Poker Pros Trolling and Taking the Huff

Despite the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the Aussie Millions, January tends to be a relatively quiet month at the tables, but some pros have spiced things up with trolling and falling outs hitting the gossip columns this week.

First up we have Patrick ‘plenopads’ Leonard taking to Twitter to let his fans know he has been blocked from the social media site by fellow pro and poker coach Ryan ‘Protential’ Laplante. The tweet has been deleted after some time.

Now Twitter blocking is hardly unknown in the poker world, the likes of Vanessa Selbst, Cate Hall, Doyle Brunson and Daniel Negreanu well-known for having a short fuse when it comes to ignorant trolls or opposing political tweeters – the Canadian PokerStars legend going way back to 2014 for his ‘first time’…

Leonard’s crime? Taking issue with poker coaching in general, the Team PartyPoker Englishman going on to say that some form of regulation is required to fix poker coaching scams, explaining:

“I think it starts from community calling out bs to vulnerable buyers. Some are unintentionally deluded which is why I felt bad about Ryan but he was calling 'everybody bad' whilst completely disregarding tools proving facts. There is unfortunately v malicious scams going on tho.”

LaPlante, a WSOP bracelet winner with over $4million in earnings and more than 1500 hours of coaching to his name, was no doubt riled to have his name thrown in anywhere near ‘scam coaching’ comments, although he hasn’t publicly responded on Twitter to Leonard. A storm in a teacup for sure, but that’s what quiet January’s are for apparently.

Next up, a jolly fine troll (one hopes) from a legend of the game – at least that’s how Dusty 'Leatherass' Schmidt sees himself after posting on 2+2 (from which your scribe has recently received a lifetime ban by owner Mason Malmuth, January obviously not his favourite month either).

Schmidt, the co-author of ‘Don’t Listen to Phil Hellmuth’ among many, many other poker-related achievements and adventures, posted on Facebook:

“I’m just going to clear one thing up. I’m one of the all time winningest poker pros who ever lived and probably the biggest winning American pro in the United States right now. Anyone who is spreading rumors about me being washed up is so beyond delusional it’s laughable.”

Obvious troll, you’d think, and Schmidt continued in the same vein, likening himself to Kobe Bryant, Joe Montana and Tom Watson as GOAT-contenders from other sports.

 “I’m so good at poker, so successful and so rich it’s beyond what most poker pros could even imagine. I’m probably the winningest active American poker pro in the world right now. I’ve never lost a step. I’m so awesome that anyone interested in being a poker pro should think of me as being like a poker god because I am a poker god.”

Schmidt, unfortunately, had to edit his post after people actually took him seriously – including his claim that:

“The fact that I am not in the poker Hall of Fame pretty much means that the poker Hall of Fame is a total disgrace and not anything worth taking seriously until they vote me in.”

“*Edit* For those who didn’t pick up on it, I was trying to sound like Trump,” Schmidt added, although anyone visiting his FB wall should be warned – it’s not for the faint-hearted liberal types – Schmidt could actually be Trump.

Well, perhaps February will get us all back to normal, exchanging pleasantries and being nice to one another. Somehow, however, that’s unlikely to happen in the often ego-driven world of poker!