Well-organized, staffed, raked games
On Wednesday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California announced that former NBA star Gilbert Arenas and five other men have been arrested for operating an illegal high stakes poker game in California.
Arenas is charged with one count of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, one count of operating an illegal gambling business, and one count of making false statements to federal investigators. According to the USAO’s press release, Arenas allegedly rents out an Encino mansion that he owns for the purpose of hosting the games.
Arthur Kats would stage the mansion for the games, recruit what the USAO calls “co-conspirators” to host the games, and collect rent from those co-conspirators.
The alleged co-conspirators named in the indictment are Yevgeni Gershman, Evgenni Tourevski, Allan Austria, and Yarin Cohen, all of whom were tasked with managing the high-stakes Pot-Limit Omaha games and collecting the rake.
Ievgen Krachun, the final person named in the indictment, was the chip runner, largely in charge of the money: chip running, tracking player wins and losses, and paying employees.
Gershman, who the USAO says is suspected to be a high-level Israeli mobster, also recruited young women “who, in exchange for tips, served drinks, provided massages, and offered companionship to the poker players.” The game organizers took a cut of the ladies’ earnings.
But why?
So, at best we have a former three-time NBA All Star being stupid and taking a rake from private home games. High-stakes, elaborate, nearly-professionally run home games, but home games nonetheless. At worst – and admittedly, we’re using some imagination here – he was working with shady characters with connections to overseas criminal groups and potentially involving himself with prostitution, depending on how we picture “offered companionship.”
But why would someone who made over $160 million in salary in the NBA and currently has a popular basketball podcast have the need to become Molly Bloom?
Honestly, I have no idea. I have no insight as to Arenas’s mindset. I’ll take a guess, though. Some say that he must have squandered all his money, so this is a way to earn an income. I doubt it. It’s possible he’s broke – that happens to lots of athletes and ex-athletes – but running an underground high-stakes poker game out of a house he owns seems like an awfully complicated way to rebuild his bank account, especially when there would probably be a demand for his basketball analysis and entertainment services as an easier way to earn a living.
My amateur armchair quarterback analysis is that Arenas likes the rush of doing something that isn’t quite aboveboard and with people who might not necessarily have the cleanest records. He was getting away with something that felt like it was straight out of a movie. Arenas also had the power in the business – it was his house, presumably his rules, and everyone had to answer to him. It’s a thrill.
Arenas also enjoys poker – the image at the top of this article is of him playing in the WPT Cash Game at the Wynn – so this was also probably a blast for him. Running his own, cool game with a bunch of high rollers, maybe also playing in it sometimes. What a rush.
Of course, that’s all speculation. The reasons for the games can be many. And right now, it just looks like Arenas is being charged with crimes only related to running an illegal poker game, so in the end, it may not even be that big of a deal.
Image credit: Flickr.com / World Poker Tour
The post Why Would Gilbert Arenas Run an Illegal High-Stakes Poker Game? appeared first on Poker News Daily.
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