3 Aug
Matt Marafioti, the poker pro who has been at the centre of a social media hunt for his whereabouts, has emerged safe and apparently well –posting a video message on his Twitter account to reassure those worried about him.
Concerns were raised about Matt and his physical and mental well-being after he dropped out of the WSOP back in June, fellow PokertTube writer Florian Gheorghe describing it thus: “He came to Las Vegas to have some good old fun at the World Series of Poker. He even started the grind pretty well cashing in two out of three events played. But a change of heart and a serious mental health issue made him reconsider his options and called it quits.”
Marafioti had posted several strange tweets under his Twitter moniker Adzizzy, including one where he states that other players were trying to have him ‘sectioned’ and worse, claiming: “I decided to take a break from MTTs b/c players who dislike/dont know me are petitioning to have me locked in a mental home/tortured/killed.”
Gheorghe went on to reveal that Matt’s mental health problems seemed quite severe, affecting everything in his life: “…As the years passed, Marafioti’s table manners have gotten worse and he became more and more paranoid. He started believing the Illuminati put a target on his back because of his ‘revolutionary’ ideas. He got into the rap business but never quite succeeded blaming his father and again the Illuminati for his downfall.”
Just prior to his leaving Las Vegas, he tweeted: “People in poker who are claiming I am a danger to myself/others are lying for self-motivated interests (Illuminati movements) to kill me.” His sudden reappearance, the selfie-video giving no clues as to his present whereabouts, shows a healthy-looking Marafioti apologising for not letting anyone know where he was, but also stating he had no idea anyone was looking for him – and that he was simply taking a break and camping, avoiding social media as he did so.
“I am 100% completely safe and have been since leaving Toronto,” he states in the short clip, adding, “…I didn’t realise that after 3 weeks people would already be looking for me, claiming I have this severe mental problem -I don’t have.”
I’m just having fun, enjoying my summer in peace and quiet.”
One of those at the forefront of the search for Marafioti was Randy Dorfman, who back in June had posted the following, now removed, tweet.
