• Mike Postle Arrested
• Mike Postle Investigation
• Mike Postle Caught
• Mike Postle Lawsuit
• What Happened To Mike Postle
• Latest On Mike Postle

It’s rare that mainstream media reports on poker, but last week’s news bombshell about an alleged cheater who had infiltrated a low-stakes, live-streamed cash game has captured the attention of even casual gambling enthusiasts.

Mike Postle (born 1978 or 1979) is an American professional poker player who grew up in Wisconsin.He was the central figure of an alleged poker cheating scandal that caused controversy throughout the poker community. Dec 15, 2020 Those waiting for a Mike Postle update got their wish last week. This seemingly never-ending story began with accusations of cheating during a series of live-streamed poker games. It then spiraled into multiple lawsuits involving dozens of players, the poker room where the games took place, its manager, and Postle himself. Mike Postle ended 2020 on a high after beating a $10 million lawsuit and filing his own $330 million countersuit in its place. Now, however, a recent ruling means he could be contending with new. The attorney for poker player Mike Postle has filed a motion to be relieved of his duties as legal counsel. The motion, filed in Sacramento Superior Court last Tuesday by Steven Lowe of Lowe & Associates, is specific to Postle’s libel case against a dozen people and media outlets in conjunction with the allegations that he cheated at poker. The Mike Postle drama is a bit like the 11th and final season of the U.S. Sitcom Happy Days. By the time it comes to an end, you’re not sure whether you’ll like any of the characters involved.

Mike Postle, a former casino employee, has been accused by insider whistle blowers of cheating the Stones Live Poker game in Northern California out of upwards of $250,000, rarely playing above stakes of $5-$5 no-limit hold’em for the last couple of years.

Although charges have yet to be filed, the developing story was picked up by ESPN, who ran a segment with Scott Van Pelt on SportsCenter, explaining the allegations.

Van Pelt, who admitted he was just a poker novice, ended his reporting with a question that has been on the minds of many poker players since rumors of cheating began to surface.

“If you show up to play pick up basketball, and you never, ever miss a shot, for a couple of years, wouldn’t you go play in the NBA? If you are some sort of poker god, who almost never loses, who makes the right call or fold virtually every single time… If you were [that] good, why would you be playing in games only with a video feed… at a $1-$3 table at Stones Poker Room? Why wouldn’t you be in Vegas winning all the money in the world?”

Although innocent until proven guilty, in the court of public opinion, at least on social media, there are very few players standing in Postle’s corner. Poker Hall of Famer and 2003 WSOP main event winner Chris Moneymaker initially came to his longtime friend’s defense, but after reviewing the evidence has changed his mind, saying, “I think he did it.”

In addition to hand breakdowns down by poker personalities like Joe Ingram and Doug Polk, numerous other players have come forward to say that Postle is guilty, including Daniel Negreanu, Jason Koon, Matt Berkey, Scott Seiver, Christian Harder, Haralabos Voulgaris, Sam Greenwood, Bart Hanson, Dan Shak, Phil Galfond, Brandon Shack-Harris, and Ryan Riess. Matt Salsberg summed up the poker world’s thoughts best.

Made a vlog analyzing the Postle situation. pic.twitter.com/TT24y5rmBP

— Salty (@msalsberg) October 1, 2019

The initial sign of trouble for the show came from Veronica Brill, a frequent commentator on the stream who first noticed the suspicious play from Postle.

This was the last show I did commentary on for Stones Live Poker. A lot of what @Mike_Postle was doing didn't make sense. It was after this show i decided that i wanted to take it to the MF streets.
This clip shows how confused I was by his play
https://t.co/fTJ9gyZlod

Mike Postle Arrested

— Veronica 2.0 (@Angry_Polak) October 4, 2019

Brill’s concerns were quickly brushed aside by management, who assured her and others that the games were on the up and up after an internal investigation “found no evidence that any cheating had occurred.”

The lack of accountability has led some to believe that Production Manager and Stones Live Poker Tournament Director Justin Kuraitis is also involved in the scandal. Internet sleuths have discovered that Kuraitis was present for most, if not all of Postle’s winning sessions. In fact, a two-month stretch where he was in Las Vegas lines up well with a small downswing and limited playing schedule from Postle.

Questions sent to Kuraitis’ Twitter account went ignored. Postle plans to release a statement on Mike Matusow’s The Mouthpiece podcast Friday night.

Stones opted to run one more live stream game the night after the allegations went viral, even including Postle’s brother in the line up. The casino announced another show the next day, before social media pressure forced a cancellation. The Stones Live Poker Twitter account even changed it’s profile photo to one of their logo behind bars, in an attempt at poking fun at themselves that many called tone deaf.

Stones has since announced they are halting the live-streamed games and use of RFID playing cards while they conduct another investigation. But despite claims that the fact-finding team would be independent, it took less than an hour for disappointed poker players to discover that the team’s leader, former Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lipman, is also the Stones Casino owner’s personal defense attorney.

While most of the poker world agrees Postle cheated, what they can’t agree on is how he allegedly carried out his scheme. Theories range from an accomplice signaling him with a buzzer tied to his leg, to an RFID reader in his keys. Some believe he was using bone conducting headphones sewn into his hat to listen to cues, while others are convinced he had a video player in his lap tuned to the live broadcast.

The poker world has been waiting for Mike Postle to express his thoughts about the cheating scandal he has been caught up in for the past 12 months for a very long time.

This week, the silence that has lasted through the serving of a subpoena, the attendance in a court of law and a global pandemic finally ended. Mike Postle declared his innocence.

Poker is not an exact science, and as a matter of fact, Postle will never and has never been declared innocent, because no court in the land can do such a thing. He’s either guilty or not guilty and in that sense, when his case was dismissed earlier this summer, the latter applied.

Despite the judge scratching the case for geographical and evidentiary reasons, there were many questions that still hadn’t been answered. These included but were not withstanding to:

• If you weren’t cheating, how come you don’t play super high rollers and own souls there instead of $1/$2 in a specific cash game?
• Has the shape of your head or hat been influenced by an extremely starchy boil wash?
• Why have you spent a collective six hours of time during a live-streamed poker game staring at your own crotch?

We can only speculate on those posers, but Postle has declared himself ‘not guilty’ via a text message to the Sacramento Bee. That’s an odd choice and we’ll come back to it, but let’s go with it for now.

Postle text was full of self-defence, but also hints at the possibility that a documentary is in the making. Clearly, there’s a case for making the comparison between Mike Postle and Tiger King, but that’s prey we won’t pounce on. Rather that stalk a wounded animal, we’ll simply present the text verbatim.

“As much as I’d like to say, all I can really say right now is that I have my side of this entire fiasco to tell. It won’t just shock the poker and gambling industries, but the entire world.

This all goes way beyond just my innocence but includes an entire incredible 17+ year story along with it, and what’s happened since the allegations. In fact, it’s such a mind-blowing story, that it’s being told to Dave Broome at 25/7 Productions who will be producing a wild documentary for the world to see on it!

“I’ve been waiting for many, many months on this and I’m anxious for it to finally come out. So, to all the detractors and accusers who have asked, ‘Why hasn’t he spoken or provided his evidence of innocence and explanations?’

“Well guess what? … Now you know.”

Mike Postle Investigation

For a man who has said virtually nothing for most of a year, there’s a lot in there to pick the bones out of (enough with the tiger comparisons – Ed). We know he has his side to tell, what we don’t want is his admittance that after 12 months, he realizes it too.

There’s the Postlebility – ahem, possibility – of a documentary and 25/7 Productions are making it? OK this is exciting simply because of the name of that company. 25/7 Productions? Sounds like they’ve worked out how to extend the day by an extra hour, we’re hoping Netflix sign the programme up right away. The lingering slo-mo close-ups of Postle looking at his crotch might make it a certificate-15, but we’d still let our teenagers see how the world really works, wouldn’t we?

Mike Postle Caught

It won’t just shock the poker and gambling industries, but the entire world? Now we’re bigpoker fans, huge, but we can’t imagine that the indigenous tribe of the Uncontacted Indians of Brazil are going to put down that kettle and toss a wet blanket over the fire to set up a WiFi connection to the story of Mike Postle. We just can’t.

As well as Postle’s teaser text sent to the Sacramento Bee, Stones Gambling Hall employee Justin Kuraitis put out the following Twitter post that led to a four-page document. Posting, ‘There are some things I’ve wanted to say for a while now’, Kuraitis has since drawn so much negative feedback from the poker community, including from Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk that he has had to walk away from the social media platform:

There are some things I’ve wanted to say for a while [email protected] @Angry_Polak @DougPolkVids @mac_verstandig @Mike_Postle @MarleCordeiro @RealKidPoker @StonesLivePoker @notthefakeSVP @RounderLife @haralabob @espn @barstoolsports @kirkrexfordhttps://t.co/2FERsqGoFJ

Mike Postle Lawsuit

— Justin Kuraitis (@JFKPokerTD) September 15, 2020

What Happened To Mike Postle

After an incredible year of denials and accusations, the possibility of a ‘tell all’ documentary revealing some of the poker community’s thoughts on Postle’s guilt or otherwise would be the pay-off to end them all and lead to record sales of popcorn within the poker industry. Making the programme would be simple. As well as an open and level investigation (that’s the first 10 minutes sorted) simply interview the poker world one by one, telling them as you call ‘action!’ that everyone else who’s being interviewed has the opposite opinion.

Latest On Mike Postle

The rage would lead to a smash hit in the ratings. Never mind Tiger King, this Postle cat could sing from his cage to a captive audience.