Poker pro Garrett Adelstein released a video this week accusing the owners of Hustler Casino Live (HCL) of lying about the "J-4 hand" incident involving Robbi Jade Lew in 2022.
This hand sparked one of the biggest scandals in poker since the pandemic. Lew, holding only Jack-high on the turn, correctly called Adelstein's nearly $130,000 all-in (Adelstein had a straight flush draw). Her hand held on until the end, winning the entire pot.
The former Survivor contestant then left the table, believing the live stream had been disrupted and that he had been cheated. Later, another player at the table revealed that Adelstein had asked Lew for the money back, and Lew had returned it.
At the time, HCL co-owners Nick Vertucci and his partner Ryan Feldman confirmed this claim. However, Adelstein stated that this was not true. In a nearly three-minute video released to promote his upcoming book, *Beneath the Cards*, Adelstein claimed that the incident never occurred.
He accused Lew of voluntarily returning the money, while the two co-owners spread lies to the public. Furthermore, Adelstein stated that he viewed certain remarks by Vertucci as threats.
Was the live stream disrupted?
In the video, Adelstein describes some of the events of that night. He says he immediately took $2 million worth of casino chips home and then had several conversations with Vertucci and Feldman.
He recalled saying to Feldman at the time, "Ryan, I think your livestream has been disrupted. What are you going to do about it?"
He also recalled that Vertucci wanted to cut off HCL's live stream to prevent the hand from being made public. Adelstein stated that he opposed the plan and firmly believed he was cheated in that hand.
“I immediately said, ‘Nick, I would never fucking do that, man,’” Adelstein said.
According to the video, Vertucci wanted Adelstein to continue playing, but he refused again.
Funds returned to Adelstein
The story then unfolded with Lew returning the money to Adelstein in an attempt to quell the situation. This account sparked considerable controversy within the poker community.
“Obviously, I didn’t force her to do that,” Adelstein said. “It was insane. Suddenly, thousands of private messages flooded in. For some stupid reason, I read every single one of them, and I couldn’t stop. I quickly fell into a dark state.”
Late that night, Adelstein posted a “nonsensical tweet” stating that he would be able to prove Lew cheated.
In the video, he described it as "another huge mistake".
Poker pro player claims to have been threatened
At 1 a.m., the HCL team called again. Vertucci reportedly stated that they would publicly release Feldman's claim that Adelstein had tried to get the money back. Adelstein vehemently denied this. At 4 a.m., Adelstein said that Vertucci messaged him saying he should return the money.
Adelstein said the message was: "The more you investigate, the worse it is for us and for your long-term development." The poker pro said he saw this as a threat and promised the book would reveal the inside story behind the controversy.
After the storm
Following the incident, Lew denied cheating. She stated that she passed a lie detector test in Las Vegas.
HCL later announced that employee Bryan Sagbigsal was fired for stealing $15,000 from Lew's chip stack after the live stream ended. Some believe Sagbigsal was an accomplice of Lew behind the scenes and profited from the cheating.
In 2024, several women filed sexual harassment allegations against Vertucci. In response, HCL severed ties with Vertucci and announced that he was no longer part of the live stream.
As of now, HCL has not commented on Adelstein's film. Card Player contacted Feldman for comment but has not yet received a response.
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