June 4, 2008
Rizen goes to Ultimate Bet
by Otis
I've been on record for the past couple of years.
I think Eric "Rizen" Lynch is one of the best people in poker. He knows the game, he's a great person, and he has a respect for his role in the poker community.
I subscribe to Eric's RSS feed, despite my disdain for truncated traffic generation summaries. Today, I read the headline "My personal comments about the UB signing" and I was sure Eric would be weighing in on Cliff "JohnnyBax" Josephy's signing with the oft-maligned online poker site.
Imagine my surprise when I learned one of my favorite poker players is signing with the site everybody loves to hate.
If you've never been fortunate enough to meet Eric, you should know he is a guy you will like. He's friendly, humble, and a good family man. He is also a stellar poker player. I can't help but envy his ability, discipline, and balance. He, like many of you, writes a blog (Rizen Poker) and gives more insight into his game than most pros would offer.
So, inside of a week or so, two people who command respect in the poker community have joined up with Ulimate Bet, a site that not only has been torn apart in recent months due to the sickening revelation that the site was in fact rigged, but also has been the subject of many our rants and raves here (see the most recent Up For Poker Ultimate Bet Cheating post).
The easist explanation for anything in the poker world is money. Why else would someone like Eric sign up with what is without question the most controversial and broken site in all of online poker? Here's the thing. In his explanation, Eric denies he is selling out.
"I've also made sure that all of the business decisions I've made in my life are things that I can be proud of, even if that's meant potentially costing myself and my family money. I am by no means independently wealthy, but I did not *need* this deal from a financial perspective...Lastly, I would proudly like to announce that a significant portion of my proceeds from my relationship with Ultimate Bet will be going towards charity.
Both JohnnyBax and Rizen are now UB pitchmen. Both assert that there is more going on behind the scenes than we know and that someday it will all make sense.
It's an odd place for a cynic like me to be. Everything in my gut tells me to stay as far away from UB as possible (haven't played there in more than a year, near as I can tell). Everything about celebrity endorsements tells me to take it with a grain of salt.
That said, when somebody I deeply respect makes a move like this, it makes me question everything.
Do I believe my gut and follow the exodus away from UB? Do I believe the people I respect that Ultimate Bet is making a real effort to make good on past mistakes?
For now, I'm doing nothing. While not the style of people who are huge successes, sometimes it pays to just wait and see.
I feel about the same way regarding Ultimate Bet. If they really want a second chance or forgiveness or just a clean start... How about an actual apology and not yet another press release with dates and details. Has no one thought to say...We're Sorry?
wow. A little speechless. I really respect Rizen as well, even though I've never had much of an opinion one way or the other about Bax. I'm still feeling a little shady about UB, though. They do need to come out and apologize and admit that they screwed up, instead of just saying "this is what we're doing, aren't we great?"
If you're out of credibility, go out and buy someone else's.
The thing with Rizen and Bax is that they aren't "TV" names. If I grabbed a casual poker player, they wouldn't have a clue who they were. They aren't Hellmuth, Brunson, Negreanu, Moneymaker, etc. in terms of name value. Then again, the causual player wouldn't have a clue about the UB scandal.
But they ARE valuable in terms of their respect and credibility online, where this scandal is well-known. It's UB's way of saying "we're addressing your concerns!" What remains to be seen is if they legitimately are or simply pulling the wool over the eyes of their new ambassadors. I'll stay away for a long while still, at least until they prove they are genuine.
Imagine if UB had pulled in Bonomo? The jokes would write themselves.
This surprises me as well. I had dismissed Bax's signing as a sellout or naivete' about UB's plans to reform. Rizen signing on as well does make you think twice.
Nothing wrong with staying away and playing wait-and-see, though. UB's taking a big gamble if they aren't prepared to actually improve things: what happens in 8 months if it's business as usual and Bax and Rizen realize they were duped?
There is one link between Bax and Rizen - they are both PXF pros. Change100 hinted at a possible buy-out, but they have dispelled those rumors so far.
The reason UB is doing this is to try to generate these doubts in people like you who know and respect these guys. Thousands of PXFers and probably a bunch of P5 and 2+2 readers are now thinking the same thing: "Why are these two honest, successful, nice guy pros joining this site. Maybe they really are trying to turn things around. Maybe we should give them a chance"?
The bottom line is people don't care. How many high level no-limit hold'em players are out there? The little fishies aren't going to leave anyway. Traffic has not dropped on either UB or AP significantly after the scandals.
It's just a marketing tactic. And a pretty smart one at that.
No offense intended, but this is more a testimony of how inept Stars is than anything else, imo. Rizen belongs with Stars, plain and simple. Why they won't sweep up players who fit their brand is beyond me.
cc: I'm asking, because I don't know, but does Stars have any online pros? They seem to be focused on more prominent "TV names." I suppose Otis can likely answer that as well. Stars might believe it's more beneficial to go after the big fish than the big online fish.
Hevan Khan and Dario Minieri, more connected with splash during last year's WSOP ME. ElkY (Bertrand Grospellier is probably the only other hard core "online pro" (I don't know about Gavin Griffith, or Europeans who are on Team PokerStars). Stars seems to be the site of the regular online grinder and the young guns. A guy like Rizen, as Otis says (and would know better than I) a great guy and family man, seems tailor made for Stars.
