Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson Suspended Indefinitely By Epic Poker LeagueHoward Lederer's Sister Annie Duke a Non-Voting Member of Standards and Conduct Committee |
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On Wednesday, the Epic Poker League issued a statement concerning the membership status of Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson, two players named in the amended indictment filed by the Department of Justice against the board of directors of Full Tilt Poker.
EPL Chairman of the Standards and Conduct Committee Stephen Martin said, “The Committee voted to suspend Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson indefinitely, pending the outcome of the Department of Justice’s action.”
The committee is made up of Martin, Tournament Director Matt Savage, league members Eric Baldwin, Andy Bloch, Chad Brown, Joe Hachem, Mike McDonald, Nick Schulman, Alec Torelli and Commissioner Annie Duke. Duke, who is Lederer’s sister, is a non-voting member of the committee. The committee did not comment on another player named in the indictment, Rafe Furst, presumably because he did not qualify for a tour card this season.
Lederer and Ferguson are the third and fourth players to face disciplinary action by the EPL. The first being inaugural EPL main event champion David “Chino” Rheem, for failing to pay ongoing debts and the second being Pro/Am qualifier Michael DiVita, who was asked to forfeit his tournament entry after it was revealed that he was a convicted sex offender.
Card Player spoke to Martin earlier this month to get his explanation behind the committee’s prior actions.
“The Epic Poker League, as well as every professional sports league, has a player’s code of conduct that includes both in-play rules as well as provisions to professional conduct outside of the game,” said Martin. “If a person violates either league rules or the law, they are subject to discipline. That discipline could range from a reprimand, to suspension or even a permanent dismissal from the league. All of those circumstances are determined on a case by case basis.”
Martin went further, explaining how the EPL’s reach extends beyond violations committed on the felt. “There is a difference between an in-game violation, such as cheating, that directly affects the integrity of the game and a conduct violation, that has the potential to affect poker’s reputation, hurt its growth or damage the community as a whole. I like to compare it to the National Football League (NFL), which has a history of policing its players for the good of the game. There are players who were punished for the use of performance enhancing drugs that affected the actual game play and there were players like Michael Vick and Ben Roethlisberger, who were punished for outside conduct that hurt the league’s reputation.”
According to Martin, the reason the Standards and Conduct Committee exists is to propel poker into a nationally recognized sport.
“The goal of the EPL is to put the players first and to build the professionalism of the sport so that the entire poker community benefits,” Martin said. “In order to raise poker to the levels of a legitimately recognized national sport, there must be a disciplinary body that takes action against those who are going to bring harm to the game.”
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Comments
I_P_Freely
over 1 year ago
Strange that Andy Bloch would vote to ban FTP pros from the EPL when Bloch omself was one of the original FTP pros. Probably irrelevent since Lederer and Ferguson have disappeared completely and may have even fled the country.
Also strange that the EPL did not ban Hellmuth or throw Duke off the board, considering how much money they made from UB, which has also stolen millions from it's customers.
bmpek
over 1 year ago
why is Andy Bloch sitting on an ethics board???? was he not one of the IMT group that was counting cards a the black jack tables. i believe he has proudly admitted this violation of New Jersey and Nevada gaming law.
what about the players who have been convicted on drug charges, drunken driving and income tax evasion. if a strict conduct code is enforced this field shrinks a bunch.
duquedelsol
over 1 year ago
Counting cards is not illegal in either Nevada or Atlantic City...actually Ken Uston won his case in front of the Supreme Court of New Jersey saying that casinos could not ban skilled players...casinos may choose to ban players they suspect of card counting in Nevada (and presumably other locations)...Andy also led a movement requiring fresher cards at the WSOP because he suspected some were marked...there may be plenty of reasons to dislike him - and his compliance in the FTP is certainly questionable...but please use EASILY obtainable facts when making accusations...there's a cool new site called google you can use for that...
xxxTheOnexxx
over 1 year ago
I'm a 26 year old professional poker player living in Dallas, Texas. I began playing for fun as a 17 year old kid in highschool with friend's and family quickly becoming obsessed with the game. The more I played the more money I made at low limit games in Indian Casino's in Oklahoma that were an hour away. As a result I quit my part time job, dropped out of college (with only a year left from graduating) and begin playing live poker full time. I can tell you that I've been very successful with poker and have made more money than I thought I would at my age. Many friends and I had approximately 200k spread over 4 Neteller accounts in the fall of 2010. We have all received the funds back as of now but it did take months of waiting. I agree with a previous comment that someone mentioned about the government wanting the public (mainly the non poker-playing public) to believe that this was the poker site's fault when in fact it was the United States Government and the Department of Justice that was involved. Don't let them convince you that they didn't have a direct hand in seizing those accounts into limbo while they investigated overseas companies that were offering online gambling. I have to daily preach this to fish at my 5-10 NL Holdem table everyday and again when I visit Vegas, L.A., and Foxwoods simply because if you understand how poker works you'd see the truth behind the standards and conduct committee, what a joke.
mikeyb111
over 1 year ago
The "Professor" has always reminded me of Frankenstein.