Doyle Brunson Not Boycotting World Series of Poker
Doyle Brunson, the legendary winner of several World Series of Poker bracelets, will be sitting out this year’s Main Event. But unlike fellow pro Phil Ivey, his intentions have nothing to do with the current crisis that has sent shockwaves through the world of Internet poker.
On April 15, three of the largest online poker rooms were indicted on bank fraud and money laundering by the US Justice Department. All were forced out of the US market. Only PokerStars has paid back all of its customers. Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker have not.
DoylesRoom.com, the site represented by Brunson himself, had its domain name seized by the US Attorney’s Office out of Maryland one month later. Law enforcement set up a two-year payment processing sting operation. DoylesRoom never processed payouts with the “fake” payment solutions company but its name appeared along side 8 other companies as part of an application submitted to the company by a bingo site affiliated with Doyles that had engaged in minimal processing through the sting operation.
Brunson’s reason for sitting out the 2011 WSOP Main Event: He’s just tired.
He tweeted on Tuesday:
I've had a lot of personal problems for the past 8 months and as I said earlier Murphys Law is in effect. Don't make a big deal about the ME
Personal problems included those related to his health. He was diagnosed with skin cancer earlier in the year. Doctors successfully removed suspect skin lesions.
In November, while in attendance at the first annual Punta Cana Poker Classic, Brunson’s terminally ill sister committed suicide.
Ivey has said he will skip this year’s event out of protest for recent charges leveled against the various online poker companies. He was also angry over his own employer, Full Tilt Poker, not paying customers in the US and filed a lawsuit to get out of his contract. Last week, Ivey reportedly dropped that lawsuit.
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- Ace King, Gambling911.com
