Brad Booth is busto/gambling degen

Quite hilarious how another recognizable name in poker turns out to be a all-time busto guy that has gambling problem.

It all started with WCGrider posting a thread on 2+2 informing he's been scammed by Brad Booth:

Poker Player Brad Booth stole ~$28,000 from Me
I recently had the misfortune of coming across brad booth via one of my friends. He was playing in some of the higher stakes games at the wynn, and Brad told him that he was looking to get back into playing online. At the time he had something like $50,000 on him, as a rough estimate that I was given by my friend. My friend had been hanging out with him a bit outside of poker and they had gotten dinner several times. I was relayed the information that Brad Booth was looking for a transfer for lock poker. I asked him if he thought it was safe to transfer. He told me that he wasnt really sure, but that Brad did have a lot of money on him so it seemed like it would be ok. With this information I sent Brad $13,000 online for what was presumably $13,000 cash. He wanted more, but i declined as i was looking to limit my risk.

Brad then gave my friend an envelope with $13,000 cash, which was given to me. Then Brad asked if he could get a bigger transfer. It seemed to me like it was safer, with the first transfer being successful. At this point he asked for ~$30,000, which I sent him online. Several days later, when we were trying to reach an agreement on when to meet up and transfer, he told me the unfortunate news via text message. The messages are long and rambly, but we eventually agreed to meet up and discuss things. When we met up, he told me the unsettling news of many of his other debts, how little money he has, and the inside scoop on many additional things. I told him if he continues to work with me and stay in contact, and make some small payments at a time, that we can work things out. He agreed, and a week later made me a payment of $2,200. However since then, he has left the country, changed his phone number, and has started completely ignoring me.

Im not really looking for sympathy, its a ****ty situation and I wish things hadnt gone this direction. I am very unfamiliar with the live poker arena, and i have now been informed this is somewhat standard for Brad. I guess i made a mistake in trusting someone because i had seen them play in "high stakes" poker and had heard he had money on him.

I know of many of Brads Debts, and i have some other information about him as well. I also have our complete text message log. Unless Brad finds a way to get into contact with me I will be releasing this information. I feel like this should have happened a long time ago, but many people worried about not seeing payment havent come out and outed him. Im not going to take this approach. Brad is a scammer and a thief, and if this had happened earlier perhaps it would of saved me $27,800, so hopefully if this saves someone else some money, then its worth it.

Brad Booth was seen playing online ~2 weeks later at 10/20 plo on stars. I can only imagine something similar had happened in that scenario. He was also playing with me in some of the las vegas games with money that he had on a stake, while he owed me the money. Any information that can be offered as to the whereabouts or contact information that results in me seeing additional money back will not go unrewarded.

I want my money Brad, and im not going to just stay quiet until i am paid or the world knows what a scumbag you truly are.

Obviously a chaos occurs and soon after we have a heart breaking apology from Brad Booth:


Stuff like this makes it so scary to borrow cash to anyone ;/

I thought Brad Booth has been known as a broke degen for years

On June 10 2012 07:43 SakiSaki wrote: I thought Brad Booth has been known as a broke degen for years

this

common knowledge Brad Booth was busto degen

Holy shit, Booth has a serious gambling addiction, he should seek professionnal help and I think that was more an sos than a real apology... Wow when I see people like him, I'm happy to enjoy the game w/o putting on the line my whole life. Jeez, this is scary shit right there.

On June 10 2012 07:49 byrnesam wrote: Show nested quote + On June 10 2012 07:43 SakiSaki wrote: I thought Brad Booth has been known as a broke degen for years this common knowledge Brad Booth was busto degen

Wasn't there like running jokes about this a few years back?

This just makes me wonder about these things ethically.

I may be completely wrong but is it correct that a lot of being a degen is not really something you control, but rather ur brain chemistry?

I'm not saying he shouldn't be accountable of course, but couldn't we have some kind of compassionate system where people are barred from betting more than 5% of their assets on a single flip or whatever

I mean in the bar if u try to drink urself into a coma the bartender will eventually stop serving u and take care of drunken bsns even though he could make a couple more bucks selling u a few more drinks

I think thats even expected of a bartender but in a casino it seems like no one is looking out for u... I guess because its harder to tell hes in danger but still

LOL i clicked through to a hilarious video, expert analysis of poker tells from HSP

how hard is it to just say NO?

i didn't read OP but if wcg rider was don corleone i don't think he would be out any money.

also irt to ethics:

if we kidnapped brad booth and threw him in jail he would probably be bored and want to gamble but as long as we took care of him he wouldn't die so in conclusion, he is free and responsible for making bad choices.

Very expert commentary indeed, every action that isn't instant and the player contemplates at all apparently means they're weak.
Nice shove for almost 6x pot.

no idea who this guy is

On June 10 2012 09:51 TimDawg wrote: how hard is it to just say NO?

That's the point of addictions, isn't it ? Or do you mean say no to his transfer request ?

They're both Canadian right? Seems like for that amount you could take legal action instead of just whining in 2+2.

"Say I win.... $500,000"

Yea lets say that rofl

Also chuckled there lol, And he says that like it's no big deal, hes definetly trapped in the past.

haha i'd assume the majority of live pros are degenerate busto gamblers...just cuz you're good at poker doesn't mean you're holding onto all your winnings.

My question is... how did he lose the 43K online? He must have done another transfer so he could get more cash at the Casino ponzi scheme style. This is outright grand larceny theft. Who in their right mind would ever stake this fool 100k in the WSOP? Probably the same retards who continue staking Chino Rheem. I mean you put in "Chino Rheem" in google and the first thing you get is "Scammer" and "Thief". I don't understand this at all...

What if he loses everything at WSOP which seems very likely since playing with scared money really affects ur game

I love sincere videos like this, they're a real boost in confidence and self esteem. It lets people know that there's always someone who's more stupid, lazy, and fucked up with their life decisions than you.

I'm not in a fucked up situation with my life, but, somehow after watching Booth's video, it made me feel better to know that I seem to have it pretty good when compared to that guy.

----------

p.s. Booth said the following after he said he said he had a place to stay at WSOP and has a $100k backing:

"The last 4 years have been so super difficult, and I've had many-a-chances to get my life back together after the UB scandal. ...wipes snot from his nose while making a squishy sound... And I've seemed to fail in every opportunity, which is very concerning."

If I was his backer, I'd not lend him any money, especially after saying that.

On June 10 2012 18:29 PuertoRican wrote: I love sincere videos like this, they're a real boost in confidence and self esteem. It lets people know that there's always someone who's more stupid, lazy, and fucked up with their life decisions than you. I'm not in a fucked up situation with my life, but, somehow after watching Booth's video, it made me feel better to know that I seem to have it pretty good when compared to that guy. ---------- p.s. Booth said the following after he said he said he had a place to stay at WSOP and has a $100k backing: "The last 4 years have been so super difficult, and I've had many-a-chances to get my life back together after the UB scandal. ...wipes snot from his nose while making a squishy sound... And I've seemed to fail in every opportunity, which is very concerning." If I was his backer, I'd not lend him any money, especially after saying that.

his backer is most likely guy laliberte

cant help but feel bad for him, makes me feel like a sucker
goddamn compassion and loving kindness lol

On June 10 2012 18:46 Daut wrote: his backer is most likely guy laliberte

Wow really?

final paragraphs of booths pokerlisting bio...feel this should be updated

But it was cash games where Booth was repaid for his 14 years of non-stop poker play. Not only did he make enough at the card tables to move into the Bellagio for a year, he befriended - and earned the respect - of some of poker's top players and Las Vegas's richest men. Phil Hellmuth famously referred to Booth as, "the best unknown player in the world." He's cruised the Mediterranean on Cirque de Soleil founder and friend Guy Laliberte's private yacht and he counts Bobby Baldwin and Johnny Chan among his pals. But Booth is no Las Vegas wild child. He's moved on from his days at the Bellagio and - for the most part - the carousing of his younger years. Instead, he has settled in Vancouver, where he owns a home and has reconnected with family. He has also purchased a cabin and plans to take a break from his 16-hour daily work schedule to relax several months of the year.

felt trolled watching that video. thought it was common knowledge booth was a degen, so i was really hoping he was going to spend the entire video with some fabrication he made up to explain how hes been so unlucky. once he started crying i had to just stop watching.

On June 10 2012 18:47 MiPwnYa wrote: cant help but feel bad for him, makes me feel like a sucker goddamn compassion and loving kindness lol

stay golden pony boy

On June 10 2012 19:14 taco wrote: Show nested quote + On June 10 2012 18:46 Daut wrote: his backer is most likely guy laliberte Wow really?

Wouldnt be surprised after all he s most likely a sucker for busto degens as he was homeless at one point of his life

i honestly think rider scammed wobbly etc with the whole HU thing, something in my gut says this is karma at work. i feel bad for booth though, degens are almost always good people with control issues

On June 10 2012 21:59 Bigbobm wrote: felt trolled watching that video. thought it was common knowledge booth was a degen, so i was really hoping he was going to spend the entire video with some fabrication he made up to explain how hes been so unlucky. once he started crying i had to just stop watching.

What hes doing is a lie.

Right now, he knows his only way to get more money to gamble, is to "come clean" and hope that he gets enough sympathy stakes to keep him in action.

Its not like he would be financially secure if it wasn't for pit games, he was notorious for shooting his load on big bluffs.

Hes said he lost a lot to the UB cheating scandal, but according to ever credible source Mike Matusow, Booth was a huge fish and the games were always build around him anyway.

On June 10 2012 18:47 MiPwnYa wrote: cant help but feel bad for him, makes me feel like a sucker goddamn compassion and loving kindness lol

lol it's completely normal to feel bad for a guy who destroyed himself

we just stand out in this thread because we're surrounded by cynical poker players with black hearts and no soul

On June 10 2012 09:21 Jelle wrote: This just makes me wonder about these things ethically. I may be completely wrong but is it correct that a lot of being a degen is not really something you control, but rather ur brain chemistry?

A degenerate is a person who lacks self-control!? And it's not their fault too?! No kidding!

“No one is responsible for what he is nor even for what he does. This is obvious and everyone more or less agrees that it is so. Then why celebrate or denigrate? Because to exist is to evaluate, to emit judgments, and because abstention, when it is not the effect of apathy or cowardice, requires an effort no one manages to make.” - E. M. Cioran

And if this aphorism makes any of you go: "But WTF Loco, of course we're responsible for our actions, so you think this thief shouldn't be punished?!" - or something like that - I suggest you take a philosophy course one of these days. You might want to read this too: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2008/04/14-03.html

Also, to OP: Why is it hilarious when someone has ruined his life because of an addiction? Strange way to open a thread.

lol nice quote

also I wonder if ur a huge degen, just how hard is it to force urself to stay out of action (while u have money available)? Is it similar to trying to not fap for multiple weeks for an average 20yo male with access to the internet? Maybe it's even harder than that? Or maybe its ezpz...I just think its hard to judge someone when I have no frame of reference, I don't feel any need to gamble in the pit at all

I think it's pretty fucking hilarious ;o

On June 11 2012 03:42 Jelle wrote: lol nice quote also I wonder if ur a huge degen, just how hard is it to force urself to stay out of action (while u have money available)? Is it similar to trying to not fap for multiple weeks for an average 20yo male with access to the internet? Maybe it's even harder than that? Or maybe its ezpz...I just think its hard to judge someone when I have no frame of reference, I don't feel any need to gamble in the pit at all

lol, it depends on how much there is to stimulate the addiction. I would think the degenerate gambler will feel like gambling more if he is bored and has ease of access to an online site or is close to a casino, and if he has friends there instead of enemies, or if he's craving food/alcohol and has none at home, etc. etc. All has to do with how much of a reward is perceived from acting on your addiction. Similarly, the 20yo won't be able to not jack off if he keeps the same habit because he finds it the most rewarding, but if he sees a bigger reward from not doing it he might be able to easily last much longer by restricting his internet usage and making sure he doesn't stumble upon something sexually arousing.

Even without being a degen, how hard is it to actually change your most common habits? You have to trigger the pleasure centers of the brain somehow in order not to be completely miserable, and your habits are the best way you have found to do it, so changing them can obviously not be an easy task.

such shit u account sharing fagmouth

Suck?

yup suck it hard

lol fagmouth.

who was that directed towards?

^^ wcgrider obv.

FAGMOUTH LOL

Saw wcgrider in the wynn playing 50-100 2 days ago and boy what an asshole he is. But its no surprise, you cant really name many rich or successful players that arent assholes with ppl outside their group of friends

Did he actually compete in the WCG at some point in time?

I'd be sick if I was rich, pretty sure I'd not be an asshole yay.

i posted on 2p2 suggesting he receive professional help immediately and got like 5 hate pm's

weird stuff

but yeah no idea how wcgrider doesnt know he is a complete busto degen, was common knowledge to most people in my circle anyways.

also <3 wobbly

haha, epic. Wow, makes me realize how fucked up the whole poker world is.

Online-Poker has been around for about 10 years, and there have been countless scandals, scams etc, I was a middle stakes grinder a few years back and I am happy I pulled out with some earnings before it went all completely to shit (FTP, etc).
Back then I thought I was a small fish and would watch Poker Shows like "High Stakes Poker" or something like that, worshipping the glamourous life of poker pros who play pots 100 times as big as mine and now I see Brad Booth crying in tears in a shitty youtube video, admitting that he is a total LOSER who has no control over his life and his degenerate tendencies... way to shatter a world-view.

Well, I will remember in the future better that not everything is like it seems... and being happy I never lost contact to reality.

WCGRider tries to scam a degen by transferring him lock poker money (play money) he thinks the odds of him getting paid by booth are better than lockpoker letting him withdraw his 6 figure bankroll? the way i see it it's a pure business decision by rider so yeah, i dont really feel this is genuinely "for the community" at all. if anything rider was able to withdraw 13k ez thru booths intial payment for the transfer. enabler imo.

On June 10 2012 12:14 JonnyCosMo wrote: "Say I win.... $500,000" Yea lets say that rofl

Yeah it's comical but sad. This guy's going to be chasing his losses until he winds up in jail or dead.

If he's serious about paying people back he needs to step away from gambling.

On June 12 2012 08:18 PandaSaurus wrote: Show nested quote + On June 10 2012 12:14 JonnyCosMo wrote: "Say I win.... $500,000" Yea lets say that rofl Yeah it's comical but sad. This guy's going to be chasing his losses until he winds up in jail or dead. If he's serious about paying people back he needs to step away from gambling.

you cant pay back that much money on a regular job... this is the only way he has a chance

I think Panda is right. If he gets a steady job he can slowly and steadily pay back at least some of what he owes. If he keeps gambling he will always be in debt no matter how many tournaments he luckboxes.

He is from Canada so he could get one of those oil field jobs that pays 6 figures. If he grinded that for a few years he might be able to get out of debt and appreciate the value of money and hard work.

listen to you guys

"oil field job", "regular job", "grind to pay people back"

I mean cmon, he's gonna stay away for a while from pit games and try to bink some tournamet or get another stake and people are gonna keep staking him because they think he's probably a good poker player.

This whole situation is super standard in my mind having read stories about gambling/vegas/degening and nobody's gonna remember it in a year.

Also when he says "in the pit", the translation is online poker and live high stakes cash games.

On June 12 2012 11:04 TalentedTom wrote: Show nested quote + On June 12 2012 08:18 PandaSaurus wrote:   On June 10 2012 12:14 JonnyCosMo wrote: "Say I win.... $500,000" Yea lets say that rofl Yeah it's comical but sad. This guy's going to be chasing his losses until he winds up in jail or dead. If he's serious about paying people back he needs to step away from gambling. you cant pay back that much money on a regular job... this is the only way he has a chance

If he keeps that lifestyle, he'll obviously end up committing suicide or in the street ... that's the point of being a degen gambler, he can't win but thinks he's in a bad run. Best option is to quit immediatly and try to find some balance in life and starts paying back what he owes.

lol for the longest time i thought the pits was this super underground badass gambling point where you went in and gambled with narcs and thugs, kinda like the Teddy KGB room

On June 12 2012 19:57 locoo wrote: lol for the longest time i thought the pits was this super underground badass gambling point where you went in and gambled with narcs and thugs, kinda like the Teddy KGB room

lol thats not "the pit", thats where YOU play

thought this was pretty well known?

the US online highstakes players cleaning up them deep live donks it seems...

But he raise Phil Ivey a million on HSP .

lol his degeneracy makes my past look like pickin daises, holy shit. yah, thought he was really gud when he sat uber deep at the hsp years back

guess he was just staked by Guy and bluffed 500k of someone elses money

how is this bumped to the top?

I'm sorry to hear about your experience with Brad Booth. It's always disheartening to hear about situations like this in the poker community. If you're looking for legal advice or assistance in recovering your funds, you might consider reaching out to a professional who specializes in these matters.
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