Top 10 Shocking Poker Controversies

The MSN Messenger scam is an infamous scandal that occurred in recent years involving two very popular names in the game; Patrick Antonius and Johnny Lodden.

This is perhaps one the biggest poker scandals to ever hit the poker community. Following Black Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice disclosed a 52-page indictment against top executives of Absolute Poker, Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars as well as a civil complaint against those firms.

Ali Tekintamgac is a poker player who became a notable figure in poker circles after winning the WPT Barcelona event back in 2011 for $300,000. But in the months that followed, Ali become a target of various cheating accusations at a poker tour in France.

Many poker players were astonished when WPT winner Vadim Trincher was awarded 5 years in jail for organizing a large scale money laundering and racketeering scheme with links to the Russian mob.

Malaysian businessman and poker player Paul Phua was convicted along with other people and charged with operating an unauthorized World Cup Betting program at Caesars Palace. They were busted when FBI officers showed up as repairmen so as to gain entrance into the suites and collect evidence.

One famous event took place on a UK forum known as ‘Blonde Poker’ in 2010. One of the forum members, Neil Blatchley developed a staking thread where he amassed a bankroll of over £70,000 for betting from over 40 different people.

2016 was welcomed with the Borgata scandal, where Lusadi Christian introduced his own chips at the Winter Open Big Stack NLH tournament. The event was cancelled as soon as Lusadi’s fake chips were found out and everything eventually came to light when he was caught trying to flush chips worth approximately $2.7 million down the toilet in his hotel bathroom.

Another scandal to shake the foundation of the poker industry involved Poker Night in America. A former poker player levied a number of allegations against several people involved in production of the popular American poker TV show including WSOP Director Nolan Dalla.

In 2011, the Cutter gang cheated their way to millions at a baccarat table. The gang was able to maneuver through the checks and balances by accepting the regular offer to cut the deck when the dealer shuffled cards.

In 2011, Les Princes Casino was fleeced for over $64,000 in an elaborative scheme by 4 men. The scammers, 3 Italians and a Frenchman, utilized high-tech contact lenses and invisible ink to pull off the scam.