A poker tale: Bankwires gone astray and threatened lawsuits
I just finished reading one of the more interesting, and in the end altogether satisfying, poker stories I have come across in a long time at the LeggoPoker.com blogs. The author, who goes by the screen-name “lostinthesaus” at Leggo Poker, as well as at 2+2 where he is a respected member, recounted a story that saw him accidentally send a “low-five-figure amount” to the wrong recipient, who reportedly was overcome with a case of “The Lindgrens” and decided to keep the money instead of doing the ethical thing and returning it to the rightful owner, after the sender realized his error and contacted him.
You can read the entire story here: http://www.leggopoker.com/blogs/lostinthesaus/i-come-collect-11371.html and I suggest you do so –despite its length– as it should be used as the case study for dealing with these all-too-common situations in poker. In addition to detailing the proper way to handle these instances the story has it all, including some excellent comedic moments, as well as the all-important climax that leads to a fist-pump even though you have nothing at stake in the outcome.
Obviously this is not the first time that a poker player has found himself screwed out of a significant amount of money. Last year alone there were numerous stories circulating on the 2+2 poker forum describing the different ways players had been “Chino’d” in the past by poker pro Chino Rheem, a notorious borrower who rarely pays his debts on time if at all.
Besides Rheem, Brad Booth’s ethics also came into question last year. The former high-stakes poker pro, who is notoriously broke and in debt conned another player into making a large online transfer to Booth; Booth then failed to pay the debt.
Last year we also learned about the betting practices of Erick Lindgren, who purportedly owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in fantasy football wagers, not to mention a $2 million debt owed to Full Tilt Poker which happened in almost the exact way as the situation detailed by “lostinthesaus” –Lindgren was accidentally sent $2 million twice, instead of once, according to former Full Tilt Poker owner Howard Lederer.
Lindgren, whose gambling problems were featured in this month’s issue of Bluff Magazine, have left the former poker superstar broken (the aptly named title of the article by Lance Bradley) and broke. You can read the Lindgren article here: http://www.bluff.com/magazine/broken-the-erick-lindgren-story-6094/
Unfortunately, the typical SOP in these situations is for the victim to say nothing for months or years, and then bring his case to the poker public. While this may be gratifying to out the scammer publicly it does little to remedy the situation. On the flipside, there is the “LostinSaus” approach, which will produce far better results in the long-run.
