JNandez Reveals All About Upswing Poker Court Case

Fernando 'JNandez' Habegger has tweeted a comprehensive response about what really went on during his bitter court case against Upswing Poker. Five years ago the PLO wizard parted ways with the company, taking advantage of a contract clause which allowed him to walk away without penalty, leaving Doug Polk furious at what he considered a lack of loyalty.

Polk made his displeasure known to the poker world but, as is normal in our community, opinion was divided on whether JNandez did anything wrong in this case.

The most important point made by JNandez was that he did not breach the terms of his contract, rather he activated an exit clause that was a standard feature for upswing coaches.

“After I terminated the freelance agreement under terms of contract, Upswing sued me for breach of contract, copyright infringement, intentional interference with contractual relations, and declaratory relief. My breach of contract counterclaim was granted with contract damages, and I was awarded partial attorney's fees and costs. My defamation claim was denied. In total, Upswing had to pay me $150,216.”

There was also a claim by Upswing that the widespread “Play and Explain” video coaching format was its own intellectual property. JNandez countered this by providing files of his own videos for Run It Once in the same format.

Then there was a fight over the YouTube channel of JNandez. Upswing wanted him to take down his videos, claiming that they were a part of his work for them. They even wanted his famous Excel spreadsheet for pre-flop ranges that was produced before they started their relationship.

“Upswing also argued that videos in the PLO Mastermind and my YouTube channel were derivative work of the videos in the PLO Lab because they handled similar poker game mechanic topics such as '3-bet pots' or had a 'course-like structure.'”

“At no point was there any reason to believe that Upswing could claim exclusive ownership over these charts. In the process of this lawsuit, they registered a trademark on one of the preflop charts in an attempt to prevent me from using them or any updated versions.”

Strong words. And we have yet to hear what JNandez revealed on Matt Berkey’s Only Friends podcast, nor have we heard any response from Doug Polk.

As one Twitter poster said:

“This makes Upswing look like complete clowns. If you are lying, they are going to win in court for libel. If you are telling the truth, they will stay silent. It embarrasses Doug and Matt and their business, likely costing them customers. I have to say…well done.”