Tom Dwan still has issues with former sponsor Full Tilt Poker but his view of Howard Lederer has changed considerably over the last few months.
Speaking with PokerListings on a break during the €50k High Roller at the WSOPE in Cannes today, Dwan says he met with Lederer in Vegas this summer and the former FTP board member surprised him with his honesty.
“I went into it really unhappy with him,” Dwan said. “I hadn’t talked to him in a year.
"I kind of thought he was a complete scumbag and I’m pretty confident I was wrong about that.”
Dwan also thinks Lederer did the right thing by doing a video interview with PokerNews last month. Apparently the interview lined up with everything Lederer had been telling Dwan personally.
“It’s a really complicated situation, and I’m not sure obviously, but it seemed like he tried to do the right thing,” said Dwan.
“He was in a bunch of tough spots and I rushed to conclusions on some of it – like a lot of people did, I think. A few of the things I thought he did maliciously or wrong ended up being pretty clearly disproven.”
Dwan clarified that doesn’t mean Lederer acted correctly, merely that Lederer was doing what he thought was right. Dwan also believes that he personally could have done more to prevent what happened.
“I’m still really unhappy with everything that happened with Full Tilt obviously,” he said.
“Howard deserves some of that blame as one of the former owners along with someone like me. I think I could have figured it out if the two things had clicked in my head.”
Silence Was Bad for Full Tilt Players
When asked about his greatest regret about his time with Full Tilt Poker, Dwan sighed and said, “I got a few.”
“One of the things I was most unhappy about was that no one was speaking out for a long time. I understand that from a legal perspective it was difficult but I think everyone kind of had a duty to the players to speak out more."
With PokerStars buying the company and now Lederer’s side of the story out in the public, Dwan believes most of the relevant details regarding Full Tilt Poker are all out in the open now.
“I think that’s really good,” he said.
“It’s good for the players and they can now decide what they think happened for themselves.”
Perhaps the natural next step occurred earlier this week when Gus Hansen was announced as the first pro to represent the new PokerStars-owned Full Tilt Poker.
“I think Gus has – from what I’ve heard – handled the Full Tilt situation pretty well,” he said. “I think it makes sense that they’d sign him.”
“I think Gus has – from what I’ve heard – handled the Full Tilt situation pretty well,” he said. “I think it makes sense that they’d sign him.”
What does it mean? Staying completely silent like all other scumbags?