Mike Postle Files Response in Poker-Cheating Case

Mike Postle, the California poker pro accused of cheating more than 80 fellow players during dozens of live-streamed “Stones Live!” podcasts, has filed an initial response in the $10 million case brought against him and two other defendants.

Postle, who is officially representing himself at the present time, filed the document in the United States’ federal Eastern District of California system late on March 24. Postle faced a looming deadline to file the response following two previous multi-week extensions and an initial delay owing to difficulties in his being served official notice of the lawsuit.

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The filing, which was unsigned and could in a technical sense be declared invaild, also included a motion to dismiss the action. The dismissal motion is similar to previous motions already filed by Postle’s two co-defendants, the Stones Gambling Hall’s parent company Kings Casino LLC, and Justin Kuraitis, a Stones employee who served a key production role in the webcasts of the “Stones Live!” streams.

The lawsuit brought by the dozens of cheated players asks for $10 million in damages, but it also includes a racketeering (RICO) claim that, in theory, could treble potential damages to $30 million. That far exceeds the actual amount alleged to have been stolen by Postle at the tables, which is estimated in the lower hundreds of thousands of dollars. However, the lawsuit also alleges negligence and fraud and targets the Sacramento-area Stones Gambling Hall’s deeper corporate pockets.

Postle’s filing was initially reported by the RounderLife website, an online adjunct of the long-defunct Rounder Magazine. Postle himself has long been affiliated with the Rounder Life enterprise. In recent months, the site has published numerous anonymously-authored pieces in defense of Postle and attacking those who have made the cheating claims against him.

Maurice Verstandig, the lead attorney on the team representing the allegedly cheated players, offered this on Twitter:

Of interest is that the publication of the unsigned filing by RounderLife has already begun to boomerang. The document posted there does not match a version of the filing (also unsigned) obtained separately by this reporter. That other version -- likely the original -- includes a since-deleted reference to a California attorney, Owen Hughes, who if not unofficially representing Postle, likely created the defense filing.

This other version of the filing also shows Postle using the email address roundermagpro@gmail.com, showing Postle’s ongoing relationship to the RounderLife operation. The altered version published there shows a yahoo.com address instead. Further, the document as published at RounderLife also included other of Postle’s personal information. It’s an unfortunate episode of self-doxxing that’s unwise for a player currently despised by the majority of the poker world.