https://twitter.com/Ebony_Kenney/status/1653186906681663490?s=20
If you had asked me to predict how that thread would go before reading it, I would have nailed at least 80% of it.
Yeah, I’ve had that happen plenty of times. Once I wrote an article that some overseas site copied and then a Washington Post columnist used that plagiarized version as a source. I came upon the article and saw that it used the very specific reference/joke that I made, not realizing the writer had found the ripped-off version of my article. I contact the Post, who got me in touch with the writer and we got to the bottom of it. He actually put a correction note on the site.
How to win at cards and life, according to poker’s autistic superstar
It would take some time, but many of the qualities that caused so much frustration in childhood — hyper-focused, analytical, determined — would fuel a meteoric tear through the poker world. Now, at 33, he has a pair of World Series of Poker bracelets and $23 million in career earnings. He’s often referred to as Jungleman, a nod to his longtime screen name on poker sites. But while he built his bankroll through online cash games, he also has made a splash at recent tournaments, dressing in costume when he won his first two bracelets — “Macho Man” Randy Savage at one, Goku from “Dragon Ball Z” at another.
And while he has achieved more than even he thought possible, Cates finds himself on dual missions as he crisscrosses the world. Like that 12-year-old with the Bible, he’s on a meandering quest to understand how his brain works and how he can improve every facet of his life. At the same time, Jungleman wants to save the world.
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Was just about to post that - he completely rips into Doug. It’s quite long - some of the better excerpts:
“You see, Doug is as powerful an influencer as there is in the poker world. He has one of the largest followings. He owns multiple poker companies. He is extremely savvy and calculating. Most of all, he’s (in my opinion) shown a willingness to be vindictive, to argue in bad faith, and to do everything in his power to bury you if you cross him.”
"Privately, frankly, I thought that it was clear to everyone in the inner circle of the poker community, Doug included, that he was a cruel person – a “bad” person, by most people’s definition.
I thought that Doug’s fans, and some pros in his circle, knew he was a cruel person and didn’t care. I thought that most other pros knew he was cruel, didn’t like it, but didn’t want to make an enemy of him."
"It seems clear to me that Doug has a moral compass – it’s just pointed in a different direction than mine.
Many believe that he does it all for the clicks, and Doug might even tell himself that, but, in my opinion, the motivation is clear: He is driven, for some unknown and likely complex reason, to hurt people emotionally."
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https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1kvKpmEOpmVGE
Listening to Garrett and Alan Keating jerk themselves off and tell people they know something that others don’t know but will come out in the future (ex: Garrett will be vindicated, Alan swings 8 million a month)
Great read. I didn’t know about the recent Carrel thing.
Polk may have met his match with Galfond weighing in!
Only thing I’ll say is I’m not sure if Polk’s behaviour isn’t amplified mostly by his need for clicks. That’s not an excuse but it is a reality. Same reason people are generally more awful online than in real life. Galfond says the same, but Polk seems to me like a median not nice person turned into an awful person by being online too much.
Also, Berkey doesn’t seem a ton better? I don’t know much about him.
Galfond does say that Polk was a cruel person before he needed the clicks. I don’t know if that is from personal experience or from what others have told him.
I think people like Polk might not be more awful online. We just have a bigger sample size of their behavior.
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I refuse to listen to twitter spaces for grumpy old man reasons but apparently all the drama there
https://www.reddit.com/r/poker/comments/137p32p/alan_keating_gets_mad_and_argues_with_ryan/
It’s getting spicy in spaces - Polk did one last night in an attempt to rehab his image. Was sort of working till Galfond joined and refused to walk back any of his attacks and Doug went off and ended the spaces. Doug’s defense to the Galfond article was stuff like you say I’m mean and attack everyone but that’s not true, I’m nice to my friends.
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Way too many things are getting lumped into “he’s just mean and shouldn’t have said that”
Some things that is true for, probably, but if Berkey and Torelli can’t get called out for being scammers because that’s “toxic” then we have completely lost the plot
And Charlie C clearly made his twitter post to trap people so he could say “oh you’re attacking a victim of pedophilia for his views on reducing molestation” by just tweeting out “we must show more compassion to pedophiles” with zero context and having never told anyone he’d ever been molested. The dude is anti-trans and anti-“woke” for clicks and we are just going to roll over and say he’s the victim? He’s cynically trolling, and if we can’t call him a creepy moron then this is all very stupid
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People are very mean to Alex Jones. They need to look within themselves and find out why they’re bad people
i don’t see why Matt Berkey is a scammer. He seems annoying as fuck, but I don’t think he qualifies to be a scammer. I’d bet his courses are better than a Phil Ivey masterclass or whatever. Either way it’s problematic for a direct competitor like Doug to call him out for being a scammer imo. And also most of Doug’s wrath seemed to be about pretty mundane comments regarding the Lodge.
I agree about Charlie.
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I largely agree with this. People want to have a bad guy and a good guy in a conflict, but it’s never that clean. Charlie is a despicable POS and Doug was fine to call him out. The fact Charlie is being cast now as a sympathetic victim is disgusting.
My issue with Doug is that (1) he picks targets based on whether it will make a good video and (2) once he picks a target, he’s relentless particularly if someone pushes back at all.
The example I always think of is DN. Sure, DN has said and done some stupid shit that deserved to be mocked, but I think overall he’s a decent person and one of the better poker ambassadors (admittedly a low bar). Doug though just seemed out for blood and determined to torch DN’s reputation in order to get clicks.
Edit: I also still disagree about Berkey. His worst sin seems to be overcharging for his poker lessons - don’t see how that makes him a scammer.
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