Poker player Michael DiVita may not have played in Epic Poker’s latest Main Event, but he seems to be the player on everyone’s minds following his withdrawal from the tournament despite winning a seat in the $1,500 Pro/Am event earlier this week.  Shortly after winning his seat, news broke on Twitter that DiVita had a criminal past, including three sexual battery charges, an assault charge, and a child molestation charge, all of which were acquired in 1990 and 1991.  More recently, DiVita was arrested and charged with similar crimes in 2008, but those charges were later dropped.

Shortly after his past came to light, DiVita withdrew from the Main Event and speculation flared about whether or not the league told him he could not participate or if he voluntarily chose not to play.  His seat went to Jaime Kaplan, the 10th place finisher in the Pro/Am, and DiVita was refunded his $1,500 Pro/Am buy-in.

Epic Poker’s Stephen Martin sat down with BLUFF to discuss the circumstances surrounding DiVita’s withdrawal and his current status within the league.  Martin is an independent ethics consultant with experience in the realm of corporate ethics.  He also serves as a Clinical Professor in the Business Ethics and Legal Studies Department of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.  Martin serves as a consulting member of Epic’s Standards and Conduct Committee, a group of league members tasked with evaluating and handling the professional behavior of league members.

Martin offers insight on the league’s stance on Divita’s actions and also discusses how the Standards and Conduct Committee has been developing so far, including its handling of Chino Rheem’s recent probation:

BLUFF: Can you tell us about the overall situation involving Michael DiVita playing in the latest Epic Pro/Am and Main Event?

Stephen Martin: As you know, Michael DiVita played in the Epic Poker Pro/Am. He did finish in the top nine, which rewarded a seat into the Main Event and, in this case, the $1,500 they put up as well. Subsequent to that, Mike DiVita withdrew from the Main Event and the seat that he originally won was given to the tenth place finisher, which is consistent with the rules. If a player is ineligible disqualified, or withdraws from the tournament, then it goes to the next finisher so we have a full player pool. [Ed note: the various Epic Poker rules and documents can be found on the league's website]

BLUFF: And DiVita had his $1,500 returned to him?

SM: He did.

BLUFF: Is that standard protocol if someone withdraws from play that they are going to get their $1,500 back?

SM: No, not necessarily. In this situation, it was refunded to him because he chose not to take part in the Main Event.

BLUFF: In terms of his criminal history, did the Standards and Conduct Committee meet to discuss the nature of his crimes after it was brought to your attention?

SM: It did come to the attention of the Standards and Conduct Committee and we did meet concerning his criminal history, but we didn’t take any official action since Mr. DiVita chose to withdraw.

BLUFF: Did Epic Poker ask Mr. DiVita not to participate?

SM: I had a conversation with Mr. DiVita. I explained what the rules in our conduct policy were. I informed him we had met in regards to the situation and he, at that point, chose to withdraw rather than proceed in playing the event.

BLUFF: Do the rules allow him to play in the Main Event?

SM: Part of the code of conduct is that a player obviously has to follow the law as well as the rules and regulations and policies and procedures of the Epic Poker League. One of the things we’re very protective of is the integrity of the game. We’re trying to raise the professionalism of the sport of poker and part of that involves personal conduct; how you conduct yourself both inside and outside of the tournament. So we evaluate all those markers for people to be eligible to play in our events.

BLUFF: And this is done on a case by case basis? Or are there specific criteria like you were convicted of murder, therefore you aren’t allowed to play in the league?

SM: Well, as everybody knows, in society there are different severity of crimes. People always make judgments and decisions, whether it is a corporation or a sports league or whether it’s the media about the severity of criminal offenses. Criminal offenses, as a whole, are one of the categories we will look at when we are determining whether someone is initially eligible to play in the league or whether they can maintain their eligibility to play.

BLUFF: Had he decided to play, would there have been a subsequent meeting with the Standards and Conduct Committee regarding whether or not he was allowed to take part?

SM: We don’t generally make the discussions of the committee public because the players on the committee want to be able to have confidential discussions about the players, so since he chose to withdraw, I don’t think it would be fair to speculate about what would’ve been the next step.

BLUFF: When people heard DiVita wasn’t taking part, there was initially a lot of uncertainty about whether he was asked not to play or chose not to play. You mention there are lines of crimes. A lot of people draw a line between misdemeanors and felonies and brought up the fact that there are at least a couple of convicted felons taking part in the league. In terms of how you evaluate their criminal past, was that discussed before they took part in Epic events or does someone in the league need to file a complaint in order to initiate that process?

SM: Initially when the league and the Standards and Conduct Committee were formed, we made a general decision not to take action against players for pre-league conduct and things that happened before the league was founded, with some exceptions. One [exception] being that if an action by a player was so severe or significant that we needed to take a look at those issues or something that had an ongoing impact on the league after it started. One situation you’re familiar with is the Chino Rheem situation.

Generally, what we were trying to do was inform players that this was a new age in poker and we were going to take these things seriously. If they had things they had done in their past, we would look at them and, based on the severity, potentially take action…Now that play has started in the league, we are going to model ourselves after the NBA or the PGA tour or any other professional sports league in making sure that the conduct is at the highest levels of professionalism.

BLUFF: The Standards and Conduct Committee is a new development for poker and it seems to have been tested a lot already. Is the committee working in the way you envisioned it would?

SM: You know, I think you’re always going to be tested initially and this is a new age for poker and something that hasn’t happened before. There has never been an organization that has taken action against players for things they have done outside of tournament play. While it is new to the poker world, it is very established in the corporate world and it is very established in the professional sports world. You can look at any number of headlines to see how these practices work in both arenas and we brought it to the game of poker. My personal opinion as an outsider to poker, it has been a very good first couple of steps. We’d love for none of our players to have problems, but that’s not what happens in the world. I think the majority of the players have been supportive of us and I think the media attention has been good for the poker community as a whole. I suspect that the fans will embrace it because they can support poker players that follow the same social norms that they would expect for them.

BLUFF: You mention this is something that occurs frequently in the corporate world. Many people flock to poker precisely because they want to get away from the corporate world. Do you worry that a system like this will detract qualified players from taking part because they don’t necessarily want their dirty laundry aired in the ways it has in instances of both Rheem and DiVita?

SM: No, I don’t think so. I think the players are actually going to embrace it. If you look at the player pools and the money available and the TV coverage and the opportunities in the long-run for these players, I think they understand that their own conduct is what’s going to drive whether this is successful for them individually or not. It’s no different than any starting quarterback for an NFL team.

You will have some players that are simply not going to be eligible because they’ve chosen to do things in their life that make a difference to them. The one thing we don’t want to do is, you love the characters of the game in poker, so we’re going to highlight them and we’re not trying to restrict them at all. If someone commits serious felonies or someone runs into serious issues in their personal life, we want to take action to protect the poker community as a whole and all of the players. I think that is the most important thing.

BLUFF: You’ve mentioned the case by case approach, but do you worry that without hard lines of “this is acceptable” or “this isn’t acceptable” there are going to be questions and controversies about who does and doesn’t get to play?

SM: I think there will always be controversy and questions about it. When any other professional sports league disciplines players there are always going to be questions and controversies. What you try to do is you try to understand the situation, you try to work within the parameters to have the best outcome for that individual and for the sport, the league, and the fans.

I think the Chino Rheem situation shows you the success of this kind of program, because it shows you Chino has really been given an opportunity to change his life and get back on track in a little bit of a monitored situation, so it can protect him, it protects the players, and it protects some of the people who were owed money by him.

BLUFF: Based on his Twitter (@ChinoRheem), it seems as though Rheem has been very positive about his situation. Has his response and the response of the other league members to his probation been largely positive?

SM: Some people said he shouldn’t be in the league, he should be suspended, he shouldn’t be allowed to play, but I think in his situation it was clearly conduct that impacted the current tournament. What we decided to do was take a very strict approach with him, putting him on probation and making it very clear to him that if he violates the terms of his probation he would be out of the league. But it also gives him a chance to play successfully in the tournaments and potentially really change his life. I think you’re going to see coming out of these tournaments, some really positive things about Chino. To me, that is the best result for everybody, because it is a very good story about what could have been a very explosive situation.

BLUFF: Rheem was placed on probation because his behavior was affecting other players. The initial investigation into Michael DiVita was initiated by a league member complaint. If a league player doesn’t file a complaint, do you take measures to take disciplinary action?

SM: Generally, in these situations a complaint gets filed to the Standards and Conduct Committee, but the league also has the authority to step in and take disciplinary action on its own.

BLUFF: To take this idea to a bit of an extreme, in the case of Rheem, he owed players money and the Committee took action. Say he has credit card debt or student loans, or someone defaults on their child support payments, do you think that is something that the Standards and Ethics Committee should be monitoring?

SM: Well, we’re certainly not going to get into monitoring people’s personal lives on that level. If an issue rises to the level we have to get involved with it, you use the example of child support. Not paying child support can ultimately lead to criminal charges, that might be something we get into. Your own personal credit history, your own personal actions on that is your responsibility. One thing we have said very proactively is part of being a professional is meeting your financial obligations and that is what we expect of our players.

BLUFF: Final question. If Mr. DiVita wanted to take part in another Epic event, would he be allowed to register and play?

SM: If Mr. DiVita wants to take part, he would have to request eligibility from the league based on his criminal history. We’ve set up a process where people can request a hearing and appear in front of the Standards and Conduct Committee and ultimately appeal to the Commissioner if they feel like regarding eligibility issues or for disciplinary action. If he wanted to play in our league going forward, he would have to go through that process…There is no guarantee that someone will be eligible to play.

BLUFF has also reached out to Michael DiVita for comment and hopes to have an interview with him soon.

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