Transgender poker player Michelle Nastasis' "LGBT Poker Tour" appears to be a scam

[Dan Druff]

Druff's note: This thread was deleted in 2016, and revived in 2020. The LGBT Tour being referenced here is long gone, and never got off the ground.

=================================================

Meet Michelle Nastasis:




Michelle is a male-to-female transgender, who plays poker.

She has started the LGBT Poker Tour, which can be found at this website: http://www.michellenastasis.com/lgbt-poker-tour.html


However, this poker tour is not what it seems!

Dan Ross of Holdem Radio decided to investigate it. This is what Dan posted on the Holdem Radio Facebook page:

For all the good we come across within the poker community, every once in a while we see things that just shouldn't take place. After spending a great deal of time investigating and doing our homework, we've learned the proposed LGBT Poker Tour is not being accurate in the promotions leading up to its listed start later this year.

The tour's founder/director has claimed to have five locations secured, three Team Pro's and three National Sponsors, all listed via the LGBT Poker Tour's FB page, the promoter's FB pages and a website dedicated to the tour promoter and to her own activities.

We have obtained in writing from each poker room, team pro and sponsor that none of the businesses or people have any involvement in the LGBT Poker Tour, nor have they ever had any business agreements.

The first four casinos/poker rooms have responded back to us to state they are NOT holding a Tour event at their location and there's never been any agreement to do so. The last listed casino did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

All three listed "Team Pro's" say they have never met the tour promoter, never talked to her, and never agreed to be a Team Pro. One requested his name be removed and received no reply back. Another told me he is prepared to sue to have his name removed.

Of the three listed "National Sponsors," two have replied back stating they have never had any involvement with the LGBT Poker Tour, and one stating their legal team would be working to take care of this on their end. We missed a number of direct connections with the third sponsor, who eventually replied back stating they were not interested in such a sponsorship.

We ask that you not use this posting to make derogatory comments about the tour, its promoter or anyone who had been involved with the LGBT Poker Tour via our comments section. This is informational based on our extensive investigation into the tour and is being posted to let the poker community know our findings about an organization that is not putting out accurate information about its alleged startup poker tour.

--Dan Ross
Hold'em Radio

This is similar to the "Super Millions"/PokerApproved scam, which was profiled in 2014 on this site. In that case, again the organizer made grandiose claims about a major poker tournament he was organizing, when in fact the listed venues had not agreed to hold events there, and many other false claims were made by the organizer. Super Millions never got off the ground, wasting the money and time of many people who were offered (actually nonexistent) jobs there.

While Michelle Nastasis had nothing to do with Super Millions, her LGBT Poker Tour bears striking similarity to that scam.

The LGBT Poker Tour webpage claims that it will take place at Talking Stick, Cache Creek, 500 Club, and Paris Las Vegas.

Dan Ross says he has written statements that none of those casinos have agreements with the LGBT Poker Tour.

The listed "tour pro's" (misspelling and all) are Jason Stern, Raymond Davis, and Ron Ware. Again, all three of these guys deny being tour pros, and in fact have no knowledge of Michelle or the LGBT Poker Tour. They were all blindsided by hearing that their names were up there, according to Dan Ross.

Dan also mentions "national sponsors" who have denied involvement, but I can't even find mention of those on the LGBT Poker Tour page, so maybe Michelle already removed them after receiving legal threats.

This thing has huge scam written all over it.


Ross claimed that he started investigating when he saw a ridiculous claim regarding their $250,000 guarantee:

When this 'Poker Tour' began advertising a $350 Main Event with a $250,000 guarantee on a single entry flight - that's 782 entries to make guarantee - it was pretty clear something wasn't accurate, especially when one of the claimed 'tour locations' has fewer than 6 tables and another fewer than 12.

Here's a story about Michelle posted on Facebook by Lori Davenport, a member within the Biloxi poker community:







So if you believe Lori's story (which I do), it seems that Michelle is broke and is looking for any way to get money.

So what is Michelle's angle here? If the LGBT Poker Tour is never going to take place, how would she make money from it, even if the whole thing is a lie?

Given the outlandish claim of $250,000 guarantees at tiny venues, it seems that Michelle knows that the event will never take place.

Bottom line: Do not trust Michelle Nastasis, and do not get involved with the fraudulent LGBT Poker Tour!

[Dan Druff]

I have tweeted out this story and included Michelle in the tweet.

She is welcome to register an account here to refute this, if she would like.

Michelle is also welcome to come on our radio show and refute this.

I do not know Michelle Nastasis personally, and am simply reporting what appears to be an obvious scam.

Thanks to Dan Ross of Holdem Radio for the work he did on this matter.

[Sanlmar]

Lot to read... of course, starting another poker tour in 2016 is a crime.

Even Plop agrees apparently. Plop was always public and comfortable with being a cash player.

[Dan Druff]

Here's a now-deleted picture from the LGBT Tour site with the "sponsors", both of which denied they ever agreed to anything.

[VegasJim]

Not the first Transgender Poker player. Over 8 years ago (that I can recall) I was at a poker table with a Woman named Rosa Klaneski who identified as Transgender. She plays Tournaments on the East Coast and has been a big advocate for the Transgender community and has a blog and wrote several books on the the lifestyle etc.


http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=124463

[IamGreek]

Here's a now-deleted picture from the LGBT Tour site with the "sponsors", both of which denied they ever agreed to anything.

LOL. Paris hasn't had a poker room for several years, at least as of July of last year. I'll check it out in June when I am there tho.

[Dan Druff]

From 2014:

[Dan Druff]

BUMP

I made this thread four years ago, then deleted it within a short time. I've decided to undelete it due to recent developments.

Four years ago, I was alerted by one of my radio listeners that Michelle was running a phony "LGBT Poker Tour", with claims that various casinos had agreed to put it on, and that the tour had various well-known sponsored pros.

She named the casinos and the pros.

However, it turned out it was all phony, as you can see above. The casinos hadn't heard of her or the LGBT Poker Tour, and the "sponsored pros" had no knowledge of it either.

At first I thought it was a big scam in progress and was ready to aggressively jump all over it.

Then I looked into it more, and I realized that almost nobody cared about Michelle or this "tour". The few who did care quickly reailzed it was fake. I couldn't find evidence that anyone was scammed, and after a few people like Dan Ross called her out, it seemed that Michelle was backing away from the whole thing anyway.

I also saw lots of other evidence that Michelle was mentally ill, including various suicide threats.

I thought back to Brandi Hawbaker, and didn't want to be the one blowing up the story and causing her to kill herself. I decided that I would delete the thread, monitor the situation, and if indeed she was backing away from that phony tour, I was going to leave it alone.

The tour vanished and I didn't see anything else of note from Michelle, so I left the thread deleted and dropped it.

However, there have been some recent developments on other websites which have caused me to decide to revive this thread.

First, she appeared in an interview in Cardplayer Lifestyle. Note that Cardplayer Lifestyle isn't affiliated with Cardplayer, but rather is run by Robbie Strazynski, who appeared on my radio show earlier this year.

https://cardplayerlifestyle.com/inte...poker-player/#

This interview was from December 2018 -- over 2.5 years after I originally created this thread.

However, more recently, she was called out by a mysterious account named "pokergirl666", who has also since registered an account here. pokergirl666 claimed to be a 25-year-old female, and claimed that she was interested in the story of Michelle because her claims seemed so outlandish and ridiculous.

Here's the thread in question: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...r-lie-1775322/

I mostly agreed with pokergirl666's assessments, but I was suspicious of her identity and motives. I had doubts that pokergirl666 was really female, and I thought this was probably more of a personal beef than anything else.

It turns out my suspicions were incorrect. pokergirl666 has contacted me privately and proven her identity. She is indeed a real 25-year-old female poker player from the east coast, though she isn't all that well known.

I will say that, despite the obvious lies and the fake poker tour, I haven't heard of any instance of Michelle actually scamming people, even now over 4 years later. This is making me believe that Michelle is behaving in this fashion for attention, and this isn't likely a sinister plot to scam people.

Still, I really hope Michelle gets the help she needs, and realizes that these tall tales of hers simply evoke suspicion and distrust, and aren't the least bit charming or endearing.

If anything written here is inaccurate, I welcome Michelle to come onto this site and refute it, and I will make any necessary corrections upon verification.

[JeffDime]

Maybe OSA can organize a stand alone tournament where the rake goes to his fund to fuck twinks. Just asking people to donate was never going to work. Give them some incentive, and he should be able to raise the funds necessary, no problem.

[pokergirl666]

Hi, I'm the OP from 2p2 post referenced above. I have more updates on Michelle.

She conned her way onto another podcast/radio show: Flop House Radio.
I spoke with one of the hosts who claims their original guest cancelled & Michelle was available with no notice, of course. Michelle feeds off of the attention these podcasts & interviews give her, and she is constantly harassing hosts to have her on. I'm sure some give so they don't get labelled transphobic. As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, Michelle isn't even the first transgender professional poker player, despite her claims. She is just far more attention seeking. She cares more about fame than actually playing poker.

Please do not feature Michelle on any podcasts or interview her in any way unless you are confronting her about her myriad of lies. Do not give her a platform to continue to lie, tell fictitious stories, and name-drop actual pro poker players. By giving her a platform & not calling her out, you are enabling her delusions.

I'll summarize some of the lies from Michelle's interview on Flop House Radio. Anyone with doubts is welcome to listen to the podcast, but it isn't an easy listen.

• Claims to be affiliated with "Poker Elephant"
• Claims to carry five sharpies with her, because Phil Helmuth told her to always be prepared to give autographs
• Claims that her wife lost count how often people ask for her autograph at the grocery store
• Claims the people at the grocery store who ask for the autograph recognize her from TV. Lmao

I spoke to a woman who had a brief friendship with Michelle, and she gave me permission to share what we discussed. Michelle had backed her in some tournaments and behaved in a completely unprofessional way. She also lied extensively, and some of those lies will be documented below. She also repeatedly pursued this woman, despite both of them being in relationship. This women kindly rebuffed her advances and reiterated they were just friends. I have several receipts of Michelle being persistent and making lewd comments. According to my source, far more was said in person, such as Michelle claiming she would leave her wife if this woman would be with her. I doubt the woman I spoke to was the only "victim" of Michelle's harassment. Between this evidence & the screenshots from the 2p2 thread, I genuinely believe Michelle Nastasis transitioned to both fetishize the female experience for her own sexual pleasure, and to get closer to women and disarm them in a sense, presenting herself as a fellow woman in a male-dominated world.

MICHELLE CLAIMS TO BE TAKING OVER CONSCIOUSPOKER FROM ALEC TORELLI



Not only is this a blatant lie, but a poorly executed one. As far as we know, Michelle had less than a handful of coaching sessions with Alec Torelli. He has plenty of students that are far more successful and a bit more well known. Why would he make Michelle & Mike Caramello(who doesn't seem to exist in the poker community on a quick glance) the face of his company? Based on the hand analyses posted on her website and screenshots from my 2p2 post, its clear she has little skill in poker. Regardless, it doesn't matter if Alec Torelli is quarantined or not, in Italy or LA... he obviously can run his site and do his coaching from wherever. Michelle is incredibly delusional. This is yet another example of many. Someone should let Alec know of the claims this person is making.

[Kuntmissioner]

MICHELLE CLAIMS TO BE TAKING OVER CONSCIOUSPOKER FROM ALEC TORELLI



Not only is this a blatant lie, but a poorly executed one. As far as we know, Michelle had less than a handful of coaching sessions with Alec Torelli. He has plenty of students that are far more successful and a bit more well known. Why would he make Michelle & Mike Caramello(who doesn't seem to exist in the poker community on a quick glance) the face of his company? Based on the hand analyses posted on her website and screenshots from my 2p2 post, its clear she has little skill in poker. Regardless, it doesn't matter if Alec Torelli is quarantined or not, in Italy or LA... he obviously can run his site and do his coaching from wherever. Michelle is incredibly delusional. This is yet another example of many. Someone should let Alec know of the claims this person is making.

Do we know anyone y'all?

[Dan Druff]

I would totally do it, but Alec has me blocked because I made jokes on Facebook about chip hiding and being left handed.

[Dan Ross Holdem Media]

I am the person who originally tracked down all the businesses she tried to use in her attempt to scam players a few years back. She claimed Southwest Airlines was giving her $250,000 to hand out in prize money for her LGBT Poker Tour and giving poker players free airline flights to her tournaments, using this type of false information to scam marketing and pr firms into helping her ‘Build a name’ in the poker community and then scam players out of money. She defrauded everyone she came in contact with.

She contacted me, claiming to have a full tour schedule set and wanted to hiring my company to provide live tournament updates. I called every poker room listed, and only one had ever heard of her, the Peppermill in Reno, the poker room manager telling her he was not interested. The website she had listed all the tour stops and dates, and the team pro’s, all lies, all listed to try and scam other businesses to giving her services for free to be ‘sponsors.

One poker room manager emailed her a version of a cease-and-desist order while I was in his office. I then called her and she lied about everything in the email. When I told her I was in the office and had the email, she threatened me and hung up, disappearing soon after the motel incident described in a previous post here.

At this time she was playing $10 buy-in tournaments in Reno while claiming to be the No. 1 on the Hendon Mob Lower Stakes for buy-ins under $500. This, as everything in her self-written poker bio, was an absolute lie.

About four years later she has resurfaced, playing larger buy-ins and going forth with even larger lies, again with the same idea to scam additional businesses in to giving her things for free as sponsors of her and for publicity.

She is apparently in Las Vegas right now, already directly scamming poker players for money, using her ridiculously-large lies to convince them to loan her money and more.

The self-published book has nothing but lies in it, everything she tells about her poker activity is completely false. Block this person on all social media accounts, do not respond to anything she posts, to not give your phone or any contwct information. This is a very unstable individual who appears to be demonstrating some major mental health issues.

[ftpjesus]

I am the person who originally tracked down all the businesses she tried to use in her attempt to scam players a few years back. She claimed Southwest Airlines was giving her $250,000 to hand out in prize money for her LGBT Poker Tour and giving poker players free airline flights to her tournaments, using this type of false information to scam marketing and pr firms into helping her ‘Build a name’ in the poker community and then scam players out of money. She defrauded everyone she came in contact with.

She contacted me, claiming to have a full tour schedule set and wanted to hiring my company to provide live tournament updates. I called every poker room listed, and only one had ever heard of her, the Peppermill in Reno, the poker room manager telling her he was not interested. The website she had listed all the tour stops and dates, and the team pro’s, all lies, all listed to try and scam other businesses to giving her services for free to be ‘sponsors.

One poker room manager emailed her a version of a cease-and-desist order while I was in his office. I then called her and she lied about everything in the email. When I told her I was in the office and had the email, she threatened me and hung up, disappearing soon after the motel incident described in a previous post here.

At this time she was playing $10 buy-in tournaments in Reno while claiming to be the No. 1 on the Hendon Mob Lower Stakes for buy-ins under $500. This, as everything in her self-written poker bio, was an absolute lie.

About four years later she has resurfaced, playing larger buy-ins and going forth with even larger lies, again with the same idea to scam additional businesses in to giving her things for free as sponsors of her and for publicity.

She is apparently in Las Vegas right now, already directly scamming poker players for money, using her ridiculously-large lies to convince them to loan her money and more.

The self-published book has nothing but lies in it, everything she tells about her poker activity is completely false. Block this person on all social media accounts, do not respond to anything she posts, to not give your phone or any contwct information. This is a very unstable individual who appears to be demonstrating some major mental health issues.

Bounced this around with my wife who’s a Pysch RN. She agreed with my assessment. Classic case of Narcissism wrapped with Borderline Personality Disorder

[James Harrison]

This is why our Druff is a hero

hes been working on this for 7 years.

I wonder if people have been predicting bots for 10 years or if there has been a massive online money making scheme going on during all of this shillery.

ah 2020 it gets better. Wait. The people who have proof online poker is a scam and upload videos and emails dont even get respect. Meanwhile Druff is hard at work.

But he would never ever point the finger at someone accusing them of being a cheater unless he had proof so theres that too.

If there is a Druff appreciation thread, just toss this post in there.