Over the past several years, as online poker players have evolved from a sea of fish to a more overall competent player pool, players seek out to get whatever edge they can. Whereas in the past, players sought advice in books from successful players, the technological age has paved the way for virtual teaching methods from online coaches. Some of the more successful training sites include Cardrunners.com and Stoxpoker.com.
The formula is simple. The established sites seek out highly profitable players and offer them positions within their company to teach other aspiring players the tricks of the trade. Often times, they create instructional videos in which they video their online sessions and they use voice-overs to explain what they are doing. The videos are then archived online and made available to paying customers through the use of a username and password they obtain through paying a membership fee to the site. Other times, the individual instructors offer actual lessons to customers for a higher rate.
This is the very situation of the controversy swirling around Stoxpoker.com instructor Jason Ho. On his website, Ho claimed to have earned over $1 million playing online poker in 2008 alone. By making this incredible claim, Ho was able to lure unsuspecting students for private lessons at exorbitant rates. One by one, player have been coming forward claiming they have been bilked out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In addition to overcharging for sub par lessons, Ho also allegedly concocted a scheme around Pot Limit Omaha in which he obtained an undisclosed amount of money from prospective business partners. To date, none of the partners has received a single penny for their investment and Ho has cut off all communication with them. He has since been dismissed from his association with Stoxpoker and has taken his blog offline, leaving cheated customers angry and without their money.
Stoxpoker maintains no liability in the matter saying that ultimately it is up to individuals to do their own due diligence before entering into business alliances with any possible coaches or mentors.
Among the most exorbitant claim is a player stating that he paid $7,000 for what he believed was a week long one-on-one training session with Ho in Macau, and was surprised when other customers arrived. In addition, Ho spent a large amount of the training time locked up in his hotel room.
To date, no one has filed any legal complaint and Ho has yet to issue a statement as more and more players come forward.
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