Jordan Cristos, a poker player with millions in earnings and a WPT Main Event win was in court toward the end of October for a slew of crimes. By early November, he was sentenced, and convicted.
But, Jordan’s troubled tale started long ago.
We'll tell you who Jordan Cristos was to the poker world, how he spiraled downwards, and why he sits in a prison cell.
Jordan Cristos the Poker Pro: WPT Won & Millions Earned
At 38 years old, Jordan Cristos has built up a long history in the poker world. Keeping controversies aside, he'd proven himself a profitable player, but was also well-known for tanking a lot during decisions.
Still, here's a quick look at his top victories:
- 1st in the 2013 WPT $3,500 + $200 No Limit Hold'em – Main Event ($613,355 won)
- 1st in the 2019 U.S. Poker Open $10.5K Pot Limit Omaha Event ($179,200 won)
- 4th in the 2019 WSOP $5,000 No Limit Hold'em Event ($182,575 won)
- 1st in the 2016 WSOP Circuit $200 + $40 No Limit Hold'em Event ($148,969 won)
- 1st in the 2016 Deep Stack Extravaganza No Limit Hold'em Event ($132,480 won)
His total winnings on The Hendon Mob sit at $3,678,554, on a long record that stretches back to 2008. No Limit Hold'em brought Jordan most of his live winnings, but he occasionally dabbled in PLO. Judging from his cashes, he sticks to the west coast of the United States, mainly California and Nevada.
Jordan's been in the game for a while. He experienced the tail end of the poker boom, even sporting a Full Tilt patch at a WSOP a decade ago.
Jordan Cristos on Social Media (Twitter/Instagram)
Anyone familiar with him might have come across Jordan Cristos's Twitter at some point, and been quite surprised at what they found there.
We tend to imagine most poker professionals as thoughtful and measured, as their sport demands them to be. This is far from what we could label Jordan Cristos. From the way he communicates with others online, we see an antagonistic and aggressive mentality.
In a disagreement about markup, Jordan sent a Twitter DM to Shaun Deeb, saying he would end up “in the bottom of the ocean” if he didn’t keep away.
Others chimed in, warning Deeb of how serious these threats could become.
“Jordan is a known stalker, has harassed numerous women in poker, and regularly threatens to harm or kill people. If he has his sights set on you, go to the police, please. They have a substantial file on him already.” — Poker journalist Jennifer Newell on Twitter
Some of the most shocking things seen in Jordan's feed include:
- Supporting P Diddy, saying he "just needed to spend a few million on licensing/pornography productions and he wouldn’t be on this case."
- Saying anyone voting Matt Savage into the Hall of Fame deserves a "the poker guillotine."
- Claiming to be the best player in the game since 2013, but hasn't been able to show the skills yet.
- Stating he "can f*** any Sitting Judge in Las Vegas straight in the ass" if he discovers unethical behavior.
- Calling Hayley Hanna, a Vegas poker player, a "surrogate female" or will never marry and owes him $5,000.
- Saying Daniel Negreanu is “a clown” and that he would “decimate him in an online poker bet and in the live arena, either PLO or NLH.”
We'll never know about his true mental state, or how he really feels, but there's a certain tone that his writing gives off. Jordan writes with certainty, and appears to believe his intelligence (and poker skill) far superior to others. He claims to have "godlike intellect" and says his children are the only worthwhile individuals on the planet, apart from the rest of his family tree.
In May, Jordan Cristo wrote on his Instagram:
"I possess a remarkable superintelligence that is irrefutably correct when anybody argues with me about anything that I understand or no near and dear to be true or any philosophical truth it is so uncanny how accurate I am intuitively from the heart mind dreaming assessing these things I outperform everyone I've ever met.
I've never met a single person that can outperform my thought patterns inside of a situation when it comes to right or wrong both morally and professionally or personally when it comes to parenting poker yoga spirituality good nature truth honor I am the bar I set the bar I am The Golden child in that regard and so are my boys.
So many disgusting species of human or alien on this planet this Earth truly needs cleansing. The rapture is most likely coming and all of these scum-sucking retards subordinate to Good nature subordinate to healthy happy decent moral subordinate to the joyous emotions that people like me and my children share this is a level of humanity that needs to be worked on significantly. I believe our consciousness will naturally shift these bad nature individuals out of our species it's going to take a long time."
This is the kind of thinking that many would classify as mental illness, in one form or another. Perhaps, Jordan's state can partially explain the situation he's in now.
Timeline of Jordan Cristos’s Legal Troubles
We’re hearing about Jordan because of his recent sentencing, but his legal troubles began long before this.
We’ll cover everything we discovered about Jordan Cristos’s legal troubles, from the start to his most recent incarceration.
Jordan Cristos vs Sarah Tolagson: 2019 to 2023
In 2019, Jordan Cristos separated from Sarah Tolagson. At the time, Sarah got temporary protection orders (TPOs).
According to the timeline we found during research, several incidents took place after the 2019 separating and protection orders:
- June 2019 – Jordan becomes frustrated with one of their sons was crying and began yelling at Sarah, who began to film. Jordan protested, put Sarah in a chokehold, and took her phone. After breaking free from the hold, Sarah picked up her son, and ran to the kitchen where she grabbed a knife. Sarah did not appear in court for the trial, where Jordan was apparently charged with battery constituting domestic violence.
- June 2020 – Jordan was not present for an exchange, so Sarah drove with her mother over to Jordan’s home. Once there, Sarah began to take the child’s car seat from Jordan’s car, who then came outside and began arguing with her. At this time, Sarah goes into the home to get her son, which Jordan tries to stop by grabbing her arm. Just like last years event, she broke free. But, after buckling her son into the car, court records state that “Jordan threw Sarah to the ground and held her down.” Sarah’s mother called the police, and Jordan was arrested, then charged with battery constituting domestic violence. He pleaded no contest, and was criminally charged.
- August 2021 – Late to a supervised visit, Jordan asked to extend the time with the children. The supervisor denied the request, so Jordan refused to return the children, running to the opposite side of the park they were at. Police reached the scene, Jordan was arrested, and the children were returned to Sarah. Afterwards, Jordan was arrested for violating a TPO, but it’s not clear if he was charged with anything after this incident.
- December 2021 – Sarah is awarded primary physical custody, and a hybrid joint legal custody arrangement is made. Jordan gets access to medical and school reports, and is to be involved in decisions about healthcare, education, and religious matters. Sarah was granted day-to-day decision making, and is set to receive $1,985 per month in child care support from Jordan.
- April 2023 – Jordan’s appeal of the December 2021 decision to grant Sarah childcare support and primary physical custody is rejected. He had argued that certain evidence should not have been considered during the trial, but the The Court of Appeals of Nevada disagreed, and upheld the original ruling. However, they recalculated his child support to be $90 lower, at $1,895.
Interestingly, Sarah Tolagson was also a fairly active live poker player, with over $120,000 in lifetime earnings. Her Hendon Mob shows no activity after 2015, but LinkedIn says she was a “tournament professional” between 2011 and 2020. Since then, she worked as a Product Owner, Realtor, and QA Analyst.
Hopefully, Sarah’s tragic saga with Jordan Cristos has finally run its course.
Jordan Cristos vs Family Court Judge Regina McConnell: Sept 2025
On September 15th, 2025, Jordan Cristos pleaded guilty for making emails and comments at a Family Court Judge. Regina McConnell was overseeing his child custody case, and apparently, got on Jordan’s bad side.
In March this year, Cristos allegedly posted McConnell’s home address to Instagram, along with a street view image of the building. It came with a chilling caption.
“This corrupt judge stole my kids and will pay the ultimate price. I hope someone ends her before she destroys another family. Justice is coming — and it won’t be pretty.”
Allegedly, he also contemplated creating a website giving the judge’s home address to the public, and threatened legal issues.
“You’re going to grant the court shortening order AND reinstate my custody immediately before July 4th, or you’re going to have serious problems legally,” Cristos wrote.
Reports also state that he posted vulgar messages on McConnell’s church’s social media page as well. And, as if this wasn’t enough, Jordan appears to have tagged McConnell in a separate post, which was a photo of the judge and her daughter, wishing for harm to come to her.
The charge Jordan pleaded guilty to was felony attempted stalking with use of the internet or electronic communication, which was reduced from full felony stalking. Someone charged with this crime is accused of using electronic communication with the intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate another person. If convicted, it potentially carries multiple years of prison time, fines, restraining orders, and mandatory counseling, as well as other modifiers depending on the specific case.
“I’m very sorry for my behavior and what’s happened in the past,” Jordan said to Judge Trujillo. “I promise it will never happen again.”
Jordan Cristos vs World Poker Tour Employees: Nov 2025
Already in jail on charges related to threats, Jordan Cristos entered court in early November 2025 for sentencing. This trial covered stalking charges for the Judge Regina McConnell incident we just covered, plus another incident involving World Poker Tour CEO Adam Pliska.
As we’ve seen, Jordan is not afraid of clashing with members of the poker community. But, he also set his sights on the World Poker Tour, threatening their CEO Adam Pliska and staff members after his account was closed. We’re not sure whether he was banned from WPT Global, ClubWPT, ClubWPT Gold, or all branches of WPT.
“If you close my account you are effectively sentencing all of your staff to an Open season,” Jordan told staff online, adding later that, “If you do not accept my offer, then you are going to meet the legend and the stalker in more ways than one.”
Chris entered an Alford plea, meaning he does not admit wrongdoing, but acknowledges the evidence is enough for a conviction. In exchange for The court did not side with Jordan’s defence and his attorney’s call for leniency:
“I am extremely concerned by your prior history, by your repetitive behavior,” said Judge Monica Trujillo after his defense attorney’s statement. “However, it's clear to the court that even when you've had help and you've had the required counseling that for some reason if you don't get something doesn't go your way that you continue to harass people and you continue to even violate multiple times prior orders. So that is very concerning to the court, and I also have to consider community safety.”
He was sentenced to a minimum of 14 months, and a maximum of 48 months in the Nevada Department of Corrections. Factoring in the 126 days served before sentencing, Jordan could be free around 10 months later.
He was also ordered to have no further contact with Regina McConnell or Adam Pliska in any way.
It’s reported that, as a part of a plea deal, another stalking case involving Leon Wheeler of Resorts World Las Vegas was dismissed. Details on this are not readily available, and it isn’t clear what transpired.
You can watch Jordan Cristos’s November sentencing on the Nevada Judges INC YouTube channel.
How This Chapter in Jordan Cristos’s Story Ends
Despite claiming to have "godlike intellect," Jordan’s actions and online communication landed him behind bars. The modus operandi seems clear: cross Jordan or impact his life negatively, and face his wrath.
Luckily, none of his talk about people ending up at the bottom of oceans or “ending” people came to fruition. Still, it’s safe to say that the ordeal he put Sarah Tolagson through was horrible, and hopefully she and the children are able to move on eventually.
With best behaviour and good fortune, Jordan could be freed at age 40. If he avoids further legal troubles, it does beg the question, “What’s next for Jordan Cristos?”
Since he’s reportedly banned from many live poker rooms, restarting his chosen career won’t be easy. If tournament circuits have payed attention to his trials, especially the one with WPT CEO Adam Pliska, many doors could close for Jordan in this sport.
Then, there’s the community. Whether or not he cares about how the poker world views him, we may never know, but Jordan is unlikely to get a warm welcome when we see him next. Death threats against Shaun Deeb, and violence against his wife, an ex-tournament player, are not going to be easily forgotten.
Perhaps, as one user on Twitter put it, getting help should be followed by seeking forgiveness:
“Cristos was good for a laugh a few years ago. It's not funny anymore. JC needs serious help for himself and his family. I have personally begged him to get help. Be careful. Jordan please go get help and seek forgiveness later. The community will forgive you but you need help.”
