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SPADEPOKER>POKER NEWS> Nick Airball and Wesley Fei accuse HCL player of multi-million dollar fraud

Nick Airball and Wesley Fei accuse HCL player of multi-million dollar fraud

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You can never have enough scandals, so here's the latest one that has been roiling the internet in recent days. Starring Nick Airball and Wesley Fei, who accused a Hustler Casino Live player nicknamed Mars of a multi-million dollar scam.

It should be made clear from the outset that the scam did not happen during the games at Hustler Casino Live. However, the accused are players who habitually play in streamed HCL cash games. These were private high stakes cash games with blinds of $25/$50 and $50/$100 that took place in Southern California.

The whole thing was started by Nikhil "Nick" AirballArcot and Wesley "Wes Side" Fei on Twitter with a post accusing Ye "Tony Mars" Shen of cheating in the private games. The scam consisted of using specially overprinted cards for the game, which had the value of each card marked on the back in large symbols. The latter were visible under UV light or special glasses.

If this seems like a Hollywood movie to you, you're in for a disappointment. These cards are quite commonly available on the internet for everyone. The companies that illegally manufacture and sell card packs even get packs made from major card manufacturers, open them up, and overprint the packs with UV ink. They then reseal these decks and sell them as new decks.

It was a year ago that the first allegations began to surface on "Tony Mars", where he was accused of allegedly cheating in high stakes games. He was accused of not only cheating but also of not paying money to at least one player.

On November 15, Wesley summoned Mars to his suite at Caesars Palace and confronted him with the revelation. Although Mars admitted that the package he was shown was marked, he claimed that it had definitely not been played. He also accused Wesley of buying the package himself because he didn't want to pay his debts. After that, Mars left the casino.

Wesley gave Pokernews a closer look at what happened during the games. Mars is said to have brought his own deck of cards to the games and suggested to the others that they bring a dealer into the game. Wesley admitted that he lost about $1 million in the game, while Mars won $1.6 million. However, Mars brought several friends to the game, one of whom was Zeo, who also plays in the HCL. So Mars and a bunch of his friends are said to have won a total of more than $3 million. These games were supposed to have been going on for the last 7 months, since about March this year.

"Rina" also joined the whole affair on Twitter, posting a screenshot from the WeChat app from last year. In the text, they warn players about Mars, and even then he was suspected of cheating in private games. "Rina" further stated that the players who knew about it were all Chinese players who don't play in casinos. After everyone found out about it, Mars left those communities and stopped hosting games. That's when he supposedly first started showing up in the HCL.

One day after the allegations were made public, Mars sent his official statement to Pokernews, saying, "I am writing this statement to set the record straight about some false allegations that have personally damaged my reputation. I have won and lost huge sums of money many times in my poker career, but I have never cheated in a game and I have always paid up when I lost."

He went on to say that his "former friend" Wesley is currently experiencing a major downswing and has already lost over $1.5 million in a private heads-up session, with hundreds of thousands and millions more reportedly lost in Vegas. Mars further stated on Wesley, " He is constantly posting pictures of himself on social media with super luxury cars, mansions and $400,000 suites at Caesars Palace. None of these assets are his, they all belong to our mutual friend and Wesley lies to everyone to make a certain image about himself."

Mars concluded by adding, " I didn't bring any cards anywhere. As for the dealers, these are baseless accusations, plus I am not in charge of hiring any staff. Wesley is broke, desperate and trying not to pay the money he owes me. These are all confirmed facts and not baseless accusations."

What do you think about this case? Is the truth on the side of Airball and Wesley or on the side of Mars? Let us know in the comments on our social media.


Source: Pokernews, X/Twitter, HighStakesDB, Poker.org

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