Top Hands of the Week: Has Robbi Cheated Garrett Adelstein at Hustler Casino Live?

Oh boy, do we have a doozy for you this week in Top Hands of the Week. Second stream of the week of Phil Ivey’s return to the High Stakes games at…

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by PokerPro Team

September 30, 2022

Top Hands of the Week: Has Robbi Cheated Garrett Adelstein at Hustler Casino Live?

Oh boy, do we have a doozy for you this week in Top Hands of the Week. Second stream of the week of Phil Ivey’s return to the High Stakes games at Hustler Casino Live will be remembered for quite a while, even though everybody will soon forget he was even at the tables as “the stars” of the show were Robbi Jade Lew and Garrett Adelstein.

They were involved in one of the craziest hands we’ve ever witnessed at a poker table with a very questionable play from Robbi, who was accused of cheating by Adelstein. Let’s watch the hand first.

https://twitter.com/HCLPokerShow/status/1575668051948687360

We don’t even know where exactly to start with this hand as there are so many different layers to discuss, but the main gist is, why did Robbi call with J-high when Garrett put here all-in? Did she think she had a pair of threes for a bluff catcher? She couldn’t have made a misread, because she checked her hand twice before making a call, right? And her demeanor at the table certainly didn’t show that she made a mistake.

But the plot thickens when you realize, she actually had a J3 hand in a hand prior to this situation (image above). Robbi also pointed out she had J as a blocker, but that really doesn’t hold the water as J wouldn’t be a good card to have in this particular situation. Nick Vertucci, co-founder of Hustler Casino Live had a talk with Joey Ingram on his “emergency livestream” where he said that she just isn’t experienced enough to know the blocker rationale.

If she did cheat, why cheat in such a weird spot with J-high? With not even 50% equity in the hand? Why wouldn’t she simply find a better spot if she had means to cheat? Why would she even do it at one of the biggest livestreamed poker games in front of 20.000 viewers and more? So many questions. And of course, HOW did she do it as production doesn’t allow any smart phones, smart watches or any other electronics on the players (please, don’t start with putting-things-in-your-but-type of cheats).

https://twitter.com/RobbiJadeLew/status/1575714975875665920

Whole story doesn’t end there, it gets even weirder as Robbi decided to return the money to Garrett for him to get back to the tables, which he did and all that didn’t seat well with another player called RIP, who staked Robbi for 50% in this game. He was yelling on and off the tables that he made her return the money, at which point Garrett stood up and left the game for good. Later he released this statement on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/GmanPoker/status/1575727289932709888

https://twitter.com/GmanPoker/status/1575727417284382721

Thing will get dirty from now on as this was Robbi’s response. All that is left for us is to sit back, get comfortable, microwave popcorn, and wait for this drama to unfold.

https://twitter.com/RobbiJadeLew/status/1575758837465812992

Who is Robbi Jade Lew?

There is not much known about Robbi, but this is what we’ve gathered so far. During the pandemic she took a sabbatical from her biotech career and decided to take poker more seriously. She is definitely not a regular at high stakes cash games, quite on the contrary as not even a while ago she was playing in tournaments with “only” few hundred dollars of buy-in.

Recently she made a Day 4 run at 2022 WSOP Main Event, finishing in the money for $15,000 and won $20,000 a month ago in a 5-way even split at WPT “Get Even” Survivor tournament, which is also her best tournament career result.

https://twitter.com/RobbiJadeLew/status/1546249904372080640

She’s also in a Faraz Jaka’s coaching group (and sporting a Jaka coaching water bottle at HCL), which could explain her recent rise in stakes, but some of the explanations she gave for certain hands, including this ridiculous call with J4, reveals she might not be on the same level as other high rollers at the table. Vertucci explained in a call with Ingram that she doesn’t even realize the magnitude of her actions. Saying all that, she isn’t new to the poker scene. According to thehendonmob.com, she cashed in an event as early as 2010 and started picking up results from 2015 and on.

Robbi said she has a bankroll to fund herself for these games, but she did not want to put all eggs in one basket, so she’s got staked. According to her 50% came from RIP and 50% from other stakers.