In late September of 2019, Veronica Brill – now a well-known person within the poker community, but, at the time, a relative newcomer to the scene – made public her long-held suspicions about Mike Postle's unusually prescient play on the Northern California-based Stones Gambling Hall livestreamed poker games.
During the course of a just over a year, Postle put up results at low-stakes cash games which boggled the mind: roughly $250,000 in winnings, much of it won on livestream games. Not only was Postle winning at a rate never seen before, he also consistently executed above-the-rim plays – massive hero calls, folding hands he shouldn't, raising with ultra-thin value. Essentially, Postle played as though he had perfect information about his opponent's holdings.
Brill bore witness first-hand as Postle went on the run of a lifetime, making the right moves at the right times and playing like he couldn't lose. Whether at the table taking him on directly, or in the booth commentating on his play, Brill couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to Postle than met the eye. For an analytically-bent mind like Brill's, something just wasn't adding up.
Suspicions become accusations - The Legion picks up the case
In March of 2019, Brill first took her suspicions to Stones' livestream director Justin Kuraitis, but her inquiry into the situation was summarily dismissed. After running into an unexpected brick wall, Brill continued to observe Postle's patterns of play until, on September 21, she let her suspicions slip out whilst commentating on a Stones Live game featuring Postle. The initial murmurs became full-blown accusations of cheating when, one week later, Brill posted an 18-minute video that showed a collection of Postle's most-damning clips. You can find the video in this thread from Brill.
Brill's accusations led to an exhaustive, weeks-long amateur investigation into Postle's gameplay, which was conveniently recorded and available for dissection. Poker professional and content creator Joey Ingram involved himself directly in the investigation, enlisting his legion of followers to help comb through every second of Postle's appearances on Stones Live. Ingram and his horde of internet sleuths – dubbed 'The Legion' – analyzed everything about Postle and the hands he won or lost in comprehensive detail during hours-long livestreams. From the cards he played to his body language to the frequent glances he took at his lap, no stone was left unturned in The Legion's pursuit of poker justice.
Many alleged that Postle had access to his opponents' hole cards via a feed to his phone, which he usually kept out of sight in his lap but was often seen to be apparently studying.
The buzz surrounding the cheating allegations eventually reached the national level of media interest, with ESPN's Scott van Pelt covering the story in a 'Big Thing' segment on his show.
High stakes lawsuits
Then, in October of the same year, the accusations became a matter of legal record, as 24 poker players filed a $30 million class-action lawsuit against Postle, Kuraitis, and Stones Gambling Hall. The number of class-action plaintiffs would later increase to 88, but in June of 2020 Federal Judge William B. Shubb dismissed the case against all three defendants. Months after the case's dismissal, 60 of the plaintiffs accepted a settlement from King's Casino, LLC, an entity that owns Stones Gambling Hall, and Kuraitis.
This led Postle to then file a massive $330 million counter-suit against notable members of the poker community and the media, including Brill, Daniel Negreanu, Phil Galfond, and ESPN, on grounds of defamation. Postle's defamation claims hinged on his assertion that the defendants knew they were lying when calling him a cheater on various media outlets. In June of 2021, however, Postle filed a request to drop his defamation lawsuit.
There were various other legal proceedings to follow, but this essentially put an end to the saga now known as Postlegate. The poker world may never know the exact truth about what exactly happened at Stones Gambling Hall in 2019, but you can be sure that every single person that knows the story has an opinion, one way or the other.
Images Courtesy of CardsChat/Hayley Hochstetler
