Scandal at a Poker Tournament in the United States

Poker tournaments, like other gambling games, are often accompanied by scandals, conflicts and other unpleasant events. When cash winnings are at stake, it's not far off. Every participant or player wants to win.

This is confirmed by the recent poker tournament in Los Angeles, which was followed by accusations of cheating the participant, who became the winner of a substantial cash prize.

The charge of harboring a vibrating device

The essence of a new scandal in the world of poker is that a newcomer to this level of competition cheated her opponent and the judges:

• Robbie Lew was a rookie at this tournament. At one point she went all-in when she had an obviously weak combination.
• Her opponent, poker pro Garrett Adelstein suggested that her opponent was prompted by his cards.
• Garrett Adelstein is no stranger to poker. After an unpredictable end to a poker game, he made serious accusations against his rookie opponent, who became the owner of $130,000 won from him.

The scene of the scandalous end game was the Hustler Casino Live tournament held in Los Angeles.

Details of the incident

All the details of the scandal are revealed by the Daily Mail tabloid. First briefly about the poker players themselves:

• Garrett Adelstein has been playing poker professionally for more than ten years. He became famous in the world of poker fans because he often goes for aggressive large bets, which brought him earnings of about $1.6 million.
• Robbie Lew is 35 years old and had no success or great achievements at the time of this tournament scandal. Nor does she have the experience of a professional competitor.

Garrett Adelstein's Version

According to the poker pro, the opponent won by accident because she was using a hidden vibrating device, which she needed to get information about how good the cards she was holding were.

The woman went all-in when she had a rather weak combination in poker, that is, "the hand". She came the high jack, which brought the victory.

Doubt of the opponent's victory

Adelstein's reasons for doubting fair play were quite high: he needed a clubs, jacks, or sixes. The opponent was in a much worse situation.

• The casino estimates that she had about a hundred and fifty losing combinations and only six winning ones. However, the woman makes a big bet, gaining a pot of $269,000.

Garrett Adelstein's bewilderment was boundless, and therefore further events unfolded as follows:

• The loser at the gaming table tried to find out why the opponent had played that way.
• The winner said that she had assumed that Garrett was holding the big ace (although that kind of justification doesn't make sense, since the jack loses to the ace).
• This was followed by another justification, stated on Twitter, which was the assumption that she had the best cards.

The explanation, of course, did not satisfy the losing side. The conflict was not over.

Offer to refund the amount won

A little later there is a message from Garrett Adelstein about an alleged offer he received from Robbie Lew to return his bet. Behind this, the loser sees something that clearly points to her guilt.

• The winner, in turn, claims that she was caught by her opponent in the corridor, after which she heard a lot of threats against her. Because of the feeling of fear she decided to return her winnings.

Garrett Adelstein engaged in an extensive analysis of the previous games of his 35-year-old rival. Based on that, he suggested the presence of a vibrating device or some other type of cheating. There was no evidence from his side.

Opinion of an expert

Hustler Casino Live co-founder Nick Vertucci suggests that Robbie Liew, due to her inexperience, simply misjudged her cards. He also notes the fact that the organizers have carefully checked everything and could not have missed any devices.

• It has been decided that players will not be allowed to participate in other tournament battles until a thorough investigation has been completed.

By the way, a similar scandal previously took place in the chess world. After the world champion Magnus Carlsen lost a game to Hans Niemann, the latter was accused of cheating. A protest against foul play was announced, which was followed by withdrawal from the Sinquefield Cup tournament, which subsequently annulled all Niemann's results.

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