Five Thoughts: Too Late for Lederer, Twitter Beefs Heat Up, and SCOOP Booms

Admittedly, I was one of those people who told Daniel Negreanu that releasing Howard Lederer’s apology statement on his blog was a bad idea.

I just couldn’t see a reason why poker’s most popular figure would want to be seen as endorsing one of the community’s most vilified. After reading over the personal thoughts Negreanu included in the post, I feel differently now.

When Black Friday hit and it was discovered that Full Tilt Poker had not only failed to segregate player funds, but freely dispersed them among Lederer and its other shareholders, leaving players out hundreds of millions of dollars, Negreanu was one of Lederer’s most vocal and public critics.

Now five years on, I understand his need to be a part of Lederer’s apology to the poker world, not as someone endorsing the former Full Tilt founder, but as a man desiring to rise above his venomous feelings of the past, close a chapter in his life, and move on in a healthy manner.

Kudos to Negreanu for finding the high road here and understanding that posting Lederer’s statement on his blog really doesn’t change much for anybody but him, nor should it.

1. Too Little, Too Late?

Five years too late, Howard Lederer issued a statement to the poker community last week, taking “full responsibility for Full Tilt’s failure to protect player deposits leading up to Black Friday,” and apologizing for breaching players’ trust.

While his apology was originally released via Daniel Negreanu’s blog at FullContactPoker.com, PokerNews and various other media outlets also ran it, and if the public comments on the article are any indication, his apology was not accepted.

All signs point to Lederer issuing the statement as a way to pave the road for his return to play at the World Series of Poker this year. I can’t think of a worse idea. Clearly, the poker community is not ready to accept him back. While one would hope that many of the threats issued his way through some of these public comments are not backed up — considering the poker kitchen at the Rio has enough issues without a grease fire — Lederer’s return to the WSOP felt will surely be met by a lot of angry people.

If Lederer does show up, there’s bound to be at least a few heated players willing to exchange more than just a few choice words. The WSOP will undoubtedly beef up security around him and it could very well cause quite the scene.

If Lederer’s apology is truly sincere, and not just a self-serving statement aimed at smoothing over his return to the WSOP, wouldn’t he want to avoid such a spectacle?

Sitting out at least one more year, showing some respect to the community he admits to letting down, letting the anger subside a little instead of confronting it and creating that scene would surely go further towards proving the sincerity of this apology than the statement alone ever will. And while he’s at it, Lederer may even want to consider coming out of pocket in some way to the estimated 1,500 players whose claims weren’t resolved …

continue reading in source www.pokernews.com