Poker Players Gone Bad: Joran van der Sloot

In 2009, an online poker player with the screen name of 'AANOTILTKK' scored a 5th place finish at a $300K GTD tournament at Partypoker, taking home a prize of more then $13,000.

For that entire year, the same player cashed for a total of $21,066. In the years prior to that, officialpokerrankings.com lists the online earnings of 'AANOTILTKK' as $3,545 in 2008 and $13,190 in 2007.

From 2010 to the present, 'AANOTILTKK' has no online tournament results posted. The reason for that is not because 'AANOTILTKK' found cash games more to his liking. It's because he is sitting in a jail in Peru, convicted of the murder and robbery of a 21-year-old woman.

Joran van der Sloot is the player who used the 'AANOTILTKK' moniker at Partypoker. Various news reports revealed that he played at other sites as well, using the screen name 'angryshark68' at a couple of them.

One Dead, One Still Missing

van der Sloot, as many are aware, was convicted of killing Stephany Flores in his hotel room in Peru. He met Flores while playing cards at the Atlantic City Casino in Lima, brought her back to his room, and then apparently got angry when she did an online search of van der Sloot and discovered that he was a prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of another young woman, Natalee Holloway.

Ironically enough, Flores' murder occurred on the exact day of the five-year anniversary of Holloway's disappearance. Holloway was last seen on May 30, 2005. Her body has never been found. She has since been declared legally dead.

Flores was found beaten to death on June 2, 2010 at the Hotel TAC in Lima in a room registered to van der Sloot. He tried to flee but was apprehended in Chile and extradited to Peru.

The arrest of van der Sloot received international attention due to the fact that he was still regarded as the prime suspect in the Holloway case. Time magazine called it "the most important criminal event of the year" in 2010.

In January 2012, van der Sloot received a 28-year sentence and was ordered to pay Flores' family the sum of $75,000 after entering a plea of guilty to murder and robbery. He is scheduled to be released on June 10, 2038 at the age of 50. But he won't be going home. More on that later.

Poker at Center of Case

van der Sloot had reportedly traveled to Peru to play live tournament poker at the Latin American Poker Tour. He had not registered for any events before bludgeoning Flores to death and attempting to run.

His bankroll for his buy-ins and trip to Peru apparently came from another alleged criminal act related to the missing Holloway girl. van der Sloot was previously arrested and questioned extensively for Holloway's disappearance after meeting the Alabama teen in Aruba, the southern Caribbean island that van der Sloot and his family called home.

Holloway, 18, and roughly 100 classmates from Mountain Brook High School in Birmingham were celebrating their high school graduation in Aruba. Holloway met van der Sloot while gambling at a casino and the pair were seen together later that night dancing at a nightclub. Ignoring protests from her friends, Holloway, who was reportedly drinking heavily, left the club with van der Sloot and two of his friends, brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe. That was the last time she was seen.

Needed Money

Even before the Flores murder, the Holloway case received considerable media attention due to the efforts of Holloway's mother, Beth. She made the rounds on TV and radio in the U.S., telling anyone who would listen that she believed van der Sloot and the Kalpoes knew more than they were letting on.

With the case unsolved after five years, van der Sloot contacted Holloway's attorney in March 2010 and promised to inform of the whereabouts of Holloway's body for the sum of $250,000, with an advance of $25,000. The lawyer contacted the FBI, who conferred with the authorities in Aruba and worked together in preparing to bust van der Sloot for extortion after he received the advance payment.

On May 10, van der Sloot received $10,000 in cash from undercover agents in Aruba and another $15,000 wired to his account. He lied about the location of Holloway's remains and was able to leave the country headed for Peru before an arrest was made, using the sting money as his bankroll.

U.S. Charges

One day after Flores' body was found and the same day that van der Sloot was apprehended by authorities in Chile for her murder, federal investigators from the U.S. formally charged him with wire fraud and extortion in the Holloway case.

Last year, government representatives in Peru announced that extradition proceedings would commence in 2038 and van der Sloot would have to face the federal charges in the U.S. for his scheme to extort money from Beth Holloway. Now 28 years old, van der Sloot will serve 22 more years in Peru before he gets a free flight to Alabama while in handcuffs and leg irons, accompanied by the feds.

Marriage and Fatherhood

The tale gets even more twisted in that van der Sloot was allowed to marry and father a child while in prison. He and his wife, Leydi Figueroa, have a 14-month old daughter.

There have been a number of reports stating that van der Sloot was stabbed while in prison. In an article in People magazine published three months ago, the convicted killer claims there is a bounty on his head, placed there by the father of Flores. Those accusations were denied by Ricardo Flores.

In any event, it's safe to assume that 'AANOTILTKK' will not be playing in any online poker tournaments at Partypoker anytime soon.