Can anyone in poker with a terminal cancer gofumdme who actually has terminal cancer please stand up... please stand up?
In February, a mid-30s dude named Rob Mercer showed up on Twitter during the Jami Lafay Gofundme controversy, and was highly critical of her.
Mercer claimed that, unlike Jami, his cancer was terminal, and yet wasn't asking for anything. He said he had six months to live, and claimed to be speaking out because it disgusted him to see her exploiting her seemingly manageable illness for gambling money.
Mercer was very clear that he didn't want anything. Several people offered to put him into events in Northern California, where he lived, and he kept "politely declining" such offers. He reiterated that he didn't want anything from anyone, and was simply speaking out in opposition to Jami's behavior.
He provided no proof of this terminal cancer. Not being known to anyone in poker, he could have been making it up. However, he seemed to not be after anything. Here the guy was turning down stakes, despite being a low limit player.
Eventually the Lafay thing died down, and I stopped paying attention to Rob Mercer.
However, on June 17th, something changed, and I became a bit suspicious. Mercer started a Gofundme, asking for money to play the WSOP Main Event:
Hey Everyone, my name is Rob, I am a 37 year old semi professional Poker Player with Terminal Cancer, I found myself going back and forth wondering if I was ever going to do this because my pride means a lot to me and I never like asking people for help, But my dream has always been to play the World Series of Poker Main Event, Ive never really had the sustainable bankroll to outright buy into the Event and I was conflicted on whether I would ever play it in my lifetime, but in August of last year I was diagnosed with Terminal Cancer and I was told that my timetable wasn't very promising, anywhere from 6 months to 18 months depending on how rapidly it progresses, Ive been fighting hard for months now and my body is definitely doing its best but I can feel the sickness draining on me physically and mentally.
I spend most days in bed now, I recently took a 1 week trip to Vegas with my dad for the beginning of the WSOP and I played a couple events and managed 3 cashes but nothing major, but it did give me a shot of life back into me and I felt like me again even for just a few hours here and there, and I definitely realized when I got home that if I didn't atleast try to find a way to play the Main once before I die, it will haunt me even in death, so now Im here, asking for help from the Poker Community as well as just the General Public to help me fulfill my wish, the Main starts on July 5th I believe and Im hoping that we can raise the money to make this happen, and if it doesn't, well atleast I know that I didn't give up my dream and I did everything i possibly could to get there.
Whatever anyone donates will be a blessing and appreciated whole heartedly and you're really helping prolong my life just by my shear joy that poker brings me and keeps me motivated and driven to keep living and fighting, thank you all and god bless.
I forgot to add a breakdown of where the funds will go, the entry fee for the Main event is $10,000, and the extra $2000 is to cover travel expenses, lodging, Food, miscellaneous expenses, this is a far fetched ask of people I don't know and I know I need to be realistic about expectations and at this point I have zero expectations of this happening, if it does it will be a blessing, if not, I understand and I am good with it, thank you all for your time to read a part of my story in this chapter of life.
He raised over $12,000, and Nick Vertucci facilitated a lot of it by both encouraging people to donate, and promising to cover any shortfall, after talking to Rob on Twitter Spaces.
Rob didn't make it through Main Event Day 1, and apologized to his backers for letting them down. At one point, Mike Matusow did not understand that Mercer was a (supposed) terminal cancer patient, and criticized some of Rob's update tweets. When the community jumped on Matusow, Mike laughably said he would "pray for your recovery" to Mercer, somehow missing the part that the cancer was terminal! This earned Matusow additional scorn from some. However, this was just Mike being careless with words, and he really didn't deserve all the shit he got.
https://twitter.com/themouthmatusow/status/1677185712045838336
Mercer's feelgood story made the Las Vegas Review Journal.
Despite my initial warm feelings about Mercer, his begging in June made me feel uncomfortable. The whole reason I gave him respect in February/March was because he repeatedly stated that he did not want anything, and turned down people's offers of charity. A few months later, suddenly he wants to play the Main Event on other people's dime -- all without ever providing proof of illness.
I clearly was not going to donate to Mercer's fund, nor promote it in any way. That's why you didn't see me tweeting, posting, or speaking on radio about it. However, at the same time, I had learned my lesson about questioning people's cancer Gofundme. Jami's cancer wasn't even terminal (she admits to have been dealing with it for 20 years), and her Gofundme was riddled with various contradictions and inconsistencies. In addition, she had an existing questionable reputation and lots of prior drama surrounding her. When I attempted to point out the issues with her Gofundme, many people viciously attacked me, and accused me of being a cold, heartless asshole who was attacking a poor cancer patient who just needed money to live. No matter what I said, some people simply could not be convinced, and viciously attacked me over it.
I was done questioning cancer Gofundme campaigns. The whole thing was incredibly draining.
I made the decision to simply steer clear of the Mercer matter. Besides, unlike Lafay who self-promoted, Mercer's cause was taken up by Nick Vertucci and others who were advocating for him. Surely one of them had done some due diligence, right?
Well, now it turns out Mercer was possibly lying about the whole thing, and he has exited stage left from social media.
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Originally Posted by Dan Druff
