Poker Writer
A significant cheating operation was uncovered at a high-stakes poker night at JokerStars Poker Room in Houston on Sunday. Two players were caught using a concealed card reader and RFID technology, with the help of a club employee, identified as “Carlito.”
The other two players, identified as “Marcelo” and “Ivan,” allegedly coordinated with Carlito to set up the cheating operation at JokerStars. The Texas social club was also recently the site of a fight involving former NFL player Adrian Peterson, which led to a viral video on social media. The scheme was caught on camera, as the conspirators were seen swapping in a pre-loaded RFID technology deck paired with a concealed card-reading device.
JokerStars General Manager Jason Marshall investigated the footage internally. He confronted Carlito directly after Marcelo and Ivan had managed to escape. Carlito eventually admitted to the plot, having initially denied it. The card-reading device was discovered in his backpack.
Carlito was instantly banned from JokerStars for life as the social club released a statement about the incident:
All money lost from this incident was returned and given back to the players affected. We are deeply saddened by Carlito’s actions […]This is a huge disappointment not just to us but the entire poker community.
RFID Scheme Reminiscent of ‘Postlegate’
This cheating scandal is reminiscent of the infamous 2019 Stones Gambling Hall incident, which became known as “Postlegate” after the alleged perpetrator, Mike Postle.
Similar to this scandal at JokerStars, Postlegate is presumed to have involved RFID technology and inside help. Unlike this week’s scandal, however, there was never a confession. Postle has maintained his innocence, and lawsuits both by and against him have failed to resolve the matter.
Postle was allegedly receiving real-time information during streamed cash games to help him win at an improbably high rate. The presumption among many in the poker community is that he had knowledge of his opponents’ hands thanks to the RFID technology used for the live stream.
The initial accusations came from Veronica Brill, who recently released an animated YouTube series revisiting the whole affair.
Brill was a color commentator on the streamed cash games at Stones Gambling Hall and called out the suspicious play by Postle. According to her, Postle was making moves that defied typical poker strategy. Despite that, he was winning at consistently high rates that even the very best cash game players in the world fail to achieve.
The first time Brill voiced her concerns out loud on stream, she said:
It doesn’t make sense. It’s like he knows. It doesn’t make sense. It’s weird.
This story spread quickly through the poker world with the biggest names in the game commenting on it. That led to several hours of investigative streams led by popular poker YouTuber Joey Ingram. Speculation abounded as to how exactly Postle was receiving the RFID information and just how many people were involved. Streams showed him staring downwards before making strange moves in big pots, so the assumption by many is that he was receiving information on a phone in his lap.
Lack of Resolution in Postlegate
However, Postlegate never produced concrete proof of a cheating operation, nor the identity of an alleged co-conspirator. There was never any “smoking gun” to tie Postle to RFID cheating or anyone on Stones Gambling Hall stream.
Lawsuits were filed against Postle by players who believed they’d been cheated. However, these were dismissed by a California federal judge in 2020, and the case stalled. Sixty of the 88 plaintiffs accepted a settlement from King Casino LLC, owner of Stones Gambling Hall. Postle filed defamation lawsuits of his own against various members of the poker community, but these also failed.
The poker world may never get the whole truth about what did or didn’t happen at Stones Gambling Hall. However, the video evidence and confession at JokerStars provide an example of how such a scheme plays out in practice.
