Justin Kuraitis claimed vindication on social media after the plaintiff’s attorney in the Mike Postle case, Mac VerStandig, publicly said the Stones Gambling Hall poker room tournament director wasn’t involved in any cheating scandal. But the poker community still won’t let him off the hook.
In fact, most on poker Twitter bashed the Stones employee. Some, including Johnnie “Vibes” Moreno, even felt his recent public statement made him appear more guilty than before. And that comes after VerStandig verbally exonerated him in the case. However, the comments from the plaintiff’s attorney were made as part of the settlement.
I was asked to join the lawsuit and declined even though I was fairly certain I was cheated. Why? Because there was no evidence that you were involved and it felt wrong to include you. But this write up of you protecting Postle makes me 2nd guess my stance. 😕
— Johnnie VIBES (@JohnnieVibes) September 15, 2020
Speaking of that settlement, only 62 of the 88 plaintiffs agreed to the deal. That is because the unknown settlement amount was “nominal,” especially in comparison to initial $10 million lawsuit. Veronica Brill, the whistleblower in the case, even refused to sign the deal.
Kuraitis went off on the poker community in his public statement and on Twitter. He referred to one critical poker player as a “bandwagon sheep.”
Shit happens bro, I'm clear now and you're just a bandwagon sheep.
I hope you never have to be falsely accused of a serious crime and convicted in public before any evidence is ever seen.
Silver lining though, I know who a lot of people really are now. pic.twitter.com/3aSMfb34zt
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 17, 2020
Kuraitis even took a shot at Brill, who broke the case open last year.
"Data is mostly objective and factual" @Angry_Polak
Except when you inflate the data by six figures, right? Then the data no longer matters, right?
Good game "Brill et al" https://t.co/LaGsQ6xTcd
— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 17, 2020
Poker community fires back
Kuraitis bashed the poker media and numerous poker pros for accusing him of being in on the alleged cheating scandal. He also stood up for his friend Mike Postle, whom he claims is innocent. Poker Twitter wasn’t having any of it.
“I don’t know Justin but I feel similarly Johnie. I have gone out of my way to keep him separate from postle in conversations about this incident given a lack of public evidence of collusion between the two but if this post isn’t outright damning it’s the next worst thing,” Dan Zack, one of the top high rollers in Southern California, wrote in response to Moreno’s post.
Strangely enough, Doug Polk and Daniel Negreanu found something they could finally agree on. And that is the opinion that Mike Postle cheated.
First of all, I have no clue who you are or why I was mentioned.
After reading this, however, it just seems way more likely that you had to of known this dude was cheating. Oh, and cheating he was.
No one loves their crotch that much bro. GTFO
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 15, 2020
“First of all, I have no clue who you are or why I was mentioned. After reading this, however, it just seems way more likely that you had to of known this dude was cheating. Oh, and cheating he was,” Negreanu wrote in response to Kuraitis tagging him in a post.
I also love the "people were using this to make themselves popular angle".
Its just classic deflecting from what really happened.
This segment made ESPN. Im sure SVP was basking in the fame from postlegate.
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) September 15, 2020
Who knew a good old-fashioned cheating scandal could bring two feuding poker players together? Polk and Negreanu certainly weren’t the only ones trashing Kuraitis on social media. Shaun Deeb, another rival of Negreanu’s, is out to expose Postle and Kuraitis. The 2018 WSOP Player of the Year wants to hire a team to collect evidence proving Postle’s guilt.
thinking of starting a gofundme to help pay people for their time in bringing some stats and better evidence against the the cheats maybe even hire some pi to find out who is funding particular things. But fact they take like 10% maybe we should do it p2p
— at a food court (@shaundeeb) September 17, 2020
Kuraitis received dozens of insulting comments on Twitter, ranging from “you’re a piece of s–t” to “you’ll get karma one day, scumbag.”
VerStandig represented 88 plaintiffs in three separate, but related, $10 million lawsuits involving the alleged poker cheating scandal that was brought to light in September 2019. The attorney reached a partial settlement with all three defendants — Postle, Kuraitis, and King’s Casino (parent company of Stones Gambling Hall).
Kuraitis claims the “nominal” payout to 62 of the 88 plaintiffs from the casino was only made in “good faith.” But he believes the outcome of the civil case exonerates him of any guilt.
Featured image source: Twitter/@JFKPokerTD
