bj tournament fraud, be careful

[acemachine]

Below copied from UBT
Forum at LVA per Ken Smiths' permission.

""There is a situation going on in the Las Vegas blackjack tournament community that needs to be brought to the front for all to see and hear about. My bringing this out now is to prevent others from losing any additional monies. I have kept mum on this for a while giving the person a chance to make things right and not expose his actions that are actually making certain players consider legal actions against him, these players are out at least $2,500 each.The community can not wait any longer and thats why I posted this today after waiting for a while before doing so.

What’s ironic about this is the person responsible for these shady actions is the first one to talk about his desire for all things to be fair and equal and has in the past been quick to point out faults of others (including myself) sometimes even when his facts making others seem at fault or wrong were incorrect in the first place. At this time I will not reveal who the player is and hope that by doing so he will return all the money he has collected for a tournament that had almost no chance in ever getting off the ground from day one. The players should have been more diligent in looking over the projected plan of this tournament but they took a known member of this community and trusted him. His future creditability is now and always will be in question but lets hope he at least returns the money to a number of players who are out a good deal of money.

Lets all hope this gets resolved because our community can not afford a cancer like this to spread and become a common occurrence.
Please feel free to copy and paste this over at www. blackjacktournaments.com because this needs to be known by all before it spreads any further.
JoeP""

I talked to JoeP today, also Ken Smith, and an affected party.
Per a confirmation with Jimmy Diambrosa" today I was told the
following.
"Sometime last summer Skip Simad, AKA "Dreamer", AKA "talk to the cards" collected money $2500 from an unspecified number of individuals for a
high stakes tournament to be conducted within about 3 months"
"When Jimmy asked for his money back, Skip gave him 5 blank checks,
telling him he would call when he could cash them. Latest trip, Jimmy
D. in town, none have been cashed."

Don't trust this individual.

BTW: for you that don't know me, I am John Ressman and I am just
trying to save everyone future grief.

 

[KenSmith]

This is not the first prepaid entry fee issue that our community has seen, but I do hope it is the last.

Basically, I think the only prudent rule these days is to never prepay for any event. There's just too much room for a problem. If an event asks for your money ahead of time, it has become blatantly clear that the funds will not be held in escrow until the event. If they need your money early, it's because, well, they NEED your money early.

 

[LeftNut]

John, it's great to hear from you again. Thanks for warning us about this character's lack of character.
Those of us who were on the "Winstar Team" last year can attest to different yet similar problems with the same guy.
Apparently honor doesn't mean as much to him as it does to most of us.

 

[swog]

Some of you may have read the first post from a new member. I removed it for obvious reasons. No one wants to be deceived or defrauded, but until the facts come out, we need to refrain from the name calling.

 

[Billy C]

And

Some of you may have read the first post from a new member. I removed it for obvious reasons. No one wants to be deceived or defrauded, but until the facts come out, we need to refrain from the name calling.

I can see your reasoning and don't disagree. Besides that, he said my friend LeftNut "acts funny" (whatever that means?)
I've known John Ressman for many years, Jim D'Ambrosia for several and LeftNut for a few and have high regard for all three.
I'm not sure if I know the accused or not. Can't put a face with his "handle".

Billy C

 

[Lil Sissy]

LeftNut

What happened at Winstar with Skip (aka) Dreamer ?

 

[LeftNut]

What happened at Winstar with Skip (aka) Dreamer ?

Lil Sissy, I'm not comfortable discussing this sort of thing on an open public forum.
Perhaps you could ask Joep about it, he seemed to stumble upon a "mole" who was feeding him information.

 

[dreamer]

Initial Response....

Friends:

My apologies upfront to Jimmy D'Ambrosia for a lack of good judgment! It's very unfortunate that this matter has come to this, as I obviously accept responsibility for a debt of $2,500 owed to him, and will make every effort I can to repay him as quickly as possible . In a later and "final post" from me regarding what has transpired between Jimmy and myself, I will address the issue at hand and correct the various false statements which have been made.

I will refuse to get into specifics regarding my plans and past discussions with potential sponsors and hosts for the subject Blackjack Mega Event which, if it does come to fruition, would make BJ Tournament history. Honestly speaking, at the time of my discussions there was a fairly good chance of making this Event a reality. Currently, with all going on with the economy, etc; the likelhood of pulling this off in the near future, is pretty slim. Although, the door is still very much open for future discussions....

The "purpose" of this post is to go on record cautioning those who continue to make "libelous" comments about me on this Forum, for the intentional purpose of "defaming my character". In specific cases, your written words been both malicious and false, and they have definitely reflected negatively on my reputation. This is an official warning for those of you, and you know who you are, who continue to take delight in spreading these "character damaging" written words about me on this or any other Forum. Blogs, social networks or forums like this, in which defamatory statements are written or recorded, present several potential sources of liability and recovery for the person whose character was defamed. In cases where the defamation is proved, damages are presumed and often enforced with liberality! If these defamatory statements continue in the future from the few who have persisted, I will have no other recourse than to finally seek the services of a law firm representing clients in online defamation....

Honor, integrity, character, decency and trust are traits that I value! Yes, at times I, like many of you I suppose, have not lived up to my own expectations, as well as those of others. But I want to assure all of you reading this Post, who know me very well and who DO trust me and KNOW my heart, (Forget about my BIG MOUTH!), that in this case I have done NOTHING to damage your expectations of me, other than show a "lack of good judgment", as I mentioned in my opening.

Finally. I regret that my lack of judgment (not placing the funds from these TWO individuals in an Escrow Account, etc), which I will address soon in a follow-up FINAL post, has resulted in this ugly mess. By the way, there were ONLY two individuals who I received funds from and one of them has already been repaid in full! I challenge all of you to re-read the various posts on this thread regarding the lies and erroneous information in this regard.

Years ago, while serving as an Officer in the Marine Corps, one of my collateral duties was working in Communications, before I got into Public Relations. It required a "Top Secret" Security Clearance! The U.S. Government literally spent thousands of dollars, many hours and much effort investigating me. After a few months, I was granted the coveted Top Secret Clearance, which I'm very proud of. Any individual who has defrauded or cheated someone else, or who is prone to defraud or cheat someone else, would NEVER have received this very "special" clearance. You be the judge.

Unlike another individual who recently posted here, whose post was filled with maliciousness, and was subsequently removed from the Forum by SWOG, I have never used, nor will I ever use a pseudonym(s) in order that my words become untraceable.

My heartfelt thanks to those of you who have stood by me in the past few days and called with your support. It means so much. I will set the record straight in the near future, and refute some of the statements which have been made by a few individuals who have no clue what took place....

Sincerely and Regretfully,

Skip Samad

 

[dreamer]

Final Reply....

Friends:

My "Final Reply" to the "BJ Tournament Fraud, Be Careful" thread posted by John Ressman will be given within the next few days. In addition, it will be my "last post" here on this Forum until I can become reasonably comfortable with posting here again. I will continue to observe and read other's posts only.

Make it a "Great Rest of the Week all....

Skipper

 

[Lil Sissy]

LeftNut Joep did fill me in on what happened at Windstar and the group that was put together that included Skip.Can't believe he pulled that off on the group and especially you who lived up to your end of the deal and paid him.

What really does not make sense now, is this money issue has been lingering since the summer of 2008 almost 1 year ago and Skip received a sum of money then in Winstar,that would have been an excellent time for him to right the ship with the money he owed numerous tournament players.

Nothing "Top Secret" about doing that.

 

[FMike756]

Prepay

No reflection on "dreamer", I don't know him, but prepaying any tournament may lead to forfeiture of some or all of an individuals entry money.

I had this happen to me at the Grand in Tunica and also at Winstar last year. On both ocassions I had prepaid with a credit card. I called each of the casinos asking for a refund and was denied. Apparently both casinos had processed the charge to my account and would not undo the charge.

My only recourse was to play in these events even though it posed undue hardship upon me because of travel limitations due to failing health. The Winstar allowed me to sell my entry to someone else, and I tried, but eventually made the 700 mile trip by auto.

I will not prepay any future event and hope that fellow BJTers will think carefully before doing so.

 

[Lil Sissy]

FMike 756

There is a big difference here, your pre-payment for the tournament was the actual entry fee for that tournament and that tournament actually took place.

In this case this was a fee paid to Skip for putting together the Tournament that seems like only a few players knew about.It never took place so the fee that was charged should have been returned,to all parties.

Your case was that because of health reasons you had reasons not to attend, and the tournament ran as scheduled,this was not the case here.

What I dont understand if it was a tournament that would have made blackjack tournament "HISTORY" as Skip said it would, why didnt everyone know about? Seems to me that if its that good and big why not tell everyone about it so that it may actually turn into something.

When only 2 or 3 Players put their money up it had failure written all over it from the start.

 

[dreamer]

I agree....

Friends:

I wholeheartedly agree with "some" of the things being said by Lil Sissy, FMike756, Kenny Smith and others. Patience my friends, as I'll be responding to all of this no later then tomorrow. I have a small tourney today, donation of blood later on and then church, as God knows I need it! I'm thankful that the words someone once told me, have stayed with me. "Church is not a heaven for saints, but a hospital for sinners." Amen to that, as it sure applies here.

Again, I caution those individuals who persist in posting erroneous, false and downright malicious information, to stop. Those who are guilty, are the same individuals who DON'T HAVE A CLUE WHAT HAS TRANSPIRED! Something always gets lost in the translation from individuals who are reporting "second hand". Never fails! Sometimes it's INTENTIONAL, as is the case here, with Lil Sissy, and sometimes it's not....

"Final Answer" later my friends! (LOL) My thanks again for your calls and support.

Skipper

P.S. Dreaming and Hopeful for the future! :cheers:

 

[Lil Sissy]

Flip Flop

First you say you agree with some of the things I said and then you end with saying my words are intentional in turning the facts upside down.

Do we really need to hear about you attending your local church, everyone observes their faith in different ways, and you may feel the need to attend now seeking help when in trouble. I call that submarine religion. It only surfaces in a time of need for help in wrong doings.

But the church reference reminds me of a Church/Las Vegas story

It goes like this "What is the difference from praying in a church and praying in a casino"?

The answer is "When you pray in a casino you mean it"

Skip everything I have ever contributed to this thread is fact and it comes from one of the persons you OWE THIS MONEY TOO.

Please don’t try to fog the mirrors to hide the wrong that was done here.

Prior to this and now hearing the Windstar story I thought you were a good guy, LOUD but good, now I have a different opinion.

You can’t replace skill with noise, you can’t replace right with wrong

Make it right for all concerned no matter how old the debt is.

 

[dreamer]

Final Response (Part 1)

Friends:

In an earlier post cautioning certain individuals, "who continue to make libelous comments about me on this Forum, for the purpose of defaming my character", I promised to make a final post addressing the issue at hand and publicly correct the many false statements which have been made over the past few days, and to clear up any misunderstanding.

First of all, I reiterate my sincerest apologies to this Community for my lack of good judgment. While not even remotely fraudulent in any respect, it's something that I'm not happy with.

I've chosen to respond to various posts, which will allow me the opportunity to correct much of the information in a fair and honest manner. For the few of you whose agenda is only to continue to post information you know to be untrue, be my guest. Most members of this Forum are highly intelligent and discerning, and subsequently can draw their own conclusions about who's telling the truth and who's just bent on causing trouble and discrediting others. Hopefully, this will bring closure to this whole issue, although final closure for me will only be when the one individual who paid me a fee to become a part of this Event, is repaid by me. I understand that.

This Thread started with the words from Joe Pane over at LVA being "posted" over here by John Ressman.

""There is a situation going on in the Las Vegas blackjack tournament community that needs to be brought to the front for all to see and hear about. My bringing this out now is to prevent others from losing any additional monies. I have kept mum on this for a while giving the person a chance to make things right and not expose his actions that are actually making certain players consider legal actions against him, these players are out at least $2,500 each.

No one has lost money, and no one will! Who are the "PLAYERS" considering legal action? Legal actions by certain "players" who are out $2,500 each? I received funds from only two future participants, one of whom, well-known to most of us, who has been "fully repaid" and Jimmy D'Ambrosia. In addition, these were the only two individuals who were shown the specifics regarding this Event.

What’s ironic about this is the person responsible for these shady actions is the first one to talk about his desire for all things to be fair and equal and has in the past been quick to point out faults of others (including myself)

This is true! Especially when it was you who did your very best to discredit another individual,Rick Jensen, in the past by calling him a fraud and cheat. Your allegations were false and yes, I went to his defense in a big way. I would do it again in a heartbeat if the situation warranted doing so.

His future creditability is now and always will be in question but lets hope he at least returns the money to a number of players who are out a good deal of money.

If my future credibility is only in question by you, then I have no problem with that. ONE PLAYER, not a "NUMBER OF PLAYERS", who needs to be repaid!

Lets all hope this gets resolved because our community can not afford a cancer like this to spread and become a common occurrence.
Please feel free to copy and paste this over at www. blackjacktournaments.com because this needs to be known by all before it spreads any further.
JoeP""

I wholeheartedly agree to get this resolved. Thus this response....

I talked to JoeP today, also Ken Smith, and an affected party.
Per a confirmation with Jimmy Diambrosa" today I was told the
following.
"Sometime last summer Skip Simad, AKA "Dreamer", AKA "talk to the cards" collected money $2500 from an unspecified number of individuals for a
high stakes tournament to be conducted within about 3 months"
"When Jimmy asked for his money back, Skip gave him 5 blank checks,
telling him he would call when he could cash them. Latest trip, Jimmy
D. in town, none have been cashed."

Don't trust this individual.

BTW: for you that don't know me, I am John Ressman and I am just
trying to save everyone future grief.

Received money from only two individuals. One of whom has been repaid, as previously stated. I just "recently" made the final determination that this Event probably wasn't going to take place in the very near future, as I had anticipated. I then informed Jimmy of the same. Two weeks ago, while meeting with him at the Golden Nugget in Laughlin, he requested that I give him 5 checks for $500 each to hold, which I did. I told him that I'd call him just as soon as the funds were available and the check(s) could be cashed. None have been cashed because I just recently gave them to him.

If I've violated anyone's trust, for that I'm sorry. Obviously, it was not my intention. I can also understand your wanting to save everyone from future grief John, but for the record, I have no intention of causing anyone any future grief. In fact, quite the opposite as my intention is to increase exposure and put Tournament Blackjack on the map so to speak, through an awesome Blackjack Event the likes of which has never been done before.

PART TWO TO FOLLOW AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, WILL ADDRESS ASSOCIATED ISSUES....

Sincerely and Regretfully,

Skip

 

[dreamer]

Final Response (Part 2)

FINAL RESPONSE CONTINUED....

John, it's great to hear from you again. Thanks for warning us about this character's lack of character.
Those of us who were on the "Winstar Team" last year can attest to different yet similar problems with the same guy.
Apparently honor doesn't mean as much to him as it does to most of us.

You were on very thin ice legally LeftNut with this post. I do agree that I'm a character, but WITH CHARACTER!

Regarding the Windstar incident; you, me and the other members of the "Windstar Team" as you call it, know the truth! It's only YOU that can't get over the fact that I maintained the courage of my convictions, by not EVER agreeing to what you wanted. Get over it as I told you before, and stop trying to discredit me, when you, as well as the others, know that I in fact NEVER agreed to have you included as a member of future pools after you had already qualified for the Finals, and were subsequently not eligible to play again!!

I was the only one who refused to pay you a part of the proceeds from additional pools of which you weren't included. The others, even though they were not bound to pay you anything the second time around, since you weren't included, decided to give you something. That was their decision. I came to another decision because I felt and continue to feel that it was completely WRONG!

In addition, don't lecture me on HONOR! Trust me. YOU do not want to go there. The honorable thing for you to do would have been to not even make a stink about the whole thing by DEMANDING money from us, when you knew that it was in fact the wrong thing to do....

LeftNut

What happened at Winstar with Skip (aka) Dreamer ?

Why are YOU so curious? (LOL) Is this perhaps another example of Joe Pane, through YOU his current girlfriend, trying to get involved with something of which you know little about, only in order to again discredit me?

Lil Sissy, I'm not comfortable discussing this sort of thing on an open public forum.
Perhaps you could ask Joep about it, he seemed to stumble upon a "mole" who was feeding him information.

Why not comfortable? What's there to hide, and why try to aggravate the current situation by telling Lil Sissy to go ask Joe Pane for information, when you knew darn well that he knew nothing? Stumbled upon a mole? Sounds very clandestine to me. (LOL) Why do you people insist on hiding the truth and relying on information from someone not even there when all of this went down, who OBVIOUSLY would like to do nothing more than stir up the hornet's nest AGAIN? This post is absolutely hilarious....

LeftNut Joep did fill me in on what happened at Windstar and the group that was put together that included Skip.Can't believe he pulled that off on the group and especially you who lived up to your end of the deal and paid him.

You go girl! I'm confident that Joe Pane was able to satisfy your thirst for information, which he by the way received from his own "personal mole". (LOL)

Nothing was pulled off on the group. When I won my $50 over and beyond my $500 Entry Fee, it was divided equally right away with the other members of the group, of which LeftNut was not included, as I previously stated.

It's kind of like YOU being paid by Winner #1 in a Football Pool that you are both in, and then the NEXT time there's another Pool, Winner #1 who is NOT IN THE POOL expects some of YOUR winnings from Pool #2 because he previously had to pay the members on the first Pool. Give me a break....

What really does not make sense now, is this money issue has been lingering since the summer of 2008 almost 1 year ago and Skip received a sum of money then in Winstar,that would have been an excellent time for him to right the ship with the money he owed numerous tournament players.

What lingering money issue is that? The only lingering issue is you continuing to try your best to discredit and defame me, based on information you regularly receive from your boyfriend Joe Pane, which is based on information from a third party mole. Very creditable information....

Numerous means "Amounting to a large indefinite number". Here are the facts! I owe three individuals. It's regretable and not something I'll be happy with until they are paid. One of these is Jimmy D'Ambrosia. The other two have NOTHING whatsoever to do with the issue at hand. One of the remaining two is "very special" to me and wants nothing in return for his kindness excepting for me to pay him back when I'm able, and to do the same for someone else in the future when I'm able. Kind of like "Paying it Forward". He would want to remain nameless because that's just the way he is. What a heart! The final individual, who will also remain nameless, makes a business from what he did for me and others. While I agreed to his terms and am still appreciative of what he did, the two individuals couldn't be more different.

FMike 756

In this case this was a fee paid to Skip for putting together the Tournament that seems like only a few players knew about.It never took place so the fee that was charged should have been returned,to all parties.

I agree with you! One individual has had his fee returned and the other will as soon as I'm able.

What I dont understand if it was a tournament that would have made blackjack tournament "HISTORY" as Skip said it would, why didnt everyone know about? Seems to me that if its that good and big why not tell everyone about it so that it may actually turn into something.

Good question! I purposely wanted to keep it from everyone excepting the 36 future participants. When it became apparent to me after further discussions with the perspective sponsors and host that the Event wasn't going to happen, at least as quickly as I had hoped, I stopped sharing the specifics of the Plan. Again, only two individuals were presented with the plan and decided to secure their spot by paying a fee.

My mistake, which will not be repeated again, was to accept fees in the first place and then to spend those fees paid to me without having a firm committment that the Event was a go. Not a good thing for me to have done and it was wrong!

FINALLY....

My hope is that this information will bring a certain degree of closure to this issue. As I mentioned in a previous post, I will not go into the specifics of the Proposed Plan for the Event, which obviously I have in written form, other than to say that if I can ultimately make this a reality, it will include certain aspects never before included in Blackjack Tournament action. No guarantees but stay tuned into the future....

Sincerely and Regretfully,

Skip Samad

 

[KenSmith]

This thread is now closed. I think that all involved parties have had a chance to state their position.

If any participants feel the need to continue the discussion of this issue, please do it outside the public forum.