Dentale Disqualified for Threatening Fellow Pro Jared Hamby

(Photo: Seminolehardrockpokeropen.com)

Mike Dentale has found himself at the center of controversy once again after being disqualified for threatening to assault fellow pro Jared Hamby during a $2k buy-in event at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Casino.

A now-deleted video of the main altercation was posted on Hamby’s Twitter account, showing an enraged Dentale confronting Hamby and shouting “What if I just punch you in the fucking face?” after Hamby had intervened in an incident at Dentale’s table involving an argument with the dealer.

According to PokerListings.com, Hamby's girlfriend Lizzy Harrison, who was at Dentale's table, claimed that Dentale had been collecting some of the antes when a new dealer arrived and took exception to him ‘splashing his big blind into the pile’ and reaching in to remove it.

“Then the dealer says in an angry voice to never do that and gets confrontational,” stated Harrison.

Another player, Czech Artur Rudziankov, also told the site that:

“The dealer before the one seen in the video was super bad. He was making tons of mistakes. I was a little tilted myself,” and stated that ‘Dentale and the previous dealer had words’ although ‘it wasn't serious.’

Rudziankov, however, says that he “was pretty stunned by the (new) dealer's behavior towards us.” In the ensuing argument the floor was called, Dentale accused by the dealer of using the ‘f-word’ to him, although the Czech player said:

“I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard any f-words from Mike at this point.”

(Photo: WSOP.com)

At this point Hamby stood up from the adjacent table and claimed that he had heard Dentale ‘call the dealer an ass moments before’ reported PokerListings, the now-deleted video showing Dentale get up and head straight for Hamby, telling him:

“What if I just punch you in the fucking face?”

In later tweets, Dentale apologised for his reaction…

…but insisted beforehand, in an interview the following day:

“I don't like him. He's a far-left liberal that always has to comment on how I am… In this situation, he wasn't even at the table. He doesn't know the whole story. And now he's putting his two cents in and throwing me under the bus."

Hamby told PokerListings:

"I saw what I perceived to be a small injustice happening right in front of me and I chipped in with what I had heard him say," adding: "Now I feel like I'm caught up in this whole thing because I said six words, trying to correct something that happened right in front of me. And because I stood up for this small wrong I'm a target for all this harassment from people on Twitter."

Following the altercation Dentale was disqualified from the tournament but did not receive any further ban – both men playing a $1500 buy-in tournament the next day.

Dentale made the headlines late last year when he berated Cate Hall’s play, leading to a fiery and expletive-laden exchange of words on Twitter, followed by a ‘heads-up for rollz’ showdown earlier this year - a match which Hall won easily.

His Twitter profile reads: ‘Most days I'm Bruce Banner and some days I turn into the Hulk’ which seems to be quite accurate given recent events.