A poker professional who routinely crisscrosses the States of America and the tournament poker circuit will have plenty of opportunities to meet and socialize with the people of this country (and, in some cases, the world). One of those poker pros allegedly took it a bit farther than that, bilking fellow travelers out of thousands of dollars in cash as he traveled the country in pursuit of poker glory.

Michael Borovetz Arrested in Detroit After Multiple Complaints

The interesting story of Michael Borovetz and his trip to Detroit earlier this week is one that many wouldn’t believe. According to police reports, Borovetz was traveling from Seattle to Miami and was connecting to his next flight in Detroit when airport police arrested him. From their investigations, Borovetz was accused of two counts of “false pretenses with intent to defraud,” according to the report.

“Borovetz is known at airports across the country for approaching passengers with a sad story in an attempt to get money, while promising to pay it back,” airport officials said in a statement that was released to the media. “Once Borovetz receives the money, the victims never hear from him again.” Apparently, this wasn’t the first time that Borovetz had done this; he apparently had run this ruse for at least four years but, without knowledge of his travel habits, the Detroit authorities couldn’t get a line on when he would be in their jurisdiction. When they received info about his travels to Miami earlier this week, airport law enforcement set a plan to capturing Borovetz.

While there was no dollar amount mentioned in coordination with this scam, it could be well into the thousands of dollars. Wayne County Airport Authority spokeswoman Lisa Gass stated that they were receiving “many” phone calls from others who potentially had been defrauded by Borovetz. Additionally, their investigation led them to find that Borovetz had a lengthy criminal past, including fraud convictions, that covered 13 states. Borovetz’s bond was set at $100,000 and, if convicted, he could face up to a year in jail on each count against him.

Borovetz Has Prior History

While it would be easy to dismiss the charges against Borovetz, he apparently has a prior history of such acts, especially in New Jersey. According to Daniel Smyth at CardsChat, Borovetz was arrested by the New Jersey Port Authority for allegedly bilking a fellow ferry rider out of $200. In April 2018, he was charged with “theft by deception,” but his comments after the arrest were what were the most interesting turn.

Smyth’s sleuthing revealed that Borovetz had allegedly admitted to such actions previously. In 2014 Borovetz, using the alias “PSUMike,” allegedly wrote a lengthy post on the chat boards at Two Plus Two regarding allegations brought on the forum. In that post, Borovetz admitted, “I just now read through the whole thread and let me state this emphatically: Everything the initial op has stated is 100% true.”

Smyth detailed out what Borovetz wrote on the Two Plus Two forum, which followed the modus operandi of the actions alleged by the Detroit authorities. Blaming a “gambling addiction,” Borovetz said he would:

1) Give story to try and [sic] get money.

2) Gamble money to try and [sic] win more money so I don’t have to go to airport anymore.

3) Lose all of the money in the pit and go back to #1 or win money, leave, come back the next day thinking I can win more money and proceed to lose it all.”

Borovetz a Veteran of the Poker World

Since 2004, Borovetz has been a stalwart of the tournament poker world. He has racked up almost $600,000 in tournament cashes ($598,958, according to the Hendon Mob Database), with a victory on the World Series of Poker Circuit in 2006 in Atlantic City as the highlight. Over the span of his career, Borovetz was able to rack up 16 cashes in WSOP sanctioned events, along with that ring victory in 2006, and was a fixture on the World Poker Tour circuit.

There is no word on whether Borovetz has made bail as of yet nor any information as to court dates for him. Poker News Daily will continue to follow the case.

After being shut down due to a raid by law enforcement earlier this year, there were questions as to whether Houston’s Prime Social Poker Club would ever reopen. Those questions have now been answered as the owners of the membership only poker club have stated they will reopen in September.

September 5 Official Date for Reopening

According to KPRC Houston Digital Editor Aaron Barker, spokesman Wayne Dolcefino issued a statement on the behalf of the ownership of Prime Social Poker Club with the details that many were waiting for. In that statement, Dolcefino said that September 5 would be the official reopening of the club, with the business contacting prior employees in a way of getting the business back up and running quicker. “We look forward to our 11,000 members coming back and bringing a bunch of friends with them,” Dolcefino said.

There was no statement from the club regarding any changes to the club with the reopening, but its business format was something that was sweeping Texas as a whole. Because of laws in the state prohibiting Texas Hold’em (and gambling as a whole), many entrepreneurs – the owners of Prime Social Poker Club – felt they had found a loophole in the laws. Opening up as “membership only” clubs and charging a membership fee for entrance, these new poker rooms offered cash games and tournament poker to a ravenous audience. The businesses didn’t take any rake – another issue that plagues poker businesses – and instead made revenues (after the membership fees) through the sale of refreshments.

For more than a year in Houston, these clubs were allowed to operate and became quite popular. In the city, Prime Social Poker Club and one of its rivals, Post Oak Poker Club (there has been no announcement as to a reopening for Post Oak), became the two biggest operations in the city, extremely popular with poker players who could now settle in for a game in their home town rather than take a long trip to Louisiana or Oklahoma.
That was until this spring, however, when the local District Attorney started a strange journey that ended up leaving law enforcement highly embarrassed.

Ending Up with “Ogg” on Their Faces

In a stunning raid in May Houston law enforcement, acting at the behest of District Attorney Kim Ogg, entered both the Prime Social and Post Oak Poker Clubs, arrested the ownership of the operations (charging them with money laundering), seized over $200,000 in cash on the premises and froze their bank accounts. In total, nine people from both clubs were arrested and, naturally, the businesses were shut down after the raids. On the way to their day in court, however, a strange twist occurred.

Almost as stunningly as the raids happened, Ogg would drop the cases against the nine owners in July after evidence appeared that the two businesses had solicited the District Attorney’s office for legal guidance on their operations and had been given the go-ahead. In particular, a consultant to Ogg was allegedly paid $250,000 to work on an ordinance that would make the clubs fully legal in the city limits and avoid the potential for such a situation as what occurred in May. That ordinance never came to light (another long story), but it was enough to demonstrate that the DA’s office was not acting as a neutral arbiter in the case.

Faced with these mistakes, Ogg was left with no choice but to drop the charges against the Houston club owners. Another lawsuit, charging the clubs with violations of “nuisance” laws in the city, was dropped also because the criminal investigations that they came from were rendered moot by the dismissal of charges. The best that Ogg could do was to forward the case to the Federal Bureau of Investigations for further examination as her office was left highly embarrassed.

What Will Happen?

In roughly two weeks, Prime Social Poker Club will reopen and probably will have a throng of players waiting to get to the tables. Prime Social Poker Club has stated that they are “reviewing their options” as to reclaiming any lost revenue from being shut down since May, potentially revenues that could total into the high six-figures. But Prime Social Poker Club will be back come the beginning of September – and hopefully without the harassment from law enforcement.

          

Turnamen poker, dan Pemain spesifik mereka Balapan Tahun Ini, biasanya tidak menempuh rute alami untuk memiliki gelar sponsor. Berbeda dengan turnamen mereka, saudara-saudara di golf (yang tampaknya punya mensponsori untuk setiap turnamen yang dijalankannya), poker berlari dari uang yang dihasilkan oleh para pemain sendiri. Poker Central ingin mengubah itu, oleh mengumumkan sponsor utama untuk lomba High Roller of the Year mereka dan secara bersamaan mengumumkan tanggal berikutnya untuk salah satu dari mereka yang populer streaming ”Seri Roller Tinggi.

Poker Central, Automotive Giant Jeep Mitra untuk POY Award

Sudah menjalankan High Roller mereka Tahun kompetisi, Poker Central mendaftarkan Jeep sebagai mitra baru mereka, secara resmi menjadikannya Jeep High Roller of the Year. Untuk sebagian besar 2019, para pemain telah melakukannya mengambil bagian dalam daftar pilih dari 35 acara Roller Tinggi. Peristiwa ini memiliki buy-in yang berkisar dari $ 10.000 hingga $ 100.000 dan membawa sekelompok pemain tertentu yang telah diakui sebagai beberapa yang terbaik dalam gim ini.

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Kompetisi Rol Tinggi Tahun Ini termasuk banyak turnamen unggulan di outlet streaming Poker Central PokerGO, termasuk Super High Roller Bowl, U. S. Poker Open dan Master Poker. Di musim perdananya, Sam Soverel adalah juara umum dan, pada tahun 2019, dia akan mempertahankan gelarnya. Saat ini dia duduk di atas pemunculan High Roller of the Year 2019, tetapi ada beberapa yang kuat pemain yang menguntitnya di papan peringkat:

1. Sam Soverel, 1160 poin
2. Ali Imsirovic, 995
3. Cary Katz, 925
4. Stephen Chidwick, 910
5. David Peters, 865
6. Sean Winter, 810
7. Keith Tilston, 665
8. Jake Schindler, 660
9. Brandon Adams, 590
10. Nick Schulman, 410

Saat ini, tidak ada informasi apakah Kesepakatan sponsorship baru Jeep akan menambah apa pun untuk penghargaan bagi yang tertinggi juara.

2019 Tanggal Master Poker Diumumkan

Sementara mengumumkan kemitraan baru dengan Jeep, Poker Central juga mengungkapkan tanggal untuk seri Poker Masters mendatang. Tanggal untuk jadwal akan 1-10 November di ARIA Resort & Casino di Las Vegas, dengan 10 turnamen Roller Tinggi akan dimainkan. Semuanya dimulai
dengan pembelian $ 10.000 dalam turnamen pada tanggal 1 November dan diakhiri dengan $ 100.000 buy-in Main Event. Tahun lalu, juara dari Main Event $ 100.000 adalah David Peters, tetapi Imsirovic yang memiliki seri terbaik dari semua dan memenangkan yang didambakan Jaket ungu Masters Poker.

Sementara Master Poker menjulang di cakrawala, itu adalah acara perdana untuk Poker Central dan PokerGO di London yang menjadi perhatian banyak orang. British Poker Open, jadwal 10-acara turnamen High Roller, akan dimulai pada 2 September dan akan menarik pro terkantong paling dalam dari seluruh benua Eropa untuk pertempuran. Setelah penutupan British Poker Open, Super High Roller Bowl London akan berlangsung mulai 13 September.

Poker Central tampaknya telah hilang, tidak ada permainan kata-kata yang dimaksudkan, semuanya dengan format Roller Tinggi. Turnamen ini telah mendapatkan popularitas selama beberapa tahun terakhir, tetapi sedikit yang diketahui seberapa sukses mereka sejauh pemirsa pergi (dalam hal ini, tidak diketahui apa pemirsa PokerGO adalah; sebagai entitas pribadi dan outlet streaming) , ada beberapa cara untuk mengukur audiens mereka). Dan dengan sponsor baru dengan Jeep, Poker Central mulai memasarkan turnamen ini sehingga mereka bisa bertahan.