Uk-Poker.co.uk

A ruling is due later this month at the High Court on a rather unfortunate incident involving poker pro Andrew Feldman and rabbi Simon Nissim. The friends had apparently agreed a deal that would allow Mr Nissim to place a number of spread bets on Mr Feldman’s behalf. According to the alleged agreement, Mr Feldman would fund the spread bets up to a certain value. However, after losses of £140,000 were reported, the poker pro declined to foot the bill. As may be expected of a case involving spread betting, a rabbi and a poker professional, the issues under examination are somewhat convoluted; ultimately, neither party has accepted the other’s version of the original agreement.

Rabbi Nissim contends that Mr Feldman had given him licence to place spread bets with losses up to but not exceeding £200,000 and that each loss was immediately reported to Feldman. In contrast, the 22-year-old poker professional argues that Nissim had been afforded the freedom to place only four or five bets initially – not the 77 bets he actually placed in a four-hour period. As such, there is a question as to whether all or only some of the bets were placed on Mr Feldman’s behalf as in accordance with the original agreement.

Andrew Feldman has experienced a mixed run of form this year, with enormous winnings followed by huge losses followed by enormous winnings and so on. The agreement made between Feldman and Nissim affected spread bets on the Dow Jones index during October 2008 – shortly after Feldman had lost £700,000 playing poker. Peaks and troughs are not uncommon to UK online poker players, who often spend many hours every day on a variety of poker sites. UK poker tournaments are also favourites among poker professionals looking to balance the books. However, spread betting is clearly a risky proposition. Perhaps somebody should explained that to Mr. Feldman.