Never Trust Anyone

[CardSharpCook]

Just goes to show: Never Trust Anyone!!!

[innerpeace]

your story is very unfortunate, though what's even more unfortunate is that stories like yours don't surprise me in the least bit. most people who started playing poker after the rounders / moneymaker / tv era don't realize just how many unsavory characters there are in the poker ecosystem.

espn, the wpt, and others haven't helped matters much by going out of their way to glorify numerous poker players - many of whom in reality are degenerate gamblers with highly checkered pasts, often perpetually broke, and facing a host of other unhealthy addictions. there are stories about many poker players, even those portrayed as saints on tv, that would probably surprise you.

i won't cast judgements on your playing ability, but i will say this much:

first, to be able to make poker a long-term vocation, you need to have considerable inner emotional strength. from your initial post, it strikes me that you have a lot of work to do in that area. most people don't realize how taxing playing poker as a primary source of income can be (though it is probably less so now in the internet era than it was in the pasts for a number of reasons i won't go into).

second, to survive in the poker community, you really have to be very guarded. you should hold your cards close to your vest. there are some reasonably trustworthy poker players out there, but you haven't been around long enough to know who these people are, and even if you did, they probably wouldn't trust you because you're new to the community.

third, it takes quite some time to know whether you are actually a long-term winning player. poker can be very deceptive in that you can make the wrong decision at the right time. this is especially true in no-limit games. having a few cashes under your belt is a good start, but you have a ways to go. there are many cases of beginner's luck in poker (and poker actually lends itself to the beginner's luck phenomenon). the more you play and the more you are known, the harder things can get. you'll see time and again someone splash on to the poker scene having recently learned the game and cashing or final-tabling at a slew of events. very few of these people make it.

this isn't meant to directly discourage you, but to give you perhaps a more realistic expectation of what is involved when playing poker for a living. there is much truth to the adage that poker can be a tough way to make an easy living. in any event, i hope that you are able to resolve your issues, and that everything works out.

[Cornell Fiji]

ZingZing,

Yes:

"Anyways gathering info from an EXTREMELY reliable source it appears Brandi had cleaned out about 30k from one of Newhizzle's accounts"

Made it sound like theft and not playing unauthorized games in a staking deal.

That said, I would be absolutely amazed if:
1) Knowing what he knows about her and being as smart as he is that Mark would be willing to stake her
and
2) Mark was dumb enough to stake her that he wouldn't just transfer her funds and rather he would let her play on his account


I am just saying that if you are going to come forth with these slanderous rumors (and they are slanderous against Mark too and not just the girl as most of us here have a high oppinion of his deductive logic and would think a little less of him if he could be conned by Brandi) Please give us a little more than baseless accusations from an unknown poster.


Bluff,
Yea, I reduced the size of the bet because I realize that, despite how confident that I am that this did not occur, no one is going to accept my bet unless they have insider knowledge therefore I am on a negative freeroll.

[Dan Druff]

I also really hope that this 30k allegation isn't true. While the allegations don't involve chip dumping or outright theft, overstaying your welcome on someone else's account and losing $30k is extremely unethical and undeserving of forgiveness.

Given that we don't have verification that this really occurred, I won't comment too much yet.

However, if Brandi is guilty as charged, she is total scum and deserves everything that has happened. Then again, it could be complete BS, as we only have a rare poster's third-hand claim to go on.

I will say that a lack of comment about this from newhizzle would more indicate guilt on Brandi's part. If it's not true, we'll probably be hearing from him shortly.

When Mark won that Borgata event, I was truly happy for him. I met him during this year's WSOP, and he seemed like genuinely nice guy. However, my SECOND thought after he won was, "Oh crap.. I hope the scumbags and leeches of the poker world don't try to take advantage of him now."

There is one simple rule to live by in the poker world:

Trust nobody when it comes to money.

I really hope that Mark didn't actually find himself 30k lighter as a result of his generosity. If he did, I hope that this will at least be a wake-up call when it comes to trying to help people in the poker world.

NWP is constantly full of stories of people "rolling" each other for money -- usually unpaid loans or reneging on stake repayments. I know, however, that this sort of thing has been going on long before NWP ever existed, and it will continue to go on with each passing day.

All around the poker world, it's the same ol' song.

[Humble Pie]

[ QUOTE ]
I am just saying that if you are going to come forth with these slanderous rumors (and they are slanderous against Mark too and not just the girl as most of us here have a high oppinion of his deductive logic and would think a little less of him if he could be conned by Brandi) Please give us a little more than baseless accusations from an unknown poster.


[/ QUOTE ]

How come OP isn't subject to the same standards? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[BradL]

I accept the wager.

-Brad

[tongni]

Ok, I'll take this bet.

[Cornell Fiji]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am just saying that if you are going to come forth with these slanderous rumors (and they are slanderous against Mark too and not just the girl as most of us here have a high oppinion of his deductive logic and would think a little less of him if he could be conned by Brandi) Please give us a little more than baseless accusations from an unknown poster.


[/ QUOTE ]

How come OP isn't subject to the same standards? [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]


If her words are untrue then it is clearly slander. I believe that she has made this point herself in one of her replies to the thread.

The fact of the matter is, if it turns out that her story is fabricated then we all know who the lier is. In the matter of a random poster named ZingZing saying something about how Mark was not smart enough to see a scam coming a mile away, we have no idea who ZingZing is and since he refuses to give us corobortion we can assume that he very well could just have made up this story to get his rocks off.

All things being equal (and I am not saying that they are) I am more willing to trust someone whoose name I know then someone who is anonymous.

That said, if Brani's story turns out to be fabricated then her words are definitely slanderous. Unlike most posters in this thread however, I do not imagine that she has made all of this up in an attempt to con some 2p2ers out of their monthly rakeback.

From my experience, when someone confesses suicidal tendencies they are to be taken seriously and when someone alledges sexual assualt they should not be told that it is acceptable because they are a whore.

From my experience, when someone makes an anonymous post on 2p2 saying that 'a friend of a friend told me that...' then they should be considered full of [censored] until proven trustworthy.

[Cornell Fiji]

[ QUOTE ]
I accept the wager.

-Brad

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh oh, sounds like you know something that I do not. This sounds like the easiest $100 I have ever lost.

Brad was first.

The wager is that Brandi scammed Mark out of 30k lastnight. I am saying that she did not you are saying that I did.

The bet is for $100. We will let Mark be the arbiter of the situation if he decides to weigh in, if not then we will pick a fair impartial arbiter to rule on the bet if the decission is unclear. Please respond PM me your stars name.

[Al Capwne]

All right, I had to sign up for this to
1.) Confirm shaniac's observations and
2.) Back up the general consent about her playing skills.

I played with Brandi in September (before her "breakthrough performance") at Caesars in one of their daily tourneys, I think it was $120 & a $60 add on.

First off, when I sat down and saw her, I must've started to drool. She wasn't dressed provocatively at all, but man, that girl is SMOKING! Then she opened her mouth...

The entire room could easily hear her at all times, obnoxiously narrating EVERY fokkin hand and endlessly flirting with the fishy tourists at the table.
Never in my life was I so attracted physically and at the same time so repulsed mentally. I felt like the Seinfeld episode when the brain and the "penis on the back" <POB> have a chess match... and I have to admit, after the 1st break my POB won by a mile.
She got great cards, raised often and then made the horrid mistake of showing down her monsters every time and basically telling the whole table her thought process, which showed every one at the table with some experience at what level she was playing, what she was capable off, and what not, etc. That would've been fine at that table, except for 2 guys... we were licking our chops...YUM YUM.
At the break my POB really wanted to give her some advice, cause I swear, If she had never shown down a hand, (which she didn't have to) I would've figured her for a tough player. But she came out with the 2 nerdiest tourists at the table and they took a walk during the break. She totally had them in her palm. Ready to follow the punani.

After the break, when she was table chip leader, my brain won over 'cause she was just too obnoxious.
Listen to this interview and try that nonstop for 80 minutes without a break... http://www.pokulator.com/poker-video...randi-hawbaker

Other than that, she's just way to lag without having any after flop playing skills. Not a good combination... The other player at the table took her down when she called a huge pre-flop RE-RAISE with KJ and then called all in on a K high flop... It was nice to get some quite in the room, but hey, everyone talked about her 'till the final table [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I think Dutch & Brandi should get married and have a Love Child... then they can drink piss together or maybe just do live commentating from the rail at major tournaments. I think all the pros would appreciate it.