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Bluff Magazine has interviewed the two high stakes players who seem to have the most suspicious relationship with the scammer José ‘Girah’ Macedo. Daniel ‘Jungleman12’ Cates and Haseeb ‘dogishead’ Qureshi were asked a couple of more or less pressing questions and here are some of their answers.
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Daniel 'Jungleman12' Cates
Currently there seems to be no end to the recently surfaced Girah Scandal, as 2p2 forum members and the whole poker NVG community continues to unearth and prove newer and newer details by the day and come up with even more conspiracy theories and suspicions. So far, Qureshi has more than once tried to clear his name but apparently he only succeeds in going deeper down with each of his posts and statements, admitting to actions that had been proven and denying others.
Regardless, Bluff Magazine has exclusively interviewed both of them and this is easily the very first instance 'Jungleman' also speaks publicly about (part of) his involvement, vague as it may be.
BM: What was your reaction once you realized that Jose was, in fact, scamming people?
Jungleman: My reaction was a mix of ‘How does this make sense?’ and ‘What was he thinking?’. I feel like there is some gap in my understanding of Jose. (I) wasn’t sure what to think of him after I learned of it.
BM: For people who aren’t familiar with the high stakes poker world, how common is it to back or coach somebody you’ve never met in person? Do any safety protocols exist for situations like this?
Jungleman: Pretty common for online poker, backing, etc. mostly has to do with reputation, results, mutual friends and perhaps some other things. Safety protocols do not really exist. I believe they don’t really exist because of the implied threat of something like this happening to the reputation of the stakee.
BM: So how does this impact your relationship with Haseeb?
Jungleman: Honestly, I truly believe Haseeb had good intentions. He has helped Jose a lot and it’s really frustrating for him to watch Jose just throw everything away like this. He has been a good friend and helped me with my career as well. I don’t think Haseeb deserves all the shit he is getting.
BM: Many have speculated that Jose is just a face/name attached to the account and maybe Haseeb or others were playing on the account. We know of at least one instance where this Haseeb played on Jose’s account. How can you be 100% certain that Jose is the one playing all of the hands on that account?
Jungleman: I am very certain that all hands played on Jose’s account are from him (unless Jose has allowed others to play on his account) except for the one instance in where Haseeb admitted to playing on his account. Almost certainly, over 95% of the hands are Jose’s.
BM: When Jose was disqualified from the BLUFF Poker Challenge on Lock Poker, did you know it was Haseeb who had played on the account?
Jungleman: Yes, but I did not want to get involved. I know it was not a habit.
BM: You and Haseeb had plans to meet up and live with Jose in Portugal. Do you still want to meet him or just wash your hands of him entirely?
Jungleman: If I want to meet him now, it’s for an explanation and for my money back. I know for a fact that I took action versus one of the two names of his friend (sauron1989, dollarman) so it seems likely that he has scammed me as well.
BM: You have to admit, that your image has taken a bit of a hit here simply because of your connection to him, no?
Jungleman: Sure, as to how much, I don’t know specifically. I hope not too much.
BM: Is there any part of you that is at all suspect of Haseeb and Jose’s relationship?
Jungleman: No. Haseeb knew that 2+2 would blowup once he heard about the scam, he wanted to minimize damage. Turns out that completely backfired.
Haseeb Qureshi also gave an interview to Bluff who asked slightly more straightforward and pressing questions, following a public outcry over the ones above and a couple more that addressed Cates. At least, ‘dogishead’ has finally admitted that he was behind the chip dumping scandal that involved the Merge account ‘samchauhan’, from which over $100,000 went to ‘Girah’ right before the end of the Bluff Challenge. The HU pro still denies, though, that he had knowledge about the ongoing challenge, otherwise he would not have done it.
He also stated that he was not aware of José Macedo owning more than two accounts on 2p2 (‘Girah’ and ‘LookingForProdigy’) and he only posted on the forum under the ‘Girah’ screen name and did that on one or two occasions at most. ‘Dogishead’ does not consider his role in Macedo’s life that of an agent’s either, although he did admit he tried to get online sponsorship for him, while leaving the rest to a real employee. Moreover, Qureshi acknowledged that his credibility has been shaken and he was wrong in not being 100% honest from the very beginning, allegedly fearing the consequences – which he has since had to suffer regardless.
Most of the community remains sceptical at the very least about Qureshi’s story and the number of those who suspect Daniel Cates is involved on a higher level than previously comprehended also increases (while it is now generally accepted that the third party, 'Sauce123' is not guilty). In any case, I am curious as to where all this is going and how long it will be before the sh*tstorm calms down and the mess is cleaned up.
Related article:
Jose Macedo Busted for Scamming His Students [4]
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