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Poker whistle blower, Veronica Brill, has been rewarded $27,745 towards her legal costs in what's become a convoluted legal saga involving alleged cheater Mike Postle. Brill had filed an anti-SLAPP lawsuit following Postle’s failed $330million defamation action against her and a number of other poker pros, including Daniel Negreanu and Doug Polk. Postle voluntarily dropped the defamation suit.
Pay The Piper
Brill's attorney, Marc J. Randazza, explained to CardsChat last month that Postle's voluntary withdraw meant automatic compensation.
“California law is crystal clear on this. If you file a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] suit, and you try to cut and run after getting hit with an anti-SLAPP motion, you are deemed the losing party and have to pay the prevailing party’s fees. Now, he doesn’t even have a prayer of being the prevailing party.”
Last month Postle was ordered to pay another plaintiff in the case, Todd Witteles, $27k.
Some History
Nearly 90 poker players brought a suit against Postle and the venue but were ultimately successful only in securing a small settlement for rake paid. That suit alleged Postle gained a competitive advantage during live streaming events by having knowledge of opponents hole cards during the play of poker hands. It also claimed that Stones Gambling Hall in Sacramento, California and one of its managers, Justin Kuraitis, were in on the scheme.
Hole cards are seen only by an individual player but not by other players at the table.
Ms. Brill was among the first to notice the apparent improprieties and proceeded to out him.
A later settlement with Stones absolved the venue of taking part in any cheating.
Mac Verstandig, the lawyer who represented 88 claimants in a lawsuit filed against Postle and another individual contended late last year that “After reviewing evidence with the cooperation of Stones my co-counsel and I have found no evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claims against Stones, Stones Live Poker, or Justin Kuraitis.”
Mr. Kuraitis ran with the notion that he had been vindicated, and he certainly had grounds to do so.
No Mention of Postle
VerStandig provided a statement as part of the settlement that says flat-out that neither Stones nor Kuraitis were involved in any sort of cheating.
“After reviewing evidence with the cooperation of Stones, my co-counsel and I have found no evidence supporting the plaintiffs’ claims against Stones, Stones Live Poker, or Justin Kuraitis,” the statement says. “My co-counsel and I have found no forensic evidence that there was cheating at Stones or that Stones, Mr. Kuraitis, the Stones Live team, or any dealers were involved in any cheating scheme.
“Based on our investigation, we are satisfied that Stones and Mr. Kuraitis were not involved in any cheating that may have occurred. While Stones has not spoken publicly regarding the details of their investigation during its pendency, its counsel and Mr. Kuraitis’ counsel have been immensely cooperative behind-the-scenes.”
Nowhere in the statement is there any mention of Postle however. Nonetheless, he was quick to declare his own vindication and filed the $330million defamation action.
Dirty Laundry
PokerNews suggested that Postle would have done well to just remain quiet.
Rather than hunker down with whatever remained of his winnings and be grateful he resided and played on soil governed by such an obscure and archaic statute, Postle opted to go on the offensive. He fired off a high-profile lawsuit of his own, one seeking a staggering $330 million in damages.
Brill appears to have made it her mission to make Postle own up to all his past misdeeds in life, whether unfounded or not. She recently released an hour-long video of a conversation with Sabina Johnson, Postle’s ex-wife.
LegalPokerNews broke down the yet-to-be-collaborated assertions by Ms. Johnson:
-Postle often referred to himself as “the fleecer,” meaning someone who makes money by tricking other people. Johnson recounted numerous such instances of alleged shady conduct, both in and out of poker.
-Postle abused Johnson during their marriage to the point of calling the police three times.
-Postle tried to recruit Johnson to befriend Brill and solicit damaging information that he could use in his case against her. Further, he used their daughter as leverage in his threats.
-PokerStars once accused him of cheating in online poker.
-Postle had been friends with known online poker cheater Russ Hamilton at the time he appeared on a blackjack TV program.
-Postle has been known to bully people on social media when they angered him.
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
