Cheating in poker is a real threat and, as such, the poker community works tirelessly to detect cheaters and protect its integrity. This is crucial, since poker’s only hope of staying alive lies within people playing it.
This article will outline some of the more noteworthy cheating scandals in poker history, including:
Black Friday
Never has there been a bigger scandal in poker than Black Friday. On April 11, 2011, the US Department of Justice unsealed indictments against three major online poker rooms: PokerStars, Absolute Poker / Ultimate Bet and Full Tilt; as a result the rooms shut down, accounts were frozen, and thousands of players lost millions in investments.
Russ Hamilton’s superuser account on Ultimate Bet gave him access to opponents’ hole cards, creating havoc among poker players and sparking multiple investigations into this crime.
At first glance, it may seem remarkable that someone would cheat so flagrantly; but it’s important to remember there are people out there looking for ways to exploit others and cause damage. Therefore, reporting any suspicious behavior is vital – this allows innocent parties to receive minimal harm while increasing your odds of catching those trying their luck at taking advantage.
Mike Postle
Mike Postle was accused of cheating in a live-streamed poker game at Stones Casino in Sacramento, California back in 2019. His remarkable upswing seemed too good to be true and people suspected he may have access to real-time information regarding opponents’ hole cards from someone in the production crew. People looked for clues such as odd habits of looking at his phone while stretching neck muscles for optimal peeking angles and irregular habits of looking down at phones when checking hands or checking phone messages while looking down.
Court proceedings were underway but it appears as though the matter has been settled amicably. Postle has dropped his defamation lawsuit against numerous poker community figures including whistleblower Veronica Brill. Brill’s attorney Marc Randazza tweeted a photo of this filing and noted that Postle would also lose any anti-SLAPP motions from other defendants as he no longer pursued this case, further diminishing his reputation in poker circles.
AP & UB
UB is a large public research university located in Buffalo, New York that offers over 350 baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degree programs, classified as an R1 institution with “very high research activity”. Their intercollegiate athletic teams are known as the Bulls. Furthermore, The Spectrum, their student newspaper publication and Subject (an online multimedia outlet) were published. Following the recent murder of one of their own students on campus residents have felt unsafe at night around campus grounds.
Garrett Adelstein & Robbi Jade Lew
Poker has long been plagued with scandal and cheating allegations. Yet this year has proven especially explosive. On September 29th, new high-stakes player Robbi Jade Lew stunned Garrett Adelstein in a $269K pot on Hustler Casino Live (a popular live-streamed poker show out of Gardena five days a week), when she called with jack-high to beat Adelstein despite an uncertain hand that raised red flags for Adelstein who suspected illegal activity due to Lew’s unlikely call with jack high that caused him to suspect unlawful acts from Lew.
He claimed Lew was part of an organized cheating ring comprising Jacob Chavez, Bryan Sagbigsal (who later stole $15,000 in chips from Lew while she was away), and Darren Attebery. To support his claim he wrote a lengthy forum post on 2 Plus 2, providing video evidence and details on each player’s alleged misconduct. Luckily the matter was settled before it caused further disruption in the game.
