[Phil153]

There's two separate issues that I think most people agree with. The first is that no one has a problem with Nat getting paid expenses + some fee. I think most people baulked at the fact that

- he asked for a fee after consulting his lawyer
- the fee is probably substantial.

I don't know how much it is but no one would have a problem with 5K for a week's lost time. More than that and it's starting to look a bit off, for obvious reasons.

The second point is, why Nat? There's no indication that he's remotely qualified to get anything useful out of the trip. Yes he's smart, and involved in poker a lot, but if the community wants to send someone, it should be someone with street smarts and experience, who can sniff out what's really going on and understands how shady people operate. I suspect Nat will be as clueless as schoolgirl when it comes to understanding these people. If the community is going to send someone then we need a seasoned person who's been around for a while. People like Mason, Sklansky, Zee, Diablo, and maybe Druff (though I don't know enough about him to say). These people may not be interested but there must be a better choice.

The stipulation that he can't see anything related to the cheating accounts already indicates that this is something of a joke, and that Nat is in over his head when it comes to this stuff. It's a slap in the face, and someone with a different set of principles would have told AP to f off after stipulating something like that. He's basically getting paid to run around Costa Rica for a week and get played by AP management. Again, no offense to Nat, he's smart and talented, but he's also 25 and doesn't have the mindset to sniff out hardened frauds, IMO (I'm the same age in case anyone wants to flame for that comment).