Last night, Garrett Adelstein sat stunned and stupefied as tens of thousands of people watched the high-stakes specialist and livestream poker star contemplate just how he lost a $269K pot to amateur Robbi Jade Lew’s hand of gossamer on Hustler Casino Live.
In particular, how in the hell did she call her entire stack of $109K on the turn with nothing but jack-high and diddly-squat?
“I’ll just come out and say it: Garrett doesn’t think this hand was played straight in some way. There’s no doubt about it,” said HCL announcer Bart Hanson.
Hanson was correct. A few hours after the hand was over, Adelstein claimed he was “clearly cheated” and spelled out how he came to that conclusion in a statement released on Twitter.
My thoughts on the hand in question from today’s livestream, screenshots 1-4 (of 6) pic.twitter.com/gWQOI6sg4o
— Garrett Adelstein (@GmanPoker) September 30, 2022
My thoughts on the hand in question from today’s livestream, screenshots 5-6 pic.twitter.com/Hb1Kh6xuFd
— Garrett Adelstein (@GmanPoker) September 30, 2022
Lew says that’s nothing but a bunch of bullshit.
I read the man and make a hero call after he shoves on a turned brick card. Get over it.
I’ll say it again like I’ve said it before: “I’m not playing nice in the sandbox anymore.”
Make it right @GmanPoker
Or don’t. #IDGAF
I’ve already moved on. I’ll make it back either way.— Robbi Jade Lew (@RobbiJadeLew) September 30, 2022
It’s the beginning of a poker story that will be on the radar for years. It already entered the mainstream news cycle. It immediately went viral and prompted poker vlogger, player, and content creator Joey Ingram to instantly go live with Shaun Deeb in a broadcast billed as an EMERGENCY INVESTIGATION.
The video, where Lew appeared and defended herself, passed 150K views in less than 24 hours.
Are we at the cusp of another Mike Postle-like livestream cheating scandal, or is this just a crazy hand played by a fairly new poker player (Lew started playing during the pandemic) who may be playing over her head?
According to Lew, more information about this story will drop this weekend, but there’s a lot to unpack already.
And to top it all the drama off, Phil Ivey was in the house, looking as shocked and surprised as the fans watching at home with potato chip crumbs on their shirts.
The hand
About a third of a way into last’s night stream, Adelstein raised $3K with 87 clubs and Lew was the only caller behind him with J4 off. Stacks were about $815K for Adlestein, $135K for Lew. Blinds were $100/200/400 with an $800 straddle.
The flop came 9TT with two clubs. Adelstein, who is well-know for his ruthless and aggressive style, bet $2,500 on his straight flush draw. Lew, who is a bit all over the place with her starting hands as a relative neophyte, made the call.
The turn came a meaningless four. As Hanson said: “This is usually where Garrett will lay the hammer down with combo-draws.”
The hammer was a $10K semi-bluff. Without much pondering-time, Lew min-raised to $20K.
Adelstein tanked for a minute before saying “all-in.”
After staring at her hand for about 10 seconds, Lew threw out a time chip and started to squirm. She asked Adelstein if her pair of threes were good. But she held J3 the hand prior, not this hand.
She later claimed she misread her hand, but still made the call for her entire stack.
The two players then had an awkward conversation about whether or not they wanted to run it once or twice on the river. Adelstein said he preferred to run it once, but left the decision up to Lew.
“This is a pure bluff-catcher,” she told the table.
“Pocket threes?” someone said.
“Fuck no,” she said. “I think he has me beat.”
So she agreed to run it twice, which were two bricks for Adelstein (9,A).
Lew sat quiet and still after Adelstein tabled 87. Then, after the pause:
“Wow, Garrett. How many times you going to let me do this to you?” she said, flipping over the jack-high winner.
Did you feel it? That’s when the entire pokerverse shuttered.
Garrett thinks something stinks
The minutes go by and Adelstein sat there, stunned and confused, his jaw hanging open as he tries to compute what just occurred.
He balled his fist up and looked around as he repeated the action. Does he think she saw his hand somehow, Hanson wondered. He sat in the nine seat, she was in the one with the dealer in between them, though.
It’s obvious that Adelstein was disturbed.
“I sort of don’t understand what is happening right now,” he finally said, as the dealer does the accounting.
“You know, you let me do this to you several times now,” Lew said.
They argue a bit, as Lew defends her unorthodox play, but Adelstein pushed for more details on how she was able to make the call for her entire stack on the turn with jack-high and no draw.
Ace-high, maybe. But Jack-high?
“That’s right,” Lew said. “Because you don’t have shit. It’s not about what I have. It’s about what I think you have when you play against me.”
An even uglier turn
If the hand wasn’t ugly enough, Lew accused Adelstein of bullying her during the broadcast after producers pulled her off the table and forced her to talk with Adelstein while the game was going on.
According to Lew, she was threatened by Adelstein, and felt like she was pushed into returning the money she won in the hand. Listen to the Joey Ingram interview above to hear her talk more about it.
Garrett blocked me. Guilty as charged. What an honest man. He cornered me & threatened me. If he has the audacity to give me the death stare ON camera, picture what it’s like OFF camera. I was pulled out of the game & forced to speak to him in a dark hallway. Full details to come
— Robbi Jade Lew (@RobbiJadeLew) September 30, 2022
But Adelstein characterized the conversation much differently, claiming it was dominated by Lew justifying her play.
He wrote “her face clearly melted” after both he and HCL producer Ryan Feldman reminded Lew that millions of people would possibly view the hand and judge her play. That’s when Lew offered to return the money, Adelstein wrote.
To Adelstein, this is “an obvious admission of guilt on her end” and since it was “the closest (he) would get to a confession” he took the money. He goes on to explain his reasoning more in the posts on Twitter, but there’s really nothing solid there, only his own gut speculation.
HCL producers didn’t return a text seeking some clarification on this encounter, specifically to both confirm Adelstein’s account of the conversation and if Lew was alone while she faced Adelstein and Feldman, who Adelstein calls a friend.
HCL released a statement about the incident about an hour after Adelstein did, reporting that both players will be banned from the livestream until it completes a “thorough look into this incident.”
It also stated that HCL had nothing to do with Lew giving the money back and that the company is “extremely confident” in the game’s integrity and security.
Our statement on tonight’s show pic.twitter.com/gzKZOBZsy9
— Hustler Casino Live (@HCLPokerShow) September 30, 2022
Poker Twitter butts in
So either Lew somehow cheated as Adelstein claims, or one of contemporary poker’s greatest cash game players is having a meltdown after taking a terrible beat by someone he clearly feels is an inferior player.
Poker Twitter had its say:
The fact that she gave him the money back isn’t an admission of guilt, but likely the contrary.
A money hungry scumbag cheat isn’t likely to give money back in that spot.
Felt like she didn’t want to deal with conflict and can afford it. https://t.co/EwGMujYRuI
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 30, 2022
It's very important we don't jump to any conclusions without more information…
Anyway, here's what definitely happened.
— Spraggy (@spraggy) September 30, 2022
Garrett Adelstein has turned into the biggest disgrace the poker community has ever seen.. That look he gave her after the hand was that of a physcho killer. Unless this is all a show then Oscar's all around!
— Joel McKinlay (@NZSheepHerder) October 1, 2022
“Sorry I played the hand poorly and got super lucky to scoop the full pot. Here, why don’t you take your money back”
— Martin Jacobson (@Martin_Jacobson) September 30, 2022
Agree with this. Normally recreational players lose their minds and press an aggressive button, much rarer to see a ‘no logic’ play that involves calling. Seems very very unlikely it’s cheating. https://t.co/9hOTnY5VPE
— Sam Grafton (@SquidPoker) September 30, 2022
There was just a robbery in LA.
I dont know how that happend.
I dont know what just happend.But someone needs to holla at shorty on hustler bc she just robbed Garrett.
— Conrad Simpson (@conrads411) September 30, 2022
@PatMcAfeeShow big fan and fellow yinzer (from little old leechburg) big news in the poker world that may be of interest to you. https://t.co/a5e9mFm2mx
— Matt Berkey (@berkey11) October 1, 2022
I’m just getting my phone back now (post stream) so haven’t seen any of the public discussion yet, including the Garrett tweet.
Just want to say that at this exact point, I don’t know what the hell happened last night
— Bart Hanson (@BartHanson) September 30, 2022
Garrett, I’ve got an idea. After I’m vindicated, let’s go heads up.
The whole world can watch me read you all day.@GmanPoker @HCLPokerShow
— Robbi Jade Lew (@RobbiJadeLew) September 30, 2022
There will surely be more to follow.
