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WATCH: Poker World Divided Over Bizarre Jack-High Hero Call Cheating Accusations

High-Stakes Pro Garrett Adelstein Says Vibrating Device May Have Helped Newcomer Robbi Jade Lew Win Six-Figure Pot

by Card Player News Team  |  Published: Sep 30, 2022

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Garrett Adelstein is by far the biggest winner on Hustler Casino’s live stream, having banked more than $1.5 million since the show began airing in the summer of 2020.

On Thursday night, however, the cash game specialist and former Survivor contestant took a beat that he just couldn’t believe. As it turns out, there are many others in the poker world that can’t believe it either.

The Hand

Adelstein was competing in the huge no-limit hold’em game, which had blinds of $100-$200-$400 with a $400 big blind ante, along with high-stakes newcomer Robbi Jade Lew. The Los Angeles game also featured casino owner Eric Persson, Andy ‘Stacks’ Tsai, and 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey, putting more eyes than usual on the broadcast.

After Lew straddled to $800 from under-the-gun, Adelstein raised to $3,000 from the third blind holding 8Club Suit 7Club Suit. Lew defended her straddle with JClub Suit 4Heart Suit, and the two players saw a flop of 10Heart Suit 10Club Suit 9Club Suit.

Holding the bottom end of a straight flush draw, Adelstein bet $2,500. Despite holding just jack high, Lew opted to call, and the turn was the 3Heart Suit.

Adelstein bet again, this time $10,000. Lew decided to minraise, making it $20,000 to go and leaving herself with $109,000 behind. Adelstein moved all-in, and Lew went into the tank with her jack high with no draw.

At first, it looked like a Hollywood job, someone trying to save face after an ill-timed move. But then, Lew stunned the entire viewing audience and even commentator Bart Hanson by making the call.

Watch the hand below.

The Reaction

Without knowing Lew’s cards, Adelstein still knew he needed help on the two river card runouts, which he didn’t get with the 9Diamond Suit or the ASpade Suit.

It was a six-figure loss, but nothing Adelstein hasn’t experienced many times before, including the night before. He had seemingly readily accepted his fate, that is until he saw Lew’s hand.

“Whoah! Look at Garrett’s face,” noted Hanson in the commentary booth. “That is super strange, and you can see his reaction.”

“You look like you want to kill me,” Lew said to Adelstein. She continued with a few more jabs while Adelstein sat silently, trying to make sense of the situation. It wasn’t until Lew tried to justify her play that he jumped back in.

“I thought you had ace-high,” said Lew.

“So then why call with jack-high?” asked Adelstein.

Lew then doubled down by replying, “Because you don’t have shit.”

Adelstein played a few more hands before walking away from the table. Lew met him just outside the broadcast area for a discussion, where Adelstein accused her of knowing his cards. Eventually, Lew paid Adelstein back the chips he lost in the hand.

Adelstein On High Stakes Poker Credit Antonio Abrego / PokerGOAdelstein returned to the game with the chips, upsetting another player known as RIP, and confusing the rest of the table in the process.

The Accusation

After some heated words with RIP, who had a reported 50 percent of Lew’s action, Adelstein racked up his chips, including his $135,000 refund, and went home. RIP, whose real name is Jacob, is reportedly partnered with Lew and is part of internet personality Jake Paul’s boxing team, according to Doug Polk.

Lew told the table she refunded Adelstein to diffuse the tense situation, but the others felt she shouldn’t pay back anything unless she somehow did cheat.

“She never should have given the money back,” said Persson. “It makes you look guilty.”

Tsai added that while the hand looked incredibly suspicious, he couldn’t see how there was any cheating going on, and wondered why Lew would pay if she was innocent.

Many felt that Lew had perhaps been bullied or intimidated into giving back the money, but Adelstein later said on social media that he never asked for the money, and only accepted it after Lew offered.

Adelstein clarified his version while giving his reasoning for why he believes he was cheated.

“After the hand, her body language and word salad explanations on why she called the turn are also extremely suspicious, wrote Adelstein. “After giving [me] a couple jabs about how she outplayed me, she immediately becomes very defensive with nervous chatter. Putting it all together, I immediately felt very concerned about foul play.”

“I then said, ‘Robbi, this is likely to be viewed by millions of people.’ Her face clearly melted once I said this, fully realizing for the first time what she had gotten herself into. And then I continued, ’I think you know now, you f***ed up.”

“Knowing this was likely the closest I would get to a confession, and how impossible it is to get refunded in these cheating scandals (Mike Postle being the best example), I took her up on her offer.”

The Rebuttal

Lew has maintained her innocence, but her explanation for what happened has only caused more confusion. During the stream, she said that the JClub Suit in her hand was a blocker to flush and straight draws, which doesn’t really support her argument for calling.

Later on, she said that she misread her hand, and actually thought she was holding J-3 for bottom pair. However, when Adelstein asked her if she had a small pair, she said no, and that she had a “pure bluff catcher.” Hanson also wondered why she wouldn’t just admit that she had misread her hand if that was indeed the case.

“I read the man and made a hero call after he shoved on a turned brick card. Get over it,” wrote Lew on Twitter.

“I’ll say it again like I’ve said it before. I’m not playing nice in the sandbox anymore,” she added. “Make it right [Garrett], or don’t. I’ve already moved on. I’ll make it back either way.”

How Could She Have Cheated?

Although Adelstein feels Lew somehow knew her cards were the winner, he doesn’t suspect an inside job.

“There is zero chance HCL ownership is involved. They are my friends, I trust them completely, and they would never be a part of this. I would never play on any stream at all if I thought there was even a very small chance ownership/production was involved in me being cheated.”

Hustler Casino Live co-owner Nick Vertucci then confirmed in an interview with Joey Ingram that the stream was secure. Players are not allowed to have any phones at the table, and neither are the commentators in the booth. The live stream is also broadcast on a delay, which would negate any help a viewer could provide to a player at the table.

So how could Lew have cheated? One hypothesis has poker fans, and even Adelstein himself, turning to the game of chess.

The chess world has been rocked by a cheating scandal of their own in recent months, with world no. 1 grandmaster (and poker enthusiast) Magnus Carlsen accusing an opponent of getting outside help during a match.

The method? An accomplice who knows the cards, and… perhaps a vibrating anal plug!

“I’m well aware [that] the scariest and easiest way for someone to cheat a livestream is to have a device hidden that simply vibrates to indicate you have the best hand,” Adelstein said.

The idea is that an accomplice could send a signal to the vibrator that gives different pulses for different actions. Perhaps one pulse for a fold, two pulses for call, and three pulses for a raise.

“I’m sure the plan was to minraise the turn and win the hand on the river when I don’t improve. But that all changed when I… made an unorthodox play by raising all in. At that point, she would know she still has the best hand if she had such a hidden device.”

That doesn’t explain how someone could know Adelstein’s cards, however, unless they were able to hack into the feed as it was being filmed, or the RFID card shuffler.

HCL has since responded, saying that both players will not compete on the stream until an investigation is conducted. In the days that followed, players were reportedly seen being scanned by a hand-held metal detector. Ironically, the name of the company that makes the detectors is Garrett.

In typical poker player fashion, Lew has since challenged Adelstein to a heads-up match. Adelstein indicated in a reply to Doug Polk on Twitter that he was at least considering accepting the challenge.

The Poker World Reacts

This isn’t the first time that a player has been accused on cheating while on a live stream, but it is the first time that the poker world has been so divided on the issue.

Back in 2019, cash game pro Mike Postle was accused of cheating the Stones Live Poker game out of six figures. Despite winning in court, the overwhelming majority of the poker community believes Postle is guilty.

But in this situation with Lew and Adelstein, there are arguments to be made on each side. There are many top players who have reviewed the hand history and believe that Adelstein was somehow cheated, but there are also many who think that Lew was just flustered in the moment, and was simply doing a poor job of rationalizing a wild play.

Although Lew doesn’t have a record of winning like Adelstein, she does have some results, including a recent victory at the Bicycle Casino and a deep run in this year’s WSOP main event.

Adelstein has earned a stellar reputation in the past for his demeanor at the table. Earlier this year, he went viral in a clip for shrugging off a brutal slow roll in a $186,000 pot.

But while his accusations do carry a lot of weight, he is also being criticized for taking the money back. After all, what would have happened had he hit his flush or straight on the river? According to the Card Player Poker Odds Calculator, Lew was just a 55 percent favorite to win the pot with one card to come. When accounting for the dead cards folded preflop, Lew was actually an underdog, just 47 percent to win.

In the days that followed, the hand went viral and even reached news outlets outside of the poker world. The story was featured on CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, the Daily Mail, and Inside Edition.

UPDATE: Adelstein Gives The Money To Charity

Almost a week later, and the poker world still hasn’t come anywhere close to a consensus. Adelstein, however, remains convinced that the hand wasn’t on the up and up.

“I strongly believe a hand occurred that wasn’t played legitimately by my opponent,” he wrote. “I stand by the way I handled this very difficult situation.”

Adelstein then explained that he had donated the entire $135,000 to the Big Brother, Big Sister organization of Los Angeles, a charity he has been involved with for the last six years.

“It’s not and never was about the money for me,” he said.

 
 
Tags: Poker Cheat,   Poker Cheating,   Hustler Casino Live,   Hustler Casino,   Los Angeles,   California,   Live Stream,   High Stakes Cash Game,   Cash Game,   Garrett Adelstein,   Robbi Jade Lew
 
 
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