Look Who's Talking

[Dave23 0]

The trouble is nobody will forgive and forget until zee shows some genuine remorse. That blog update wasn't an apology it was another attempt to justify what he did. I hope for his sake that this is just immaturity and not sheer stupidity.

[dbrent2 0]

If you have a true passion for a game, you play the game right way. I have had friends come up to me and try to set up a scam. I don't need that to beat the game I was in, and as a competitor, I don't want that. I want to beat the game the right way. It is about pride. The money just helps keep an edge on the game. When I play charity tournaments, I still want to win.I am like this in everything I do. I want to play the game the right way...

[Kangaroo 0]

People make mistakes and the adult thing to do is forgive and move on. No one here myself included has lived a mistake free life.

The adult thing is to take responsibility for your actions. Zeejsutin has said what he did was wrong when Zeejustin says he deserved everything he got Ill think about moving on. Also just labelling something as the "adult" thing to do doesnt mean its correct.

It blows my mind how personal some people seem to be taking this whole thing. Now I don't condone what Justin did but come on, some of you act like he has killed someone.

No I act like he has given himself an unfair advantage and now instead of just standing up and taking it he still feels he can justify it. What he did was wrong. End of story it doesnt matter who else is doing it. I'd probably be much more inclined to accept his apology if he said look I messed up Im sorry the poker community as a whole deserves better Im dissapointed in myself, but e continues to go on about how hes been mistreated and this is a large reason why I still think he's a ******.

For those that are taking his cheating so much to heart I am curious as to why? Is it because its dishonest and unethical or is it because its against the terms and conditions?

or both.

Is what he did all that much worse then four or five players talking over the phone or through msn while playing in the same tourneys and sharing advice? and if so why?Have you ever had a friend/spouse play in a game and ask what you would do during a certain hand?

No I havent colluded with a player online nor have ai asked anyone what to do while playing a hand. I may seem like a biggot but I trust my judgement and feel pokers a game of personal acheivement. I know some great players who i talk to on AIM. do I ask thema dvice when in a tournament? no. do I analyse hands later? yes.A situation arose the other day on full tilt. A guy was sucking up to John Juanda and all of a sudden he was put all in. He thought for a while and said what should I do JJ? now if JJ said he's bluffing call and was right what do you think this other player would think. Exactly. Don't try and justify it dont piss on my leg and tell me it's raining. He cheated stand up for it.

I'm just curious where everybody who is up in arms stands on these issues. As I said I don't condone what he did but he apologized and has owned up for it, I am more concerned with the fact that according to him and other sources this was common practice between many high stakes players and only two of them have been outed.

He didnt own up to it at all. He got caught. If he hadnt have been caught it's very doubtful he would have owned up to it at all. Hes apologised but as I said if stood up and took responsibility Id accept it but he continues to whinge how badly he's been treated I mean come on.If he's really that sorry and wants to redeem himself stand up be a man and do something to help the community he's wronged so badly start outting some of these cheats and redeeming himself.

[mr_english 0]

Zee, give up poker and run for congress........as a republican, you now have all the right credentials

[nickforgot 0]

Zee, give up poker and run for congress........as a republican, you now have all the right credentials

ZING!!!!!!11111!!!!!!!

[Wingmaster05 0]

SHUT THE HELL UP! You read the ****ing rules before you joined the site, and this policy is spelled out explicitly. Don't join the site if their rules are, as you put it, "unreasonable." And if you didn't read the rules before you joined the site, you're an even bigger moron. Either way, major asshat.

Whoa, I'm fairly certain 90% of us here don't read the Terms and Conditions of every poker site they join, in fact I bet a lot don't even skim over it.Maybe your first online poker experience. Maybe.Not saying this is an excuse at all, but no point in pretending we all took the T and C to heart.

[cguyton 0]

He made a mistake. Both sites issued their punishment. It is over. To blow this out of proportion and say that it hurts the integrity of the online game?!?! That is ridiculous. He got caught and the online community caught and punished him for it - that HELPS the intergrity of online poker. People are not fearful to play online poker because of ZJ or anyone else that is cheating!! They trust that the sites are doing everything they can to catch people who cheat.Props to PS and PP for handling it the way they did.Good Luck in the future ZJ - crime done and time done.

[TS Clark 0]

The kid has said sorry. While I think his apology still is a bit heavy on the personal justification side, it's a start. Everyone on this forum has made mistakes and, hopefully, had the experience of being forgiven.That said, he needs to accept that he absolutely deserves everything he's getting. Decrying the unfairness of what Party did isn't helpful to his case. There is a saying in Asian cultures -- "If you are going to bow, bow low." In the Christian ethic, this same idea is described with, "Pay to the uttermost farthing." He needs to stop any attempt to justify what he did or point any fingers. I hope that he'll realize this.I wish the guy no ill will and hope that he's able to earn back his life as he wants to live it. No one died or was emotionally harmed from his actions, so I would hope everyone can find it within themselves to let this go in the near future. But, I think he definitely needs to walk away from the poker world for a good while before trying to come back. A couple of years away from things would let everyone have a chance to let this go, plus add some possible muscle to his assertion about growing and changing.Good luck to him whatever he decides. He's going to get pounded for a while, so he should strap himself in and "bow low." But I'm sure he can come out on the other side if he's willing to persevere.

[timwakefield 68]

Whoa, I'm fairly certain 90% of us here don't read the Terms and Conditions of every poker site they join, in fact I bet a lot don't even skim over it.Maybe your first online poker experience. Maybe.Not saying this is an excuse at all, but no point in pretending we all took the T and C to heart.

Good point, but if I had $100K sitting there, I would read every ****ing word twice.

[custom36 4]

This is step 1 in the PR Repair Handbook. He's following it word for word. Take it for what it's worth.

[Kurtman213 0]

YEAH!!!! My neighbor is a cool guy/nice guy I caught him banging my wife, but since he was so nice/cool I forgave him, now he comes over once a week for quality time w/ the wife. wtf.

Mike is that you??if it is, I want my shovel back

[bobbywithani 0]

Zee, give up poker and run for congress........as a republican, you now have all the right credentials

Yeah because our whole two party system isn't full of liars and cheats, just republicans.

[solo319 0]

I think its sad that so many ppl were rooting for Zeejustin to fail. It seems like ppl dont want to beleive a kid can make that much money without cheating. The dude did cheat in a few tournys but theres no way he made all of his money from cheating. He made a mistake and paid a severe price for it, and hes only a kid man! Ive made plenty of mistakes in my life only they were not public like this, as im sure all of you have. Give the guy another chance just a month ago all of you talked of zeejustin like he was a god or something and now everyone is celebrating this mistake.

[FourFlusher 0]

This kid is 16, right?He did something stupid, let's cut off his hands?The kid accomplished something at 16 most of us don't even dare to dream about, and his head got fuzzy.Punish him yes, crucify him? Not really necessary.

[Jordan 1]

hes 19 or 20 i think

[ford14 0]

I think its sad that so many ppl were rooting for Zeejustin to fail. It seems like ppl dont want to beleive a kid can make that much money without cheating. The dude did cheat in a few tournys but theres no way he made all of his money from cheating. He made a mistake and paid a severe price for it, and hes only a kid man! Ive made plenty of mistakes in my life only they were not public like this, as im sure all of you have. Give the guy another chance just a month ago all of you talked of zeejustin like he was a god or something and now everyone is celebrating this mistake.

I agree that there's been some over-reactions towards this, but I can see why. He is only a kid, and kids make mistakes. I don't think that's the main problem that people are bashing him for. He admits to making the mistake, and then says he's sorry for doing it. Then directly after that, says he thinks that he was treated unfairly by Party. That seems to override the apologetic nature of his post and makes it seem very disingenuous.That being said, for every decision you make in your life, there are reprocussions, either positive or negative. Poker players, of all people, should know this, as the only way to continue being profitable is by making good decisions and reaping positive rewards. Bad decisions equal bad results. You have to deal with them. I think this is a good lesson to Justin to learn from. I only hope it does take it as a lesson learned rather than developing a rather large chip on his shoulder for the rest of his life because he felt shafted on the deal. That, unfortunately, is the vibe I'm getting from his comments thus far.

[pokerplayer24 0]

Honestly who cares. Everyone overhypes this so much. He got 100k taken away, hes apologized. For something that has affected most of the people on this forum so indirectly its amazing how opinionated everyone is. In the end this kid will get back on PP or stars, continue to make hundreds of thousands of dollars and this will be a minor blip in his poker career, at least from an earnings standpoint. Reputation wise lets face it, while he will make it seem as if gaining his reputation back is of some importance, its fairly obvious that in the end the bottom line is what will matter to him.

[Suited_Up 2]

hes 19 or 20 i think

Point being.... He's still at a very immature state in his life. We've all made mistakes, sometimes we did it while we were 16, sometimes 19... Either way, you have a lot of growing up to do at that point in your life.He made a mistake, I'm sure he feels bad about it. (Please spare me, the "because he got caught" stuff) That is why anyone feels sorry for anything, no matter what it may be. It's how we work.To the people who seem to think he's the 2nd coming of Hitler. Relax a little bit. He's still a kid, he made a mistake, he paid pretty damn dearly for it. Let him have another chance. I doubt he makes the same mistake again, and now that the problem is out in the open, he can be a key part in making things right in the future.Certain things you may do in life don't deserve a second chance, but this is far from one of those. Give him a little bit of a break. He apologized, and if you didn't think it was ENOUGH of an apology, that's a bit ridiculous. It's human nature to try to excuse your actions if you feel they were wrong... it's just how people save face, and cope with things within themselves. If you thought he was making excuses, that is why. He knows it's wrong, but it doesn't mean he isn't going to rationlize it in his own head. Think about yourself for awhile, and tell me that you've made mistakes and not tried to come up with an excuse to make yourself feel better about it later. We've all done it, it's just how people do things. It's easy to sit on a message board and tear him a new one, but a lot of you need to really think for yourselves a little more. Stop being a mob, and think about what if you were in a similar situation, because most of us have been in a spot we'd rather not be in. But there's nothing you can do about it. You just need to get through it. That is exactly what Justin is trying to do.

[InertGrudge 0]

I was generally impressed with the tone of the message. Other than a few points I disagree with him on, such as the PartyPoker Zero Tolerance policy, I honestly believe he knows just how big of a mistake he made.Of course, that doesn't forgive him for what he did. He's a doucheclown for ever thinking it was ethical and not questioning it when his mentors were doing it. But, I always thought he seemed like a pretty nice guy in general, and I still think that.Nice guy, horrible judgment.

[Garn 0]

i just thought that it was BS how he tried to legitimize it. saying that when he is in a huge event he doesn;t really see how it was wrong. what BS

[srblan 0]

"that was goooood wasnt it? because i DID know i couldn't do that"(probly my favorite line from that performance)

lol, such a great routine.

The F-Bomb is the penultimate poker sin

lol, that's ****ing ridiculous.

[JMotrain 0]

Of course he's sorry, he got caught cheating, lost 100k, and ruined his reputation in the poker community. If he was never caught for doing this (or JJProdigy), they would continue to do it. And let's not kid ourselves, this adds a SIGNFICANT edge. He's a cheater, he's paying the price, and any human being with a conscience would have known this was the wrong thing to do. So I don't give a crap whether he's sorry or not, he should be banned from poker forever.

[irishguy 14]

Not to play devil's advocate but I do think that Justin is some what in the right with his views on how party handled the situation. Pokerstars back tracked and put an exact dollar amount of his earning while cheating and then confiscated the amount earned illegally. Party just took what was in his account without complete justification. Some of you may feel ****em it looks good on him but imagine you stole a vcr and the police came into your house and took the vcr plus your TV plus you computer and so on. It may seem like redundant bitching from him but I do understand his point.

[getarealjob 0]

Not to play devil's advocate but I do think that Justin is some what in the right with his views on how party handled the situation. Pokerstars back tracked and put an exact dollar amount of his earning while cheating and then confiscated the amount earned illegally. Party just took what was in his account without complete justification. Some of you me feel ****em it looks good on him but imagine you stole a vcr and the police came into your house and took the vcr plus your TV plus you computer and so on. It may seem like redundant bitching from him but I do understand his point.

If he had any case at all, he'd be suing Party Poker, and not say a word on his blog about anything until trial or when a settlement is forced.Clearly he has no case against Party Poker, and his snivelling is just more reason why he'll never be respected as a poker player ever again.Now he's going public complaining about fairness because his attorney can't find a way to litigate this case.He's handling this issue, addressing the internet poker public like a four year old, displaying no true remorse whatsoever. Talking in circles, and never fully admitting moral culpability or guilt. If it was more genuine, I'm sure more people might have more sympathy.Don't turn him into a martyr.

[DLizzle 0]

in my opinion, Partypoker stole from ZeeJustin and I'm more mad at them.