After receiving an acquittal in a court of law, poker player Mike Postle has launched a defamatory lawsuit against his accusers.
Mike Postle Is on the Offensive with $330m Lawsuit
The cheating saga involving the name of Mike Postle continues, as once the defendant, Mr. Postle is now the plaintiff in a $330 million defamation lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed on October 1 and comes as a slap in the face of the plaintiffs in the original case, which cited the Stones Gambling Hall in Citrus Heights, California, Mr. Postle and another person as part of a conspiracy to defraud players.
Mr. Postle’s winnings did climb rather rapidly during his stint at Stones Gambling Hall and he eventually attracted the ire of Veronica Brill, an established poker personality who spearheaded the attack on Mr. Postle’s personality, suspecting cheating. While Mr. Postle has been acquitted, the poker community at large still doubts his credibility, something that he now uses as the basis of his legal counter-offensive.
Who’s Targeted in the Defamation Lawsuit?
The lawsuit is quite ambitious in its scope and goes beyond the official plaintiffs, who involved Ms. Brill herself. Mr. Postle has felt offended by a number of high-profile community members, including Daniel Negreanu, a Canadian poker legend, and Haralabos Voulgaris, another professional player who is now involved with quantitative research for the Dallas Mavericks.
Yet, they are not the only once. Phil Galfond, member of the Run It Once educational poker community was also named in the lawsuit because he went on to analyze thousands of Mr. Postle’s hands and implied that the probability of some plays was very unlikely. Mr. Postle is even targeting ESPN which aired a SportsCenter episode in which it discussed the scandal and brought up his name.
In his lawsuit, Mr. Postle claims that he is the victim of conspiracy, and that his accusers have rallied together to damage his reputation and personality. In honesty, Mr. Postle has not had it easy.
The poker community at large has ostracized him for his alleged cheating, even though he was acquitted in a court of law, after reaching a settlement with the plaintiffs represented by poker lawyer Mac VerStandig. Mr. Postle has claimed that he has been forced to discontinue his poker career as a result, leaving him in a difficult position.
Veronica Brill Is in Mr. Postle’s Crosshair
Mr. Postle will certainly want to get back at Ms. Brill, the poker player who raised the alarm and described his behavior as aberrant and out-of-the-ordinary. Later on, poker analysis suggested that Mr. Postle was possibly the best player in the world, in Mr. Galfond’s own words, who seemed to be poking fun at the player at the time because of his highly-successful decisions at the green felt.
The complaint, though, specifically said that Ms. Brill has “a history of wild accusations against multiple people over the years, none of which have ever been substantiated.” Ms. Brill has already started raising funds to pay for her legal expenses. A GoFundMe campaign by Ms. Brill has so far collected $27,171 out of $50,000.
