Poker Fraud Alert Radio - 01/18/2026 - Botvada

(0:03:47): Druff gets $29,300 unfairly seized by Bovada, and they refuse to let him appeal it with their Dispute Resolutions Office.... (0:45:05): Martin Zamani posts a shocking video of a bot farm which automatically plays on at least 100 Bovada tables at once.... (1:24:44): Phenom Poker lands in controversy when they can't afford to pay the rakeback they promised everyone.... There is a small update at the end of the Bovada topic recorded on January 21.

Timestamps are as follows... (0:18:53): It's almost 2026 -- will professional gambling die due to the new tax law? Druff gives his strong opinion.... (1:19:04): IRS gives guidance fixing flaw in new law raising W-2g threshold -- new $2000 threshold will be the law on 1/1/26.... (1:34:44): Record-breaking $26k Super Main Event at WSOP Paradise is marred by various controversies.... (2:15:39): Ren Lin's "WSOP suspension" turns out to be a farce, as he is unbanned in time for WSOP Paradise.... (2:22:56): Druff makes it to final 2.7% of field on Circa Survivor but loses on Thanksgiving week where all favorites lost.... (2:38:54): Man suing Aria claims they drugged him and made him sign $75k of markers he doesn't remember. Is this possible?.... (3:00:44): Maurice Hawkins beaten up at Florida home poker game, guns end up being involved in aftermath.... (3:16:03): David ODB Baker calls out Jess Vierling for again bringing her huge dog to poker events.... (3:56:51): Poker coach Faraz Jaka gets heat for coaching and doing an event with right wing influencer Tim Pool -- did he deserve the criticsm?.... (4:15:39): DraftKings Predictions launches, is first "legal" sportsbetting app in California and Texas history. Indian tribes are pissed off.... (4:24:52): Stake.US, Clubs Poker, and Global Poker to leave California market by December 30.... (4:28:51): Druff discovers that Tix4Tonight / Tix4 / Tix4Vegas don't sell discount tickets for the most part.

(0:06:32): ESPN Bet gets divorce from Penn Gaming, ESPN makes new partnership with DraftKings.... (0:55:24): Ossi "Monarch" Ketola was banned from X and claims a rival casino company bribed them to do it.... (1:29:05): Report: Caesars will be phasing out the "Grand Bazaar Shops" behind Horseshoe, often used by WSOP players for quick meals on breaks.... (2:00:56): Wizard of Oz has saved the Las Vegas Sphere -- sort of.... (2:32:58): Do you live in an apartment/condo/townhome in Vegas? Then you might have been overcharged by NV Energy since 2002.... (2:47:15): Salt & Fin -- in the former Fiore location -- has closed at Harrah's Resort Southern California, and Druff talks about a battle he once had with that property which resulted in a major policy change.

(0:12:35): Druff breaks down the massive NBA sportsbetting and poker cheating scandal featuring Chauncey Billups and other big names.... (1:41:17): Druff had an epic heads up match planned against Grok, to be streamed and watched by millions of people... until he realized something wasn't quite right.... (2:39:57): Druff is down to the final 5% in the Circa Survivor field... can he bring it home to the end?.... The remaining topics were done 2 days later on November 16, and will be posted as a separate episode.

(0:09:31): Druff banned from X... again?!.... (0:17:42): Popular Chinese poker pro and GG Ambassador Tony "Ren" Lin thrown out of WSOP Circuit event on Day 2, due to recent online cheating allegation.... (1:10:24): Two reality show guys appear to break Guinness "Casinos Visited in 24 Hours" record, but journalist John Mehaffey exposes that it was all a fraud.... (1:55:00): Could Trump's August 2025 order against political "debanking" also protect gamblers from the same fate?.... (2:09:03): Likely 2028 Presidential candidate JB Pritzker declared $1.4 million in gambling winnings in 2024 -- is there something shady here?.... (2:24:44): Las Vegas poker pro Jordan Cristos in jail for stalking, threatening WPT CEO, and threatening a judge.... (2:37:29): Eric Persson's Maverick Gaming files for bankruptcy.... (2:45:44): Emmitt Smith's restaurant in Fashion Show Mall fails badly, and it owes $407k in back rent.... (3:04:00): Do you want a very cheap WSOP Atlantis seat and trip?.... (3:07:41): Erik Bergman, founder of online gambling lead-generating giant Catena Media, hit for $1.25m in obvious MrBeast impersonation scam.

Druff takes a break from his usual poker and gambling content, and spends 2 hours talking about his politics.... (0:05:24): How Druff originally became conservative.... (0:16:30): Druff's feelings about early 2020s censorship.... (0:50:51): Is the left gaslighting people?.... (0:58:18): Is Antifa a peaceful protest group, or violent domestic terrorists?.... (1:10:25): The surprising reason why "zero tolerance" anti-bullying policies vanished from schools about a decade ago.... (1:20:58): The SAT has vanished from college admissions -- why?.... (1:29:22): Why don't Democrats push back against riots anymore?.... (1:43:44): Daniel Negreanu's political evolution.... (1:55:19): Always verify anything you read or hear about controversial political matters.... (2:01:30): Druff lists his problems with the modern right wing movement.

(0:00:00): Lost episode of "Forensic Files" features someone you know quite well.... (0:12:24): After it looks hopeless, Druff gets assistance to reverse his X ban from an unlikely source.... (0:27:49): Pokerstars is no-paying a lot of former US customers who still had a balance on the site -- and nobody is talking about it.... (1:02:13): Druff enters Circa Survivor contest again, but ran into some frustrating issues during registration.... (1:49:07): DraftKings releases new sportsbetting rules which allow them to unfairly void your bets when you get a good line.... (2:05:03): Disgraced WSOP food truck operator All American Dave is back... in isolated Mammoth Lakes, California?!.... (2:28:00): Vanessa Kade in controversy again, as she claims she's been a victim of gender-based discrimination in the poker community.... (3:24:42): California passes law to ban "sweepstakes" style gambling poker sites, affecting ClubGG, ClubWPTGold, GlobalPoker, and others.... (3:34:37): Blake Owens, founder of Vegas-based AI-brokerage firm Agrippa, gets bloody pigs head in the mail and threatening note... but is there more to the story?

This is part 2 of the show which aired on 8/9/25.... (0:04:22): Former NBA player Gilbert Arenas busted for running illegal raked home poker game and hiring hookers to service players.... (0:32:55): NBA player Malik Beasley accused of manipulating prop bets on himself.... (0:50:42): Former Hustler Casino Live player "Pepe", real name Elvis Bersai Lopez-Ambrosio, is wanted by feds for human trafficking.... (1:02:13): Druffytime Theater: Which of these unfortunate events happened to Druff in 1974?.... (1:19:19): Everyone says Vegas is struggling badly -- is it true, and if so, why?.... (1:39:40): Rio gave $510 freeplay to anyone who was Caesars Diamond Plus/MGM Gold or higher... what do you think happened?.... (1:58:30): Twitch streamer "Xposed" denied a free smoothie at Resorts World blackjack table when betting $25k/hand.... (2:12:51): Momofuku restaurant at Cosmopolitan is now charging $1 per person for tap water.

Part 1 of 2. Timestamps as follows.... (0:13:39): Druff gets monetized on X, then completely banned weeks later.... (0:41:33): Druff took a long, European vacation, and missed WSOP Main Event for first time since 2004.... (1:18:17): Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi wins both the $50k PPC and WSOP Main Event, and is insta-inducted into Poker HOF.... (1:48:41): William Kassouf ran very deep in WSOP Main, annoys everyone to death, gets banned from WSOP after busting.... (2:23:11): Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" involves new gambling tax law which is very unfavorable to pro gamblers, but is the panic justified?.... Part 2 will follow within 3-7 days.

This is a 3-hour special with full coverage of the WSOP Millionaire Maker Chip Dump Scandal. Time stamps are as follows.... (0:00:00): Background on the situation.... (0:22:03): Druff goes over several hands during the chip dump and analyzes them.... (0:47:02): Announcer David Tuchman finally remarks during broadcast that something is wrong.... (1:00:41): The immediate aftermath.... (1:06:10): Who is really at fault here?.... (1:14:43): Is this an issue at all, or totally okay?.... (1:19:42): WSOP tweets about it... then deletes them.... (1:24:25): Druff has a solution for this.... (1:39:33): Did the WSOP's rule against dealmaking cause this to occur?.... (1:52:24): Mark Seif makes a hypocritical comment about the matter on X.... (1:56:59): Will Nevada Gaming get involved?.... (2:02:05): What is going to happen in the future regarding rule changes?.... (2:13:35): If Druff were in this position, what would he have done?.... (2:18:34): What is ClubWPTGold's position on all of this?.... (2:23:27): Druff provides the overall takeaway of the situation.... (2:32:15): July 2nd postscript gives several important updates.