Editor's note: This is an opinion piece by Poker.org author Jon Sofen. The views expressed here are entirely the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of Poker.org or its staff.
Mike Postle failed miserably in his lawsuit against those he claims defamed him by accusing him of being a poker cheater. He recently dropped the $330 million lawsuit because he knew he'd never win. So, does that mean we've reached the end of this 18-month-long poker cheating saga? In some ways, yes, but in others, it's just getting started.
In September 2019, Veronica Brill, a player at Stones Gambling Hall in Northern California, publicly accused Postle of repeatedly cheating during Stones Live live-streams. He was a regular in the game and allegedly used some sort of electronic device to decipher his opponent's hole cards, which helped him win an estimated more than $200,000, although the actual amount he won is unproven.
Brill, who played on and hosted Stones Live numerous times, found it odd that Postle was almost always making the correct play, and made too many incredible calls and bluffs for his success to be legit. Many others in the poker community began investigating the claims, including Joey Ingram who streamed countless hours of Postle hands on his popular YouTube channel. The almost consensus among the poker community was that Postle cheated.
As such, Brill and 87 other plaintiffs filed a $10 million lawsuit against the poker pro. They were unsuccessful in civil court and only received a small payout from the casino. Postle, after having his character attacked for more than a year, filed a $330 million lawsuit against 12 mostly wealthy defendants for defamation of character. Much like the lawsuit against him, this one never gained traction and Postle has now officially dropped it.
But this isn't the end of the legal portion of this drama. Brill, one of the defendants, is about to seek retribution from Postle for the legal fees she accrued.
What next?
In one way, the lawsuit dismissal puts an end to part of the Postle cheating scandal. By dropping the lawsuit, Postle is essentially admitting he can't win the case. Some may take that as his way of also admitting he cheated, but that may not be accurate.
It's unlikely Postle will ever admit to cheating publicly. He refuses to conduct any interviews with the poker media, and has denied the cheating allegations all along. But few poker players seem to believe him, as the evidence in the videos shown on Ingram's YouTube channel are quite damning.
Given how long this drama has played out, the poker community is mostly over the Mike Postle scandal. Most have agreed he cheated and have come to the conclusion that he's never going to be required to pay back the money he allegedly won illegally or be sent to prison.
While it's true most have moved on and accepted the outcome, there's still one aspect of the saga that needs attention. And that is the fact that a poker player may have gotten away with cheating other players out of thousands of dollars. Of course, we don't know for sure if Postle cheated. The evidence sure points in that direction, but maybe he really is an almost perfect poker player.
But if he did in fact cheat, he essentially got away with it, because he won't be forced to pay back the alleged victims, nor will he serve any jail time. On top of that, he's never given the poker community an explanation for how he won so frequently and made so many incredible plays that even the best players in the world aren't capable of making. The alleged Mike Postle cheating story won't ever end until Postle comes forward with the evidence he promised us all 18 months ago that would supposedly prove his innocence.
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