Poker Player Jailed For Assault And Theft In Singapore Underground Game

A poker player from Singapore is spending time in jail for hosting an illegal poker game, assaulting one of his opponents and stealing the equivalent of more than $51,000 from his bank accounts.

Santhakumar Emmanuel Kesigan, was sentenced to roughly 17 weeks behind bars Monday for his actions at an underground poker game that he hosted, according to a report from Today Online. The 26-year-old pled guilty to one charge of voluntarily causing harm, unauthorized modification of computer material and exceeding the maximum group size allowed.

In July 21, he held a poker game at a friend’s house. Kesigan’s event featured two tables of Texas Hold’em cash games with at least 18 players at the outset. At the time, the government was not permitting more than five people at a social gathering since it was in the second phase of its pandemic reopening plan.

Eventually one game broke and there was one eight-handed table running at about 3 a.m. Kesigan accused another player in the game of cheating, which escalated in a violent altercation. Kesigan punched the player in the nose and took his phone, demanding that he refund the game S$50,000 ($36,873), which was equal to about 15 buy-ins.

Kesigan then stole the accused cheater’s phone from his bag and got into his bank account through the mobile app. He was able to access the S$73,000 ($53,835) that was in the account. After using the app to raise the transfer limits to S$70,000, he sent the money to his own bank account.

Kesigan forced the player to sign a document stating that he owed money to Kesigan, but now it was paid off. He filmed the end of the attack to prove his victim voluntarily signed the document.

According to the police report, the player went to the hospital and suffered a possible broken nose, along with a small cut on his face.

With all the charges, Kesigan was facing up to six years in jail and up to S$15,000 ($11,062) in fines.

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