Hero call or foul play?

Viewers of Thursday night’s Hustler Casino Live stream were witness to an incredible poker call this week. It came courtesy of American poker player Robbi Jade Lew, who claimed Garrett ‘GMan’ Adelstein’s $135,000 in a pot of $269,000 two hours into the stream. What made this move significant, however, is that she called his three-bet all in shove on the turn with just a J-high.

Hustler Casino Live shared the moment on Twitter:

When a visibly perplexed Adelstein questioned why she made the call with such a poor hand, she replied: “Because you don’t have sh*t.” Technically she was right, as GMan’s 8?-7? was behind to her J?-4? on the 10?-10?-9?-3? board. But Adelstein isn’t convinced by Lew’s explanation.

Twitter has become a battleground

As is now commonplace in the world of poker controversies, Twitter has become a battleground after the incident. In a series of posts, Adelstein explained why he believes Lew may have cheated in the “impossible” call. Meanwhile, Lew has claimed that GMan “threatened her” when the cameras stopped rolling.

How it went down

In Thursday’s No-Limit Hold’em game, Adelstein straddled to $400 before Lew looked at one card and raised to $800 next to act. It folded to Adelstein who raised to $3,000. Lew made the call holding J?-4?. The flop came out 10?-10?-9?, giving Adelstein an open-ended straight flush draw. He led for $2,500 and again Lew called with her J-high. The turn was an inconsequential 3?. Adelstein led for $10,000 before Lew raised to $20,000. Adelstein three-bet shoved, and Lew needed to call her remaining $109,000 to continue.

When Lew did actually call, even commentator Bart Hanson was left confused. “What is going on here?” he asked. “Is it possible her card might be misread in the card graphics or something?” They agreed to run it twice, and Adelstein bricked both rivers. Lew showed her J-high to scoop a pot of $269,000. Her attempts to make light of the situation had little effect on GMan. “I don’t understand what’s happening right now,” he said as his eyes darted around the room, adding:

This doesn’t seem super funny to me.”

Lew went on to claim that she made the call because she knew her opponent was bluffing. “It’s not about what I have, it’s about what I think you don’t have when you play against me,” she told her opponent. “You let me do this to you the last time we played too.” Meanwhile, GMan looked off into the distance as if searching for the Punk’d cameras.

Both players have since confirmed that Lew later returned the $135,000 to Adelstein, who decided to walk away from the table after the hand took place. GMan later deemed this refund an “admission of guilt.”

Adelstein holds no punches

As can be expected, Twitch’s poker community has been very vocal regarding the incident since Thursday night – none more so than Adelstein himself. The Los Angeles high-stakes legend took to Twitter to give his thoughts on the hand:

Adelstein deemed it “impossible” for any player who conceptually understands the game to call on the turn in that hand. He also said he watched the stream from two other prior sessions with Lew and concluded that she had made no other calls “anywhere close to this before.” Instead, he claimed she “often folded bluff catchers to river bets, calling when her hand was quite strong.”

GMan also drew issue with Lew’s response after revealing her hand, labeling her explanations and body language “extremely suspicious.” He alleged that he later had a discussion with Hustler Casino Live co-owner Ryan Feldman and Lew in which she seemed to come to the realization she “f*cked up.” This is when Lew supposedly agreed to give Adelstein back the money he lost.

technology that hacks into the card reader

Within his posts, Adelstein detailed two ways in which poker players can cheat on a live stream, including a device that vibrates to indicate when you have the best hand and technology that hacks into the card reader. Despite clearly implying that Lew may have cheated, GMan also made clear that he believes Hustler had no involvement in what took place.

Lew and Hustler respond

Of course, Lew isn’t going down without a fight. The California native also took to Twitter to argue her case on Friday:

In a later post, she claimed that Garrett actually “cornered” her and “threatened” her after the hand. “If he had the audacity to give me the death stare ON camera, picture what it’s like OFF camera,” she wrote. “I was pulled out of the game and forced to speak to him in a dark hallway.” The poker pro added that she will reveal full details soon.

Elsewhere on Twitter, Hustler Casino Live has also addressed the situation:

The firm said it will look into “every aspect of the incident before putting out the results” of its findings. However, the post did confirm that they have found no evidence of any wrongdoing just yet besides the accusations made by Adelstein. Hustler also said that it was not involved in the monetary exchange between the two players.

For more information, take a look at the views of VegasSlotsOnline News’ poker experts Dara O’Kearney and David Lappin.