The poker community has made a stand to get Howard Lederer banned from the high-stakes cash room at the Aria casino in Las Vegas. Lederer who has been implicated by the US Department of Justice for both fraud and money laundering in relation to the Full Tilt scandal, is not one of the most popular players around at the moment, although it is important to note that Lederer still not been charged with anything.
Mid-satkes grinder Nick DiVella who is a regular at the Aria casino is the main force behind the petition to get the former Full Tilt Poker owner banned from Aria and potentially all of the other high-stakes rooms in Sin City.
The petition which has only been live for a few days has already garnered a huge amount of interest from the poker community not least on the 2+2 forums where it has attracted its share of positive and negative feedback.
DiVella who took to twitter over the weekend after spotting Lederer playing in the casino asked all players to “come down to Aria tonight starting at 4PM to sign (the petition).” Unsurprisingly, this didn’t sit too well with the Aria management.
In his petition DiVella states “we believe the casino has a moral and ethical obligation to bar Howard Lederer from playing in the poker room and should Aria casino fail to take immediate action we, the poker playing community, will be forced to boycott the poker room”.
Since the petition has gone live DiVella has already managed to get a 45 minute meeting with Aria who told him that they will be taking his concerns to upper management. He went on to say on his twitter feed following the meeting that “as of right now the poker room must stay neutral on the situation”.
So far it looks like DiVella’s petition is having the desired effect and it has certainly raised a few eyebrows. And with so many well-known and respected players using the Ivey Room at the Aria, it is not something they can afford to ignore, especially if they hope of coming to any sort of agreeable conclusion anytime soon.
