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Blake Schuster

A ‘hero call’, a meltdown and a refund: The controversy rocking the poker world, explained

There’s a pretty wild poker controversy happening in the world of Texas Hold ‘Em at the moment and, while the situation sure looks like it’s still ongoing, there’s already plenty to parse through.

The video, included below, is full of high drama but also nearly impossible to understand unless you follow poker very closely.

We’re going to try and catch you up based on everything we know but here are the most basic things to understand:

  • Robbi Jade Lew won an all-in hand for a pot of $269,000
  • Garrett Adelstein, who lost the hand, thinks she cheated (yes, this is the same Garrett from Survivor: Cagayan)
  • Lew ended up giving back the money she won shortly after the hand and is accusing Adelstein of bullying her
  • All this was captured on a live-stream during a Hustler Casino Live tournament

Let’s get to the hand in question and then we’ll break it down from there.

(Warning: NSFW Language)

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The hand

There’s a lot of poker lingo in that video so let’s run through a brief breakdown of what happened.

Adelstein was dealt an 8 and 7 of clubs to Lew’s Jack of clubs and 4 of hearts. After the first three community cards were dealt, neither had anything better than the pair of 10s on the board, though the two clubs in the flop gave Adelstein a chance at both a flush and a straight flush. The fourth community card was a 3 of hearts, which neither benefited from.

At this point both raise each other all-in and agree to “run it twice” which means they will turn the final community card two times—giving each player two chances to win outright, or if each win a turn, split the pot altogether (it’s a way to hedge your bet in a massive pot)

Adelstein lost both times and the look on his face is one of disgust and distrust. He can’t figure out why Lew would’ve called when he had a higher chance of holding a flush while she only had Jack high.

No one else—not the announcers nor the other players at the table—can figure it out either.

Lew, for her part, looks just as flustered that she won such a large hand. And almost as soon as the dealer hands her the chips, Adelstein is calling foul play as a tense exchange begins.

From the video:

Adelstein: “I don’t understand what’s happening right now,”

Lew: “Ace-high. I thought you had ace-high.”

Adelstein: “So, then why call with jack-high?”

Lew: “Because you don’t have s***.”

What happened next remains somewhat unclear. Adelstein claims he, along with HCL producer Ryan Feldman, went to speak with Lew off camera. Lew says she was “cornered & threatened.”

What we know for sure is that things took an even more absurd turn.

Here's what Lew said happened

Before we explain Lew’s side, it’s important to remember that when you’re sitting at a poker table, everything is part of the game—how you act, what you say, how you project yourself. Every player there is trying to get a read on you, figure out your tell or any type of weakness.

That doesn’t explain all of Lew’s actions here, but it helps inform them.

Lew said she believed she found Adelstein’s tell and was trying to exploit it by bullying the bully at the table. She also later claims she misread her own cards. Both of those may be true. It also may be true that she was just trying to project confidence after surviving such a crazy hand.

A third option: She got lucky. Lew had a bad hand, bluffed herself in too deep while trying to bully Adelstein and still came out ahead—which may be the most simple answer considering they ran the river twice and Adelstein lost both times.

What we don’t know are the full details of what happened off camera when she talked with Adelstein and Feldman, but it ended with her giving Adelstein back his half of the pot—a move many are claiming only adds to suspicions around the hand.

Other players at the table were appalled to find out she gave the money back.

“I said that I wanted minimal destruction and asked, ‘What is going to make you happy?’” Lew told the other players at the table when she returned. “He said, ‘To give me my money back.’”

Lew explained more on Twitter afterwards.

Adelstein lashes out

If it wasn’t clear from the initial video, Adelstein immediately suspected foul play. Despite having any evidence to corroborate his claims, the poker pro wrote a six-page note he posted to his Twitter account laying out all the unsubstantiated ways he believed he was cheated out of that hand.

Adelstein even says that Lew’s offer to return his money is essentially an admission of her guilt, though again, there’s no evidence she did anything but outplay him.

Adelstein does admit there was a confrontation in the hallway with Feldman and says he never asked for a refund.

What's next

Around 3:30 am ET,  Hustler Casino Live announced it was launching an investigation into the matter, but made a couple of key distinctions:

  1. It has no indication of wrongdoing by any party
  2. HCL was not involved in any monetary exchange or refund
  3. Neither Lew nor Adelstein will return to an HCL table until the investigation is complete

In the meantime, the poker world ran wild with theories as everyone from legend Daniel Negreanu to Rounders writer Brian Koppelman chimed in.

We’ll stay tuned here and update as more details become available.

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