An unexpected Twitter spat erupted this week when Patrick Leonard’sbitB staking cash game coaching team took a swipe at Matt Berkey, using a three-year-old coaching video as the weapon…
bitB attacking Matt Berkey on Twitter
Going to fire some shots here and say that @berkey11 literally displays the thought process of a bad recreational player in his narrative in this video, predictably resulting in him making a mistake at every single node.https://t.co/DplpFUz8mF
— bitB Cash Poker Coaching (@BitbCash) December 29, 2019
Leaving aside for a moment the merits or otherwise of the video’s advice, the idea that promoting your own new coaching platform by slagging off a rival’s was quickly pounced upon by Joe Ingram…
Are you planning to watch every poker strategy video ever made and point out each one where you think the strategy discussed is bad?
What about other videos where Matt displays the thought process of a winning professional player?
— Joey Ingram 🇲🇽🇲🇽🇲🇽 (@Joeingram1) December 29, 2019
…with Kristy Arnett among many who were unimpressed with the take, describing it as a ‘pretty punchable tweet’.
Arnett added: ‘So perhaps Bitb succeeded in getting eyes on him through trashing someone else, but it’s unlikely those people will stay watching bc we won’t trust you. It’s a shortsighted strategy.’
Brandon Sheils and Katie Stone were also less than enamored with the bitB approach, Sheils tweeting…
I don’t think this post achieves anything besides sparking unnecessary hate.
Even if this was content was more recent you could private message @berkey11 and have a civilised discussion? Very bad form IMO
— Brandon Sheils 🌀 (@brandonsheils) December 29, 2019
…and Stone offering: ‘This is in really poor taste. I hadn’t heard of you guys before, so congrats on changing that. The silver lining for me here is, it’s nice when a group of people/training site shows their true colors online so clearly & effortlessly, so thanks for that…’
Matt Berkey, founder of the Solve For Why poker training academy, and who many readers will remember for his recent investigation into the RFID aspect of the ‘Postlegate’ scandal, hit back at his detractors.
Correct. My logic was poor. Let me ask, can we see your thought process under a microscope from 3 yrs ago? This constant dick waiving at the top to undercut one another, esp when a risk is taken to evolve content, training, or otherwise, is why the industry stays stagnant & niche https://t.co/jCUJuRZhXe
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) December 29, 2019
Berkey added in a follow-up tweet: ‘The desire to be right, or aligned with the right school of thought is a great way to alienate most while stifling those who take a 30,000 ft approach.
‘There’s a lot of chest-pounding & certainty in a community based on a game driven by chaos. It’s no wonder games go private.’
BitB staking, co-founded by Patrick pads1161 Leonard, now also a partypoker ambassador, has been branching out in recent years.
Originally a staking site for online players, the set up now boasts an Academy as well as Spins and MTT coaching and staking. The most recent partnership saw them join forces with d7sarmy to form the bitB Cash Game coaching team.
Led by head coach Donald ‘d7old1s0’ Rae and backed by Cameron ‘ishter11’ Couch as well as Darrell ‘foursixfour’ Goh, they offer ‘year-long coaching for profit deals for cash game players who are willing and determined to improve their game and move up the stakes.’
It was Leonard, however, who took to Twitter to offer an apology for his new team’s petty posting and doubling-down…
Hey, few things here:
1) firstly an apology
2) the thoughts definitely don’t echo my own
3) I would definitely not want them to play like you and likewise I don’t think you would want your students to play like them because they play completely different games— Patrick Leonard (@padspoker) December 30, 2019
Follow-up tweets from the English pro tried to explain and quell the spat, stating: ‘I know the guys weren’t using it to “get followers” like a Doug controversy thing, they don’t have that model’.
He also added: ‘next time I’m in Vegas and you’re both there I’ll take you to dinner. You’re both super smart and think you’ll actually really love to converse.’
All’s well that ends well, of course, but it’s far from the best way to win friends and influence people.
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