Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

http://www.pokerroad.com/_/authorpag...p;type=proBlog

Is this a new border policy? He says he was busted for his senior prank 12 years ago and they wouldnt let him in to cover a tournament.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

Blame Canada!!!

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

Joe Sebok is not 30 years old... do the math.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

ughh sebok is 30 moran

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

Ohhh okayy horayy happy bdayyy

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

Remember when US barred Olympic gold medelist Ross Rebagliati from entering US for having just admitted that he'd smoked pot, even though he'd never even been convicted of anything.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

if you're gonna browse the site, at least listen to the radio shows... in the first PokerRoad Radio show barry greenstein explains what happened

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

I remember when W needed special permission to enter canada because of his drunk driving conviction.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to." Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to. Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. " Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

[/ QUOTE ]

& U think american customs aren't huge (censored) ?



The David Benyamine 'story is the worse of all : http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/16326

here is the part i'm talking about: Land of Confusion
On March 20, 2004, the PartyPoker Million III cruise terminated its week of high-seas gambling, bad Hawaiian shirts, and 24-hour buffet in the port of San Diego.

At 5 a.m., passenger David Benyamine woke up to a surprise in his cabin; FBI agents demanded that he come with them.

Surprisingly, this wasn't the first time that this type of thing happened. "When I came to the U.S. before, the Immigration Service had given me a hard time because someone with the same name as mine was wanted," he said. It has been reported in the past that Benyamine was accused of being a terrorist. He said that isn't the case. "I never heard that this person was a wanted terrorist. It could have been someone who didn't pay his parking tickets, for all I know."

Whatever the case, Benyamine had $25,000 on him and was itching to get to Bellagio, not deal with bureaucratic red tape and a bunch of overzealous FBI agents. After waiting eight hours in the FBI office, Benyamine said they finally decided that he was not the bad Benyamine. "The three FBI agents wished me good luck in the World Series and I thought I was on my way," he said. "They asked me to sign some papers and said I would be free to go." However, after a few more hours, he hadn't moved. It turned out that, a supervisor concluded he was in America playing poker as a professional rather than as an amateur. "They said I needed a professional visa rather than a tourist visa. I never heard of such a thing, since everyone I knew came to play poker in America with a tourist visa. They said, 'I'm sorry, but we have to deport you to France.'"

It was Saturday night, and he was told he would be deported on Monday morning. He was sent to a detention facility. There was no bed, it was tough, they counted his money in front of the other prisoners, and he wasn't able to make a phone call.

When Monday morning came, he was ready to head to the airport. Instead, he was driven to a state jail in the middle of the California desert. Once he got to the jail, nobody would tell him what was going on. He was forced to stay there five days until they finally sent him home.

Once he finally landed back in France, it took him more than a year to get a visa. He secured a three-year professional visa, which allowed him to go back to the U.S.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

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if you're gonna browse the site, at least listen to the radio shows... in the first PokerRoad Radio show barry greenstein explains what happened

[/ QUOTE ]

i couldnt find it anywhere. why dont u post it

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to." Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

I grew up in a Canadian border town, this is very true.

Sound advice from the cabbie. Keep all responses to a bare minimum.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
if you're gonna browse the site, at least listen to the radio shows... in the first PokerRoad Radio show barry greenstein explains what happened

[/ QUOTE ]

i couldnt find it anywhere. why dont u post it

[/ QUOTE ]

You suck at Internet.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

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i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to. Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. " Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

[/ QUOTE ]

& U think american customs aren't huge (censored) ?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, sorry, did I offend you by insulting your country's border personnel? I wasn't comparing Canadian customs to any other country's, not sure why you latched onto that one sentence when it had relatively little to do with my point.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to. Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. " Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

[/ QUOTE ]

& U think american customs aren't huge (censored) ?



The David Benyamine 'story is the worse of all : http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/16326

here is the part i'm talking about: Land of Confusion
On March 20, 2004, the PartyPoker Million III cruise terminated its week of high-seas gambling, bad Hawaiian shirts, and 24-hour buffet in the port of San Diego.

At 5 a.m., passenger David Benyamine woke up to a surprise in his cabin; FBI agents demanded that he come with them.

Surprisingly, this wasn't the first time that this type of thing happened. "When I came to the U.S. before, the Immigration Service had given me a hard time because someone with the same name as mine was wanted," he said. It has been reported in the past that Benyamine was accused of being a terrorist. He said that isn't the case. "I never heard that this person was a wanted terrorist. It could have been someone who didn't pay his parking tickets, for all I know."

Whatever the case, Benyamine had $25,000 on him and was itching to get to Bellagio, not deal with bureaucratic red tape and a bunch of overzealous FBI agents. After waiting eight hours in the FBI office, Benyamine said they finally decided that he was not the bad Benyamine. "The three FBI agents wished me good luck in the World Series and I thought I was on my way," he said. "They asked me to sign some papers and said I would be free to go." However, after a few more hours, he hadn't moved. It turned out that, a supervisor concluded he was in America playing poker as a professional rather than as an amateur. "They said I needed a professional visa rather than a tourist visa. I never heard of such a thing, since everyone I knew came to play poker in America with a tourist visa. They said, 'I'm sorry, but we have to deport you to France.'"

It was Saturday night, and he was told he would be deported on Monday morning. He was sent to a detention facility. There was no bed, it was tough, they counted his money in front of the other prisoners, and he wasn't able to make a phone call.

When Monday morning came, he was ready to head to the airport. Instead, he was driven to a state jail in the middle of the California desert. Once he got to the jail, nobody would tell him what was going on. He was forced to stay there five days until they finally sent him home.

Once he finally landed back in France, it took him more than a year to get a visa. He secured a three-year professional visa, which allowed him to go back to the U.S.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is a ridiculously horrible story. As American citizens,
I'm sure this is not what we expect from our hired servants.

I suppose if David had merely said, "oh no, I've changed my
mind. I don't think I will enter the WSOP." the FBI would
have let him go?

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

I swear every single time an American poster says anything about another country, it just rains fire on him from every Canadian, European, Australian, Dominican, Mexican, and Rwandan 2+2er who got offended.

Canadian customs officials in my experience ARE much worse than Americans, thought the Canadian customs guys I deal w/ are Quebecers, so they have problems of their own.

Anyway, relax Canada, Shane wasn't saying you guys have bad beer or anything.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

arent these kind of officials complete arseholes in all countries?

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]

Once he finally landed back in France, it took him more than a year to get a visa. He secured a three-year professional visa, which allowed him to go back to the U.S.
[/i]

[/ QUOTE ]

Now that he has followed the rules, he can enjoy the life he sought in America. Good that he finally did the right thing.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to. Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. " Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

[/ QUOTE ]

& U think american customs aren't huge (censored) ?



The David Benyamine 'story is the worse of all : http://www.cardplayer.com/magazine/article/16326

here is the part i'm talking about: Land of Confusion
On March 20, 2004, the PartyPoker Million III cruise terminated its week of high-seas gambling, bad Hawaiian shirts, and 24-hour buffet in the port of San Diego.

At 5 a.m., passenger David Benyamine woke up to a surprise in his cabin; FBI agents demanded that he come with them.

Surprisingly, this wasn't the first time that this type of thing happened. "When I came to the U.S. before, the Immigration Service had given me a hard time because someone with the same name as mine was wanted," he said. It has been reported in the past that Benyamine was accused of being a terrorist. He said that isn't the case. "I never heard that this person was a wanted terrorist. It could have been someone who didn't pay his parking tickets, for all I know."

Whatever the case, Benyamine had $25,000 on him and was itching to get to Bellagio, not deal with bureaucratic red tape and a bunch of overzealous FBI agents. After waiting eight hours in the FBI office, Benyamine said they finally decided that he was not the bad Benyamine. "The three FBI agents wished me good luck in the World Series and I thought I was on my way," he said. "They asked me to sign some papers and said I would be free to go." However, after a few more hours, he hadn't moved. It turned out that, a supervisor concluded he was in America playing poker as a professional rather than as an amateur. "They said I needed a professional visa rather than a tourist visa. I never heard of such a thing, since everyone I knew came to play poker in America with a tourist visa. They said, 'I'm sorry, but we have to deport you to France.'"

It was Saturday night, and he was told he would be deported on Monday morning. He was sent to a detention facility. There was no bed, it was tough, they counted his money in front of the other prisoners, and he wasn't able to make a phone call.

When Monday morning came, he was ready to head to the airport. Instead, he was driven to a state jail in the middle of the California desert. Once he got to the jail, nobody would tell him what was going on. He was forced to stay there five days until they finally sent him home.

Once he finally landed back in France, it took him more than a year to get a visa. He secured a three-year professional visa, which allowed him to go back to the U.S.


[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com/images/...enyamine-1.jpg

Advice for entering Canada
 

Always say you are visiting as a tourist, which should be true. Tell them where you are going and why .... to play in a poker tournament is a perfectly fine answer.

Say you are coming to buy some of their fine Canadian products, unless you are going to Montreal ... in which case you should say you are looking to eat well, drink well and get well laid.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

[ QUOTE ]
Always say you are visiting as a tourist, which should be true. Tell them where you are going and why .... to play in a poker tournament is a perfectly fine answer.

Say you are coming to buy some of their fine Canadian products, unless you are going to Montreal ... in which case you should say you are looking to eat well, drink well and get well laid.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I hear all these stories about people having trouble with customs because they tell the truth, like "I have a one way ticket, I'm not planning on leaving, etc" ; WTF just lie and say you're a tourist, the guy says okay and stamps your passport.

I used to employ a bunch of Canadians here in the US on H1B's and it was a huge problem if they told the truth at the border (even though it was all legal); you just say you're visiting and they let you right through.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

I have never had a problem getting into Canada, its coming back home is the problem. When going to Vancouver BC to hit on some unsuspecting hott ass Canadian chicks which by the way are much less stuck up and shallow than the girls here, or when to play poker

Border--purpose of visit
me--leisure
border--where you going
me--Stanley Park, Chinatown
border--have good day

BAM

going back home..there are long lines and tons of questions

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

also the fact Joe Sebok seemed to me a smart ass didnt work in his favor. You think with BG as your father and a UC Berkley education behind you, one would think you could cross into Canada with any problems

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

90% of the time, the Customs agents on the Canadian side don't even look at my ID.

Them: Where are you coming from?
Me: Casino.
Them: Have a nice day sir.

I always get the same questions on the American side:

- where are you going?
- how long will you be?
- where do you work?
- what do you do there?
- how long have you worked there?
- how much money on your person?
- is this your car?
- etc.. etc..

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

Ive never had any trouble going into quebec, only when Ive come back to the US through either through vt or ny. I wouldnt even say that they were dicks but that they had frequently scheduled random searches. Usually its just "Give me the keys and pop the trunk."

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

So is there any merit to the accusations against Joe about the trafficking of illegal immigrants (was it illegal Asians immigrant ladies for his pa ??? j/k ) No offense Barry, you know what they say, once you go Asian you never go Caucasian!
Or what about the drug charges?

Are those true or did they make them up? I personally don't care if Joe Sebok did those things, I'm more interested in knowing if the customs agent was just making [censored] up to stop Joe from getting into Canada...

benny

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

Barry's audio blog said that someone who was doing those acts used Joe's name, assuming that Joe had a clean record.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

Bottom line:

If you are going to Canada to cover a poker tournament for a website, you will need to apply specifically for a "media visa" long before you attempt to enter Canada, even if the media company were not based in Canada.

Canada is very protective of its media and entertainment industries, to the point where NAFTA specifically excludes "culture" from being subject to free trade.

Most people associated with poker will try to sneak through by telling the immigration official that he/she is "on vacation".

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

[ QUOTE ]
So is there any merit to the accusations against Joe about the trafficking of illegal immigrants (was it illegal Asians immigrant ladies for his pa ??? j/k ) No offense Barry, you know what they say, once you go Asian you never go Caucasian!
Or what about the drug charges?

Are those true or did they make them up? I personally don't care if Joe Sebok did those things, I'm more interested in knowing if the customs agent was just making [censored] up to stop Joe from getting into Canada...

benny

[/ QUOTE ]

im Asian (filipino) and I love white women. Plus if it were asian it wouldnt be Viet (unless it was liz lieu),

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

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[ QUOTE ]
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i heard this, and was just wondering why sebok wouldn't just tell them he was going to play in the tournament, since i'm sure that's what his plan was anyways.

[/ QUOTE ]


Yeah, it's BS that they barred him (and the stuff about the trafficking allegations seems like something out Brazil or something), but it seems Joe took the wrong approach to crossing the border and offered way too much info at the outset. As our cabbie mentioned after we passed the border, "Never tell them more than you have to. Canadian customs are notoriously huge [censored]. " Unless they were traveling with a bunch of recording equipment or something, there was no reason to complicate things by saying anything other than, "We're going to play a poker tournament." Anyway, sucks Joe...

[/ QUOTE ]

& U think american customs aren't huge (censored) ?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, sorry, did I offend you by insulting your country's border personnel? I wasn't comparing Canadian customs to any other country's, not sure why you latched onto that one sentence when it had relatively little to do with my point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually it's the opposite, canadian'custom have the world wide reputation to be a strainer. Few years ago, I was coming back to Canada by car at the Messena/Cornwall' border, & the customs officer was sleeping in his booth with his feets on the counter. I've stayed there for 15 seconds or so, then I hooted, & he jump from his chair & start to ask me " how long in USA ? ", " have U bough any goods ? " , etc, like if there was nothing.

-jpp

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
I swear every single time an American poster says anything about another country, it just rains fire on him from every Canadian, European, Australian, Dominican, Mexican, and Rwandan 2+2er who got offended.

Canadian customs officials in my experience ARE much worse than Americans, thought the Canadian customs guys I deal w/ are Quebecers, so they have problems of their own.

Anyway, relax Canada, Shane wasn't saying you guys have bad beer or anything.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why you gotta single out Rwandans???

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

it scares me how much power these border people have.

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

i drove a friend's car, who is candien, to Canada to help with his move. The border patrol claimed that they smelled marijuana in the car, and were asking me a ton of question to as why I was driving a Candien registered car in the US. It was pretty simple. I explained it several times, and the mounties were obviously having a good old time [censored] with me. They took me to Candien jail, claimed that I had no rights to a phone call, etc. On the scaryness scale it ranked at a 1. They wanted to know were all "my narcotics" were. They police officers were a joke. They were like the guys from that Super Troopers movie. I demanded to speak to an attorney, etc, like I would do in the good old USA, and they laughed at me....telling me tht I was a long way from home, etc. I told them, look, I am not afraid of you guys, this aint Mexico, and you guys arent going to do [censored] to me. It was basically a who's got a bigger [censored] contest between me and the most intelligent Candien officer.
The kept me for about 20 hours until my "attorney" showed up. I explained to this guy how the police didnt listen to anything that I told them, and basically were running the border and the holding station that they had me in, under their own rules, and laws. The attorney went to go talk with the cops and within about 3 minutes I was let out. I could see the attorney pretty much telling the cops how stupid they were, and what kinds of recourse I had against them, etc. The Candien police then apoligized to me, very sarcastically. My friend's car is still being held by the Canadian government, and he isnt getting anywhere with them as far as getting it back. The story is much, much longer than what I have here, but you get the gist of it. What I have found in my travels, is that EVERY custom agency LOVES to [censored] wth foreigners....but the Canadian customs cops are by far the funniest, and just a waste of their governments $$.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

What if you are going to the Peoples Republic of China, the next great poker market ?

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
it scares me how much power these border people have.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope this is a level.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

I am canadian, and everytime i come back to canada they always give me so much [censored]. They have scanned my credit cards for Coke many times, and they are just aggressive as hell in their questioning me, so from my biased perspective they are deserving of their reputation. Whereas when i go to the states they just say "hello, you are white...welcome to the USA sir".

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
Ive never had any trouble going into quebec, only when Ive come back to the US through either through vt or ny. I wouldnt even say that they were dicks but that they had frequently scheduled random searches. Usually its just "Give me the keys and pop the trunk."

[/ QUOTE ]

That's funny, because I've only had problems going into Quebec. It's always when I'm in a hurry to get wasted out of my mind, hit on hot canuck chicks, with friends who are ahead of me that this happens. Coming back has always been easy.

Re: Advice for entering Canada
 

Barry talks about it here:
http://www.cardplayer.com/tv/28460

Re: Joe Sebok Barred From Canada Over Vandalism
 

[ QUOTE ]
Joe Sebok is not 30 years old... do the math.

[/ QUOTE ]

uhhhhhhhhh....yes he is