Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Noted Poker Pro Roy Winston Challenges Negreanu's Poker Cheating By Sunglasses Claims!

If you haven't heard, Daniel Negreanu, who I personally think is full of you-know-what, wrote on his blog that wearing sunglasses in live poker games is nothing less than a form of poker cheating. This sparked some outcry amongst fellow poker pros, who do not agree with the PokerStars Baby-Brat.

In his blog about the TV poker show "The Big Game," Negreanu wrote, "One thing I love about our show is that FINALLY there is a rule in place where you can’t hide like a chicken behind sunglasses! I swear every TV producer should ban sunglasses entirely from any televised event. They are so bad for poker on so many levels. Let’s just say that guys like Russ Hamilton would oppose such a ban. I’m not making this up, it’s just a fact. Banning sunglasses helps to protect the integrity of the game against cheating."

Roy Winston challenged Negreanu's view with "A certain well-known player/blogger (doesn't name Negreanu but we all it's him) compared wearing sunglasses to cheating. What about players like Phil Hellmuth, Greg Raymer, or John Phan, all of who wear sunglasses and all of who have honor beyond reproach? Where do you draw the line if you do ban sunglasses? What about those of us wearing prescription glasses, some of which are tinted? Comparing sunglasses to performance enhancing drugs or outright cheating is nothing short of ridiculous."

My take: I imagine with the punches and counter punches coming from both sides of this debate (I'm sure there are some pleyers who agree with Negreanu), we will likely hear much more about this, and it should continue to be a lingering online poker cheating topic with about the same repetition rate as the subject: Is Men the Master Nguyen a poker cheat? Stay tuned!