Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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In my opinion, Gold should try very hard to get Leyser to settle. He can then try to put some face-saving spin on the thing. If he doesn't, he's likely to still pay the $6 million and burn up a bunch in legal fees.

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My feeling all along would be that this would eventually settle for something in the $2-3M range and I still believe that. From what I have been reading (and thanks to the OP for providing this info) Leyser is in a strong position but there is still considerable uncertainty in whether he will succeed and also I would think there is nothing here so far that warrants him receiving 50% of the entire prize. If Gold has obligations to others (Chan, BoDog, etc...) they will be factored in to the judges decision.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

NoSoup4U,

Thanks for the timely posts and clear explanations.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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Didn't harrah's only give a fraction of the fraction of the prizepool that was withheld for the dealers?

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Harrah's withheld a certain amount "for the staff", which basicaly means they can do whatever they want with it. Usually when money is withheld it is specificaly earmarked for the dealers or floor staff, etc. The fact that Harrah's made a point to change this is pretty revealing.

I didn't deal the WSOP and don't know how much they made, but I would bet they didn't get much of the withheld money.


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if this is true, then it is harrah's fault and really doesn't matter

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Well, sorta. It is Harrah's fault, but when even more dealers walk out and every competant dealer refuses to work for Harrahs it will be everyone's problem.

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I know what the dealers made. It is in line with what a break in dealer would make other places. If everyone is happy having the WSOP dealt only by breakin dealers that is fine.

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Obviously this isnt the time or place, but:

If the dealers are aweful, players will stop entering WSOP events, which will lose Harrahs money, which will make them realise they NEED good dealers to keep people happy, which will make them pay dealers better, which will get better dealers returning, which will get more players playing.

It is NOT the job of players to make up the difference - if Harrahs is charging a high juice and not passing this on to dealers then the problem is between Harrahs and the dealers.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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If the dealers are aweful, players will stop entering WSOP events, which will lose Harrahs money, which will make them realise they NEED good dealers to keep people happy, which will make them pay dealers better, which will get better dealers returning, which will get more players playing.

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Such a free market explanation doesn't really fit here, because the players aren't as informed/rational as you assume. How many entrants into the WSOP have never played live? How many have played live, but not enough to know - or care - about the difference between a "good" dealer and a serviceable one? There's also factors such as the prestige of the WSOP which would tend to offset loss of players due to bad service.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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If the dealers are aweful, players will stop entering WSOP events, which will lose Harrahs money, which will make them realise they NEED good dealers to keep people happy,

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One would expect this to be true, but I am not sure that it is. I know of some very large poker rooms in the east that are known for having terrible dealers taht still get plenty of play.

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which will make them realise they NEED good dealers to keep people happy, which will make them pay dealers better, which will get better dealers returning, which will get more players playing.

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This assumes that the people hiring dealers know who the good dealers are and where to find them.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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My feeling all along would be that this would eventually settle for something in the $2-3M range and I still believe that. From what I have been reading (and thanks to the OP for providing this info) Leyser is in a strong position but there is still considerable uncertainty in whether he will succeed and also I would think there is nothing here so far that warrants him receiving 50% of the entire prize. If Gold has obligations to others (Chan, BoDog, etc...) they will be factored in to the judges decision.

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Why would Leyser settle now? The judge who will make the final ruling at trial, just said that Leyser is very likely to prevail at that trial. That's huge. And Gold & Chan have said there is no obligations to Chan. And BoDog is now paying Jaime, not the other way around.

This is slam dunk for Leyser. Junior law students can argue over whether there is "consideration", but the judge in the trial has already ruled there is. It's like arguing with Theo Epstein over his posting fee for D-Mat. You may be right that Theo paid too much, but the deal is done and the issue is over.

If Leyser wanted to settle, he could offer Jaime $400k-500k to go away. That unlocks the money now, not six months from now, which has some value to Leyser. And it protects him from the small risk that Jaime's lawyer can come up with a new defense, get a new judge or find some other strategy to get the money.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

Does anyone have a PDF of exactly what the judge said?

I suspect that people may be overblowing what the judge said about Leyser being likely to win.

On of the legal elements necessary for upholding an injunction is a "a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits." The judge was probably just saying that Leyser has presented enough evidence to meet that element, which is differnt than the judge saying that s/he thinks Leyser is going to win.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

http://bluffmagazine.com/blog/blogde...d=4&aid=80


blog Mark Sief wrote about this case.

Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

To quote Seif

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In refusing to dissolve the Preliminary Injunction, Judge Hunt stated and it became obvious that he spent a great deal of time carefully reading Gold's affidavit, deposition testimony, pleadings, and transcripts of Gold's own radio interview and voice mail message.He found Gold's "version" of the facts contradictory and inconsistent. In contrast, the Judge stated that Plaintiff Crispin Leyser's position was consistent from the very beginning.

Judge Hunt also found and stated on the record that Crispin will likely prevail on the merits at trial. That's strong - very strong when you consider that there has been no demand for a jury trial and that THIS Judge will decide the case at trial. It's certainly not conclusive - but it gives you an idea what the Judge is thinking and which way he is leaning (despite the headline which appeared in some articles today stating the opposite - it was just a typo).

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Re: More Leyser-Gold drama
 

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My feeling all along would be that this would eventually settle for something in the $2-3M range and I still believe that. From what I have been reading (and thanks to the OP for providing this info) Leyser is in a strong position but there is still considerable uncertainty in whether he will succeed and also I would think there is nothing here so far that warrants him receiving 50% of the entire prize. If Gold has obligations to others (Chan, BoDog, etc...) they will be factored in to the judges decision.

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Why would Leyser settle now? The judge who will make the final ruling at trial, just said that Leyser is very likely to prevail at that trial. That's huge. And Gold & Chan have said there is no obligations to Chan. And BoDog is now paying Jaime, not the other way around.

This is slam dunk for Leyser. Junior law students can argue over whether there is "consideration", but the judge in the trial has already ruled there is. It's like arguing with Theo Epstein over his posting fee for D-Mat. You may be right that Theo paid too much, but the deal is done and the issue is over.

If Leyser wanted to settle, he could offer Jaime $400k-500k to go away. That unlocks the money now, not six months from now, which has some value to Leyser. And it protects him from the small risk that Jaime's lawyer can come up with a new defense, get a new judge or find some other strategy to get the money.

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Do you really think it matters what a low level judge thinks? Like I said before, if all the facts are out, Gold should win. Even if the current judge rules against him, the appeals process will favor Gold. There is no consideration and no reliance. My K prof would turn over in his grave. Gold made a gift and he can retract it at any time.