Prominent poker figures offer contrasting takes ahead of investigation into Garrett Adelstein's high-stakes cheating allegation

• An allegation of cheating has rocked the poker world.
• Garrett Adelstein said, without evidence, that he was "clearly cheated" in a hand against Robbi Lew.

Garrett Adelstein's allegation of foul play after a game of no-limit Texas Hold'em with Robbi Lew on Hustler Casino Live (HCL) has split the poker community.

Prominent figures in in the game, from Daniel Negreanu to Doug Polk, have offered contrasting takes ahead of an independent investigation into an accusation of cheating.

Chris Brewer, who has accumulated more than $6 million in tournament earnings according to database Hendon Mob, tweeted at the time that there is a "0% chance [the] hand is real."

Brewer said that Adelstein "got cheated," adding: "The only question now is, how?"

Others, though, say it is likelier Lew simply made a play that went against modern poker theories.

Screenwriter and author Brian Koppelman, who wrote the 1998 poker movie Rounders and created the show Billions, said that he watched the hand twice and Lew "seemed embarrassed to have made a bad play."

Adelstein is adamant he's been cheated. Lew maintains her innocence.

Adelstein had a wealth of outs with the seven and eight of clubs on a board that contained the nine and ten of clubs on the flop.

When an ineffectual three of hearts came on the turn, he semi-bluff-shoved all-in after Lew min-raised his initial $10,000 bet with a $20,000 bet of her own.

Lew stunned the HCL commentator Bart Hanson when she committed her entire stack to grow the pot to $269,000 with nothing but jack high.

They agreed to run the river twice and, as neither card improved Adelstein's hand, he was aware that eight high was likely no good and that he'd lost the pot.

However, when Lew flipped her cards to show jack high, Adelstein was aghast, openly asked what was happening, and later said in a statement on Twitter that he'd been "clearly cheated."

Lew has maintained her innocence and even suggested that the two of them play a game of heads-up poker, which Adelstein seemed to accept.

In a statement of its own, HCL said neither player would be invited back to the show until an independent investigation — which could include the use of a polygraph test — had been conducted. It said it would release the findings publicly.

'The most out-of-control hand of all time'

The hand itself, together with the extraordinary accusation, remains the hottest conversation in poker.

Prominent poker content creator, The Lodge co-owner, and high-stakes player Doug Polk said on his YouTube channel that the incident is "definitely in the conversation for the most out-of-control hand of all time."

Later in a video analysis, Polk said he thought with 90% confidence that Lew was cheating.

One of poker's ambassadors says Adelstein, on reflection, may want to play it differently if he could

Six-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner Daniel Negreanu, who has $46 million in tournament earnings, said in a podcast broadcast on his YouTube channel that Adelstein would likely want to replay how he handled the situation.

"You can see in the video he's looking over at Phil, looking at Andy, looking at the other pros, going: 'Guys, like are you seeing what I'm seeing here … is this a problem'?"

He added:

Lew's poker coach, Faraz Jaka, who has more than $10 million in tournament winnings, tweeted Saturday that, from the way Lew talks and plays hands in their sessions, he has "no reason to think anything shady was going on" in the hand against Adelstein.

The controversy is unlikely to go away until the results of Hustler Casino Live's investigation are made public.

Until then, the poker community will probably continue to debate the weird and wild hand.