Scammy Sammy and High Stakes Thieves

It's not a rare event to hear claims of foul play when it comes to the subject of lending money in the poker world. But last week saw one of the game's elite players take the step of going public, after clearly having had enough of getting the run around over a loan he had given out.

Phil Galfond, one of the game's most respected names, told the poker world how Samuel Touil, a fellow high stakes player, had borrowed $250,000, and was pulling every trick and excuse out of the book to avoid repaying. Apparently, $50,000 was returned in reasonable time, but nothing more was forthcoming.

Following a little reading over on the 2+2 forums, it's clear that these stories are still extremely common. There are always fresh allegations popping up every week or so, but it's more in the public eye when high stakes players are involved because the numbers are that much bigger.

Moneylending: The Scourge of Poker

Sammy Touil was a regular in the casinos of Las Vegas at the end of last year. Playing a mixture of high stakes poker, and Baccarat, Touil crossed paths with Galfond on several occasions. After seemingly never having problems with his cash flow, one night Touil ran dry a the loan for $250,000 was arranged, supposedly to be returned as soon as his funds could be wire transferred through. It has been suggested that a third party agreed to personally pay back half of the loan value if Touil didn't fulfil his commitments, but this was not confirmed by Galfond.

It quickly became obvious that Galfond would regret his decision to loan such a sum of money when Touil apparently lost the lot and the excuses started to roll in. Angle shooting at the poker table was witnessed on more than one occasion and things were starting to look grim.

Soon after, the two found themselves at the same game in the Bellagio casino, with Galfond wondering how on earth he could afford to play high stakes poker but not repay his debt. After the first session $50,000 was repaid with Touil at one point having more than the loan in front of him in chips. He claimed that he needed the rest to last him over the weekend.

Things later got heated with Touil allegedly threatening to not pay back the rest and to tell anybody who would listen that the loan was $50,000 and paid back in full in front of a casino camera. After it all calmed down Touil promised a wire transfer would come in a few days time. As for the money he supposedly already had, he claimed that he dropped all of it at the Baccarat table

Of course, nothing arrived after a few days and Galfond left town.

Then nothing happened until last week when the lawyers kicked into action and fired off a letter to Touil who made good on his threat to claim that the loan was for $50,000 and already paid back in full.

As of yet, we only have Phil Galfond's side of the story with Touil refusing to comment. However, whatever the true facts are about the whole episode, it's just the latest of many almost identical stories and it won't be the last.

Galfond said, he only went public in order to prevent Touil from scamming any other players, which sounds likely. He insisted that he had information about two other players who had been scammed in the same manner and didn't want it to happen again, although he refused to give the names.

What Else Is Being Said?

Reading through all I could find on this, I spotted Shaun Deeb claiming on Twitter that he has strong evidence that implicates another two high stakes players in a similar scam.

Will this behaviour ever end?

I also read accusations that Galfond knew very well that Touil was a mark in their high stakes poker games, and the only reason he agreed to make the loan was because he didn't want to miss out on the extra 'EV'. In other words, a little schadenfreude and a little greed turned out all wrong.

Another opinion amongst a few posters over at Two Plus Two was that Galfond somehow deserved his misfortune because of the success of his video training website, Run it Once. They appear to hold him almost personally responsible for the tough state of today's games by giving out so much quality information. This may be a stretch for some of the posters, but at the very least they are more than happy to see him suffer financially in some way.

Why Would We Be Interested in this Familiar Tale?

As much as I enjoy hearing what the game's best players have to say, I must admit that this kind of news is getting more than a little tiresome. Somebody moaning about money not being returned is probably second on my list of poker peeves, behind bad beat stories.

As long as poker has been played, there seems to have been a culture of almost indiscriminate lending of money. When things turn sour it's easy to be wise after the fact, but is it really necessary for so much money to be changing hands without any real security?

Many players think that without available loans, the games would dry up significantly. Some suggest that they couldn't turn their back on a friend in need, even when cold hard cash is the tool of our trade.

Poker has always had an image problem because at the end of the day it is gambling, something that is almost always frowned upon in society. The guys who are playing for the most money are normally those who we learn from, especially about how things are normally done. If we are always seeing these players handing out obscene amounts of money, as if it has no value, then others will follow suit experiencing the same calamities, and bad feeling.

We've Seen this Before

At Pokertube we have reported on many scams over the years.

Here is another horror story about a loan of tens of thousands of dollars which the debtor did everything he could not to pay back. David “Chino” Rheem appeared to be borrowing money from everybody he came into contact with, and wasn't doing an awful lot of paying it back.

Over a year ago, a 'confession' post appeared on Two Plus Two detailing how a wide variation of scam techniques had netted 'Justin Archuleta' more than $300,000. In this article we explain how he claimed to have found God, and wanted to put everything right.

First prize, though, for the most recent scam involving a poker player goes to Travell Thomas. Before Christmas we reported how Thomas had been indicted on charges related to a $31 million fraud. These are the details of what went on.

Final Thoughts

I'm sure that in the majority of cases, nobody ever hears anything because of a fear that the debtor will feel aggrieved if outed in a public forum and may decide not to pay after all.

I will follow whatever new stories come out of all this with interest. I have to say again, I feel that anything along these lines is bad for poker's image, though how much of an effect it has is uncertain. Surely, if we didn't hear tales of scams, and unpaid debts, alongside the scandals poker has already been through, sponsors would be more receptive to the idea of putting money into the game. There must be other positives as well, that can come from a more clean cut sport.

Phil Galfond's claim that this is all about protecting others from the same fate, is a fair one. If players are going to continue borrowing like they do now, then they should expect to be held publicly accountable. This is no small matter, even for the best players out there. A black mark over your character could put an end to any future lucrative sponsorship deals.

We can only hope, and do our own bit.