Mike Matusow shed light on what went down at Full Tilt Poker leading up to the 2011 Black Friday scandal. The former FTP pro defended Chris Ferguson, and referred to him as a “good guy” who made the mistake of letting a bunch of “f*****g a**clowns” run his business.

“The Mouth’s” comments towards Howard Lederer, however, weren’t as pleasant. He says “The Professor” and co-owner Ray Bitar were “100 percent to blame” for the company’s failures.

Matusow recently started a podcast called “The Mouthpiece” which is available on the Podbean app. In the first episode, he discussed his role at Full Tilt and also Ferguson’s.

Blindsided by Black Friday

Matusow was a prominent member of the Full Tilt family prior to Black Friday. He was a “red pro,” which was a big deal back then. Other red pros included Tom “durrrr” Dwan, Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer, Jennifer Harman, among other big name poker celebs.

In April 2011, the US Department of Justice blocked FTP, Ultimate Bet, and PokerStars from operating within the US. When that happened, a mismanaged FTP was unable to pay its players their remaining account balances. They were eventually paid a couple of years later.

Matusow claims he was not involved in day-to-day operations at Full Tilt. He was merely a sponsored pro who earned a huge salary, around $50,000 per month although he said on his podcast he should have been paid even more.

When Black Friday hit, Matusow says he had no idea the company couldn’t pay its players. He claims he was under the impression the poker pro-owned business was loaded based on conversations he had with Lederer and Bitar.

Was Chris Ferguson to Blame?

It’s been eight years almost to the day since Black Friday. But we still have yet to hear from Chris Ferguson on his side of the story. He continues to allow many within the poker community to bash him and blame him for the Full Tilt scandal without coming forward with any sort of explanation, at least not publicly.

Matusow, however, defended his former FTP pro on his podcast and had some choice words for Lederer.

“I also know this for a fact,” he told his listeners. “When Howard Lederer came out and said, ‘I’m retired, it was all Ray Bitar,’ that’s all just a bunch of bulls**t. Every time I went to Howard’s house, and every time a deal was made, it was always Ray and Howard making decisions on the phone.”

But what about “Jesus?”

“I seem to lean on the fact that Chris Ferguson’s only guilty thing that he did was let a bunch of f*****g a**clowns run his company.”

He didn’t provide details of Ferguson’s actions at Full Tilt. But he said Chris was the “biggest shareholder” who “created the software” for the poker site. Matusow claims “Jesus” is at fault for allowing a “criminal” like Bitar run his company, but exonerated him of any responsibility for Full Tilt failing to have enough in reserves to pay the American players post-Black Friday.

Perhaps, Mike is correct but many might be wondering why Ferguson still refuses to share his side of the story. It can’t possibly take eight years to write a speech.

There’s a reason that texas hold’em pro Antonio Esfandiari is obtaining such long shots to beat comedian/actor Kevin Hart in their approaching boxing match. Esfandiari isn’t also near to the sort of athlete that Hart is as well as it’s shown in his method for the suit that’s just a couple of weeks away from taking place.

The only advantage I really have is reach and height,” said Esfandiari. “So my only chance of winning is to use that to my advantage. I’ll probably take a more defensive approach. I’ll just try and keep my distance and hope that he leaves something open and I catch him with a dirty hook or something.

Esfandiari is obtaining 35:1 probabilities from Hart and also the stakes of the wager, just like the battle itself, have not and also will certainly not be revealed to the public. It will certainly occur within the next couple of weeks at a venue in Los Angeles that has yet to be established.

The duo chose that by shutting the fight to the public they will keep the battle better to what it was initially intended to be.

There’s no way that anybody can see it, unfortunately,” Esfandiari said. “We just decided it was better to kind of keep it how it started as a bet between two friends. We’re not really trying to publicize it. We thought at some point we might air it because everybody wanted to see it, but at the end of the day, we decided it was better if it just kind of stayed between us and our friends that are there.

Hart will have a film team there, however it is still undecided if the footage will be released in the future.

If Esfandiari goes the range, the fight will certainly be 3, three-minute rounds. Conditioning has been Esfandiari’s Achilles’ heel because he accepted the battle.

“When I first started, my biggest weakness was cardio,” he said. “The last 1 years of my life, I’ve been doing a lot of weights and yoga. Not a lot of cardio. I hated running.”

He’s boosted tremendously in his cardiovascular conditioning since his training began, nonetheless. Numerous months ago, there was no opportunity he can box for nine minutes. At the end of his newest session, he had the ability to compete throughout of the match.

“I just did three rounds, three minutes,” said the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner shortly after his latest workout. “Obviously I struggled, but I got through it. Whereas six months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do 20 seconds.”

As far as Hart’s training goes, he is taking it much more seriously than Esfandiari expected.

“In the beginning, I didn’t think he was taking it that seriously,” said Esfandiari about Hart’s training. “But in the last few months, I know he’s been training really hard and he’s been sparring as well. I saw a bunch of sparring equipment in his room and I was like ‘Oh crap.’”

He’s obtained an excellent factor to be anxious. As Mike Tyson famously claimed, ‘Everyone has a plan until they obtain punched in the mouth.’

Esfandiari does not have much experience with being typed the mouth.

“Before sparring? No.,” said Esfandiari. “But now I’ve gotten decked a bunch of times. A bunch of bruised ribs, my jaw got knocked out of place a couple times. Several bloody noses.”

His injury issues are centered around his face and also ribs. The gear that he has actually been sparring with gives some defense to his face. When he steps into the ring with Hart, they will be using the same headgear made use of in amateur boxing, which secures the head, however not his face.

“I’m really worried about breaking my nose,” said Esfandiari. “As we know, I’ve got a bigger than average nose. I’m definitely worried about breaking my nose and I’m also worried about breaking my ribs because he keeps joking about coming after my ribs.”

The fight is taking place concerning a month before the WSOP begins. Despite the recovery time, Esfandiari does not see this hindering his summertime texas hold’em routine.

“The World Series is still a few months away, so I don’t really see it having an effect on that,” he said. “Plus, I don’t see myself playing as many events as I used to back in the day. Last year, I cut down a lot. This year, I’ll probably only play a few big ones. I kind of just want to be with my kids.”

He kept in mind that in between cardio workouts and boxing training sessions, Esfandiari is exercising between seven as well as nine times a week. Despite the immense quantity of time concentrated on his exercises, he still locates time to grind some cash money game sessions.

He has some additional energy at the table many thanks to his recent training, but this will certainly be the last time that he steps in the ring.

 I figure this is kind of a one and done,” said Esfandiari. “And at the end of it, I don’t want to say that I didn’t give it my all. I also don’t want to get my ass kicked in 30 seconds and be like ‘Oh, that was cool.

Sean Winter holds a slim lead over Bryn Kenney and Rainer Kempe in the GPI Player of the Year race one-fourth of the way to the finish line. But it’s a sprint, not a marathon.

Winter’s early lead is mostly due to a strong performance at the US Poker Open in February. He cashed in five of the 10 events, including a title in Event #4, $10,000 Short Deck No-Limit Hold’em for $151,200. The soon-to-be father also shipped a $25,000 high roller at the PCA in January for $495,210.

Too Early to Get Excited

While it’s certainly an advantage to get off to a strong start in the GPI POY race, Winter isn’t guaranteed victory. Early Player of the Year leaders have a tendency of slipping late in the year.

Last year, Justin Bonomo won big the first six months but lost in the end to Alex Foxen. In 2016, Fedor Holz crushed it over the summer, four times earning seven-figure scores before fading in December to David Peters.

But that doesn’t mean Winter’s early hot streak won’t continue. His current run is no fluke. Last year, he cashed for over $5 million in tournaments. That includes runner-up finishes in the $50,000 WSOP High Roller for $1,020,253 and $250,000 Partypoker Caribbean Poker Party for $2,430,000.

Winter now has over $12 million in lifetime earnings. He was all set to ship the US Poker Open trophy before Peters came out of nowhere on the final day of the series to steal it away.

Competitive Race

Peters, thanks in large part to his US Poker Open title, is also right in the thick of things. He sits in seventh place on the GPI POY leaderboard but isn’t too far off Winter’s pace.

Current GPI Player of the Year Leaders

1. Sean Winter (USA) 1,919.38
2. Bryn Kenney (USA) 1,767.30
3. Rainer Kempe (Germany) 1,610.25
4. Brian Altman (USA) 1,560.90
5. Alan Engel (Canada) 1,553.43

*Peters has 1,467.91 points

Kenney is one of the most consistent high roller performers in the world. So, it’s a safe bet to assume he’ll be in the mix throughout the year. In 2017, he finished runner-up to Adrian Mateos by a mere 26 points.

The race is so close that Stephen Chidwick, who won two US Poker Open events, is in ninth place but only six points out of seventh place. He finished runner-up to Foxen last year and came in third place in 2017.

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series announced last week that it will be returning to Montenegro for 10 events, including the first pot limit Omaha events in the series’ history.

The Triton Poker Super High Roller Series will take place from May 5-17 at the Maestral Casino & Resort, the same venue that hosted the Triton Series in 2018.

Two Main Events Highlight Schedule

The 10 events include a wide range of game types that are popular on the high-roller circuit. Those include six-handed and eight-handed no limit hold’em, turbo formats at (relatively) cheaper buy-ins, and two main events: one in classic no limit hold’em, and another in short deck hold’em, a game that has become increasingly popular and which has become a staple at Triton Series events.

As usual, the events are priced in Hong Kong Dollars. Both main events feature a buy-in of HKD 1 million ($127,400), while side events range from HKD 100,000 ($12,700) to HKD 750,000 ($95,500).

The action starts on May 5 with the eight-handed no limit hold’em turbo event. The NLHE main event begins on Wednesday, May 8, while the short deck main event is the final event of the stop, starting on Wednesday, May 15.

In Triton’s announcement of the stop, Jason Koon said that he was looking forward to heading back to Montenegro for the poker and the atmosphere.

Ivey, Koon Made Short Deck History Last Year

When Triton stopped by Montenegro last year, the offerings weren’t quite as expansive as they will be this May. There were only four events on tap, but it was still a memorable occasion for poker fans.

That would have likely been true regardless of who won, since that Triton Series stop featured the first major short deck tournament ever held in a live setting. But when you add in the fact that Phil Ivey took down that first ever tournament, winning approximately $600,000 in the process, it became one of the more memorable events of the year.

Koon had an even better week, winning the HKD 1 million short deck event that closed out the series to take home $3.5 million (Ivey finished third in that event as well, securing another $1.66 million). Meanwhile, the main event was won by Nikita Bodyakovskiy, who took home nearly $2.5 million after defeating Rui Cao in heads up play.

The Triton Series has become the premier high stakes tournament circuit in the poker world today. Montenegro will be the second stop for the series this year, as Triton held an event in Jeju, South Korea in March.

Casino operator Delaware North is ending its agreement with its sports betting partner after its two land-based casinos in West Virginia as well as its mobile betting app suddenly went offline on March 6 and have not had the ability to take brand-new wagers ever since.

In a Friday declaration, the company said that it has notified the West Virginia Lottery Commission that it “is taking steps to terminate its partnership with Miomni Gaming.” Its decision was prompted by a contract dispute between Miomni and third-party technology supplier Entergaming, the statement further read. As mentioned above, the dispute resulted in the operator’s two casinos – Wheeling Island Casino and Mardi Gras Casino – not being able to accept new bets, including ones on the NCAA basketball tournament.

Due to the dispute, the BetLucky mobile app, the only one operational in West Virginia, also went offline on March 6.

Delaware North and Miomni teamed up for the launch of in-person and mobile betting in October 2018. Sports betting went live at the company’s two West Virginia casinos in December. The mobile app was rolled out simultaneously with the launch of in-person betting.

Wagering came to the two properties after months of delays. Delaware North was first expected to launch sports betting at the casinos by the end of September 2018. However, it issued a statement back then saying that it would debut its sportsbooks and mobile app later in the fall without providing information on what had prompted the delayed start of sports gambling.

Working to Bring Sports Betting Back

Delaware North said in its Friday statement that they “are evaluating all options to once again provide sports wagering services.” The company also warned that “identifying and implementing” a new solution could “take several months or longer.”

With Miomni out of the game, Delaware North will need to find a new partner to power its brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and a mobile app. The process could be lengthy and complex.

The gaming and hospitality company operated two of West Virginia’s five retail sportsbooks and the only available mobile betting app. Aside from its now former wagering partner, William Hill and DraftKings Sportsbook are the other two providers of betting solutions licensed to operate in the state, which automatically makes them among the likely candidates for powering the Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras sportsbooks.

Delaware North said in its statement that while searching for a new betting partner, it will continue to honor and redeem all resulted bets and provide customers with information about how to access their accounts and withdraw their available funds.

Former Amaya CEO David Baazov has opened a $2 million lawsuit against Quebec’s securities regulator in response to the insider trading lawsuit those authorities pursued unsuccessfully against him beginning in 2016.

Baazov says that L’Autorite des marches financiers (AMF) acted maliciously when it accused him of leaking privileged information to aid insider trading and manipulate the price of Amaya stock.

Prosecutorial Mistakes End Case Against Baazov

Baazov was facing five charges, and had pleaded not guilty to all of the accusations. But the case came to an end last June, when Judge Salvatore Mascia dismissed the case against Baazov and his co-defendants, saying that the “accumulation of mistakes” from the prosecution justified and required a stay in the proceedings.

AMF lawyers indeed made several mistakes, with the most notable one coming last May. That’s when the prosecution accidently shared 320,000 documents with the defense. While prosecutors claimed the documents were “privileged” and asked for them back, it provided an opening for Baazov’s lawyers to claim the AMF had improperly withheld evidence from them, an argument that proved persuasive with Judge Mascia.

That was enough for Baazov to walk away a free many. But the former CEO is now claiming that the accusations against him were entirely without merit and rise to the level of being “abusive.”

If Baazov is successful in his lawsuit, he has pledged to donate the $2 million he could win from the AMF to five local charities in Montreal. However, the AMF is saying that it will “vigorously” defend itself against the charges.

AMF Investigated After Shady Stock Movements

The initial charges against Baazov, as co-defendants Benjamin Ahdoot and Yoel Altman, stemmed from investigations related to one of the most impactful business moves for the online poker world in recent memory.

Baazov was the CEO of the Amaya Gaming Group when the company announced its $4.9 billion acquisition of PokerStars in August 2014. In December of that same year, the AMF raided Amaya’s offices in Montreal after questions arose about suspicious movements in Amaya’s stock price prior to that massive takeover.

In 2016, Baazov resigned as the CEO and chairman of Amaya, a company he co-founded in 2004. He then attempted to lead a bid to purchase the company, but gave up on the plan after a series of setbacks, including the loss of a major investor and the realization that major shareholders wanted a significant premium over the company’s stock price.

In May 2017, Amaya changed its name to The Stars Group, a rebranding that emphasized the role of its flagship product, PokerStars. At that time, the company also moved its headquarters to Toronto under the leadership of CEO Rafi Ashkenazi.

Since that time, The Stars Group has continued to grow through acquisitions, including the purchase of Sky Betting & Gaming for $4.7 billion. Baazov sold off his remaining interest in the company in March 2017.

Ben Palmer has won the inaugural World Poker Tour Venetian DeepStack Showdown $3,500 buy-in no-limit hold’em main event, defeating a field of 734 entries to secure his first WPT title and the top prize of $431,655. This was his 340th career live tournament cash and by far his largest. The win brought his lifetime earnings to $2,732,635.

This was the first WPT main event ever held at The Venetian® Resort Las Vegas. The huge turnout saw the $1,000,000 guarantee easily surpassed, with the final prize pool growing to $2,333,800.

It took three full days of action to narrow the sea of entrants down to a final table of nine players. Palmer held the lead going into day 4, with 2013 World Series of Poker main event runner-up Jay Farber as his closest competitor.

Palmer furthered his advantage by knocking out recent WSOP Circuit Bicycle Casino main event winner Sean Yu. Yu had just lost with pocket jacks against the A-Q of Mark Ioli to fall to the bottom of the leaderboard. He got all-in with ADiamond SuitJClub Suit and ran into the 10Spade Suit10Diamond Suit of Palmer. Yu failed to improve and was eliminated in ninth place ($41,665).

Despite coming into the day in second chip position, Jay Farber was the next to hit the rail. In his final hand he got all-in with AHeart Suit9Heart Suit and was called by the ADiamond SuitKSpade Suit of Mark Ioli. Neither player improved and Faber had to settle for eighth place ($52,790).

Palmer scored his second bustout of the final table when his AHeart SuitKClub Suit outran the 9Spade Suit9Heart Suit of Skip Wilson. Palmer paired his ace on the turn to win the pot and send Wilson home with $67,675 as the seventh-place finisher.

It took nearly 70 more hands until the next elimination went down. WSOP bracelet winner William Givens got his last chips in with the KHeart Suit10Club Suit. Mark Ioli held the AClub Suit8Club Suit and made trip aces by the turn to knock Givens out in sixth place ($87,760).

In the next major confrontation, Mark Ioli flopped top two pair out of the big blind and called a continuation bet from Palmer, who promptly hit his gutshot straight draw on the turn. Palmer bet again on the turn and then moved all-in on the river. Ioli called and was eliminated in fifth place ($115,105).

With that Palmer surged to over 13 million in chips. Tony Gargano closed the gap a bit by knocking out Orlando Barrera in fourth place ($152,690), having flopped quads with his pocket kings. Barrera shoved after the flop with pocket sixes and found himself drawing dead with two cards to come.

Gargano went on to knock out Danny Qutami in third place ($204,810), calling his three-bet shove with AHeart SuitQHeart Suit and holding up against the AClub Suit8Heart Suit. With that Gargano overtook the lead, entering heads-up play with 16.8 million to Palmer’s 12.5 million.

The final two players battled it out for 64 hands, with a few lead changes along the way. In the final hand, Gargano moved all-in from the button for 9.5 million. Palmer thought it over for a while before making the call with QDiamond Suit10Diamond Suit. Gargano held the AHeart Suit4Club Suit. The board ran out JClub Suit10Heart Suit9Club Suit6Club SuitQHeart Suit to give Palmer two pair, the pot and the title. Gargano took home $277,760 as the runner-up finisher.

Palmer was awarded 1,368 Card Player Player of the Year points for the win, enough to see him climb into 41st place on the overall POY rankings.

Here is a look at the payouts and POY points awarded at the final table: