PokerNews and Tiffany Michelle

MidnightMike

I picked this up from a UK forum I mod at. Talk about biting the hand that feeds ya.



PokerNews Official Statement

July 14, 2008

PokerNews Management

The last 48 hours have been a crucial and trying time for PokerNews.

On the outset of the World Series of Poker, we have been associated with an outstanding female poker player, who until a few hours ago, was the last woman standing in the original field of 6844 entrants in the 2008 WSOP Main Event.

Official PokerNews representative, Tiffany Michelle, was one of the chip leaders for the better end of her run in the Main Event and was poised for a brilliant Final Table appearance that would make her the second woman in history to achieve such a feat.

As a company that truly believes in this industry and in the importance of supporting aspiring poker players, PokerNews sponsored her into several buy-in events at this year's World Series including the Main Event, enabling Tiffany to showcase her irrefutable talent and flair on the felt.

However, a few days into the Main Event, several media outlets published reports and images showing Tiffany donning an UltimateBet.net logo during her play at the ESPN feature table.

It was later confirmed that without any consultation with PokerNews, Tiffany went ahead and signed a sponsorship deal with Ultimate Bet. While we welcome such sponsorship deals between online gaming operators and players, as a company we could see no reason as to why we were left out of such negotiations, especially considering the relationships that PokerNews has with all such entities.

Tiffany was bought into the event by PokerNews and had a signed player contract with PokerNews Ltd.

We believe, that based on advice from her agent that the contract may have loopholes; she went and made a deal with an online gaming operator that completely contradicted the trust that we had put in her, both as an employee and as a sponsored player.

As an organization we felt completely sabotaged by Tiffany, her agent and Ultimate Bet.

In fact, PokerNews was looking forward to and expected a large number of sponsorship offers from the world's biggest poker rooms – Tiffany's career was about to explode and we could not have been more proud for her.

Therefore, we are incredibly disappointed with Tiffany and her agent's lack of respect and professionalism. We are currently seeking legal council on this entire situation and potential damages to PokerNews.

In regard to the Ultimate Bet and PokerNews relationship, Ultimate Bet has come under considerable scrutiny from the Poker Community for several scandals involving high-ranking employees and the use of defective software that allowed these users to see their opponent's hole cards.

As a result of such breaches in the online communities trust, PokerNews has decided that it will no longer promote this site within its network.

Despite the disappointing circumstances, we extend our deepest congratulations to Tiffany on her outstanding achievement. Tiffany finished in 17th place and left the room to a standing ovation.

On behalf of PokerNews, I would like to thank the millions of faithful viewers who have supported us throughout this time, and who have continued to come to us for reliable, timely and in-depth reporting of the world's biggest poker tournaments.

I truly believe that this year we were able to showcase to the world the incredible team of people that we have working for this organization. The live updates this year set a precedent and I am proud of our efforts.

Justin Robert Huxley
PokerNews Ltd Vice President

PokerNews Official Statement | Poker News

JimmyHo

I say can the bitch and move on. No shortage of better players to fill her spot.

BBC Z

Like any good company - contractor relationship knows. A contract is only worth anything if the two parties can trust eachother.

I.E. If you know you are never going to litigate against a contract, then what you've really got is an implicit trust relationship.

Sucks for PokerNews but this press release is stupid and unprofessional.

InsaneGuy

There's always a penality when you breach a contract... maybe in her case it was "We're gonna crush your reputation" ?

I fail to see where it was unprofesionnal though.

BBC Z

I glossed over this:

As a company that truly believes in this industry and in the importance of supporting aspiring poker players, PokerNews sponsored her into several buy-in events at this year's World Series including the Main Event, enabling Tiffany to showcase her irrefutable talent and flair on the felt.

So PokerNews paid her entry AND signed a player contract with her.. I'd bet Pokernews would win in court for the amount of the WSOP winnings. It sure does smell like a regular 'ol employment contract and that the money she won should go back to PokerNews.

She can't just pick and choose which parts of the contract are enforceable. IE, Accept the 10k of money and then effectively cancel the contract. If you assume the contract is null and void, then the fact that Tiffany works as an employee of PokerNews and used thier money to play the tournament would imply that Pokernews has a right to the winnings.

Graham

She's an idiot for breaking the contract and more so for going with UB.

moose

Graham wrote: »

She's an idiot for breaking the contract and more so for going with UB.

Obv she was offered a superuser account...in the WSOP you only get to see the hole cards AFTER the event.

Flint Bones

It's still unprofessional for Poker News to make a posting on their website. It just sounds bitter and full of spite.

If it is true that she did this (and they better be right about that) then she did a slimy thing and I hope she gets burned for it. But to make a long post about something the community didn't even know about. Also, they use this as the catalyst to drop UB from their site. Not the allegations of it being corrupt before but the signing of this player.

He just sounds bitter. Although I would be pissed too. I wouldn't post it on my website. I would just sue her and be done with it.

westside8

Official response from Tiffany Michelle

Myspace.com Blogs - Official Statement in response to Pokernews - 'Hot Chips' Tiffany Michelle MySpace Blog

Thursday, July 17, 2008


Official Statement in response to Pokernews

Tiffany Michelle Official Statement
Thursday, July 17, 2008

It is with great sadness that I've had to see my accomplishment of finishing 17th in the WSOP Main Event clouded by slanderous accusations and inaccurate information. I have been humbled by the overwhelming support from friends, fans and the media and for their sake as well as mine I feel as if I must respond and bring clarity to the situation.

There is no denying the positive press and exposure I brought Pokernews by wearing their logo and being their representative during the 2008 World Series of Poker main event. After such a successful series, I am greatly dismayed by Pokernews' subsequent actions. No one has ever questioned my integrity before this and I am so distressed that Pokernews is using their powerful public forum to spin such a negative recounting of the facts of what occurred during the final two days of the main event.

As we all know, it is standard practice for players to wear multiple logos during the main event. Pokernews was aware of this, having placed their logos on a number of players with sponsorship deals with other companies. Throughout the World Series I saw several players wear the Pokernews logo alongside the logos of online card rooms such as Pokerstars and T6. This makes it very clear that Pokernews supported this practice as a rule and were not against players wearing their logo in conjunction with the logo of an online card room. Like many other people, I wore multiple logos but in no way diminished the presence of Pokernews in doing so.

Unfortunately in this instance, Pokernews suddenly felt that I was in violation of my backing deal by wearing another logo. I have a written contract that has been reviewed by legal counsel – and it is very clearly a non-exclusive contract meaning that while I was expected to wear the Pokernews logo – I was in no way prevented from wearing any other logo. Furthermore Pokernews did not possess any power to make, advise or negotiate any kind of logo or sponsorship deal that came about via my playing the main event. In light of recent allegations by Pokernews, I have had this contract reviewed again by legal counsel to reconfirm my stance – that I in no way was in violation. It was never even said to me verbally until after the fact that there was an expectation of exclusivity. Even in my previous dealings with Pokernews, as their On-Camera Host I have made a point to never agree to any kind of exclusivity with their company as advised by my talent manager. The first I heard of Pokernews' disapproval to me wearing the UB logo was after I already had it on and was playing on the featured table.

It was unfortunate that while I was working hard to try to win the main event (and in so doing help to further promote Pokernews) I was chastised by Pokernews representatives at all hours of the day and night for wearing a second logo. Despite my repeated requests that they go through my manager and let me just concentrate on playing, they insisted on contacting me directly, greatly upsetting me during the most important weekend of my life. These representatives of Pokernews kept repeatedly telling me they had nothing but 'my best interests at heart' yet I felt bombarded by several parties trying to control my decisions and pressure my actions.

A fact that is known to Pokernews is that I was approached by many online poker sites wanting me to represent them during the last few days of the event; however I chose to work with UltimateBet. Tony G even quotes in his BLOG "I had been working on putting a deal together for Tiff with PokerStars and they had just emailed me. I knew Tiff could become a huge star and I was going to allow her to do a deal that would protect Pokernews also for the main event". The fact that Pokernews was willing to work with PokerStars on a joint deal says it all – the contract was NONEXCLUSIVE.

I am a grown woman and I can decide for myself who I choose to associate myself with. That should not be Tony G's decision. Just because Tony G. backed me in the event (and profited quite nicely by doing so) does not mean that he should be able to control or profit from any logo or sponsorship deal I might make or have any say in how I handle my career. I have been around poker a long time and it's widely known that a backer has no say or cut of a player's sponsorship or logo deal. Again, I had seen several Pokernews sponsored players wearing online card room logos already so clearly the backing deal and the logo deals were separate for every other player wearing Pokernews. Why would it be different just for me?

In the end, I completely stand by my decision and I feel that UltimateBet was the one site that treated me with the respect and dignity deserving of someone in my stressful situation. Throughout the whole event they were insistent on wanting me to just concentrate on my play and were clear that the decision in the end was mine and I should do what I felt was best for me.

It is unfortunate that Pokernews has taken the step of publicly accusing me of breaching their contract when I have been scrupulous in fulfilling my obligations. I have always felt that disputes like this should be handled privately and in this case using such a broad reaching platform to air such a dispute seems really inappropriate to me. Still, I want to say how much I appreciate the opportunities that Pokernews has given me. I am deeply grateful to Jeff Lisandro and Tony G for backing me in the event and giving me this opportunity to play in the most exciting event of my life.