I was one of these people. I've been playing the revamped WPT circuit the last two seasons and loved the experience. I'm really sad today. This guy is a pariah and should never get another dollar from poker again. I can't say that I'll never play a WPT again, but it'll be with a heavy conscious and a boggled mind because of this asinine decision.

Pretty much sums it up

This is terrible news

But this is what I mean. By parading around in public like a doofus, Sebok became the scapegoat for all the others who continued representing UB despite these issues. Even with Sebok trying to cover them up, those issues were still clearly public knowledge, so Hellmuth etc. were giving tacit approval by silently staying on and profiting from UB while this stuff was out there.

How can WPT make such an ill conceived short sighted move? Who's in charge over there?

read elevengrovers post a few posts back

Interested to hear Bond's thoughts on this. Can respect that he may stay quiet on it though. Hope to hear from him in any case.

Awesome word Sir. Sums it up nicely.

nice info, another lol at anyone who thinks party.bwin are a straight company

I guess i don't really deserve to have an opinion as I wasn't involved, and don't know all the facts. Even with all that was said above, I still can't see the justification for the level of hate he gets. I think gimmick122 nails it on the head from my perspective. Attempting to rectify a situation doesn't deserve the hate because it fails.

But again, I don't have lost money and don't play on the WPT.

Hellmuth was a major owner in UB who continued to draw two separate payouts from his stake this year, one in Feb and one in June. He apparently notified other shareholders that they would also be getting money from the payouts and some of the shareholders held positions that enabled, facilitated or otherwise failed to prevent the cheating at UB. The significance of cashing those checks this year is lost on some, but when you consider that it is clear that the company paid players far less than was actually stolen, none of that money should have went to shareholders and definitely not shareholders that allowed/caused the crimes in the first place.

Moreover, Hellmuth's reputation was traded on heavily by the company both pre and post cheating discovery. He knew Russ Hamilton for over 20 years and called him one of his best friends in 2007. He also called Greg Pierson one of his best friends. When cheating became known, Mr. Hellmuth first relayed what later turned out to be false reports of the extent of the cheating to this forum. When it became clear the company was slow walking the investigation in order to match what forum investigators discovered, he stopped his own involvement and turned it over to Paul Leggett. If his reputation is so important to him, how come he has never come to the mic and demanded that Pierson provide the backups we all know exist? Why hasn't he stepped forward and demanded public audits of the investigation and payouts be released? Why when asked about the case did he respond that he believed in innocent until proven guilty, yet decided that finding who was guilty at a company he helped found was not terribly important?

1mil twitter followers > reputation ??? wtf is wrong with wpt?

I have played several wpt main events and I am done with them.

Here is a link if anyone wants to tell them what they think about this.
http://www.worldpokertour.com/About_us/Contact_Us.aspx

Wtf if his actual role? ANYONE?

Plenty of good people tried to call out the situation for what it was. One guy agreed to be paid by the villains to say things while they kept their shady operation running a little longer.

Ike for president.

Pathetic. Ike is spot on. Joe Sebok is a despicable scumbag.

twitter spammer

i hate to break this to 2+2...but your complaints and possible boycotts will hardly phase WPT, if at all imo...WPT is a regional type tour that picks up more casual/non 2+2 players and people...also because of this i think WPT has solid inherent value cuz of this...so i don't think as many people will boycott due to that...what are you gonna do boycott and wait for WSOP circuit events?

my .02

I guess I didn't make it clear. Sebok's attempt turned out not to be sincere and that's why people are rightfully pissed with him. But what I'm arguing is that Sebok was not paid by us to investigate UB--he was paid by UB to represent the site.

I just feel like other paid representatives of UB should be held accountable as well. They may not have been as public as Sebok (aside from Hellmuth), but they still cashed those checks.

IMO, it would make more sense for the hate to be proportional to the size of the checks.

Phil Hellmuth had been with the company from the beginning and was locked into the company due to contracts and his investment into the company. Seebok jumped onto an already sinking ship and made many many promises. He even made promises of what he was going to do if ub didn't pay up. All of these were lies. There is a big difference not that Hellmuth is void of any blame.

In before WPT signs Annie Duke.

Yeah, have to respect self-preservation. I'd be shocked if his true thoughts were made public.

How much did he get?

Has it ever come out how much Joe was paid by UB for the time during which he was their rep / agent / stooge?

in before Barry comes in and defends Joe

Even if you want to ignore all the bull**** Joe did, and not vilify him.

What the flying **** could he possibly bring to the table for the WPT? He hasn't shown to be that great at...actually playing poker. He has tons of enemies. He's not particularly skilled or educated in any sort of television making or producing. I mean. What role could he possibly fill that tons of other people couldn't fill that don't have the ridiculous baggage he has? It's crazy.

1mil twitter followers