It’s a sad fact that wherever a lot of money involved cheating is never far away. Poker is no different. During 2021 there has still been the usual periodic scandal coming to light, one in particular shocked the poker world to the core. Here are the biggest poker cheaters 2021.
Here are the top five cheekiest poker cheaters that came to light during 2021—allegedly, of course!
#1: Mike Postle
The Mike Postle story rocked the poker community in a way not seen since the infamous “Superuser” scandal on Absolute Poker back in 2007.
Postle was accused of playing while having his opponent’s holecards sent to his phone at Stones Casino on a live streamed game.
Regardless of the fact that nobody in poker believes in Postle’s innocence, he was ultimately never found guilty of a crime.
To make matters worse, he then embarked on a frivolous lawsuit, claiming $330 million in damages from various characters in the poker world before the whole thing blew up in his face.
His lawyers dumped him and Veronica Brill and Todd Witteles chased him for legal fees leaving him on the brink of bankruptcy.
#2: Dan “Jungleman” Cates
Dan “Jungleman” Cates isn’t a character normally thought of as likely to create a scandal but this year he found himself embroiled in exactly that.
Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian took to social media to accuse Cates of “ghosting” a recreational player in a high-stakes private game on an online app. Cates’s defence was nothing more than everyone was doing it so it’s okay.
Hiding your true identity, or flat out pretending to be somebody else, is a major no-no in the high-stakes poker world, viewed as nothing but cheating.
Cates later apologised but received short shrift from the poker community.
#3: Zhuang Ruan
Zhuang Ruan found himself pulled between hero and zero during 2021. He was billed as an up-and-coming superstar after arriving out of nowhere at the age of 20 to win a WPT event and a $50,000 PokerGO Super High Roller.
Following that up with third place in the $250,000 Super High Roller Ball in Cyprus really put his name on the map.
But then it came to light that he stood accused of unethical play, using real-time assistance in-game, and had even been banned from a site for such behaviour.
A dedicated thread on 2+2 then detailed how Ruan ran a stable encouraging his players to imitate his plan.
#4: Ivan Deyra
Normally winning a tournament and adding $101,000 to your bank account is cause to celebrate. Not so for Ivan Deyra.
The Winamax pro was caught multi-accounting in the tournament by the security team of his own sponsor.
It turns out that in incredibly cheeky style, possibly assuming he was untouchable due to his status as a brand ambassador, he played on his father’s account at the same time as his own.
After busting his real account, Deyra went on to win the event on his father’s computer, a decision that has cost him his prize money and sponsorship deal.
#5: Scott Ball
Former head of Twitch Poker, Scott Ball, was the subject of allegations concerning the theft of $800,000 from Phil Hellmuth’s private game.
Mike Matusow accused him of gambling away investor’s money and scamming ACR boss Phil Nagy for $270,000. Not a great start to the year you might say.
Phil Hellmuth and Mike Matusow have been friends for year but these allegations led to “The Mouth” being banned from the game due to a lack of proof.
Phil Hellmuth’s friend later alleged that Ball was ghosting, colluding, and skimming $5k per week from the private game, but the story now looks to have been swept under the carpet.
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