‘The hand wasn’t clean’: Tom Dwan reignites HCL jack-four controversy

"What's your take on the jack-four hand?"

It's a question that many have asked of others in the days, months, and years following the scandalous showdown between seasoned professional Garrett Adelstein and amateur Robbi Jade Lew in a live-streamed cash game on Hustler Casino Live.

Adelstein recently announced the impending release of a tell-all book titled Beneath the Cards: A High-Stakes, High-Anxiety Poker Journey. While the poker world eagerly awaits Adelstein's side of the story, we're not here to discuss his opinions on the jack-four hand – he's already made it quite clear where he stands on the all-important question.

Instead, we're here to examine the thoughts of another cash game legend: Tom Dwan.

Dwan: 'I had better info than just about anyone'

During the most recent in a series of Q&A sessions with Dwan, hosted by Run It Once Training, moderator Mikey Stotz directed the well-tread question towards his guest. If you want to watch the entire exchange, scroll up to the video above and jump to the 43:00 minute mark.

After a lengthy pause of more than thirty seconds, Dwan launched into a mini-rant involving the CIA and the Trump administration. Stotz interrupted: "You know that I asked about the jack-four hand, right?"

"I'm getting there," came Dwan's reply.

Eventually, after mentioning an unnamed "White House official," he did get there.

Dwan began with a qualifying statement: "If not for the s**t I went through in London, I might give you a better answer on the Robbi [Jade Lew] stuff.

"There's some complications for me... I had better info than just about anyone around that situation. And I've had enough stress lately, I don't want to get into it a ton."

Dwan went on to express mild sympathy for Lew – "I don't think it's fair that Robbi catch way too much flack, compared to other people," – before sharing his true thoughts on the matter.

"The hand wasn't clean. I'm not going to go into specifics, but the hand wasn't clean," he said.

The conversation then briefly pivoted to talk of Adelstein's book and opinions of him before Dwan circled back to the jack-four scandal.

"I have information that has never gone public... it wasn't clean, right?" he continued.

Dwan concluded with a broader opinion about the entire debacle – sparing none of the parties involved from his judgement.

"I think basically everyone around it handled it badly," he asserted. "Hustler handled it... so bad. Obviously, Robbi I don't think handled it well, even Garrett I don't think handled it amazing. Joey Ingram handled it pretty good, actually."