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Poker Players Allegedly Cheated Out For Millions In Private Games 

While poker cheating scandals were at their peak in 2022, but in 2023 we saw a scandal in private games involving marked cards and millions of dollars. One of the biggest poker scandals in 2023 involved Hustler Casino Live (HCL) regulars Nikhil Arcot aka Nik Airball and Wesley Fei aka Wesley Poker accusing Tony Mars of cheating in a private game for millions, with the allegations being denied by Mars. The cheating scandal of this California private game remains one of the biggest poker stories of 2023. Let’s have a look at what happened during these private games  which took the poker industry aback. 

Marked cards in action at California private game? 

Nik Airball took to social media platform X ( formerly known as Twitter) and was quoted saying, “someone who I thought was a close friend of mine cheating me out of $1m in a series of poker games.”   These cheating accusations were made on 3rd December, with Airball later revealing how he had identified the accused cheater to be Ye Shen aka Tony aka Mars. He later claimed that Mars had ‘special cards’ that were ‘see-through’ with special contacts.”

Whatever, I have no patience or tolerance.

It was Ye Shen aka Tony aka Mars.

His Twitter is @Marsback2earth https://t.co/DgT8Bz2DsS

— Nik Airball (@nikairball) December 3, 2023

Wesley Poker shared additional details about the alleged cheating during the private games, which occurred between March and October 2023 in Yorba Linda and other parts of Southern California. As per Wesley’s statements, Mars used to offer to bring his own deck alongside two players who used to leave the game by winning a few million, while Mars himself pocketed anywhere up to $1.6 Million.

Speaking with PokerNews, Wesley Poker revealed how he and the other players used to raise a question and asked Mars, ‘Why did you ask to bring the deck?’ He revealed how they found out it was a cheating deck after a game and added that it was a very good one. Wesley revealed how they went into a very dark room and used a blue light to see the numbers written on the back of the deck. 

Later, Wesley Fei spoke about confronting Mars over the phone and text and talked about the accused cheater admitting to using a marked deck after being confronted with the evidence.

Following the accusation, Mars denied all the allegations, stating that he had brought a special UV-marked deck. He shared a statement with PokerNews to set the record straight regarding the false accusations which damaged his reputation. He claimed to have won and lost massive amounts numerous times, but never cheated and always paid upon losing.

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While both the players had agreed to marked cards being spotted in a private game where they regularly played, Mars continued to deny having any relations to the marked deck. Wesley Poker also went on to allege that Mars’ cheating ring also included Arnaud Mattern aka “Mike,” and Shane Hennen, aka “Bruce.” Mars also went on to attack Wesley’s reputation in a sad turn of events. 

Later on, the poker world got to know more about the alleged cheating after a video of a phone call between Wesley Poker and Mars was leaked following the allegations. The less-than-friendly chat saw players threatening bloodshed. Speaking in Mandarin during the call, Mars sounded irritated and pissed at the situation at hand. You can check out the audio of the same below. 

 

Let us know which scandal in poker according to you made jaws drop in the comment section below.

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