Top 3 Cheating Scandals That Rocked the Poker World
2 years ago
09:27
28 Jul
In September 2007, rumours started to fly that somebody on Absolute Poker was able to see everyone’s holecards. In January 2008, Ultimate Bet also found itself under the microscope.
The ensuing investigation focussed on a player known as “POTRIPPER” who we now know to be 1994 WSOP Main Event champion Russ Hamilton. Top players started to review hand histories that he was involved in and the overwhelming conclusion was that the player could see their opponent’s holecards. The play was just not natural.
It was a mix of perfectly timed bluffs and the most amazing folds you had ever seen to the point where it just wasn’t believable. His value betting was also nailed on.
Absolute Poker conducted an investigation and discovered that superuser accounts really did exist and repaid $1.6 million to affected players.
Moving into 2008 a player named “NioNio” was under suspicion on the sister site of Ultimate Bet. There was enough evidence at this stage for the Kahnawake Gaming Commission to launch an investigation and they soon discovered that this pattern of shady play had been going on since 2005.
Soon after, they unveiled Russ Hamilton as the perpetrator and estimated that the losses to these accounts were in excess of $20 million.
A recording of a phone call later emerged in which Hamilton admitted his guilt, effectively ending his poker playing career.
It was Veronica Brill who first raised suspicions about Postle’s play. This led to a coordinated effort to go through countless hours of live footage and review many suspicious hands.
They soon discovered the same pattern as the superuser scandal but couldn’t understand how. Incredibly, it took longer than it should have but the weird habit of Postle constantly looking down at his phone was the obvious answer and it turned out to be right—in the eyes of the poker community anyway.
The stream was on a delay, as is normal, so the working theory was that Postle had got to somebody in the production crew who was able to feed him real-time information.
Stones flatly denied that anything was wrong and so did Mike Postle and so the matter went to court.
In the end, after a lengthy legal battle, the court refused to find Postle guilty and he beat the $30 million lawsuit. Postle then countersued his accusers before his legal team dropped him and he was forced to withdraw his claim. Veronica Brill and Todd Witteles then went after Postle for their legal costs and the latest is that Postle was borderline bankrupt.
In this event, a player known as “TheVOid” topped a field of almost 3,000 players which immediately raised suspicions as nobody had any idea who they were.
With almost $1.4 million in prize money for the winner, PokerStars decided to take a closer look to see if anything was amiss.
It turned out that the name of the player was Natalie Teltscher, sister to online crusher Mark Teltscher. This was a huge red flag and PokerStars were determined to get to the bottom of this.
They discovered that Mark Teltscher had several accounts running during the event but his sister refused to admit that she didn’t play her account with outside help. It took a court case for her to be forced to admit that an “outside agent” assisted her but we never did get to hear if it was indeed her brother.
Part of a press release from PokerStars read:
The other mention goes to Jamie Gold. The winner of the 2006 WSOP Main Event has long been thought of as the worst player ever to win the tournament and his character might be the worst too if the allegations we heard are true.
Gold won $12 million but it turned out that it wasn’t all supposed to be for him. A guy called Crispin Leyser actually paid Gold’s buy-in for the event on the promise he would get 50% of his winnings.
Gold had refused to pay leaving Leyser no option but to go to court. It took a voicemail to persuade a judge that Gold did , in fact, owe Leyser $6 million.
28 Jul
Cheating at poker has been a thing as long as the game has been around. Just think of tales of cowboys in a saloon in westerns pulling guns on each other in a drunken rage over a card game. In today’s world, cheating has gotten more sophisticated. Casinos are a dab hand at catching untoward behaviour, and so are the players come to think of it.
So which are the biggest cheating scandals we have ever seen in the poker world? Biggest is obviously subjective but the following three caused quite a stink in the community and are either proven beyond doubt or the community thinks that the evidence is almost as good as an admission.
Ultimate Bet/Absolute Bet Superuser Scandal
The superuser scandal was everybody’s worst nightmare about playing poker online. In the early days of the virtual game, outsiders even laughed at the idea of gambling online assuming that hackers could easily steal our money or that the sites simply wouldn’t pay us our winnings.In September 2007, rumours started to fly that somebody on Absolute Poker was able to see everyone’s holecards. In January 2008, Ultimate Bet also found itself under the microscope.
The ensuing investigation focussed on a player known as “POTRIPPER” who we now know to be 1994 WSOP Main Event champion Russ Hamilton. Top players started to review hand histories that he was involved in and the overwhelming conclusion was that the player could see their opponent’s holecards. The play was just not natural.
It was a mix of perfectly timed bluffs and the most amazing folds you had ever seen to the point where it just wasn’t believable. His value betting was also nailed on.
Absolute Poker conducted an investigation and discovered that superuser accounts really did exist and repaid $1.6 million to affected players.
Moving into 2008 a player named “NioNio” was under suspicion on the sister site of Ultimate Bet. There was enough evidence at this stage for the Kahnawake Gaming Commission to launch an investigation and they soon discovered that this pattern of shady play had been going on since 2005.
Soon after, they unveiled Russ Hamilton as the perpetrator and estimated that the losses to these accounts were in excess of $20 million.
A recording of a phone call later emerged in which Hamilton admitted his guilt, effectively ending his poker playing career.
Mike Postle at Stones
Mike Postle has never been found guilty by the justice system of cheating at poker but the community is in no doubt that he did. In 2019, Postle took part in many live streamed games at the Stones Gambling Hall and was always having great results. In fact, he was always the best player at the table.It was Veronica Brill who first raised suspicions about Postle’s play. This led to a coordinated effort to go through countless hours of live footage and review many suspicious hands.
They soon discovered the same pattern as the superuser scandal but couldn’t understand how. Incredibly, it took longer than it should have but the weird habit of Postle constantly looking down at his phone was the obvious answer and it turned out to be right—in the eyes of the poker community anyway.
The stream was on a delay, as is normal, so the working theory was that Postle had got to somebody in the production crew who was able to feed him real-time information.
Stones flatly denied that anything was wrong and so did Mike Postle and so the matter went to court.
In the end, after a lengthy legal battle, the court refused to find Postle guilty and he beat the $30 million lawsuit. Postle then countersued his accusers before his legal team dropped him and he was forced to withdraw his claim. Veronica Brill and Todd Witteles then went after Postle for their legal costs and the latest is that Postle was borderline bankrupt.
WCOOP Main Event Winner Stripped of Title and Prize Money
The 2007 WCOOP Main Event caused quite a stir during the poker boom. It is common knowledge now that multi-accounting is unethical and against the rule for any online poker site but these were still the early days of the online game.In this event, a player known as “TheVOid” topped a field of almost 3,000 players which immediately raised suspicions as nobody had any idea who they were.
With almost $1.4 million in prize money for the winner, PokerStars decided to take a closer look to see if anything was amiss.
It turned out that the name of the player was Natalie Teltscher, sister to online crusher Mark Teltscher. This was a huge red flag and PokerStars were determined to get to the bottom of this.
They discovered that Mark Teltscher had several accounts running during the event but his sister refused to admit that she didn’t play her account with outside help. It took a court case for her to be forced to admit that an “outside agent” assisted her but we never did get to hear if it was indeed her brother.
Part of a press release from PokerStars read:
“Ms Teltscher initially claimed that she had played the account. However, when faced with the results from PokerStars' investigation she eventually admitted she hadn't played.”
(Dis)Honourable Mentions
Many will think that the latest cheating scandal from the suspicious hand on Hustler Casino Live deserves to be on this list but it still looks like opinion is split on whether Robbi Jade Lew cheated or not.The other mention goes to Jamie Gold. The winner of the 2006 WSOP Main Event has long been thought of as the worst player ever to win the tournament and his character might be the worst too if the allegations we heard are true.
Gold won $12 million but it turned out that it wasn’t all supposed to be for him. A guy called Crispin Leyser actually paid Gold’s buy-in for the event on the promise he would get 50% of his winnings.
Gold had refused to pay leaving Leyser no option but to go to court. It took a voicemail to persuade a judge that Gold did , in fact, owe Leyser $6 million.
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