The poker world is littered with tales of cheaters, scammers and con men. Stories of a $500,000 bitcoin scam, a $25 million sports betting scam scheme, or illicit gambling operations—all just in 2022.
Now a story that began with the theft of $1,000 has spiraled after popular online streamer Ludwig shared details of how he had been scammed out of over $100,000.
What is ghosting? Multi accounting? arrangement? Online Poker Scams Explained
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The initial scam
June 2022 WSOP bracelet winner Ethan “Rampage Poker” Yau took to Twitter to call a person he says stole $1,000 from him.
According to text messages included in this tweet, Grayson Hunter Goss Borrowed $1,000 in cash for a “really good” $1-$2-$5 pot-limit Omaha cash game. Yau duly gave him the money, only to be ghosted less than a week later.
“Unfortunately, I fell prey to his little blue tick and hit him three times,” Yau said. “I didn’t think $1,000 was really enough to steal, but here we are. Please learn from my mistakes, don’t trust anyone you don’t know.”
Unfortunately I have to report that I was cheated out of a whopping $1000. A reminder never to give/borrow money to people you don’t know… https://t.co/Tt5qQ4qcRn
Yau received an update the next day von Goss, who said he was mugged and lost his phone, wallet and $12,000 in cash in the process.
“I don’t care about the $1,000, I care more about the numerous people who text me about being scammed by the same person.”
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Ludwig’s participation
The story made some waves in the online community, with many crediting Yau for calling a scammer in the poker community.
Fast-forward to August 2022, and someone else picked up the phone to call Goss, popular online streamer Ludwig, who hosted a celebrity cash game earlier this year Hustler Casino Live where he won over $400,000. He says he was paid both cash and check — each at a 50:50 split — and that he deposited the check into his bank account.
[email protected] said, “This could seriously be the best poker game ever to be shown publicly.”
Ludwig says he kept around $100,000 in cash and took half of it with him on a trip to Las Vegas. The trip did not go well, ending up with only $5,000 from the original $50,000.
This was when Ludwig Goss scored in one Pai Gow Table in the casino. After introducing himself as a professional gambler with an “algorithm that can beat the game” and a sports bettor. At the end of the trip, Ludwig gave Goss $6,000 to play with, with Goss retaining 30% of the winnings.
After a few weeks, Ludwig sent more money — around $5,000 — to Goss via cryptocurrency, even cashing out $17,000 of his alleged “winnings.”
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The tennis bet
During the French Open 2022, Goss then called Ludwig about a sports betting opportunity. According to Goss, he had figured that out Maria Sakkaria Greek professional tennis player and world No. 3, had broken up with her boyfriend and wanted to “throw” their second-round match against her. Karolina Muchova.
Goss described this as a “safe bet” and urged Ludwig to “send as much money as possible”, with Ludwig eventually sending Goss $50,000.
Sakkari then lost the match in straight sets to Muchova, earning Ludwig $108,000 on a $40,000 stake. However, when Ludwig asked for a payout, Goss said he didn’t have the money.
Ludwig was patient, but a few weeks later after receiving a text message Yau’s first Twitter thread finally the penny dropped.
“I spent the next few weeks trying to understand how I got into such a stupid position of being cheated out of this insane amount of money,” says Ludwig. “How can I overcome the embarrassment of going through this?”
After finding out, Ludwig tried unsuccessfully to contact Goss. He eventually used the casino host to get Goss’s new phone number and confront him.
“Authorities are being contacted, I’m speaking to other people he cheated to get a full report […] I’m trying to get him banned from all casinos in Vegas so he can’t do it or even enter the casino,” Ludwig continued.
Ludwig says he spoke to Goss a few more times, with Goss admitting to the cheating and agreeing to ban himself from all Las Vegas casinos. Ludwig said he knew Goss could never pay it all back unless he played again or got a job and agreed to give Ludwig a 10% cut of his paycheck. Ludwig says he didn’t want either.
“So what should I do? I either put the guy in jail or I publicly shame him and get him to ban himself from all casinos. I’m participating [the second] Route.
“I think a 23-year-old boy who has messed up and is screwing people deserves what’s coming his way, but he also deserves the other 70 years of his life that he’s going to live.”
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Will Shillibier lives in the UK. He graduated from the University of Kent with a BA in German in 2017 and went on to study for an NCTJ in Sports Journalism at Sportsbeat in Manchester. He previously worked as a freelance live reporter and video presenter for the World Poker Tour.