AP Visit: I'm going to Costa Rica

[ikestoys]

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The 'poker community' is partially retarded

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that is one thing I have certainly learned very thoroughly this week

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this is probably a good thing in the long run imo

[Kedu]

I think it would be much more interesting if 2p2 sent me down to panama with a camera. I could find A.J./scott tom and demand a comment. It would make for an awesome video either way.

[pokergrader]

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People should have just let Nat go on this trip and trusted his judgement. He spent as many/more hours on this as anyone with absolutley no vested interest other than his morals. ( He actually probably stood to lose ad revenue with his stake in Bluff media from exposing AP, while other players who who actually lost money in this ordeal put forth less effort than him)

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I don't think any of the people with valid concerns were attacking Nat. I have no doubt he is an upstanding citizen and perhaps the most qualified to visit.

However, without the power of the law, nobody in this company is ever going to come forward with the truth. The problem is we are setting the bar for appeasement too low, and instead of some sort of meaningful shakeup we are going to settle for the "word on the street" rumors that Nat will come back with. While the rumors will undoubtedly be accurate, it is just settling too much IMO.

I mean the basic question is what do you do when 98% of a company are good people and 2% screw you? Do you forgive the 98% or blame them for not protecting their clients against the bad ones? I believe it is the job of a company to protect their customers at all costs, knowing that rogue employees exist (and occur more frequently when a lot of money is at stake). Not only did this company not do that, they lied to cover it up. To me visiting the company when they have peddled us more dogshit over and over again feels like a premature extending of the olive branch.

I don't think the visit is a bad idea, I just would wait until they actually give the public some real information before a "representative of the people" visits them. The reason they want and were offering to pay him to visit is because it is good for them. Why? Because he is going to meet a lot of the 98% and not very many of the 2%. I don't think Nat is going to be tricked or fooled, but certainly some of the good PR is going to rub off. So why not make them earn it by actually giving the public a meaningful statement.

[albonycee]

Have the "fee" payed by us, the poker players instead of AP.

Everyone pool their money together to the amount AP was gonna pay and everything is solved.

[Victor]

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The 'poker community' is partially retarded

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that is one thing I have certainly learned very thoroughly this week

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kinda slow there adanthar. i learned this sometime in 2003.

[pineapple888]

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Have the "fee" payed by us, the poker players instead of AP.

Everyone pool their money together to the amount AP was gonna pay and everything is solved.

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vs. Absolute paying:
Net gain to person who goes = 0
Net loss to us = the fee
Net gain to Absolute = the fee

Thanks for very likely the most retarded suggestion in the 12323458909827345 posts related to the Absolute cheating scandal!

[rothko]

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The 'poker community' is partially retarded

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that is one thing I have certainly learned very thoroughly this week

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this is probably a good thing in the long run imo

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good point imo

[adanthar]

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vs. Absolute paying:
Net gain to person who goes = 0
Net loss to us = the fee
Net gain to Absolute = the fee

Thanks for very likely the most retarded suggestion in the 12323458909827345 posts related to the Absolute cheating scandal!

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I felt bad about potentially saying that, so I'm glad someone else beat me to it

[Phil153]

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Have the "fee" payed by us, the poker players instead of AP.

Everyone pool their money together to the amount AP was gonna pay and everything is solved.

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Nothing wrong with Absolute paying his expenses and a reasonable fee ($5000 is plenty for a week). It's the "substantial" bit that rubbed me the wrong way - it's not the way to be or appear impartial when people who don't know Nat at all are trusting his word. There's more than the close community here who'll be reading his opinion. This is especially true if he gives them the thumbs up or has nothing shady to report, which is likely considering that he's blocked from actually looking at meaningful information.

If Nat isn't get paid expenses by Absolute, I will happily donate $50 to the cause by Stars or FT transfer. You can hold me to that.

[Joe Tall]

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I don't understand why you're trying to help them get back on their feet. The people who own the company are responsible for the cheating, and you think that cleaning house will solve that problem? How do you wipe out the owners of a buisness and remain viable?

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Because AP being clean/open/honest/etc going forward is good for poker. If I don't think they're really committed to that I'll say so.

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I have to say that I'm extremely disappointed in that attitude. After what they've done, anything less than that company going under is NOT good for poker. Like many people have already shouted, if other sites see what AP did and also see them get away with it, that will be horrible for everybody.

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My ultimate goal is not to sink the company. I want them to pay for their mistakes. I also want them to be a good company going forward.

Am I off base here?

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No you are not. You may want to change your language here from "pay for their mistakes" to "compensate the affected players for their mistakes" as "pay" is a very aggressive word.