Daniel Negreanu (pictured) has never been known as someone who keeps his feelings bottled up. He has won over a lot of fans with his outspoken personality and at times has also earned detractors because of it. PokerListings caught up with the PokerStars pro last week and while there was some discussion of his poker playing, what really got him going was the topic of how Phil Ivey has been treated with regards to the Full Tilt Poker SNAFU.As most readers of PocketFives know, Full Tilt principals Ray Bitar, Chris Ferguson, and Howard Lederer were charged with running a "global Ponzi scheme" last September. Bitar was also one of the 11 individuals indicted on Black Friday.
It was discovered that Full Tilt had been having payment processing troubles and was having trouble getting funds from players’ bank accounts to the company’s own accounts. Rather than disallowing deposits until the issues were solved, Full Tilt continued to credit player accounts even when the money was never transferred. All the while, Full Tilt executives were allegedly receiving huge payments. Former Full Tilt customers are still owed well over $100 million.
Ivey, one of Full Tilt’s most popular pros, was upset by everything that went on and made a public statement last year to show his support for the poker room’s customers. On his Facebook page, he wrote, “I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed that Full Tilt players have not been paid money they are owed. I am equally embarrassed that as a result, many players cannot compete in tournaments and have suffered economic harm."
He added, "I am not playing in the World Series of Poker, as I do not believe it is fair that I compete when others cannot. I am doing everything I can to seek a solution to the problem as quickly as possible." Ivey (pictured) also sued Full Tilt Poker.Ivey did not return to poker until November 2011, when he played in the Asia Pacific Poker Tour's stop in Macau. This year, he is having a fantastic World Series of Poker. While he has not won a bracelet yet in 2012, he has made five final tables, one short of tying a record.
Despite Ivey’s words of support for the poker community and his self-banning from poker, some are using him as a scapegoat for the continued unavailability of player funds. That did not sit well with Negreanu.
“You know what I find amazing?” Negreanu told PokerListings. “I find it amazing that people pin it on the black guy. What about Erik Seidel and John Juanda and Phil Gordon and Andy Bloch? What’s the difference? Why is everyone so hung up on saying that Phil [Ivey] has done something wrong?”
“He’s not Howard Lederer or Chris Ferguson or Ray Bitar. Those are the scumbags that did it.”
While Negreanu insinuated that race has something to do with Ivey’s treatment, he also hit on what was perhaps the biggest reason for it, saying, “Ivey’s the only one who even released a statement really. He’s the only one who did anything to take a stand.”
And though many appreciated Ivey's stand, to others, it put him at the forefront of the scandal with a red and black target on his back.
PokerListings asked Negreanu if Ivey compares to Phil Hellmuth or Annie Duke (pictured), the two outspoken pros at the former UB. “People go after Annie Duke a lot, but nobody has much to say about Hellmuth having endorsed the site,” PokerListings observed.“I think that’s because people know the truth,” Negreanu replied. “Annie was involved in the business side of things, and that’s a fact. She knew the inner workings. She knew that god-mode existed. Phil Hellmuth, much like Ivey, is about himself. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but Ivey and Hellmuth are about playing poker and getting it done and getting a paycheck. Phil Ivey had nothing to do with the setup or the running of Full Tilt and neither did Hellmuth with UB.”
Negreanu further defended Hellmuth, saying that while the 12-time bracelet winner continued to promote UB, he was not intentionally deceiving players. In Negreanu’s opinion, Hellmuth honestly believed in UB, but was simply wrong in that belief.
What do you think? Should the poker community be blaming Ivey? Visit our thread in the Poker Community forum or comment here to weigh in.
