Mike Postle Cheating Scandal
Article for reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg34YTF-meA
No limit-texas-holdem poker is a game that utilizes various game theory optimal strategies and mixed strategies in addition to reads. It is a game consisting of recognizing patterns, understanding probability, developing your own mixed strategies in response to other players, and of course, game theory optimal strategy. Every player that is serious about this game knows the general layout of game theory optimal play and incorporates it into their play. Many may say this is a game of luck, as the cards you get and the runout of the whole cards is random, such that if a player goes all-in heads up, every hand, they would still hold at worst, realistically, a 20% chance of winning which is due to luck. However, if you take this in the long run, an inferior player will lose if you increase the sample to hundreds of hands.
Here, I will be discussing a scandal in the poker world, the Mike Postle cheating scandal at Stones Casino. In the link, Joey Ingram (an influential poker commentator and professional player), goes over hundreds of hands of Mike Postle’s live streamed plasy, looking for discrepancies of play which are quite evident. I am going the specifically analyze the hand of which I believe it is most evident shown at 3:42:53 of the video. In this hand action goes around normally, with Mike Postle holding 45o (offsuit), until action reaches the small and big blind, who raise and re-raise all-in. In this position, both the small and the big blind are displaying huge hands at the top of their ranges as shown for GTO ranges which is required to call an all-in for players at this level, much less two all-ins.
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Here the decision with 45o is a complete no brainer. No player in their right mind would ever call these all-ins with both players already fully committed removing his fold equity and any inkling of his pot odds to call. Unless of course you can see what cards the players have. In this case, they both hold AKo, which gives Mike Postle the highest hand equity with the otherwise almost always worse hand of 45o. For a player who has played for 16 years, there is no strategy that could have led Mike Postle to his all-in decision, or even a beginner to call the 4.1 thousand dollar all-in on this play. That is, unless he entirely knew their hand holdings, and knew they blocked each other, which reaches the tiniest of statistical probability. This is just one hand of many that displays the insane correct plays Mike Postle has made making him a statistical outlier in correct river plays by scores in comparison to other professionals. The hours and hours of evidence of his hand recaps display proof of cheating which is easily recognizable to anybody that knows about poker and GTO strategy, added with the statistical impossibility with his win-rate from deviating from GTO strategy makes it becomes almost undeniable.