Investigation: No foul play in viral poker hero call
(NewsNation) — The Sept. 29 hero call in which poker player Robbi Jade Lew wildly called Garrett Adelstein’s huge, all-in, open-ended straight flush draw bet with jack high — pocketed her $269,000 and immediately befuddled one of the game’s most lionized stars.
“You know you’ve let me do this to you several times now,” Lew can be heard saying in the now-infamous poker round. “I’m just testing it.”
After Adelstein accused her of cheating on Twitter and a three-months investigation, there is finally some clarity on the “Hustler Casino Live” California poker game that sent the sport into a frenzy.
High Stakes Poker Productions (HSPP) released a 12-page report that said, in part:
The investigation found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing in the J4 hand, or any other hand played that night.
The investigation was conducted by cybersecurity firm Bulletproof, a GLI Company, which specializes in the gaming sector; The Solution Group, a legal and private investigations firm; and Hustler Casino with legal support from law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton.
High stakes poker productions
Ryan Feldman, who is producer and co-owner of the casino livestream, told NewsNation he hopes this offers some clarity on the cheating claims.
“Whether people still believe something happened or didn’t happen or whatever people’s opinions on it — because, you know, everyone has different opinions — I just hope that we can kind of move on and learn from it,” Feldman said.
There were claims Lew was working with someone on the inside — including former HSPP employee Bryan Sagbigsal, who stole $15,000 in chips off Lew’s stack on Sept. 29. Lew eventually pressed charges and Sagbigsal was charged with two counts of felony theft.
But investigators dismissed any notion that Lew and Sagbigsal were working together.
“We put a lot of resources into this investigation, so that we can do it as thoroughly as possible,” Feldman said.
The production company spent $100,000 on cybersecurity, legal firms and a private investigation, which included interviews with Lew, other players, and the show’s owners and employees.
Their findings, in part, were as follows:
“No evidence of tampering, remote access, viruses, rogue hardware installed, or previously installed programs on the machines that are used daily.”
High stakes poker productions
The poker scandal is one of many that have occurred among niche sports this year. There was alleged cheating at an Ohio fishing tournament, a Chess.com investigation and a cornhole bag controversy during the American Cornhole League World Championships in August.
Neither Adelstein nor Lew has played on “Hustler Casino Live” since the September incident, but Feldman said they’re discussing whether to welcome them back now that this investigation is in the rear-view mirror.
“We do understand that people are going to talk about it forever, people are going to have opinions forever, and then there’s just no way to change that. But, you know, we’re just ready to move on and keep going forward,” Feldman said.
HSPP did enhance some security measures for players, including adding that cellphones and other electronic devices must be in bags away from the poker table.
Feldman told “Rush Hour” he sees the changes as a silver lining.