Ken-Gate (Ken Lennard & Russ Georgiev tried to cheat Erik123, others?)

[otnemem]

[ QUOTE ]


[/ QUOTE ]
Were you just waiting for a chance to post that? It seems completely irrelevant to this thread.

[fsuplayer]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok I'm on it.

Swedish isn't my first language but I like to think I understand about 99 percent of it. Will be as accurate as I can.

[/ QUOTE ]

u rock. ty.

[Lawman007]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok I'm on it.

Swedish isn't my first language but I like to think I understand about 99 percent of it. Will be as accurate as I can.

[/ QUOTE ]

u rock. ty.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, we need another good scandal. This one sounds like something out of a movie.

Russ G's post for those who missed it. More interesting and makes more sense if you've read that first.

Interview:

Q: What do you remember from that period?

Erik: I had become kind of a well known face, at least on the net and I was only playing texas limit holdem then.
I had met Ken Lennaard on a trip to Turkey where we had exchanged phonenumbers and etc.
During that period there were very good games online but they weren't very high.
So when Ken one day called me and asked if I wanted to take part in a game, that for security reasons would take place in Stockholm on his family's hotel, with an anonymous billionaire, I was of course very interested.
We were gonna play 1500-3000 limit holdem (SEK), which at that point would have been the highest I had ever played.
Ken made clear how big a fish the american was and that he would take contact to an unknown number of other well known players.
Everything felt good and trustworthy to me.

Q: When did Ken Lennaard first make contact with you?

Erik: A few weeks before it was going to take place.

Q: Following that contact, two weeks later, you were in Stockholm during the Swedish Championships. What happened then?

Erik: The whole Swedish elite (and certain non swedes) were there to play the Swedish Holdem Championship. I went out first hand I played and after a few hours a cash game got going in one of the other rooms. We paid a dealer who we could all trust.
It was 6 handed 1500-3000 and later 2000-4000 SEK.
We mixed it up and played holdem triple draw 2-7 and Omaha 8 or better.Those who played were Christer Johansson, Martin de Knijff and the danes Martin Vallö, Mads Andersen and Henrik Olsen. The game took place the entire week.
Ken called us and told us the game was ready on his hotel. That he had dealers you could trust and that the american was ready to play. From his point of view it was set to go.

Q: What was your initial reaction?

Erik: Personally I was pretty high on playing with the american. It was going to be straight limit holdem, which of course was better for me, and with the american playing we got a real fish in the game unlike the current game which was full of established players. I had hardly played some of the games either but had done well so far without in any way being a machine.
But at the same time when you play a private game like that one, it's of course good etiquette to listen to those who have been losing. And they're within their right to ask for the game to continue like it had been agreed from the start. And we were going to play all week and then do the score when everything was done.

Q: Were you in contact with the other intended players at this point?

Erik: Yes, since we were playing together 16 hours a day, I suppose you can so

Q: What was the mood amongst you?

Erik: Those who had been losing naturally wanted to continue and several did not want to play straight limit holdem either.
Then Ken kept calling and were very annoyed that we didn't keep our word cause he had tried really hard to set up this game. He was embarrassed in front of the American and things like that.
We offered to take the American here (Kortoxen) which would only be the natural thing in this situation. If he wanted to come have fun he was of course welcome. Kortoxen, for all who remember, was and is still today the club with the best security. Anyway it was the only thing we could offer.
Ken kept calling but it had the opposite effect of what he had in mind. Everyone's opinion turned more and more against him and I even recall that people started questioning why he was so desperate to get us there. Why should we drop everything for one lone american we had never even met?
What happened was that one day we decided to all say no to Ken regarding the game. Later that night Ken himself came down and as I've heard Christer Johansson say, throw a tantrum on him.
What is strange about Martin was that the day before he already had decided not to play and that Ken knew this all along.

Q: Why not just go to the hotel when it was such a favourable situation?

Erik: Believe it or not, after we had made up our minds it became something you just don't think about. It was simply another game that just didn't happen. Just like any other.

Q: How was your financial situation back then?

Erik: Things had been going well for a while but like I said earlier it was a very high game for me where I had to commit a substantial part of my bankroll.
If you feel that a game is very good but are still losing, you don't just give up. A game like that can more or less take your whole roll.

Q: And the other players?

Erik: It's impossible for me to speculate about other players private economy. All I can say is that De Knijff had won the Swedish Championship earlier that week.

Q: How did you hear about this story? That the game you were going to be part of was a scam?

Erik: People were asking me on msn. Initially I shrugged it off since they were asking if I had been cheated when playing a casino in Stockholm. I had never played in a casino there and I don't even know if one had opened. Then later in the evening I read what Russ had written and was shocked. He wrote stuff in his letter that no one realistically could know about unless they were deeply involved.

Q: You are the only one actually named in Russ letter. What did you think then?

Erik: Obviously you think that, you are the main target in the conspiracy.

Q: How did you take it?

Erik: First I was shocked more or less and then later of course angry. It's like when you're almost in a car crash. At first you don't think but then later after a while you start thinking, "what if".

Q: But you've played with Ken in different events/contexts following this. Why haven't you said anything then?

Erik: That was before the whole story came out. Now in retrospect it feels like a personal insult that he chose to "use" me and my name in those different situations.

Q: What was your reaction to Ken's letter (his denial)?

Erik: On the letter itself I didn't react much. He had already called Christer Johansson and hinted that he didn't like the compromise we had agreed on earlier (that he should come out and tell the truth himself). That everything had blown over and that everyone already knew the story. Including the papers he was writing for and the federation which he was working within and etc.
I was more angry when Christer told me this than when the letter itself showed up.
But the letter meant that his attitude was now public, which meant that those of us who knew what had really happened had no other choice than to come out and tell the truth since Ken himself apparently couldn't.
At the same time the letter is obviously very vague and poorly written.

Q: What's going to happen now?

Erik: For the sake of poker I hope that Ken comes out immediately and accepts responsibility.
Those who know me probably understand that I'm not one who gets down over anything that happens. You can't do that as a poker player. More sick stuff happen in a month as a poker player than it does in a lifetime for someone with an ordinary job.
Eventually you become immune to most stuff. The trouble is that when you're young and inexperienced you think positive or you want to think positive about everyone.
But for poker's reputation and my reputation I've chosen to talk about what happened during these turbulent months.
I think I've spend too much time and thinking about this which is something I didn't choose to do myself.
The truth is the truth and there is only one version of it.

[shaniac]

thanks bjorn.

[kitaristi0]

1500-3000 SEK is that like 150-300 EUR so like 170-350 USD?

Edit: nm, just checked and it's 200-400 USD.

[Xylocain]

Hmm, I guess I should have found something better to to this evening but... here is a translation of a recent interview with anothother "victim". The original text was pretty terrible so after mangling it through the babelfish [me]its no surprise its even worse [det är skrivet av samma snubbe som var programledare för "glöm inte tandborsten" vad förväntar man sig...]. Anyway, here goes.



[/ QUOTE ]
Speculations on a so called “gambling scandal” have caused many to raise an eyebrowse recently. It has been a few years since the actual date of the supposed [criminal act] by a well known pokerprofile in Sweden and the truth is slowly fading away.

After Erik Sagström stepped forward here on ProSharks recently and has given his version of the story many have asked for the other victimes, and for them to present their views on what happened..

One of these is Christer Johansson, professional poker player since many years. He has, out of respect for a prior agreement between the six players and Ken Lenaard, chose to wait with giving his views on the issue but now there is no respect left and here you can read his thoughts on the matter.

Christer, why do you choose to come forward and tell us now?

CJ: we chose not to contact media about this story mainly for Kens sake, and because he asked us not to, so that he could make the story public himself. As time has gone by, the rumor grew stronger and when media contacted us, we felt obliged to give our version.

What was you opinion on the game taking place in a hotel?

CJ: It sounded of course very intresting, after all its not every day you get the opportunity to play a billionaire, and at that according to Ken, a terrible one, but for different reasons that I will get back to we chose not to participate.

In economical terms Exactly what kind of money are we talking about?

CJ: We were playing shorthanded 2000-4000 fixed limit back then, this was before the real high stakes games were played on the internet. So to most people this was very high stakes. There is no doubt we would have lost a significant portion of our bank rolls had we participated in the rigged game.

What made you finally turn the game down?

CJ: It was actually Ken that made us turn it down. We all felt it was odd that this billionaire could not or would not meet us at “Kortoxen” (a cardclub in Stockholm, trans. note) and play us there. Security was good and we all felt safe there. We felt like home with the facilities, dealers and decks.

How was your relation to Ken before this was brought to light?

CJ: We have known each other for a long time and played lots of poker together. We have never associated privately outside of poker, maybe because we are too different. Ken likes to be seen and makes sure to always get his cut for good and worse.

Do I dare to ask what your relation is now?

CJ: I will always be dissapointed and angry with him for what he tried to do, but at least I appreciated him contacting me and telling me about this, and that I have told him so.

How did you find out?

CJ: Erik Sagström sent me a link at the beginning of the summer after Russ made his story public. And later I received a phone call from Martin that also had got the link.

Kent called you in person, what did he tell you?

CJ: It was very hard of course and I told him that I would never lie or cover up anything about this for him. But of course I also promised to not exaggerate, backbite or in any other way make matters worse than they actually were.

Have you been in contact with the others during this time?

CJ: We have spoken quite a lot via chatt and phone but we have not met to discuss the incident.

What is your agreement with Ken?

CJ: I don’t know if I can call it an agreement but we wanted to let Ken make the story public in a way that we would all agree on. Ken understood this and agreed to it.

How do you move on?

CJ: I’m so tired of the whole thing. Ever since my name was mentioned in Eriks interview I have received lots of questions from all kind of people and various media. I hope my story will answer these questions and that we can now move on to nicer and more positive things in poker.

How do you think this all ends?

CJ: I hope Ken will go public and explain himself, but I don’t have much hopes of that happening. I also think that Pokerförbundet (The Swedish poker association, trans. note) have handled this whole thing in a bad way.

/Joakim Geigert – ProSharks AB

[/ QUOTE ]


(1 SKR ~ 7.15 USD)

[NLfool]

so does this give Russ G's past outlandish claims more validity?

I'm by no means an expert in his various claims but here he is actually coming forward with something he himself was involved in. It's first hand and he provides detailed accounts versus, which is my clear impression, other times where he, like you say, outlandishly accuse people that he has next to nothing to do with of cheating. Without never really providing anything but thin air.
Point is I guess, that basically the one thing you can believe when coming out of this man's mouth, is that he is a cheater.

I was reading some of his posts just now and most of it is the same drivel over and over but I found this email, which is one of those that Kent Lennard sent him that I guess qualifies as "nvg worthy" though it's a few years old.

[ QUOTE ]

Hi

Last year at the world series I heard that Gus had won $1-2million of
Chip Rease playing backgammon at Chip's home. Nobody knew how much but
everybody "knew" that it was true. I thought that it was strange since
Chip is supposed be one of the best at picking of suckers. I was
skeptical that Chip with all his experience would lose that amount.

Expect Mads Andersen to win tournaments soon. He is also very
intelligent and a world champion in backgammon. He is playing a lot of
poker now and he is Gus Hansen's best friend. They have won a
respectable amount playing online PLO withs Swedes. The Danes have been
crushing the Swedes and I strongly believe collusion. I have only
played when staked since I been involved in the Internet business and
know how many ways there is to cheat and where ever there is money
involved ....

About a month ago Mads told me that he and Gus had been at Chip's place
where Gus had played him high stakes Gin Rummy. Maybe Chip was taking
his money back or maybe they did not play Gin but planned something
else.

Let's talk about Layne Slack. This is a play he did in the PLO 25-50.
He was raising almost every pot as usual. This is fine if you are deep
in money wich he was not. He raised the flop. Five-way action.
Everybody checked to him, he bets pot with the flop: K,2,2 He gets
checkraised and calls without hesitation. He was getting 5-2 on his
all-in call. Everybody knows that the other guy has minimum a duece.
Layne shows 7,7,5,4 (no back door flushes). A seven hits the turn. (I
do not think this was cheating) This is just a prime example of how the
tournament "stars" play in cash games, and surpricingly often in
tournaments.

A good time to call me is daytime after 12.00

Do you have any comments on how I played the hand in the World Series
last year?

Ken

[/ QUOTE ]

[_And1_]

well, there were also 3 danes supposed to play in the game, they are all very disappointed at cheating ken...