Thursday, March 18, 2010

Stox quits stoxpoker, now what?

I know that 2+2 is viewed as "the man" in the poker world.  Mostly in the context of "the man" is trying to keep me down.  You can go over a million ways that the site is annoying and even repressive but nine out of ten times they get it right.  It certainly did not go unnoticed by me that all of the other places that do business with both stoxpoker/cardrunners had virtually no mention of the scandal.  It always amazes me that businesses can get away with stuff like that and still take the money of a trusting poker public.  

 

Which is exactly why 2+2 should be applauded for not letting money cloud their judgement.  

 

What becomes of Cardrunners.com

 

(For the purpose of this article I am going to assume that you know that Cardrunners likely owns Stoxpoker) I have told the story many times that preceding Taylor Caby starting Cardrunners.com he was involved in a project very similar with me and a good combination of well known live pros and online stars at that time.  When that deal fell apart Taylor started Cardrunners.  I did not like his chances.  Poker players want to play poker and I thought that would ultimately be the downfall of that project.  I was  wrong about that.  More importantly though I thought Taylor was too nice of a guy and I still do.  Poker is full of scumbags and degenerates, it should not surprise anyone that a poker business might encounter people like that.  What started off with Taylor and three friends became the hottest thing in poker training.  Along the way they got a little lucky but they put themselves in the position to get lucky.  

 

The team at Cardrunners is populated with younger people that have are mostly "yes men".  Even the hiring of Lee Jones seemed to fit the pattern of bringing in someone that while having high integrity, was not necessarily coming in to kick the ass of the people that get out of line.

 

The allegation that Taylor sat in a game for a friend is without context and I suspect anyone holding Cardrunners accountable for that likely was not going to be a long term customer anyway.  The bigger problem in my opinion for those guys is that they have been involved in three scandals in a very short time frame.  That's the real news here.  

 

Somebody needs their ass kicked

 

I do not mean literally but everyone should be getting a phone call today that goes something like this:

 

"We are actively renegotiating everyone's deal right now, no matter what you paid to be part of this company".  "If you don't like it you can leave but we are instituting a "non-tolerance" policy for everyone that works under the Cardrunners/StoxPoker umbrella".  "In addition to that I am going to actively look for someone that is willing to come in and provide a measure of discipline to our company".  "It is clear from many of the actions of our instructors that there is a serious lack of respect for me and my authority, that will change or your contract will be terminated without regard for who you are in the organization". 

 

It would surprise me greatly if 2+2 does not reinstate Cardrunners soon (if not today).  The crux of the problem was stoxtrader.  I also suspect that Full Tilt Poker is willing to let this one slip by if only because there was some relative distance between Cardrunners and Stoxpoker.  

 

Full transparency is required 

 

I have not talked to anyone at Cardrunners since the scandal, I probably talk to Taylor the most, then Andrew and occasionally to Ezra.  While I hope that they do not see what I am saying as a personal attack on our friendship it's not going to stop me from saying what should be said.  I remember when I first started giving players rakeback.  That looks very differently than it does today.  I suspect that if similar changes are not made in the training environment many of these sites will not exist.  In the end though customers are buying content and Cardrunners is still one of the best sites on the market in not only the content but the display and use of that content.  The fact that you can get your subscription paid for by Full Tilt Poker is a big bonus for most users.  I know I get mine paid for most months and I have not looked at a Cardrunners video in a long while.  

 

I think if everything gets set back to normal but big changes are not made in terms of institutional control, we will see more controversy's and more scandals.  In addition to that all of the other training sites should be cleaning house as well.  Many of them led the charge against Stoxtrader so do not be surprised if there are some ramifications if their house is not in order.

 

Training sites need to be held to the highest standard because of what they are selling and how they are selling it.  If you are buying a subscription you need to know that what you are buying is true.  For better or worse the consumer is buying a chance to eventually be as good as the people that are training them.  Online poker training sites are selling fundamental play and hard work as a formula to success.  For any instructor to stray from that formula the consequence should be swift and immediate.  No one is saying that being a poker coach is easy, between down swings and the fact that many of your opponents are likely using shady practices to gain an edge on you poker training can be dicey.  You also need to win to continue selling your "poker genius status", so we get that it's tough.  In the end though that is what you are signing up for and doing so means that you are willing to play the game at a disadvantage.

 

Tags: stoxpoker   stoxtrader   quits  

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