PokerStars Shills on the Defensive
UNDER APPARENT ORDERS NOT TO DISCUSS BUSTS
It's a conspiracy!
Or is it?
A second professional poker player who is also a paid spokesman for recently-busted online poker room Poker Stars has commented on the bust by not really commenting.
Poker pro Andrew "Foucault" Brokos of Baltimore, who has won about $350,000 in his career playing live tournament poker and who is a Poker Stars flack, blogs at www.cardplayer.com and just wrote this about the busts last week of Poker Stars and two other online poker rooms: "I want to begin with appreciation and an apology. I’m flattered that so many people have been eager to hear my thoughts on the recent events that rocked the online poker world, and I’m sorry that this post is going to disappoint you.
"The truth is that I don’t know what to think and at this point I don’t want to speculate. Unfortunately, my relationship with Poker Stars doesn’t give me access to any inside information, so I’m as clueless as anyone about what’s going on and what will happen next. I do think the situation will get clearer soon, though I don’t know how soon. I know that for some of you this is an apocalyptic moment, and I wish that I could be of more help...
"Finally, I want to thank everyone who has expressed concern for my situation. It’s very touching to hear from you, but the truth is that I’ll be fine no matter what happens. I’ve got plenty of money saved up and actually enjoyed having a free weekend for once.
"Despite my silence the last few days, I do intend to keep blogging. I’ve got plenty of poker-related stuff in the hopper, but you’ll probably see an increase in the number of stories, musings and low-poker-content posts. I get the sense that some of you would enjoy that anyway. I know I will."
Earlier this week, poker pro Daniel "Kid Poker" Negreanu of Las Vegas, who is also a paid shill for Poker Stars, admitted in a blog post that he had been "advised to not discuss the matter."
He then discussed the matter in his blog but offered no insights, saying his thoughts are "speculation."
Is it a coincidence that two Poker Star flacks who have the forums to comment publicly are declining to say anything of substance about a major news story that they are significantly linked to?
Or is it a conspiracy?
Have all Poker Star paid shills been instructed, as Negreanu said, "to not discuss" the Feds' shutdown of Poker Stars?
Other poker pros who serve as paid spokesmen for Poker Stars include Chris Moneymaker, Joe Hachem, Barry Greenstein, Vanessa Rousso, Humberto Brenes, Hevad Khan, Gavin Griffin, Alex Kravchenko, Dennis "Fordman" Phillips and Ivan Demidov, among others.
Let's see if any of them any time soon say anything of substance about their employer's legal woes.
Don't hold your breath.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
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