This is a tweetstorm I never thought I’d write, and I’m disappointed I had to write. In it, I’m going to call out @pokershares and @MikeMcDonald89, a site and a person I've been a fan of. I will endeavour to just put the facts forward first, then add my commentary/feelings later.

Yesterday I’m scrolling Twitter and Mike RTs the pictured tweet. I go for the clickbait, and click through to see that indeed this is the bet they have.

I don't know much about Landon, but the line seems strange. So I ask some friends in a group chat. Two don't know much either; one suggests he is not an NL specialist, the other one says the downside is the bet won't likely complete for years. A third thinks it's a good bet.

Deciding this is a +ev bet, I fire the max. I actually expect the line to move, but it doesn’t, so I fire again. (I’m used to Pinnacle's dynamic lines & Bet365 doesn't let you fire more than once.)

Later Pokershares support would email to say it’s a 1k max bet and they’re cancelling the other two tickets, which is confusing because of my experiences with the above books, but reasonable.

About 8 minutes after that, they email me to “clarify” the terms of the bet. I say, wat, and send them the screenshots (from above) which clearly indicate no such thing. At no point is -720k mentioned. Note their tweet from post #2 is still live at this point.

Almost immediately I get a private message from @mikemcdonald89, and our conversation is as follows. Note that this isn’t trimmed at all; the first words of this conversation are in fact, “are you dumb?”

(I know there's a lot there, but I'd ask you read the whole convo between Mike and I before commenting as it will likely answer most follow-up questions.)

On to the commentary part. I think this is insane. But I’m willing to sanity check this. I ask some people. Responses range from, “the precedent for this definitely favours your side” to “yeah I’ve had sportsbooks cancel my bets but they usually don’t insult you over it”.

The email is not a "clarification"--it's changing the rules of the bet. It's literally listing the money line & deciding later it's a point spread. I can't imagine these "clarification" emails are sent very often. It's not "clarification", it's "we fucked up but won't admit it".

I’m obviously aware that Pokershares have a right to cancel my bet. But as I see it, they’re just plain wrong here. If you run a business and fuck up, you own it and you bite it. **Especially** in this business where reputation and service matter. You're the house.

If I’m betting at http://randomoffshoresportsbook.com  I expect shady shit. But Timex leverages his reputation to promote his business and to me that reputation is trash now. He's not a scammer but it’s clear to me he's so desperate to not get it in bad that he can’t let a customer have one.

I’m old school. Everything I learned about this business is from Isai Scheinberg, a guy who would give players the best of it even when *they* screwed up, much less when *we* screwed up. Isai would give people back $1000 SNG buyins because they fell asleep and forgot to unreg!

Timex otoh, is unwilling to own his peoples' mistakes, and calls me names and insults *my* integrity for ... placing a bet? A 1k bet that means little to me and less to him?

As I said, I didn’t want to make these posts. I hoped he’d be okay with arbitrating. And know for sure that if I had lost that arbitration, I never would go public, I would have taken my L. Because that’s what you do when things don’t go your way.

Re-read the end of our exchange; I'd have to think Mike is just betting on coming out ahead in court of public opinion. Maybe he's right. But the stubbornness comes at a cost.

I have always been impressed with Mike & how he grew his business. I've even gone as far as to say on #datpokerpod that I thought @Pokershares was great for the game. is basically a free 20-minute Pokershares infomercial, and it was my idea.

That's my piece. I hope Mike learns one day that there’s more to business than getting every advantage. And maybe more importantly, that me getting in a +ev 1k bet against your multimillion dollar gambling business =/= "a friend trying to fuck me". (End)