Jean-Robert Bellande’s rollercoaster ride as ‘part-host, part-player’ for the Aria Casino has come to an end after 8 years, the ‘Broke Living’ pro revealing he has been ‘promoted to customer’ following what appears to be recent management changes.
After 8 years of being Aria’s poker ambassador, the casino recently promoted me to “customer”. We had a hell of a run. Every big name in our industry along with top celebrities from… https://t.co/c27i1dzITN
— Jean-Robert Bellande (@BrokeLivingJRB) 1 March 2019
Bellande has made a name for himself as a ‘fixer’ for some of the biggest games the casino has ever seen, stating last year: “I facilitate a lot of the big games. I put them together and people come and play”.
Those big games and big names have generally found their way onto Bellande’s popular Instagram page, where high-stakes poker and a baller lifestyle takes pride of place…
Lifestyles of the rich and famous
Tom ‘durrrr’ Dwan and Dan ‘blitz’ Bilzerian at the same table isn’t a sight you would see every day, and is a testament to Bellande’s ability to network among the world’s elite poker-playing entertainers as well as pros.
Tobey Maguire, Kevin Hart, Pharrell Williams – all have been seen at Bellande’s side, and it’s not all card games even when he mixes with the likes of Phil Ivey and Viktor ‘Isildur1’ Blom…
View this post on InstagramPopping bottles in London with @philivey and Isildur. #goingbrokeinlondon
Broke, not broke?
His ‘BrokeLivingJRB’ tagline is seen by many as a joke of sorts, given his lifestyle among the rich and famous, but Bellande has indeed been on his heels several times.
“I lost a lot of money in very good, soft games, not necessarily because I was playing bad,” he told Remko Rinkema a couple of years ago. “I played one pot where it was $1.4 or $1.6 million each where I had two aces up against two kings. I’m begging the guy to run it twice, he says no and there comes a king. Boom, that’s the end of my bankroll.”
“That was extremely unlucky and one of the biggest pots of my life,” he explained, adding: “I’ve played three $3.2 million pots in my life, that was one of them – I lost all three of them by the way”.
Going through changes
So, why the ‘promotion’ to ex-ambassador for the Aria? It’s a good question and there’s no clear answer as yet.
We reported last week that the Aria was renaming its iconic Ivey Room, now to be known as ‘Table 1’. The scene of many of Vegas’ biggest cash games, the rebranding suggests new management and a new approach has been heralded in. But nobody is speaking about it.
One of Bellande’s IG followers asked the pertinent question: “What the hell is going on at Aria lately?? First the change to Ivey Room to “we don’t know marketing table 1” now this shit???”
We’ve renamed our high limit room @ARIAPoker! Some ask why “Table 1”? Well, when our players ask to reserve this room they always ask “Is Table 1 available” and we thought it was a perfect fit.
Naming Cred: @ElayneTheHost pic.twitter.com/Pe0L2Z9SfP
— Sean McCormack (@ThePokerBoss) 20 February 2019
Private games run by the Aria?
There has also been an ongoing debate/argument about the private games run by the Aria. Many top players – including former WSOP Main Event champ Greg Merson and even the legendary Doyle Brunson as we reported recently – claiming they are unable to get a seat in the high-stakes games.
Ryan Laplante was the latest to take a swing at Aria’s opaque approach to the subject…
Yet private games are hosted there with fake lists and fake stacks that prevent players from playing.
You promised you would fix this, yet nothing has been done.
At least @BellagioPoker followed through and banned this horrible practice.
Why keep it and lie about it? https://t.co/PRMlKHPbpF
— Ryan Laplante (@Protentialmn) 1 March 2019
Whether any of this has to do with Bellande’s departure is unclear, though Jean-Robert’s games were generally open to anyone who had the buy-in according to most sources.
‘Broke’ or not, but now without a job, what comes next might worry most people, but for Bellande it’s likely just a matter of time before someone else picks up his particular skill-set and he’s back at doing what he does best – mingling with the rich and powerful across a poker table and trying to get his bankroll back.
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