Collaborative report by:

Aaron Johnson (@AyeGeeJay)

Kou Vang (@KVangPoker)

Vlad Revniaga (@vladrev123)

*(If viewing on a mobile device, several included images may appear slightly blurry.)

When we started representing iNinja Poker, we were optimistic and passionate; the brand was unique and appealing. The only thing we were unsure about was iNinja founder Issac Tucker (@IssacRunGood). We didn’t know much about him and there weren’t any obvious indicators of potential character flaws. That has changed...in a big way. Over the past few months, we (us former iNinja pros and others close to Issac) have uncovered a mountain of evidence which undeniably show that Issac has conducted himself unethically, unscrupulously, and deceptively.

Early signs of trouble

Looking back, the earliest signs that things may have been amiss occurred in early 2015 (iNinja was formed in the fall of 2014). After our inaugural event at Canterbury Park in January (http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/event.php?a=r&n=275451#), Issac was to pay each team pro (at the time--Aaron Johnson, Lance Harris, Erick Wright) one buy-in. Lance’s check from Issac ended up bouncing. It was resolved sometime thereafter, but Lance was certainly suspicious of Issac/iNinja’s solvency.

Later that year, Issac expanded the pro team to include Kou Vang, Vlad Revniaga, Adam Dahlin, Chris ‘Fox’ Wallace, and John Reading. (Along with Erick Wright, Lance Harris, Aaron Johnson.)

Included in many of our contracts was *an amount* for WSOP expenses. When the time came to pay, Issac pushed the payment dates back. He claimed that his “investor” (Issac has always insisted he sold ~20% of the company to an investor; more on this later) was paying him in disbursements and he was set to receive a large payment in either late June or early July. (Which he would then pay everyone their respective summer payments.) Those payments never happened. Instead, Issac essentially structured private deals with all the pros to pay them partial payments over many months. (Some pros were not paid in full until well into 2016.) We all chalked this up to business inexperience and Issac having a lot on his plate. We gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Another thing that occurred during that same time frame involved league funds. (iNinja Poker held several leagues in which players won seats to WSOP events. Issac was in charge of distributing these funds. https://www.pokernews.com/news/2015/05/ininja-poker-leagues-wsop-21376.htm) Lance Harris ended up winning $2,500 through the Diamond League. When the time came to collect this money, Issac did not have it. This should have been segregated money. Lance eventually got the funds, but not without unnecessary hassle and rigmarole. A few other seat winners flew out to Vegas unsure whether the seats were going to be provided as promised. Several experienced issues/hassle with Issac. Apparently a few were even paid in cash for less than the seat value they won.

It’s safe to say that, at the time, everyone was (very) skeptical and annoyed, but we didn’t think anything nefarious was going on. This was the first year of business, Issac probably committed to paying his pros a tad too much, and he was certainly spending a lot of money on the brand (apparel, patches, the cartoon characters, miscellaneous expenses).

A team fed up

After a less-than-stellar first year (insofar as Issac’s management, priorities, trustworthiness, etc), the entire team essentially disbanded. Issac wanted to downsize (the pro team), Kou and Vlad were incredibly irritated, and communication from Issac was dismal. Along with the payment issues of 2015, there was a feeling from the team of incredible lackadaisicalness and dishonesty displayed by Issac. His word meant nothing; his priorities involving the company seemed silly (e.g. he was obsessing over the prospect of an iNinja app); and it felt like he wasn’t giving the team enough of a chance to be directly involved.

In February of 2016, Kou and Vlad nearly quit. They wanted nothing to do with Issac/the brand, and felt very strongly that Issac was acting deceptively. Reluctantly, after meeting with Issac, Kou came around and returned to the team. This was only possible because Issac promised to step up his game and work directly with Kou (which also entailed making him GM of the company).

Under Kou’s direction, the new team included Aaron, Vlad, and Fox. Pro payments were restructured and the brand was essentially starting fresh. All seemed to be going fine.

The cookie starts to crumble

After Kou became GM and the pro team was reconfigured, everything seemed to be going very well: iNinja was set to have a respectable number of events, we were attaining new venues, pro payments were going smoothly, our following was growing, community support was wonderful. In May we collaborated with Running Aces for a successful Mayhem in May event; in June we held our inaugural championship event at Planet Hollywood; and in late July we held a record-setting event in Council Bluffs. Besides iNinja’s success, Issac seemed to personally be having a decent financial year. He had a large piece of a nearly $20k tournament score and also had a few good cashes himself:

Things seemed to be looking up. Boy were we wrong.

One of the first major indications that something wasn’t quite right happened during our Planet Hollywood event in June. Issac texted a few of us asking if we could give him cash for PayPal. This was extremely odd. Why didn’t he come prepared with plenty of cash if he needed it? (We were all playing a full summer schedule and needed all the cash we had, hence we politely declined.) Fast forward one month to our Horseshoe Council Bluffs event. Same thing. We get a text that he wants to PayPal us for cash. Again, we’re perplexed and suspicious. How do you keep coming to events unprepared? What’s going on? Once more we decline.

During this same time (June-July 2016), team pro payments ceased:

Even though this kind of behavior from Issac was/is typical, we were all becoming very skeptical. If you have the money in savings why wouldn’t you just pay us now (knowing it will be replenished with this “payment hold”)? You should be flush with cash, why the hold up?

Obviously those “72 hours” pass and still no payments. A few weeks later he sends this to the team:

How convenient! What a perfect time to be audited! At this point the team strongly believed that Issac had no money and was clearly fabricating stories to buy himself time. Kou, Vlad, and Fox met with Issac a day later on the 11th and he admitted as much. (Essentially claimed to be broke, wanted to make things right, etc.) Aaron demanded that Issac show us evidence of this audit. He provided nothing. He was doing his absolute best to salvage the team and regain our trust. (Issac is very skilled in the arts of deflecting and deceiving.)

It was abundantly clear at this point that Issac was purposely deceiving us. He was clearly broke, in debt, and lying profusely about it all. Interestingly, despite having no money and claiming to be super busy, Issac had scheduled another (he had put one together earlier in the year) 32 person, $325 heads-up tournament (privately held) to take place around this same time. We were incredibly concerned about the safety of these funds. We had a very strong suspicion that Issac was going to use those funds for personal use.

(Issac to Aaron):

His response didn’t exactly instill confidence in us. We were almost certain that he had ulterior motives for this heads-up tournament. Lo and behold, a few days after the first ten or so matches had taken place (equaling $6500+ in his possession), Issac sends the team partial payments of what he owed us. The team was very worried that we had been paid with some of the heads-up funds. He claimed that money used to pay us came from him pawning off his electronics...

The house of cards comes crashing down

Just as the concerns regarding Issac were reaching a tipping point, his much-talked-about arrest occurred:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29/news-views-gossip-sponsored-online-poker-report/ininja-poker-tour-owner-arrested-during-event-canterbury-park-1625825/ (Although the full story is not yet known, it appears that Issac may be totally or partially innocent. More information is needed to determine if he is guilty of any major crimes.)

This rightfully sent us into panic mode. As soon as Issac was released, we demanded he hand over the heads-up money immediately so refunds could be issued. What he told us was downright farcical. He basically explained that he’s very careful with money and had the funds in a storage unit, but he could not access the storage unit because the St. Paul Police Department didn’t give him all of his belongings (“storage unit key” included) when he was released… Yep. That’s what he told us. We’re used to poker players peddling fairy tales, but that one was pretty good. Anyway, the team saw through his very blatant lie and still demanded he give Kou the money ASAP. A few days later, Kou met with Issac and Issac proceeded to give him the money. One problem. The money he gave Kou was all fresh, crisp $100 bills. This was clearly not the same physical money (people paid with $20s, $50s, non-brand new $100s, etc). As if we needed more evidence of his lie, this was it.

Around this same time (late August or so), we discovered that Issac had lied to the team about personal troubles. Back in April, we had scheduled a team meeting to take place Monday the 25th. (Issac has a long history of canceling meetings, ignoring texts, not keeping his word, etc.) On Saturday (April 23rd), Issac texted the team and claimed he had been in a bad car accident--requiring an overnight stay in the hospital and causing tremendous damage to his vehicle. What really happened: He had been arrested.

(http://countyjail.com/criminal-records/issac-medina-tucker-15198418)

Issac easily could’ve simply told us that he’d been arrested--for non-felonious reasons--and was unable to commit to the April 25th meeting. That’s just not how Issac operates. He frequently looks for situations to exploit others’ feelings and create a sympathetic atmosphere (i.e. constructing a victim narrative).

No matter what you’re thinking about Issac at this point, it gets much darker. Back in April of this year--before any of these major concerns/issues--Issac approached Kou with an offer to buy a percentage of the company. Kou had had a good start to the year poker-wise and felt strongly that we could all take this brand to new heights. They worked out a deal where Kou received X% of the company for $40,000. As part of this deal, Issac had to pay Kou 50% of every iNinja venue check after each event (starting with Mayhem in May). Once Kou was paid back his original investment, he would simply own his equity stake and no more event payments would be required. Not a bad deal in theory.

What was a good deal in theory turned out to be a disaster in reality. After two events (Mayhem in May and iNinja Championship at Planet Hollywood), Kou had not received his 50% share of either event. (It apparently can take up to a month to receive venue payments, but that time had long passed.) Kou was rightfully growing frustrated and angry. Issac, who has a hearty aversion to truth, tried to assure Kou that these venue checks were simply frozen as part of his aforementioned “audit.” These checks were never frozen and the funds never explained. (Kou is currently owed roughly $15,500--$3,500 as personal loans used to help Issac out when he claimed to be struggling, over $10,000 in payments from the contractually obligated 50% share of venue payments that were supposed to begin with Mayhem in May, and nearly $2,000 in pro payments and buy-in refunds.)

After Issac’s arrest at Canterbury in late August, when it was abundantly clear that he was essentially running his own unethical/unscrupulous enterprise, Kou managed to uncover more unsettling information.

Back in late May/early June, Issac contacted our good friend Alan Carty. He told Alan that he needed $5k for expenses relating to our Planet Hollywood Event (June 13-15). He explained to Alan that the event was in jeopardy and that he’d pay Alan back (with interest) with funds from that event (already 50% promised to Kou). Alan very hesitantly agreed. (He was comforted knowing that all of us were associated with the brand and didn’t want to see that event put in jeopardy.) A week or two later in Vegas, right before the Planet Hollywood event, Issac again contacts Alan. What does Issac want this time? You guessed it, another loan! Issac pleads with Alan that he needs another $5k or else he won’t be able to properly run the event. Alan is distraught. He senses that something doesn’t add up, but his trust of the brand (i.e. the pros associated with it--we’re all good friends with Alan) and his concern about not recouping his previous $5k, begrudgingly sways him to loan Issac another $5k.

To recap: Issac sells a part of the company to Kou for $40k in April 2016. Part of that deal entails Kou being paid 50% of venue checks until he’s paid back his investment. Issac theoretically should be flush with cash (Kou’s $40k piece purchase, his own tournament scores, having a large piece of a ~$20k score, iNinja already having held several events). A month later he contacts Alan for a loan; then another one a few weeks later. (Totaling $10k.) It doesn’t end there.

Kou also discovered that--between May and August of this year--Issac went to at LEAST four different people for a $5k-$10k loan.

Besides trying to attain loans (which he clearly could not reliably expect to pay back through legitimate means), he also went on the prowl for more investors.

To Aaron:

To a businessman (who’d

prefer to remain anonymous):

*(He tried to sell part of the company to John Reading after his hot WSOP in 2015.)

*(He also tried to sell Vlad pieces of the company numerous times.)

What this shows us: 1. Issac appears to have no money and is simply trying to raise funds to pay off other debts and keep his enterprise afloat 2. iNinja is basically being operated as Issac’s own money making operation and not a business 3. His valuation of the company is outrageous 4. He essentially deceived Kou out of his percentage purchase  5. He’s blown through a huge quantity of money, with no explanation.

To further highlight his scummy behavior, he has owed Molly Mossey for over five months for doing live coverage at two events (Planet Hollywood and Council Bluffs). To this day, she has not received any payment(s).

Also not yet mentioned is Issac’s “investor.” Issac has been frequently borrowing money from his investor figure (wishes to remain anonymous) for nearly two years. The total sum borrowed is enormous and Issac seems to have no realistic way to pay this money back. This investor has a very charitable and forgiving mindset towards Issac, but we think he’s not seeing Issac for who he truly is. Issac has always insisted that the plethora of money he’s received from this investor was for a sizable portion of the company (around 25% or so), but from speaking with his investor, it’s clear that their arrangement is far more informal and more loan-oriented than business-oriented (i.e. not an explicit purchase of iNinja equity).

In late August, in an attempt to straighten Issac out and salvage the company, Kou constructed a plan that would have allocated two venue checks (July Horseshoe Council Bluffs and August Canterbury Park) to people Issac owed money to. (Not only did Kou plan the allocation of those two event checks, he also put forth an allocation strategy for future events. This would both ensure that Issac’s debts were paid and put iNinja on a path towards success.)  Kou meticulously mapped out where the money should go and graciously accounted for Issac’s living expenses. Kou even disregarded what Issac owed him and instead nobly focused on ensuring others were paid back first. He made it crystal clear to Issac that these funds must be allocated in this manner if he wanted to retain any kind of personal or business relationship with us. As always, Issac failed to deliver on his promise. The first check was partially dispersed, the second one was not. Issac craftily weaseled his way out of another commitment. This was the absolute last straw for the team.

After the failed payment plan, and completely fed up with Issac’s noxious indifference towards common sense and making things right, Kou sent Issac a strongly-worded note:

*$40k was/is a lot of money for Kou, who supports a large family and put immense trust into Issac. Within a month of the equity purchase, Issac had made that $40k disappear (without explanation), broke the business contract with Kou (not receiving 50% of the Mayhem in May funds--or any subsequent event), and went on the prowl for other loans (and potential investors). Trying to deal with Issac the past five months or so has been absolutely maddening, especially for Kou.  

To summarize:

• Payment issues and concerns of personal/company solvency since day one
• History of excuse making and fabricating stories
• Massive loans outstanding
• Issac treating iNinja/company funds like his own piggy bank
• Repeated egregious breaches of contracts/agreements
• Funding his life/the company from seemingly unpayable loans and fool’s gold shares of the company (it’s unclear how many people own “shares” and what percent of the company Issac has sold; we feel these shares were/are essentially worthless)
• Many remain partially or wholly unpaid (Kou, Alan, Molly, et el.)

It’s incredibly unfortunate that we’ve reached this point. So many good, contributing members of the poker community have supported Issac and iNinja. We gave Issac every chance to change his ways and make things right. Ultimately we made the determination that this could no longer remain a private matter. Issac’s untrustworthiness and shadiness had to be exposed. Risking him borrowing more money or trying to sell more pieces of his company is not a chance we’re willing to take. To his credit, we do believe Issac’s intentions in creating iNinja were innocent and pure. Like many who resort to lying and manipulating, he probably got in over his head and tried to unbury himself through unethical means. That, however, cannot be tolerated in the poker community.

We want to apologize to the poker community for not uncovering Issac’s shadiness sooner and for putting our names and reputations behind him/the brand. Over the last two years we encouraged many players to support the tour and to trust Issac. In hindsight this was obviously a significant mistake. If anyone else has had the misfortune of dealing with Issac, feel free to contact one of us with details.

Thanks.