Poker Writer
Former World Series of Poker main event champion and radio frequency identification (RFID) gaming expert Daniel Weinman said he does not believe there has been a high-profile RFID cheating case at the WSOP. He also revealed he believes Robbi Jade Lew cheated Garrett Adelstein.
The 38-year-old Weinman now helps run RF Labs, one of the largest RFID gaming companies. He went on X to answer any questions regarding RFID technology.
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Soverel vs. Kabrhel Sparks Debate
The genesis of the conversation regarding RFID readers was a controversial moment from the $100,000 High Roller on Friday, posted by the WSOP X account. Sam Soverel stopped scanning his cards at the feature table, asking if he could scan his cards only at the end of the hand. Martin Kabrhel took great exception to this and demanded Soverel show his cards to the card reader before the hand, as is customary at feature tables.
The two argued back and forth, with others joining Soverel’s side, including notably Alex Foxen, who agreed it was reasonable to scan the cards after the hand. A tournament director came over to tell the players they had to scan their cards before the hand.
“What if a player at the table has been banned for cheating before?” Soverel asked. The TD said he would need to get a higher ruling if the players wanted to press the issue.
The incident sparked a lot of debate about what is possible with RFID security and cheating. Some wondered why Soverel suddenly stopped scanning cards when it has long been the accepted process of streamed tables. But Kabrhel’s vehement reaction to force him to scan them also prompted questions.
Weinman Confident in WSOP Stream Integrity
Weinman was asked if he believes there have been high-profile RFID cheating cases on streamed WSOP or Triton tables. He said it was unlikely:
I don’t think so. At least when it comes to using the live card data collected by RFID. You’d need bad actors on both the production and playing side of the stream. I can’t speak for Triton but the production that has handled the WSOP up to and including this year is top notch.
Any alleged cheating would have to stem from a two-way operation in production.
If there were an inside source, waiting to scan cards after the hands would solve the issue, according to Weinman.
It’s a valid solution to the threat of someone having access to live data. A properly secured system will never expose any real card data in real time until the stream delay has expired. But if someone did have access, waiting till after the hand would solve this issue.
Weinman Says Robbi Cheated
Weinman also opined on the infamous Garrett Adelstein and Robbi Jade Lew jack-4 controversy, which took the poker world by storm in 2022.
According to Weinman, based on his knowledge of RFID technology, he believes that Lew did, in fact, cheat. He did not expand on why he believed she did. He simply answered yes when asked the question.
Weinman said that the two notable cheating cases he’s seen involving RFID are “well-publicized.”
As long as the hole card info is encrypted and secured, he said, players have little to fear.
Photo Credit: Monique Marestein / WSOP
