After outing Dan “Jungleman” Cates in back in May for ghosting a recreational player in a private online poker home game which the American poker pro later admitted, Bill Perkins is back on social media accusing another high-profile poker pro of cheating. Perkins did not accuse anyone directly as he did not take any names.
However, the player at the center of the latest cheating controversy is Jean-Robert Bellande who hosted a private cash game in which he staked multiple participants unbeknownst to the other players in the game. We must point out that Perkins did not take part in the game in question; his friend Dan Bilzerian did.
The controversy initially came to light over on social media when Bellande expressed his dismay that Bilzerian, whom he’d considered a “friend”, labelled him a “cheat”. The tweet was followed by screenshots of their conversations, where Bilzerian had spewed out some foul language at Bellande, going as far as calling him a “f*****g sack of s**t”.
Unethical, But Not Cheating
The main issue was that Bellande did not announce that he was staking at least two players in a private game that he organized and hosted himself. Perkins and Bilzerian are good friends who usually travel and gamble together.
The hedge fund manager later launched a poll on Twitter asking the poker community if it’s alright to host a private game, get rake, participate in it, and stake the other participants for around half of their action without telling the other non-staked players in the game.
While many said the host should declare whether or not he has an existing staking deal with the other participants, some also said it’s not a big deal. Shaun Deeb even implied that this is how it usually works in private high-stakes cash games. The host getting some pieces of action from multiple participants is common occurrence according to Deeb.
Some agreed that even though it is unethical, it cannot be considered outright cheating. One commenter said staking deals should be declared up front prior to the start of the games, otherwise everything would appear like equity chopping. Others said the set-up could pave the way for potential collusion between those who are involved in the staking agreement.
The result of the poll, saw 75% siding with Perkins and 25% giving a different opinion. Perkins also received flak on social media as one user called him out for playing safe by not naming names though it was obviously Bellande he was referring to in his tweets. Perkins later admitted there was no clear evidence of cheating, it was just that the host did not disclose that he was staking more than one players in the game.
The high-stakes poker arena has been recently hit by cheating scandals. Dan Cates admitted to ghosting another account during a high-stakes online cash game in which Perkins was among the participants. The hedge fund manager exposed it on social media, saying it would make the Mike Postle scandal “look like church service”.
His initial tweets did not mention any names, though Bilzerian later dropped the bomb, revealing that the player involved in the ghosting controversy was Dan Cates.
Die With Zero
If you are one of Bill Perkins’ followers or a fan of the hedge fund manager, you might want to read his new book about living life to the fullest. The new book is called “Die With Zero” emphasizes the importance of enjoying life, sticking with your passion, and doing the things that make you feel happy to be alive, while you still have time.
While Perkins’ intention is for the readers to reconsider their priorities in life and not focus much on saving money, it does not impress at a time like this when most of the world is recovering from COVID and looking at surviving instead of thriving. However, it’s a book worth reading as Perkins does know how to live life large.