Andrew played mostly mid stakes and was never extremely active on P5s but did post enough to be well known around the community, make transfers, etc. I hate these kind of things, and this is the very last thing I wanted to do/last place I wanted to talk about this at but now I don't have much of a choice. I have been scammed by Metadonk, but in a different way than what usually goes on in the poker community. Last year I planned a trip to Lake Cumberland, KY for some poker players in which we rented a houseboat for 7 days, rented a jetski to keep on board, and lived out on the lake for a week. The following poker players were supposed to be on this trip: Sean Ripp (metsfan4590), Steve Ripp, Jack Bledsoe (herbhealsme), Ryan Sharp (Nextcase222), and Andrew Smith (Metadonk). Well unfortunately for me I can not remember which one of the guys I just named invited Andrew but I had never met him IRL (and still haven't) and only knew him through the poker community and had done a small amount of transfers/talked to him on aim briefly in the past. One of the guys invited him to come along with us and vouched for him that he was trustworty. Well I payed for this trip up front with everyone agreeing to pay me back when we got there. The total per person was a little over $1500 each. Andrew fails to show up and comes up with this story that he went to the airport, but forgot to take his passport (flying out of Canada) and there was only a certain small amount of flights leaving that week so he missed the flight. From the beginning this sounded like a pretty big lie as his story never made sense throughout all this, and the boatmates and myself had the read that he had never even went to the airport to begin with. After speaking with him, he acknowledges that I had already payed for him up front and that he would still pay me the money that he owed me for the trip although he was not going to be able to attend.

For several months, I would contact Andrew throught AIM or Facebook and he would keep telling me pretty much the same story that he was building up his paypal account and was going to send it to me when he got it up to the $1500 he owed me. As several months passed by, I became pretty suspicious that he never had plans to pay me. I began sending him more fb messages, posting on his wall, etc. and never received a response back. He would constantly post on facebook about several weddings that he worked for (he does professional photgraphy for weddings) and was doing a different wedding pretty much every weekend, basically bragging about making money, etc while all at the same time just ignoring all of my chat, wall, and inbox messages. Today I finally messaged him again and just flat out asked him if he planned on scamming me out of the $1500 that he owed me. He then preceded to block me from AIM and facebook without saying a single word back.

I wanted to make this aware to the community for two main reasons. For one, if he can take advantage of somebody that didn't even really know him and that for the most part is a well-respected person in the community, who went out of there way to spot him some money so he could come on this fun trip with us, then it's pretty obvious if poker comes back to the US this is not somebody that you will want to be dealing with. (He lives in Canada and doesn't appear to be playing any lately). He has done numerous transfers via pocketfives and that needs to end. The second reason is because I am hoping that some people in the same area as him or some of his friends in the poker world will come forward with information on how I can get my money back. It really is sickening how people continue to scam others in the same community as them, when in fact the scams derive from one originally helping out and doing a favor for the person eventually doing the scamming. Finally, the reason I have come out with this on here is because it has now been a full year since this trip has taken place and he has taken the steps to block me from all communications with him, which is basically stating to me that he has no intentions of ever paying me back!!! If anybody has information on how I can retrieve the money rightully owed to me, please let me know!!!

Thanks!!

sigh...from the looks of it, he's quit poker so doubt he's gonna care about his name being besmirched in the community :(

unlucky

wait...so like 7 people stayed in a house and each paid 1500...this kid never showed up or paid, so he owed you 1500. seems like a pretty clear case of everyone in the house just paying a slightly larger share, so you don't have to be out the whole 1500 yourself. i'd be more mad at the other people for making you burden this whole load than metadonk for not showing up...

 

Originally Posted by Gags30

wait...so like 7 people stayed in a house and each paid 1500...this kid never showed up or paid, so he owed you 1500. seems like a pretty clear case of everyone in the house just paying a slightly larger share, so you don't have to be out the whole 1500 yourself. i'd be more mad at the other people for making you burden this whole load than metadonk for not showing up...

Yeah, I agree with gags

Good luck getting your money back

yea, def a bullshit move by him and he should be communicating with you, but also dont see him on hook for full $1500 share.

"16-Jul-2010 Player scammed some long time CMU regulars in an off-site staking deal."

http://www.chipmeup.com/player/metadonk


he's banned there.

agree with gags, sucks tho. hope you get your money back!

became friends w metadonk thru discussing HHs. was a really good guy, we did several transfers back and forth. we also swapped % a few times, and money was always sent w no problems.

then i won his fantasy fb league and a side bet, but he disappeared w out ever paying. sent several PMs/emails but no response. maybe he went busto or just doesn't care. $250 that i will never see

All your money went to blowing it on cameras and shit for his photoshoots. Guess he's a photographer now lol.

That sucks man sorry to hear. It seems this kinda thing always happens when you are the one planning a trip and book everything for a large group of people, there is always somehow an argument over $$ and you get fked cuz you paid upfront. I agree with gags tho, they should be splitting the $1500. Seems ridiculous that they would let you take the entire burden.

 

Originally Posted by JokersOnYou

this isn't so much on MetaDonk, this is on your friend that vouched for him. If there is anyone you should be collecting money from, it's your friend. His obligation to you is to vouch for him. If his friend fails, then he failed. He is the one that owes you 1500. This really has nothing to do with you...this is between him and your friend. Your friend will naturally give you 1500 once he pays him.

How exactly could this be more the fault of someone other than Metadonk? Maybe someone made an unwise move vouching for someone, but 1 person is liable here. But ya, pretty bullshit move for the other 5. We should be reading how the 6 of you are each owed $250 by Metadonk. Hope you're able to recover something Huni. GL

Sorry to hear about this. GL recouping funds. Sucks the scammers are coming out of the woodworks lately :(

sounds like the guy might be a losing poker player, and went busto. seriously doubt that you will recoup these funds.

right away i was thinking why are u taking the complete hit. the guy tht invited him and vouched, this is when vouching must be accounted for imo. i think the other guys should just all pitch in for this jerks non payment........it wouldnt be worth going to court thts for sure

 

Originally Posted by Big Huni

Originally there were 6 of us total... however, Metadonk didn't show as well as another person that was flying to meet me to ride with me to KY was arrested at the airport for having some bud on him and didn't make it also... So technically two people didn't show up and he still payed even though he wasnt able to make the trip because of getting arrested. Also, Andrew had agreed multiple times to pay the money because it was his fault he didn't show up (according to his bs story of not having his passport) so there was no reason to expect he wouldn't pay me.

This is embarrassing. So you fronted money for someone you dont know to come on a trip then he didnt get to go and you enjoyed more space, more time on the jetski, etc and you want him to front all the money?? Everyone on the trip pays additional funds to split the difference and you don't invite him on future trips... this is how things work "IRL". Calling this a scam is irrational. A scam insinuates that they benefited from this in some way. By coincidence he played some poker in his life? Is this the connection??

P5's, whats the point of letting americans post here anymore when they aren't playing? Nothing but sad tales with zero value.