A couple weeks ago, old wounds were opened in the poker world when audio tapes of a meeting amongst UltimateBet principals, including ring leader Russ Hamilton, surfaced, revealing the depths to which the perpetrators of last decade’s gigantic cheating scandal went to cover up their involvement.
Mentioned in the recordings were long-time UltimateBet spokespeople Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. The participants in the meeting talked about leaving Hellmuth in the dark about what was going on, thus essentially clearing him of any direct wrongdoing. Duke’s involvement was left a little murky, as it was said that she knew about the “God Mode” cheating tool, but only had access to it on a 15-minute delay.
Since the recordings were made public, both Hellmuth and Duke have issued public statements professing their innocence and lamenting their association with those who cheated and those who allowed it to happen. While both statements were well written and believable, neither satisfied the poker community.
And therein lies the problem. Whenever there is any sort of poker scandal, no matter how big or small, those involved are damned if they do and damned if they don’t when it comes to explaining themselves. If they don’t say anything, they are automatically considered guilty. If they come out and make statement, very few people believe them or accept their apology. Very few people are able to shed a scarlet letter once it has been attached.
As such, both Hellmuth and Duke need to do more if they care at all about their reputations in the poker community. And though he is much less hated than Duke, this should be more important to Hellmuth because his brand revolves entirely around poker. Duke at least has an audience outside of the poker world, largely due to her strong performance on The Celebrity Apprentice, that probably doesn’t know much about her issues with UltimateBet and the Epic Poker League. The two at the very least need to pen much more detailed statements, going through everything they knew about the cheating and when. I mean exactly what they knew and on exactly what dates. Of course, this is assuming they are guilt-free (if they are guilty of cheating or the condoning of cheating then, well, screw ‘em).
Beyond that, they must talk in great detail about their decision process and timeline for their departures from UltimateBet. One of the greatest sources of frustration for many in the poker community was that both Hellmuth and Duke continued promoting UltimateBet (and presumably continued to get paid) after the cheating scandal broke and even after evidence came out that pointed to the involvement of Russ Hamilton and other higher-ups. If Duke and Hellmuth were truly in the dark about the cheating until evidence was made public, people want to know what, if anything, they did to use their influence to try to help those that were cheated. What discussions did they have with their buddies in power at UltimateBet? Why did they keep touting the poker site? What could they have done differently?
Going further, it would be great if they would be willing to sit down to an interview (preferably on video) in which any question is fair game (as long as the line of questioning remains professional). They need to be open books and not be defensive about anything. If they screwed up, admit it.
Even if they do everything right, even if they decide to go beyond their current statements and be honest about every tick mark on the scandal timeline, I still have my doubts that they will be viewed any differently by the poker community. As I said, once that scarlet letter is on, it is hard to tear it off. They need to try, though. But hey, if they don’t care about their images, then I guess neither should we.
