Hi everybody.
I have been doing a lot of thinking about how to respond to what has happened over this past week and a half, and what the tone of my response should be. Thank you all – especially Mason – for your patience, as I’ve put a lot of time and thought into the following statement:
Poker players – including lots of high stakes players – borrow/lend money from each other all the time. They always have and they always will. The deals and arrangements they make in this regard have always been private and I believe they will always remain private. It’s nobody else’s business anyhow.
Why would I borrow money? When the global financial crisis hit many years ago, it really took a hard toll on my business. I lost a lot of my personal wealth. But I still wanted to play in high stakes games. The “right” thing to do would be to drop down in stakes, but I didn’t want to, so I borrowed to keep playing in the same games. I don’t play for super high stakes anymore. I get plenty of buzz and enjoyment playing for lower stakes.
When a poker player decides to lend another poker player money, they do so with the inherent risk that it might not be paid back. At no time when I borrowed money did I ever make a promise to pay loans back the next day. During the Full Tilt days, money flowed like water and when it came to paying people back it was never an issue.
Almost $2 million is owed to me by poker players to whom I have lent money over the years, but I have never gone public with their names.
I never hide from my debts. To the best of my knowledge, every person to whom I have had an outstanding debt (I can count them on one hand) has been OK with the arrangements I have made with them to pay back. For the record, this includes Shaun Deeb, to whom I still owe some money and with whom I am on great, friendly terms.
For whatever reason, Cole South felt the need to make a public post about a private arrangement, and I already made it clear in my original response that he has a misunderstanding of the facts. He could have contacted me privately or even by private message here on 2+2 if he wanted to. I don’t ignore text messages and haven’t seen him or gotten a message from him in years. I haven’t been hiding anywhere and it’s not hard for anyone who wants to get in touch to find me.
It seems like a lot of the forum posters have tried to make connections between things that are not connected at all. What do public records of court cases (which don’t tell the whole story, by the way) have to do at all with my IDF army days?
Using this platform to try and tear down my reputation affects many people beyond just me. A lot of people worked very hard to make this book happen. If you don’t want to buy my book that’s fine, but leaving 1-star nasty reviews on Amazon based on forum hearsay without actually reading the book is just plain wrong.
I didn’t invest YEARS of my life in this project, first in Hebrew then in English, with a primary goal of making money from the book. Mason chose to share that 2+2 put $20,000 into publishing my book (I didn’t know the amount until I read his post, by the way). He warned me before we signed our contract that this book likely wouldn’t make a lot of money because poker books just don’t sell like they used to “back in the day.” I just wanted my life’s story to be told and I’m glad to have a business partner in Mason who feels the same way. Bashing him is misguided, to say the least.
People make mistakes. I go into great detail in my book about many of the mistakes I have made in my life. I didn’t have to, but I chose to. As a matter of fact, many people who know me and who have bought and read the book have come up to me to express their shock at how open and honest I was, and that I didn’t need to say as much as I did about a lot of episodes in my life. For all of the poker glory I have achieved, I’m human, too. That’s what telling a life story is about; sharing both the ups and the downs.
I apologize to anyone who feels personally offended by the mistakes I have made. I’m not perfect, but that’s no reason to hold my mistakes over my head for the rest of my life. I’m sorry, Mason, that you had to deal with a lot of the fallout from my silence over this past week and a half. Throughout my life I have done my best to learn from the mistakes I’ve made and become a better man.
If anyone out there still wants to believe in baseless allegations against me, or in general be skeptical regarding whether my LIFE’S STORY is true and what my reputation ought to be, that’s up to you. All I can tell you is that anyone who has ever played with me, whether they’re a pro or a recreational player, and whether it has been in a cash game or tournament table, knows how passionately I love the game.
I will continue to participate for another 48 hours here on 2+2 and thereafter it’s time for me to move on. Aside from that, I’m at Aria/Bellagio five days a week and am happy to see any of you and speak with you in person, and of course to sign a copy of the book if you have purchased one.
To address the obvious, yes I had help writing this statement. I’m not a computer whiz and of course I am not a native English speaker.
Finally, and most importantly…. my favorite color is purple.
Mod Edit:
Quote:
I do appreciate Eli reaching out to me today and taking ownership of the situation. We cleared the air over a phone call and while I haven’t received any payments yet, I’m hopeful we’re heading in the right direction. I will gladly post an update if/when this is resolved, and look forward to putting this behind both of us.
What caused issue with me was his answers in the AMA, I haven't read Eli's book. If you’ve left a negative Amazon review on the book due to reading these threads, please do me a favor and remove it so we can keep the discussion here. Thanks all.
Mod edit #2
Quote:
Originally Posted by AbeandLeesa
No person has ever staked me in my lifetime and I did not out Eli in 9 years. I have no social media and had no idea Eli had a book or Ame until days ago when I was called by a high ranking casino side of the business. I was shocked and suprised my name was used . He asked me to speak with DS and I have many times in the past few days. I got to tell you I was on the fence about it and not slept well. I decided today to speak out after Eli sent me texts of threats about my family most likely scared I was going to out him. If he had not had made such a stupid and actually a illegal decision to do that you would of never heard from me. Im not sure yet what I can say at this point. I can say this disappointed that Eli pushed me to this point when it could have been really simple. I really do not think Eli is so insane yet to come on here and call me a liar but so be it. Figure is 853k. A loan not a gambling debt. I do not have to lie the truth is bad enough.
Last edited by Videopro; 01-30-2019 at 02:31 PM.