Are Poker Players the Most Forgiving in Sports?

Are Poker Players the Most Forgiving in Sports?
The mass media likes to highlight the bad when it comes to poker. And it's usually pretty bad when something shady does happen. But let's be real, poker is full of shady players, corruption and cheating. There's no denying this fact. When that amount of money that exchanges hands is involved, cheating is inevitable. Over the years we have seen many players, outed, accused or caught cheating. Generally, there's a huge backlash against this player, but it never lasts more than a week. It's in the news, and right back out the next day. Do poker players have short memories? Are they lazy and just don't care? Or, are they just really forgiving people? As I sit here and watch the final table of the 2016 WSOP $10K 6 handed NL Hold Em event, I see two players who were once scolded and shamed in poker – Justin Bonomo and Chris Ferguson. Justin Bonomo was one of the first to be accused of cheating in online poker. It was a pretty big deal during that time and he was chastised for a long time. He did come out and admit to multi-accounting in a blog post on his website. He would go into hiding for a short time, but was soon seen at the tables a short time after. He's now considered one of the better tournament and high stakes cash game players in the world and is well-respected in the poker world. Chris Ferguson is, we all know what happened here, so no need to go in too much detail. There is still some hatred towards Ferguson, and he did go in to hiding for almost 6 years. He was once a regular in the tournaments, but after 2010, he stopped playing tournaments. This year marks his return the tables, and sure there were questions, but everyone keeps saying the same thing. “What needs to have been said is said.” No one will forget what happened, but they accept him as if nothing ever happened. You can tell the commentators want to talk about what happened, and surely Ferguson has sat next to someone at the tables that wanted to punch him in the face, but it's as if nothing ever happened when you read the news, and talk to other players. Part of the reason for the forgiving attitude, is that calling someone a cheat or crook in poker is something not taken lightly. A player would rather be accused of beating their kids, than be called a cheat. And if you plan to call someone out on being a cheat, you better have 10 witnesses, a signed statement, video of the cheating, the president's approval, and a long list of other criteria to be able to think about calling someone a cheat. In short, no one likes to be called a cheat, and players don't want to call someone a cheat. This has created the most forgiving atmosphere in sports.
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