[imagesource: Twitter / @PokerNews]

Sporting scandals are a dime a dozen.

Every weekend, football fans argue over VAR and decisions they feel went against their team and the same is true for rugby (our man Rassie loves a video montage) and pretty much every other major sporting code.

A cheating scandal is something else entirely, and the chess world is currently grappling with a scandal that could shake the sport’s foundations to its very core.

Not to be left out, poker is dealing with the fallout of a hand that has divided fans. In a funny twist of fate, this one also involves accusations of vibrating rings.

During a televised event on Friday, Garrett ‘Gman’ Adelstein accused his opponent, Robbi Jade Lew, of cheating.

She won a sizeable hand (just the $269 000 worth of chips) after making a series of calls that you wouldn’t usually see at a table stacked with professionals.

Those familiar with poker can watch the hand play out in full:

🤯🤯🤯@RobbiJadeLew🤯🤯🤯pic.twitter.com/aFphE4XGav

— PokerNews (@PokerNews) September 30, 2022

If you’re not, suffice to say Lew calling Adelstein’s all-in came as a shock to the commentators and those at the table once the cards were flipped.

Things then took another strange twist, according to Indy100:

The pair then went had had a private conversation where Lew unusually agreed to give Adelstein the money back that he had just lost in the hand. As she returned to the table Lew said: “I said that I wanted minimal destruction and asked, ‘What is going to make you happy?’ He said, ‘To give me my money back.’”

Lew also claimed that she misread the third card (aka The Turn) and presumed that she had a jack-three pair which would have saw her win.

Adelstein denied that he asked for a refund and took to Twitter to lay out why he thinks Lew was cheating:

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

In response, Lew hit back with a volley of her own tweets:

She also clarified, via this agreement, what she said was really happening:

Nailed it. https://t.co/aCUAB8DPAL

— Robbi Jade Lew (@RobbiJadeLew) October 2, 2022

Many major poker names tend to agree with her:

Crazy poker drama tonight.

After watching the video, I think she was just deep into a “move,” got flustered and called.

I don’t think her reaction during or post leans towards anything nefarious.

It was an “I’m calling the bully” situation IMO. https://t.co/519FXErBIS

— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) September 30, 2022

Poker twitter: why are you so sure that the hand in question was cheating? Watched it twice. She seemed embarrassed to have made a bad play. Then covering. Not like a cheater. Has she been caught cheating before? What’s the thing? Didn’t read that way to me. And I do study cheats

— Brian Koppelman (@briankoppelman) September 30, 2022

Final Conclusions:

1. She didn’t cheat
2. She also knew she had J high
4. She covered her tracks(saying she had a 3) due to embarassment of the play
5. Garret regardless of how he felt at the time should never accept the money
6. Garret should pay her back imo#poker

— Pokerguru740 (@pokerguru740) September 30, 2022

Adelstein is not backing down.

In fact, as mentioned earlier, he’s been alluding to a vibrating ring element:

Best concise summary of events. Notes:
-She several times states she wasn’t threatened (HCL & @Joeingram1 vids both), then tweets that she was anyway.
-Vibrating device in her pocket @berkey11 podcast
-Only right I accept her HU4ROLLZ while retweeting Doug. https://t.co/CooJ8UW3Is

— Garrett Adelstein (@GmanPoker) September 30, 2022

The moment in question is described below via The Mirror:

When the hole cards were revealed the conversations at the table stopped as Garrett looked at Robbi for nearly a minute.

…as Robbi came increasingly uncomfortable she began to fiddle with her rings on her finger, in particularly, a red one on her middle finger.

Moments later her hand appeared off the table and the ring was not visible – with her slipping it off or turning it the other way round.

The vibration theory is unpacked in painstaking detail here, if you feel like going all-in yourself:

Hustler Casino confirmed both players will not be invited to play again until the dispute has been investigated and settled.

At this stage, the casino said there isn’t any indication that cheating was involved but the use of a polygraph test and other measures may be the next step.

[sources:indy100&mirror]