X-Ray Vision High Stakes Poker (Nik Airball & others claim they were cheated out of millions by "Mars")

Wesley, Airball Accuse HCL Foe Mars of Cheating Private Poker Games Out of Millions

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/...ames-45012.htm







:lol4

Too bad there weren’t any warning signs with the guy.


Oh wait

https://twitter.com/rinapoker/status...53049615602163

https://twitter.com/brettrichey/stat...90301276270953


How gullible are 2020s poker players?

Now there's some suspicion upon a few others, perhaps warranted, perhaps not.

"Sia the Bot" from the Max Pain Monday streams is supposedly an ex-girlfriend of Mars, the accused cheater. Sia is seemingly defending Mars in cryptic fashion, and another person on Twitter is stating that Sia was in on the con with him:

https://twitter.com/SargisRuss/statu...69153621004715
https://twitter.com/R15surfer/status...73372704973283

Wesley Fei is very down about his experience in poker:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...63554547773556

Translation:

Quote:

---

Recently, I have been thinking about whether I was right or wrong to enter the poker circle. I have become the top poker player in the world and created the world's largest pot (and the legendary Poison King) and the second largest pot. But recently I discovered that I had been cheated out of millions of dollars online and offline, and I lost interest in this game.

I gambled and cheated nine times out of ten. No matter how good the technology is, what’s the use? As a result, I lost millions of dollars in the poker world, and the B circle also failed in the big bull market of brc20, with an implied loss of several million dollars.

But the process is very happy. I have lived a very comfortable life in the past two years, and I have also achieved a certain degree of success in another field. I don’t know if it’s good or bad.

---

Nick Vertucci, who often played in the games with Mars, is now accused of signaling him during games, though without any real evidence:

https://twitter.com/PrahladFriedman/...99824258683334
https://twitter.com/PrahladFriedman/...03143446319285
https://twitter.com/PrahladFriedman/...16330736558531
https://twitter.com/PrahladFriedman/...20205833035899

https://twitter.com/PrahladFriedman/...03293631762539
https://twitter.com/NickVertucciNV/s...26492893610259


Note that Prahlad has been on an "everyone on streams is cheating" kick for awhile now, and has been acting generally unstable on Twitter for quite some time, even by Prahlad standards. So he's not exactly a credible source.

https://twitter.com/msalsberg/status...00942603350285
https://twitter.com/msalsberg/status...10437547151674


It's true that a lot of criminals have been associated with HCL in its relatively short run thus far.

However, that doesn't necessarily mean much. Ryan Feldman has a huge network of contacts from the LA high stakes world, and many of these players are unknowns who play in private games. It's inevitable that some of them are going to turn out to be criminals. Degenerate gamblers are frequently not nice or good-hearted people.

In absence of any proof of wrongdoing, there really shouldn't be heat on Nick/Ryan/HCL right now. If there IS proof against them, by all means it should be brought forward. But speculation isn't going to get anyone anywhere here.

The focus should be on Mars, and outing any accomplices he might have had.

this is such a poker thread.

https://twitter.com/rinapoker/status...61081347444776
https://twitter.com/rinapoker/status...63925991489967

This doesnt look good for HCL yet again. I mean theres the up in the air issues from that soyboy Adelstein who I dont think was cheated but If theres legit evidence of Mars and even worse one of their regulars Sia the Bot being involved in this cheating ring they cant possibly allow either of them on stream again.

https://twitter.com/2littlemice/stat...98135720722747

:lol

https://twitter.com/yuchao/status/1731816073211601133

How these pos don't get their teeth knocked in, at best, is beyond me.

Mars responded to the allegations, and it's as dumb and incoherent as you'd expect.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2023/...ions-45023.htm


https://pnimg.net/w/articles-attachm...ed8362dec5.png

:wat


Soooo... some Chinese guy named "(Sun)" did it, and admitted it to Mars? And conveniently he's back in China now, and we don't get any further information on him?

Suuuuuuuuuuuuuure. Seems legit.

The fact that tons of other people are accusing Mars of cheating in other games is just a coincidence, I'm sure.

It's all (Sun)'s fault.

Wesley's name sure does come up a lot when scams are being discussed.
Almost as frequently as vertucci's these days.

Poker is inherently shady. Why pay more rake and risk more shadiness with a home game?

I understand a couple hundo with college buds, but real money? No way.

All the skimpily dressed dealers and free booze in the world would not convince me otherwise.

Sooo... this has all gotten crazy, and to be honest it's hard to follow, especially because the main players in this whole thing don't speak English as a first language, for the most part.

Wesley going extremely hard on Twitter today. I'll try to break down what he's claiming, but it's all very confusing.

First, on December 5, he responded to Mars' claims in the Pokernews article that he's just broke and bitter:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...45661104271657
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...73509479284738


Not surprisingly, Mars deleted his Twitter, common among scammers when called out. However, before that he went back and forth with Wesley, accusing HIM of previously cheating:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...22559138333058
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...26285428961789


Some guy supposedly came out and defended Wesley, but posted the "proof" in Chinese!

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...51166988251232



After all this passed, Wesley started calling out Mars' alleged accomplices. I'll get into that in the next post...

Wesley claimed that there were accomplices "Mike the Magician" and a guy named "Peter"...

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...67123476099476
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...75431649894825


Then Antoine Saout (3rd place Main Event finisher in '07) pointed out that "Mike" was actually French pro poker player Arnaud Mattern!

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...06968969740718



He then claimed that "Peter" was a guy named Dacia Henderson, and "Bruce" (another accused accomplice) was really Pham Long:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...39852720021841



But the big bombshell was about to drop...

Wesley claimed he had a phone conversation with Mars, where Mars supposedly admitted the cheating, but said he was going back to China. However, he said Mars also claimed that his partners were going to "look for Mafia" to kill Wesley!

Quote:

---

Basically, @Marsback2earth called me and admitted everything including he's a cheater and @ArnaudMattern and their cheating syndicate now is very mad. They are gonna leave US today now, and threaten me delete all the tweets about them. Otherwise, they gonna kill me. Mras said he wants to save my life and he's gonna go back to china. Other members are gonna leave US today and find mafia to kill me.

@ArnaudMattern now is dealing Baccarat in @WynnLasVegas so does their cheating group is there. Mars, Dacia Henderson and Dacia Henderson. I and my friend got scammed 3.1 M and now they want to kill me. I’m not scared I will call the police right now. I have all voice recording can prove that. Justice will ultimately prevail over evil. I’m gonna give all evidence to police. #Justice

---

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...70568807710894

:what



Then he identified Peter as not Dacia Henderson, but rather Shane Hennen, who had at least one violent felony on his record:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...95127431135405



Arnaud Mattern issued a brief statement denying it, and threatening legal consequences for accusing him:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...75904184729751



Wesley then claimed that he is going to expose the cheating ring, even if it gets him killed:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...76559758606835
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...78068240040379
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...79736260215083



He noted that Bruce / Pham Long deleted his Twtter:

https://twitter.com/Kaspanaut/status...30900729209086



When asked to post proof of this recorded conversation where he was threatened, Wesley claimed it was all in Mandarin:

https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...51237307080903
https://twitter.com/CryptoApprenti1/...54199542780041



So that's where we stand now.

Confused? Me too.

Others have come out claiming that they were cheated by this group, but there is no hard evidence.

For example, take this post by Blank Check Ben:


https://twitter.com/blankcheckben/st...02377124409660
https://twitter.com/blankcheckben/st...09729319882784


I don't think this hand means all that much. Maaaaaaaybe the cheater could see what was coming, but how? Marks on the sides of cards that were clear enough to where someone wearing special glasses/lenses could see? Kinda far-fetched, but possible.


Hard to give much credit to these "check out this hand history" stories. The real question is if they really did find a deck with clear invisible markings on them, and if it was the deck brought by Mars.

At this point, Mars is acting pretty much like a guilty man, right down to deleting his Twitter. His poor reputation before this most recent scandal isn't helping matters.

It will be interesting if that recorded conversation in Mandarin ever makes it to someone reliable who can translate it and vouch that it's real.

Private poker games declined and had largely been replaced by casino/cardroom games by the 1990s, at least in markets with such cardrooms.

Then bigger games moved private in the 2020s.

Now you see why this was dumb, and why private games declined in the first place.

COVID sped up the process of the games going private. It moved due to greed. People wanted the fish for themselves. This way they could build custom games around the players they wanted there (and shut out the ones they didn’t want).

For awhile this was being accomplished by setting up private games in poker rooms such as Aria, but eventually the middleman was cut out, and the games would simply take place in private homes or hotel rooms.

Now you see the downside to all of this, and why people were happy to get out of private games and into the casino back in the '90s. Did we learn nothing from "Worm" in Rounders?

Mars somewhat admits some fault here, but not fully.....and also threats of violence.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH5rK-hWZJk

Druff I think this should be on the main page and not just in Scams......

Here's Arnaud Mattern's statement, posted on 2+2:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ArnaudPoker

Hello Everyone.



First of all, I have to tell you that I'm shocked by these allegations, and that the last 6 days have been very trying. Now, after reading Mr Tony Mars' denial and statement on 2+2 (https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...7&postcount=87) I have been able to discover and understand the true character of Wesley Fei and how he could possibly fabricate false allegations against me for his own selfish motivation. The point of all this is that it is clear, Wesley is a cheat and a thief by his own admission in text messages yet he makes unsupported allegations against me on a game when I wasn't even in the country. This is clearly upsetting especially considering the character of the person who is making these false allegations.

I have read allegations and seen the supporting evidence (text messages) online from the 2+2 forum showing that Wesley Fei has been accused of scamming people in cryptocurrency, as well as in the Poker community, and scammed some of his close friends. Mr Tony Mars has documented these accusations with extremely incriminating evidence, and posted them here. The first piece of evidence shows that Wesley was cheating against one of his friends, Mr F, who was invited by Wesley to play on an online club set up by Wesley himself. According to the evidence presented as an attachment in this article, Wesley used several GTO RTA robots in collusion with each other to fleece Mr F, who lost $200,000. Mr F with the help of Mr Mars demonstrated this to Wesley and threatened to denounce him publicly during the HCL stream, and Wesley begged Mr F not to say anything, and GAVE HIM THE MONEY BACK. A screenshot of the text conversation between Wesley and Mr F was posted to support this claim. Enclosed here are the original text messages depicted on 2+2 forum in Mr Mars original post, I attached underneath the deepL English translation to make it easier to read for everyone.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FaE0sB6D.jpg

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FHoTtVGs.jpg

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2F93NtW6C.jpg

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FZJkqxe3.jpg


A second screenshot shows an exchange of text messages between Wesley and Mr Tony Mars where Wesley boasts about having invested a lot of money in the development of a new RTA tool (real time assistance, artificial intelligence prohibited on all Poker platforms). Wesley says he can't use it on Pokerstars because they've removed the heads-up tables, as the game is solved. However, Wesley says he will be able to use it by connecting it to GG Poker. He says there's a 100% chance of winning, it's impossible to lose with the robot against a human, and that he's going to become the biggest heads-up winner in poker history.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FMcQ6BED.jpg
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FtzQsnye.jpg
https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/c...%2FX3v34aS.jpg

A 3rd passage mentioned the fact that all the possessions Wesley bragged about on social networks (ultra-luxury cars Ferraris, Bentley, Lamborghini, villas, the 400k spent in the suite at the Ceasar palace during the Formula 1 weekend in Las Vegas...), all of which are NOT owned by Wesley, but by a player who is in the game, whom we'll call Mr BOSS. (I personally saw a part of that impressive car collection from Mr BOSS).

All this incriminating evidence against Wesley was published by Mr Mars on the 2+2 forum, and I was shocked to see it. The point I am making is that the very person that is making this unfounded allegation against me is a cheat and a thief by his own admission in his own text messages. Clearly Wesley the accuser is not an honorable or credible person. At no time ever when I was dealing at Yorba Linda did anyone allege that there was a cheating going on, but when I am out of the country and there are other dealers, players, etc., and Wesley does not want to pay his debts, it is truly convenient for him to say "I am not paying because months ago I think I was cheated".

In addition, PokerNews took Tony's statement and copied it onto their site, but what is very upsetting is that they removed the allegations of cheating against Wesley supported by evidence provided by Mr Mars. If they are objective reporters, why would they not put the entire response in the site as opposed to removing anything about the accuser? Can you imagine, the accuser admitted to being a cheater where he gave back money so it would not go public but now makes allegations against me when I wasn't even in the country. To say that this is upsetting is an understatement. Why would PokerNews not be fair and balanced and put Mr. Mars entire statement so everyone can make up their own minds when they find out who this guy really is? From reviewing what Mr. Mars wrote on 2+2 forum and then on PokerNews, it is clear that PokerNews took out the first paragraph and the last paragraph about Wesley’s Instagram account, but removed everything else. The evidence Mr Mars posted shows that Wesley cheated against one of his friends at Yorba Linda to the tune of $200,000, intends to cheat against other people online at GG Poker in Heads up, and is trying to pass himself off as a millionaire on Instagram with assets that aren't his, so I highly doubt the credibility and integrity of such a person. He recently lost a few million dollars, owes money to Mr Mars as was said in the Spaces podcasts. And so, this is the kind of person who accuses me of embezzlement at a poker game where I wasn't even there. It's obvious to me that he's trying to create an excuse not to pay his debts, he's creating false accusations, and he's ruining my reputation in the process. I am very upset about this and I am taking legal action against him.

Now that I know a little more about Wesley Fei's character and his past, I'm less surprised by his dishonest actions against me, and his false allegations.

Here are a few facts that are worth mentioning.

On October 14th, 2023, the day a deck of marked cards was apparently discovered in Yorba Linda, I was in Toulouse, in France, and participated in a free flight experience. I have full proof of my presence on French territory. I have plane tickets to Toulouse and passport stamps attesting of me being on French soil. I was in Yorba Linda from May 12, 2023 to October 1, 2023, but I was sometimes in the USA and sometimes in Europe, generally for periods of 2 or 3 weeks in Yorba, then 5 or 6 weeks outside the USA. The game took place about 2 to 4 times a week.

When I was at Yorba Linda, I didn't deal every game; I only dealt when the chip runner M. June called me to deal the game. Sometimes he had other dealers and didn't call me, or sometimes there were no games at all. I believe there was between 5 to 10 dealers who worked the game over that period of time. So if you count the times I wasn't invited, the times the game didn't run, or the times I was physically out of the States, I must have dealt between 15% to 20% of the games at Yorba Linda during that period, which must represent 20 to 25 games out of the 80 or 100 games they played, by estimation.


Some people have asked me why I sometimes dealt at games instead of playing in them. The reason is quite simple. First of all, soft games (where the players are weak) are much harder to find than they were 20 years ago.

But the main reason is this:

Most people would be shocked to see how much these super VIPs can tip over the course of an evening if they like you. You can easily earn between 5 and 6bb an hour dealing these games, and you're guaranteed not to lose. 6bb is a very decent win rate, especially if you can not lose.

Now, some people might say it's not as sexy to say you're a dealer and not a player (not me) and if you have a sensitive ego, you might want to use an alias to avoid scornful players making fun of you for "demoting" from player to dealer (I've been the victim of these "bullying attacks", it's not very flattering), but to be pragmatic, there are times in your life (and age) when you'd rather deal and win a third of a high stakes buy-in over 12 or 15 hours, than play and risk losing. There's no reason to criticize someone for trying to make a decent living, having lower expectations, and locking in a smaller win instead of risking one's bankroll and playing in a game where you might not be a solid favorite.

What's more, these days, most pros don't rely solely on their winnings at the table (tournament or cashgame). Some of them produce content, in the form of streaming or podcasts, and promote a Twitch or YouTube channels; others try to increase their number of followers on social networks, and increase their influence. Others rely on sponsorships with online poker rooms or sports betting rooms, others are on commentary either online or on TV, still others get staked by rich people to be able to play without paying buy ins, or sell shares of themselves with a mark up. Others sell coaching, online or face-to-face. Still others (like me) sometimes decide to play (when they can find a soft game) or deal (when their bankroll is a bit lower due to a downswing, or they don't want to deal with the variance at the moment, or when super VIPS are at the table and giving huge tips).

Then, yes, I admit it's not great sometimes for the ego, so it's not one thing I necessarily put forward, it's easy to get mocked meanly. So if I have to take "ha he's supposedly an EPT Prague winner but he doesn't have the guts to play 400/800 so he's bumming around dealing to claw back a few thousand a night", well, I'll take it.
But I would never condemn anyone who wants to earn a consistent living, whether it's $50 a day, or maybe a few thousand a day if they are lucky enough to deal in games like this, while gamblers only talk in "millions", and are totally disconnected from reality. I don't need "millions" to be happy.


Wesley made the ridiculous declaration on Twitter that I was a Baccarat dealer at the Wynn. I've never dealt at the Wynn, as Wesley said. That's another total lie and you can go check their records. When you find out that he is lying about me dealing at the Wynn then you will have one more reason to understand this guy is a cheater and a liar.

Regarding that video recording, I don't know if it's authentic or not, but I will tell you one thing. I am a Poker player, and a Poker dealer, and I am not a gangster, I do not threaten people physically, it's not who I am, but on another note, I will not let these lies be unanswered, I will file a legal action to clear my name against the liars Wesley Fei and Nik Airball Arcot.



I have dealt that game between 20 to 25 times out of approximately 80 to 100 games over a period of 7 months, Nik and Wesley never complained when I was dealing, no one ever questioned the integrity of the game nor told me anything, but months later a known cheater (by his own admission in his text messages) who owes money and doesn't want to pay his debts is making these accusations when I am not even in the country without any evidence except the fact that he lost. This is absurd. I will let people be the judge.

I will post updates in the future.

---

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...arcot-1829455/

Seems like most of Arnaud's statement is discrediting Wesley as a cheat and scumbag himself.

While it's fine to also bring up issues with Wesley's credibility, not enough of the statement addresses the cheating alleged regarding Mars, nor Arnaud's alleged part in the whole thing.

Arnaud obsessed over the date he was out of the country when the "cheating deck" was found, but that doesn't mean much. By his own admission, he was dealing during 15-20% of those games where Mars is alleged to have been cheating, so how does his being gone during the "deck incident" clear him? It clears Arnaud on that particular date, but nothing else.

I admit that Wesley and Airball have been light on actual evidence regarding Arnaud's guilt, but it's also true that Arnaud apparently had a bad reputation in France, so it's hard for us to believe that he's innocent here, especially given his admitted association with Mars.

On a separate note, Wesley's alleged scheme to build a bot to cheat on GG also needs to be investigated. But that has nothing to do with the rest of this.

Keep your eyes on Wesley. He has been giving off scammer vibes ever since he showed up on Hustler.

Asian + "crypto investor" + poker = massive red flags

BUMP

Looks like Shane Hennen, aka "Peter" in this scandal, is about to have another felony on his record.

Hennen has been arrested involving the Jontay Porter NBA fixing scandal.

Here is the ESPN article about it: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-jontay-porter

Hennen wasn't a major figure, but is likely to be charged and serve prison time. He allegedly received the information, bet on it via proxies, and then passed it on to other bettors.


Funny how there's often crossover between poker scumbags and sportsbetting scumbags.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dan Druff

BUMP

Looks like Shane Hennen, aka "Peter" in this scandal, is about to have another felony on his record.

Hennen has been arrested involving the Jontay Porter NBA fixing scandal.

Here is the ESPN article about it: https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...-jontay-porter

Hennen wasn't a major figure, but is likely to be charged and serve prison time. He allegedly received the information, bet on it via proxies, and then passed it on to other bettors.


Funny how there's often crossover between poker scumbags and sportsbetting scumbags.

---

Had to look this up. When I heard Peters name I thought it was the dude whos always on HSP and a bit of a donkey but also lucksack turns out the Peter you were talking about is some basketball coach type which makes huge sense when it traces back to the NBA betting scandal with Porter.