firm hired by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission) as the man behind the UltimateBet super-user cheating scandal.

Are you sure about that?

To those in the area that visit GS regularly there is one very simple quick needle that will do wonders to 'poison his waters' so to speak and not get anyone banned.

Once an hour.. every hour... somebody different wanders by his table, looks it over, makes sure that the players tale notice then leave them with this one sentence...

'Ya'll realize that you're playin' in a game with the biggest cheater in poker history don't you?'

Then thumb over at RH. One time is a curiosity. Several times a day by different people begins to put the fear of being cheated in their minds...'Who are you and why are these people saying this thing?'

2+2ers that might be in the game can fill in the blanks...'Oh, he's RH and he stole $20 million from poker players all over the world. He the most notorious cheater in the history of internet poker.'

Nothing dramatic, nothing confrontational to him, just the facts. How long do you think it would take for him to become persona non-grata in these games...take away his 'junk' and he can't get a fix.

I guess you must be primarily an internet player. Most live players would just say something like "excuse me, would you please move over just a bit so I can get into my area? Thanks."

Works lots better than rubbing your legs against his, and is less likely to be misinterpreted. Plus, since you say you didn't realize yet that it was Russ, it seems like you bring a lot of hostility to the table.

[x] In before "Hi Russ"

I cant afford it....

I love mayo. Is this my fate?

Did Russ have to pay back the 20 million?!?!?!?! Fvcking peice of shiit!

Props to your friend Billy!

Given Kahnawake politics and their stance on sovereignty, don't you think that when counsel for KGC says "appropriate law enforcement agencies" they are more likely to mean Kahnawake Peacekeepers than the RCMP?

I actually contacted the Peacekeepers and had a brief interchange w/Chief Dwayne Zacharie. His predecessor was ousted when he went against Joe Norton and other influential leaders so I didn't expect much cooperation. And didn't get it either.

Brad, you must be enjoying this thread as much as anyone.
What is your status? Did you get reimbursed from UB?

lol

someone in florida, pick up the phone, call the FBI or IRS, tell them a major criminal is playing poker in the gulfstream casino, his name is russ hamilton, and he owes taxes on 20million dollars on unreported "earnings"

someone at either office should be interested

I like this!

Personally I think someone should sit across the table and have a buddy stand behind him and signal what his cards are
When you get caught, call yourself a live superuser

That's not quite accurate. Cliffs at the end.

Zacharie became Chief Peacekeeer by resolution of Mohawk Council of Kahnawake on June 30, 2004 after Joseph Norton resigned on June 1, 2004 as Grand Chief in the wake of losing (for a second time) a referendum to allow a casino to operate in the community. So Zacharie was appointed by the council headed by the Grand Chief who replaced Norton.

Zacharie's predecessor as chief Peacekeeper was John K. Diabo. Diabo retired March 31, 2004, shortly before Norton retired from Kahnawake politics. I don't know whether Diabo's decision to retire was affected by Norton's departure from office, but the sequencing suggests otherwise. It is reasonable to presume that Diabo's retirement in 2004 had nothing to do with the suspension of a previous Chief Peacekeeper in 1996 when Norton was Grand Chief. Diabo is widely respected by native police across Canada - so much so that he is the only life member of the First Nations Chiefs of Police Association.

You are probably thinking of the post by tk1133. I have a few problems with that post. The source of the article is not cited. The article is factually inaccurate and otherwise flawed. The post presents itself as quotes from a single article, but I haven't been able to find that article anywhere through google. It takes Norton's comment out of context, not revealing that the comment was made three years after the event, nor was it made in direct relation to the firing of Montour. It refers to the firing of Joseph Montour, when in fact he was only suspended at the time of the incident. Finally, it is presenting as fact what is obviously only (an extreme) opinion piece.

People reading ElevenGrover's post quoted above will likely come away with the impression that Norton replaced Montour with Zacharie when Montour crossed Norton and others. ElevenGrover seems to imply Zacharie is Norton's man and that Zacharie will cover up for Norton. Actually, Zacharie was appointed by the people who replaced Norton after the Kahnawake voters rejected Norton's approach on one aspect of gambling. He replaced a highly regarded Peacekeeper who retired, under no apparent pressure from Norton or anyone else. This is not the Chief Peacekeeper cited in the tk1133 post. If we are to infer anything about Zacharie's loyalty from this, it would be more reasonable to believe that Zacharie is trusted by a faction opposed to Norton.

However, the circumstances surrounding the suspension of Joseph Montour in 1996 are instructive when trying to determine who the Kahnawake Mohawks will recognize as "appropriate law enforcement agencies" WRT the KGC's findings in the UB scandal. Montour was suspended when he arrested, at the request of the Quebec Provincial Police, two men who had participated in an Extreme Fighting event in Kahnawake. This sort of contest was illegal under Canadian law. However, the event had been specifically sanctioned by the Kahnawake Mohawk Council, which asserted its right to decide if the event was legal in Kahnawake. Montour was suspended because he took actions contrary to the wishes of his employer - the Kahnawake Mohawk Council. These actions served to undermine the hard-won agreement on Kahnawake independent self-policing. Montour obviously acted in such a way that showed he believed that the laws he was supposed to enforce were the laws of Quebec and Canada, while the Council wanted him to enforce the rules put in place by the Council, where those rules differed from the Canadian law Quebec wished to enforce.

Kahnawake has consistently claimed the right to exercise sovereignty over matters such as gaming, and entertainment, and also exerts its right to be the sole police enforcer in its territory in these or any other matters. Montour's enforcement of the Quebec law, contrary to the Council's decision on the fight and in violation of Council policy on the independence of the Peacekeepers from Quebec or Canadian authority was a severe blow to Kahnawake's assertion of sovereignty.

Were the FBI agents appointed by Norton?

Rather than ascribe Zacharie's lack of cooperation to him being in Norton's pocket, I suggest that you try to understand how important the issue of sovereignty is to the people of Kahnawake and understand that he was not more or less forthcoming than those FBI agents you talked to, and for very similar reasons.

Cliffs:

1. ElevenGrover's comment quoted above, implies that Norton installed Zacharie to replace Montour when Montour personally crossed Norton, and further implies . Zacharie is Norton's man who will cover up for him. The actual facts of the history of appointments of Chief Peacekeepers do not support this interpretation.

2. Kahnawake regards itself as sovereign territory with the right to legislate and police itself WRT gambling and all other matters on its territory. When a law is broken on Kahnawake Territory it is the Kahnawake Peacekeepers who investigate and make any arrests. Likely the KGC will report wrongdoing to the Peacekeepers, and nobody else.

You went a long ways for not much reason. First, I don't know if Zacharie is covering anything up, I said he was uncooperative. Second, the peacekeepers have made no arrests I know of related to this incident even though the KGC has identified criminal behavior. The rest I won't argue with, I think a reasonable person can read things on both sides of the fence and get a pretty clear picture of what the Kahnawake are all about.

I agree, but he was down a couple buy-ins and was definitely spewey towards the end of the session... But if you didn't know any better he is definitely the type of player that would be missed from a regular game.

This is very true. You would be surprised how many live players have no clue about the name Russ Hamilton. If you bring up ultimate bet and online cheating they recall a few things. That's why i think the best thing for any player to do is simply point out exactly who he is and what he did to the poker community. There is no need to be directly confrontational (although this is obviously preferred... and much love to Billy for his performance) but simply blowing up his spot is something he is clearly trying to avoid. That's why he left the gulfstream for a few days and also why he was sitting with his hood pulled down real low.

Looks like Russ is getting some sun on the tracks. I would rent a high powered paintball gun using black/gold markers and ambush him at the turn so he would have to play the back nine with a custom UB signature.

What you said was The bolded part is wrong, but it seemed to me that you implied that somehow the ouster was somehow related to the lack of cooperation. If not, what was the point of including it in your post?

When was Russ last in Kahnawake? The Peacekeepers have as much legal chance to arrest Russ in Florida, Nevada or California as US bounty hunters have of making a legal arrest in Canada (i.e. none).

The bolded bit was my main reason, I guess - an attempt to paint everybody in Kahnawake with the same brush. A lot of people who consider themselves reasonable will read one-sided, incomplete or inaccurate things on this forum, and, not knowing any better, they then believe they know everything relevant about a whole community.

The situation in Kahnawake is a lot more complex and nuanced than you realize or than the average reader in this thread has any clue about. There is not nearly enough info at 2+2 to allow reasonable 2+2ers to get an accurate picture "of what the Kahnawake are all about". But there is enough incorrect and out-of-context info, and enough bias and misinformation in this forum for reasonable 2+2ers to get badly misled.

You are usually much better at getting your facts straight. I expected better from you than those comments about Zacharie. Please return to your usual high standards. For instance, you could have said something like:
"I actually contacted the Peacekeepers and had a brief interchange w/Chief Dwayne Zacharie. I didn't get any more information from him than I did from the FBI."

Guy should be banned from not only all pokerrooms, but all casinos.

this