27 Aug 2024 You've seen the money, the glitz, the glamour, and all the fancy television shows. But there is more to poker than million-dollar binds; there is also a dark side. Never mind the problems with gambling addiction and bankroll management; we are talking about the violent side of poker. In this video, we look at the dark side of poker, where players have lost more than just a poker hand. #1: Trump Taj Mahal Incident This story is so insane that it's hard to believe. Sixty-one-year-old Arthur Prince was stabbed in the valet area outside of the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City by 57-year-old Vicente Perez after a dispute. The argument wasn't over money, cheating, or anything regarding high stakes, but instead over a simple poker seat. Arthur Prince was playing in a $1-$2 No-Limit Hold'em game, and Vicente Perez was on the waiting list. Arthur lost all his chips in a hand and told the dealer to hold his seat, announcing to everyone at the table that he was going to get more money from the ATM. Apparently, the dealer did not hear Arthur and assumed he was leaving the game. After a short while, the dealer announced that a seat was open, and Vicente Perez took the seat at the table. Arthur returned to reclaim his seat and found Vicente occupying it. The two got into an argument. Eventually, Vicente got up from his seat and went outside, which further enraged Arthur. Not only did he feel that Vicente had unjustly taken his spot at the table, but now Vicente wasn't even using it. The argument continued outside and turned violent. Arthur began beating Vicente with his walking cane. Vicente pulled out a knife and stabbed Prince in the neck, hitting an artery and leading to Arthur's death. Vicente, who was photographed by a New Jersey newspaper while being led to an ambulance covered in blood, was subsequently arrested and charged with three felonies. #2: Private Poker Game Incident Duan Crittenden was arrested after killing three people at his private poker game in Palatka, Florida. According to local police, the game started on a Friday afternoon and lasted until around 6-7 AM on Saturday morning. Duan, who claimed that the players at the table were cheating him, left the game for a few hours, only to return armed with a gun and a knife. He then killed the other three players in the game. According to police, Duan then stole between two thousand to nine thousand dollars from the poker game. Police initiated a massive manhunt and soon found him. The motive for the killings, police said, was that Duan felt cheated by the other men in the game and decided to exact revenge. It's unknown whether the men had actually been cheating Duan or whether he had just succumbed to some particularly bad beats and lost his mind. Duan had 18 previous convictions, but none of them were violent. This incident serves as a stark reminder to think twice before playing in a private poker game. #3: Water Poker Incident Our next story is not only tragic but also bizarre. A 12-year-old girl on the Åland Islands, located between Finland and Sweden, died after consuming 6 liters of water in a school game of water poker. The rule of the game was that the loser of each hand had to drink a whole glass of water. The girl's water intoxication was not noticed by teachers until they were making a head count of the students later in the evening. The girl was immediately taken to a hospital but succumbed to brain complications shortly after, due to consuming nearly three times the adult limit. Water intoxication can lead to fatal disturbances in brain functions. When you drink too much water, the blood gets diluted, and salt levels in the blood decrease. The effect is that water is drawn into the brain, which then swells up due to the fluid accumulation, potentially leading to death. The doctors couldn't fathom why anyone would play water poker and said it's a truly dangerous game. #4. Poker Player Turns Against Family In March 2011, California poker pro Ernie Scherer was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for killing his own parents, Ernest and Charlene Scherer, in order to collect a one million dollar inheritance. Investigators struggled to find someone who could bear such a grudge against the couple. After learning Ernest was a professional poker player and an engaged local school board member, they looked into the possibility of gambling debts and political grudges but turned up nothing. However, Ernest had also taught his son Ernie, then 29, to play poker. Red flags were raised when Ernie's wife reported that he had left for Vegas just two days after his parents' funeral. Despite almost 30 cashes in live poker events, including two championships just five days apart at the 2004 Legends of Poker in LA, a probe of Ernie's finances revealed he was deeply in debt, owing more than $750,000. Ernie had borrowed about $600,000 from his dad to pay for his home and was struggling to pay property taxes and loans he had taken out to cover gambling losses. Investigators also learned that Ernie was strongly disliked and thought of as an arrogant player by others in the poker world. He was also living a double life with a girlfriend he was lavishing with expensive gifts. After months of recorded calls between Ernie and his wife, in which he came across as less than innocent, detectives made their arrest in February 2009 in Las Vegas. When the trial date arrived, prosecutors were armed with damning new evidence of Ernie buying the presumed weapon, a baseball bat, using cash in an area he was confirmed to have been in. That, plus the other circumstantial evidence and Ernie's suspicious phone calls to his wife, were enough to yield a conviction. On March 3rd, 2011, he was handed two life sentences. #5: Wild Bill Hickok Incident The most famous tragic poker story involves the infamous "dead man's hand." The story goes that a local drunkard named Jack McCall was playing poker with Wild Bill Hickok, a famous lawman, gambler, and gunslinger. After joining a poker table with Hickok, McCall ended up losing every single dime. Hickok gave him some money to get food and advised him not to play again until he could afford to cover his losses. McCall felt insulted. The next day, Jack McCall entered the saloon to see Hickok playing poker again and was furious. Hickok usually sat with his back to a wall because he was paranoid about being killed, but on that fateful day, he did not, as another player wouldn't change seats with him. McCall came up behind Hickok and shot him in the back of the head. Hickok was killed instantly, reportedly holding two pairs of aces and eights, thus giving birth to the "dead man's hand." Whether Hickok held that hand has been debated for years, but the tale remains, as does the hand's name. McCall claimed he had killed Wild Bill to avenge his brother's death. At the time of the killing, Deadwood had no law, so a group of miners held a trial in the McDaniels Theater. After two hours, Jack McCall was found innocent and headed out of town. He ended up in Wyoming, where his mouth got him into trouble. McCall bragged so often about killing Wild Bill that finally, a U.S. Marshal arrested him. Since his trial was not held in a legal territory because Deadwood was still a gold camp in Indian Territory, the trial was deemed illegal. McCall was sent to Yankton, the capital of the Dakota Territory, where he was retried, found guilty, and hanged in the spring of 1877. #6: Jonathan Duhamel Incident In 2010, Jonathan Duhamel won the WSOP Main Event, taking home a first prize of $8.9 million. Soon after, he had a six-month relationship with Bianca Rojas-Latraverse. Although it seemed they ended their relationship amicably, Rojas had other plans. During the 2011 holiday season, two men broke into Duhamel's condominium, heavily assaulted the WSOP champ, and forced him to open his safe. The thieves stole a $10,000 PokerStars Rolex Submariner watch, $115,000 in cash, and Duhamel's Main Event bracelet valued at $50,000. A week later, four suspects, including Rojas, were arrested. The WSOP bracelet was found near a dumpster, and nearly half of Duhamel's money was recovered. During the trial, Bianca Rojas-Latraverse was described as the mastermind of the operation and sentenced to 42 months in prison.
