Matthew Waxman is one of the best follows on poker Twitter. He proved why once again when he perfectly summed up the poker community over the past two years in just one hilarious tweet.
Waxman is a professional poker player with $4.2 million in live tournament winnings. He may not be a mainstream poker household name and an underrated player. The Florida native is a 2013 WSOP bracelet winner ($1,000 No-Limit Hold'em for $305,952) and has 55 cashes in World Series of Poker events.
On Twitter recently, he shared a post that we couldn't have said any better.
"If you haven't been following poker for the last 2 years, here's what you missed...
- guy cheats people out of 6 figures on live streams while staring at crotch
- WSOP completely in the gutter, but everyone still plays
-Negreanu paid Polk 1.2m to stop making fun of him," Waxman wrote.
For those who actually weren't paying attention
Just in case you are one of the poker fans Waxman is referring to and haven't followed poker in two years, let's go over the three points he made. Waxman's bullet points are among the three biggest stories in poker in recent years.
First off, the crotch-staring reference is in regards to Mike Postle, who was accused in 2019 by Veronica Brill of cheating live-streamed games at Stones Gambling Hall in Northern California. He supposedly used some sort of electronic communication to view his opponent's hole cards.
Many poker fans noticed that Postle would often stare down at his crotch area when facing a tough decision. Jokingly referred to as "crotch theory optimal," the poker players who investigated the situation believe he was looking down at his crotch so often because he was viewing the hole cards on his phone, which was placed in his lap.
Postle was sued by 88 plaintiffs but was never forced to pay any money and the case never made it to trial. He then filed his own lawsuit against numerous members of the poker media for defamation of character. But it appears that case is also headed nowhere. The Sacramento-area poker pro hasn't been spotted in a poker room since the accusations came out, and he refuses to conduct interviews to discuss his side of the story, although he claims he is innocent.
The second pointer in Waxman's tweet is a bit of an opinion more so than it is factual. The World Series of Poker remains the most prestigious tournament brand in poker. And, yes, players still flock to Las Vegas in droves to compete each summer (except 2020 due to COVID-19, of course).
But the WSOP has taken some heat from the pros in recent years over various issues ranging from hosting a watered down 85-bracelet event online series last summer to replace the canceled event in Las Vegas, to repeated changes to tournament structures.
And the third point Waxman made is the most recent story, Doug Polk vs. Daniel Negreanu. The long-time feuding poker pros competed in a 25,000-hand heads-up online challenge that ended earlier this month. Polk won the match played at $200/$400 stakes by $1.2 million. He was the heavy favorite going in, so few are surprised.
But during the match, due to taking on such a difficult challenge, Negreanu began to gain Polk's respect. That's a stark contrast to the previous six years in which Polk had repeatedly attacked Negreanu on social media and his YouTube channel.
The Upswing Poker founder went so far as to spend thousands of dollars on a billboard outside the Rio at the 2018 WSOP in Las Vegas mocking Negreanu. That just goes to show how petty the feud had become. But those days are over, at least for now. Negreanu was more competitive than expected in the match against one of the best heads-up no-limit hold'em players ever, so they now have a mutual respect for each other.
Featured image source: Twitter
