Dan Bilzerian dropped a bombshell about a popular poker player - Jean-Robert Bellande. The social media playboy claims JRB has been cheating in a high-stakes home game, a potential reputation-damaging allegation.
Poker cheating scandals are becoming more prevalent these days. Mike Postle, an accused cheater, escaped legal action, both criminal and civil. But most of the poker community still believes in his guilt.
Postle allegedly had access to his opponent's hole cards during dozens of Stones Live streams. The accusation is that he played near-perfect poker and thus must have been cheating. That, however, hasn't been definitively proven.
The same can be said for Bellande, who was accused of cheating by both Bilzerian and hedge fund manager Bill Perkins, both of whom he considers close friends.
All three of them play in the highest stakes private home games you'll find in Las Vegas. Bellande, who previously played almost daily at Aria, hosts the games. He's one of the only pros in the games and typically invites recreational players and wealthy businesspeople such as Perkins.
Did JRB cheat?
Bilzerian, a social media icon, claims to have earned his wealth playing high-stakes poker cash games, although that claim has never been verified. He made a bold accusation about Bellande following a recent game they played, a game that JRB actually lost for six figures. Bellande shared a text conversation of the chat with Bilzerian on Twitter after Bilzerian outed him on his Instagram page, which has over 32 million followers.
According to the chat, Bilzerian said he won "only" $287,000 in the $50/$100 game played in Las Vegas. And he straight up called JRB "a cheat," but didn't go into details as to the evidence he has to prove cheating occurred. The social media playboy referred to Bellande as "such a f-----g sack of s--t for bringing me to that game."
"I didn't lose, I'm not trying to b---h about paying, I have no dog in this fight," Bilzerian texted.
Bellande defended bringing Bilzerian to the game with the comment, "I thought you'd enjoy." He then said of Bilzerian's cheating accusations, "You could never believe that. Very not cool for you to say."
Perkins, who was also in the game, took to Twitter to pile on. The hedge fund manager and avid poker player polled his audience.
Bilzerian is so confident that Bellande cheated that he offered to bet that JRB is lying via a lie detector test. JRB hasn't responded to that side bet. But he did defend his reputation on social media.
"loosing 400k+ this week (only 80 in that game) and having my friend, @DanBilzerian turn on me = rough week. funny thing is, i think those guys were only showing off to impress him. i’m super bummed right now. (and would still vouch for that game)," Jean-Robert Bellande wrote on Twitter.
Bellande's reputation is important given his strategy for making money from poker. He hosts private games and if his reputation isn't in tact, he'll have a hard time convincing anyone to join his games.
Featured image source: Instagram
