Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian Accuse Famous Pros of High-Stakes Cheating

May 27th, 2020 | by Greg Shaun

A major online poker scandal could be brewing following accusations against certain pros by Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian.

Bill Perkins and Dan Bilzerian (pictured) have accused certain pros of cheating in a private high-stakes game online. (Image: BBC)

Rumblings of discontent first appeared on May 23. Perkins tweeted that a “scandal in poker” was going on and that it would make the Mike Postle incident look like a “church service.”

The businessman and poker player went on to disclose that a group of pros were suspected of playing on other accounts. He later dialed back the comparisons to Postle but maintains the whole affair is hard to wrap his head around.

Bill Perkins Coy but Dan Bilzerian Blasts Pros

Perkins has yet to name and shame the alleged cheats. He’s currently investigating the situation but the accusations appear to center around a private game played online.

Cheating scandal in poker going on that would make the Mike Postle scandal look like a church service. Really hard to wrap my head around. I'm very disappointed in many people. Some you would call poker heroes. 1 person/pro showed integrity others failed miserably #POKER
— Bill Perkins (Guy) (@bp22) May 24, 2020

The implication is that an account owned by a weak player had been taken over by one or more famous pros. So far, Jason Koon has been absolved of any wrongdoing, according to Perkins.

He tweeted that the American was “tempted” into a possible scam but resisted and acted with “integrity.” With speculation rife, Dan Bilzerian stepped up.

In a tweet later removed, he accused Daniel Cates, aka Jungleman, of being the perpetrator. The tweet called out a name not known to the masses, Sina Taleb, and said Cates played on his Fun Ocean poker account.

Cates hit back almost immediately, saying that he’s never played against Bilzerian. He went on to claim that ghosting (players being helped by others) was rampant on the app.

I can't discuss this right now for legal reasons but this is misleading, I haven't played a hand of poker with @DanBilzerian ever lol. More to come when appropriate but there was rampant ghosted on the site that people have admitted to.
— Daniel Cates (@junglemandan) May 25, 2020

At this stage there’s no concrete evidence to implicate anyone, nor is it clear exactly what went down. However, the incident is almost certainly the result of a private game on a social poker app.

Poker Cannot Afford Another Cheating Scandal

For the industry at large, the fact the alleged scam happened in a private game is some consolation. Those with long memories will know the damage large-scale cheating scandals can have on poker sites and players.

From the days of superusers on Absolute Poker and UltimateBet, to allegations of multi-accounting levelled as Josh Fields (aka JJProdigy), the industry hasn’t been immune to swindles. In fact, even WSOP main event champion Greg Merson was accused but later cleared of multi-accounting.

The latest alleged incident appears to have a far narrower scope. While the aforementioned scandals affected a large number of players, Perkins’ accusations seem to indicate that only a select group of players were affected.

Nonetheless, any type of cheating is a bad look for poker, especially in the current climate. With private online games more popular than ever, scam could hurt the credibility of apps like Fun Ocean.

For now, the community can only speculate on what really happened and who was involved. The hope is, however, that any wrongdoing doesn’t have a detrimental effect on the industry as a whole.