Mike Postle will answer allegations in February as extension granted to Stones player

mike-postle-will-answer-allegations-in-february-as-extension-granted-to-stones-player

The Stones Gambling Hall scandal was one of the major stories of 2019. What made it so addictive to the poker fans who pored over each twist and turn was that it conjured up some of the best elements of a boxset to binge on. It had a flawed anti-hero (Mike Postle himself), several characters you didn’t know were good or bad, dealers, tournament directors, commentators and fellow players, along with a merry band of whistleblowers and investigators led by a YouTube sensation and a social media superhero for the Me/Her generation.

mike-postle-will-answer-allegations-in-february-as-extension-granted-to-stones-playerNetflix have got to be interested in this one.

The only problem with the story, in narrative terms, however, was that it owed a little more to the Netflix smash-hit Making a Murderer than it did a well-written drama series. The issue being that the ending was muddled, inconclusive and drawn out to such a degree that some of the audience were starting to give up on a satisfying ending ever appearing.

It would seem, however, that after many months of allegedly trying to avoid even receiving the legal summons that had been attempted to have been served on him seven times by the laywer Maurice ‘Mac’ Verstandig, Postle has given in. Postle has replied to the summons and acknowledged its receipt on the 8th January. By doing so, Postle has given himself a deadline to defend the accusations thrown his way.

While the poker industry is almost exclusively of the opinion that Postle’s cheating is both provable and obvious, a court may not be and that denouement is what poker fans have been looking forward to. So far, the witnesses have been gathered and much of the evidence has been produced only for Hercule Poirot to have been delayed on the approach to the mansion.

Having been accused of cheating the other players – as well as possibly the house depending on whether Postle had any assistance – the ‘Stones Live’ streams from 2018 and 2019 got a thorough going over by none other than Joey Ingram, several videos of which brought enough attention to warrant a Global Poker Award nomination for ‘Chicago Joey’ on the back of his efforts.

With Postle having evaded the summons for some considerable time, he’ll now have to face the music in just a few short weeks’ time, with a date of February 26th as the cut-off, the mandatory 28-day extension period granted to Postle running out on that day.

With Postle having signed the document just over a week ago, at present the accused and possibly forever-disgraced poker player has no legal representation, so will be representing himself unless he is able to find someone to fight his case in the next three weeks.

Postle will need to build a case to help support his innocence on the 26th of the month, and while the burden in every court case always falls of proving guilt rather than certifying innocence, Postle will face a mission to deflect the multiple accusations made against him.

It seems that with the Stones Gambling Hall owners King’s Casino also looking to defend their name, along with alleged co-conspirator and SGH employee Justin Kuraitis, it’s not just Mike Postle who will have rung the date of February 26th in red pen.

A red letter day in poker history may well come on that fateful date, and we’ll bring you the result of the next step as this dramatic poker story builds to a climax.