Poker Pro Turned Lawyer Dutch Boyd Loses Prop Bet Court Case

Controversial poker pro Dutch Boyd has lost his WSOP prop bet lawsuit against former friend and fellow pro Joe Bartholdi, a court ruling that because the $10,000 bracelet bet was only made verbally, it could not be considered binding.

Boyd and Bartholdi entered into the prop bet back in 2006, the eventual winner being whoever won more WSOP bracelets over the next 10 years. Boyd bagged three golds in that time, while Bartholdi failed to trouble the scorers.

However, Bartholdi only paid Boyd $1500 of the $10k owed according to press reports, and Boyd took his former fellow member of poker group ‘The Crew’ to a small claims court for the outstanding sum.

Unfortunately for Boyd, any verbal contract of over one year duration needs to have a written version to be valid, and that’s where his claim fell apart.

Hearing Master Amy L. Ferreira judged Boyd’s case and stated her decision last week:

“The agreement was made verbally and no written document was created at the time of said agreement. Therefore, according to NRS [Nevada Revised Statutes] 111.220, the agreement is void. As a result, Boyd is awarded nothing against the defendant."

PokerNews have reported that Bartholdi still plans to make things right with Boyd.

“I am paying what I owe to Dutch — but I guess it wasn’t fast enough and he sued me. I am still paying what I owe,” said Bartholdi.

Boyd told the site:

“I guess the lesson is to make sure to always have your prop bets written down and signed. And also, I guess, not to make prop bets with friends for too much.”

Boyd, who has also worked as a poker dealer over the past few years and recently turned to law as a new career, has a chequered history in the game.

He can boast of more than $2.7million in career tournament winnings to his credit, along with those three bracelets, but was also behind the failed online cardroom PokerSpot, which closed in 2001, owing more than $400,000 to its customers.

According to PokerFraud Alert’s Todd Witteles, PokerSpot “…failed after his payment processor stole all the money. Dutch did mishandle it somewhat, not being fully up front with players after it happened, and attempting to get more deposits in order to keep it afloat.”

A decade later he lost a lawsuit brought by Mason Malmuth, the founder of the popular 2plus2 poker forum.

Boyd was accused of a form of cybersquatting, setting up a domain similar to 2plus2 with the intention of diverting traffic away from it. Boyd was ordered to pay $25,000 in damages, and a further $33,000 in legal fees.

Although he is considering challenging his most recent lawsuit, Boyd is unlikely to make any similar bets to his one with Bartholdi, telling PokerNews:

“This whole experience has turned me off of ever making a prop bet with a friend again. I wish we never made the bet.”