Jungleman Exposes $680,000 Unpaid Debt
In his latest crusade against wrongdoers, Jungleman called out a player who allegedly failed to repay $200,000 in loans. The classic poker conversation about the reckless lending culture was reignited briefly.
Unfortunately Chun Lei Zhou aka Samrostan owes 200k, allegedly much more, and has exhibited no effort to pay for these debts apparently.
— Daniel Cates 🇺🇸 🌎 (@junglemandan) May 20, 2026
This bill alone does not seem fairly attained and was stiffed.
I understand that he is in a bad spot, but because he does not attempt to… pic.twitter.com/VkkdFnlQBG
The next day, he had more news:
“An update: It looks like he also owes Saniker 480k from lending as well, and has ghosted
Re the 200k debt he disputed a reputable club over cheating with 0 evidence. He was proven wrong by the site's security team, but insisted he was cheated anyway.”
“Insanity” was how one tweet described the lending.
Kevin Martin Runs New Reality TV Show: PokerWars
Kevin Martin (KMart) revealed a new reality TV show called PokerWars. He says, six contestants will play poker against each other, with “alliances” and betrayals all fair game to get the win. With his background in showbusiness, KMart is exactly the kind of person who can pull this off.
I created a new Poker Reality Show!!! pic.twitter.com/HjAKhewCw8
— KMart (@KmartPoker) May 20, 2026
To be honest, it didn’t seem like a terrible idea. Poker, but with other pathways to victory besides the cards.
$50,000 for the winner. And the contestants? As Kevin says, no GTO crushers, no-one with big Hendon Mobs, just “real people with something to prove.”
The contestants are:
- Jon Pardy: Content creator and reality TV contestant
- Abby Merk: Content creator and CoinPoker ambassador
- Hesham “Kiero Loves You” Elkhouly: Poker content creator, “hustler,” and DJ
- Haven Taylor: Mother and poker player with over $560K live earnings
- Jake Straus: Professional gamer and amateur poker player
- Ali Kebritchi: Wildcard entry from video contest, financial planner, poker fan
Here’s how the game mechanics are described:
"Every day, players will compete both on the live poker felt and in the online arena.
First, they'll enter the group battle.
Then, the action shifts online for the battle royale. Winning players earn immunity and power within the game.
The remaining vulnerable players will face elimination. In elimination, two players battle heads up, lose this match, and your Poker Wars journey is over.
But Poker Wars is about more than just playing your cards right. To survive, players must navigate alliances and the competitors around them. Every conversation matters, every decision matters, and every hand could change the game."
The wildcard, Ali Kebritchias, was eliminated on Day 1.
Hesham Elkhouly was eliminated on Day 2.
Abby Merk was eliminated on Day 3. “Sad, she said, “Only at least now I can get out of this stank ass jumpsuit.”
With Jake, Haven, and Jon remaining, Day 4 will be streamed live on Kevin Martin’s YouTube channel.
If the show picks up viewers and comes back for a second season, it could be a massive win for GGPoker, Kevin's sponsor. Online players could get pathways to compete, or opportunities to bet on the winner.
Triton Poker Series Continues 10th Anniversary Celebration
Triton Poker Series has hit their tenth anniversary. It all started with a $200,000 buy-in event in 2026 out of Parañaque, Philippines. Naturally, Fedor Holz beat the 52-entry field and took $3,000,000 for first.
Since then, Triton has quickly grown to hold an undisputed (unofficial) title as the world’s most prestigious poker series. When you think of high buy-ins, exquisite locations, and the world’s best players, Triton is really all that comes to mind.
In Jeju this year, there was a $150,000 No-Limit Hold’em 10th Anniversary Special, which Paul Phua won for $3,226,000.
They’re also holding the same $150,000 celebratory tournament in Montenegro.
There’s also a special Triton 10-Year Anniversary Ivan Leow Player of the Year competition. It pays out $200,000 for the winner, plus prizes for the top 10 in the POY race.
CoinPoker is a sponsor for the Montenegro series, and they're also giving away a $25,000 ticket to the series. Play special freerolls (up to four times a day), and you could win your seat, plus business class flights and a luxury 5-star hotel stay.
WSOP Dealer Rating Feature Gets Faraz Jaka's Support
Faraz Jaka spoke out on Twitter in support of the WSOP Dealer Rating System that will debut during the 2026 WSOP.
“Seeing a lot of players say the new WSOP dealer rating system is “dumb” because salty players will give bad ratings after running bad.
As a business owner obsessed with metrics/data, I completely disagree, and it’s not even close.
Noisy data is still extremely valuable at scale.
The idea that some miserable players will irrationally rate dealers poorly isn’t some fatal flaw. That noise largely averages out over large enough sample sizes.
Great dealers and terrible dealers will still separate from the pack over time. That’s what matters.
Businesses almost never have perfect data. They care about relative performance and trend movement.”
One reply pointed out the similarity to Black Mirror S3E1, which made Jaka laugh, but as he pointed out, was just for social situations.
Another reply suggested a dropdown menu to clarify rating reasoning:
“To rate dealers there MUST be a drop down "reason" to select, not stars.
Example:
Dealer went entire down without making more than 1 error.
Dealer made 2 or more errors.
Dealer was unfamiliar with the game being dealt.
etc.
5 MEANINGFUL options.”
But as another reply pointed out, this isn’t just about the data. Dealers also have financial incentives now, which could have an effect on the data, as well as the dealer’s happiness during the seven week series.
“This isn’t data collection, this is analyzing survey data. It’s difficult to get clean results, and should often be used as something to learn from. Compensating based off of results is likely not a good idea.”
We’ve already released a full overview of the 2026 WSOP, but more also all the rule changes. If you want to see how things like the Player of the Year race, sitting down late, and time-wasting have been changed, check it out.
Patrick Leonard's WSOP Patch Approved (But Not for CoinPoker)
Patrick Leonard’s CoinPoker patch may have been denied at the 2026 World Series of Poker, but he tweeted that his bitB patch was approved. If you don’t know, bitB is the coaching-for-profit organization for cash game players, founded by Patrick Leonard, Elmerixx & €urop€an.
“Thanks WSOP for not making it personal and blocking other patches. Appreciate it and see you next week!”
A week earlier, a wave of CoinPoker players were denied the ability to wear patches at the 2026 WSOP. Media passes for affiliated players were also denied. WPTGold and Phenom Poker players were also reportedly denied the same rights, while ACR, Winamax, and BetMGM have apparently been approved.
Of course, GGPoker patches were allowed.
Top Heads-Up Players in Kevin Rabichow's Eyes
Kevin Rabichow gave his perspective on the best heads-up Texas Hold’em players right now:
- PR0DIGY: “Very good, but I don’t think he’s in the conversation for top five heads-up specialists.”
- Asianflushie: “A lot of people are talking about his as if he is top of the food chain, or top three.” Same with Kayhan Mokri. Lot of respect for him. I think for sure, one of the best.”
- LlinusLlove: Still battling everyone, but I think his results lately are just not as strong.”
- Berri Sweet: “An insanely talented player. I have no idea what their results are, or even who they are.”
- Trueteller: “Could he possibly be one of the best right now? I don’t know how much he plays. I think Kayhan and him played a fair bit and I would guess Kayhan was the favorite there.”
- ButtonClickr: “At some point was or still is one of the best.”
- FlyingLama: “Also in the conversation for one of the best.”
“Asianflushie and Kayhan seem to play literally anybody, so naturally I am inclined to give more respect to those two, unless they’re getting torched. And I don’t think they are. I’m pretty sure they’re doing well. Maybe, more credit to those two.”
One commenter below the tweet brought up SeaLlama, the recent winner of CoinPoker’s Heads-Up Cash Game World Championship.
“In hindsight, I think you’re right,” admitted Rabichow.
The Lodge Returns to Livestreaming May 26th
The Lodge livestream will return on Tuesday the 26th, on the same day that live poker room reopens.
Let’s turn on the lights!@LodgePokerClub livestream returns Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/K5vVoSv4vQ
— Skull Mike (@SkullMikePoker) May 21, 2026
If you missed the updates, The Lodge was recently cleared of all charges as the Williamson County Grand Jury refused to proceed with the legal case, something which almost never happens in Texas.
The poker world is celebrating this as a huge win, while the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission probably holds numerous internal meetings to find out how they made such a misstep.
None of the other card rooms in the area faced the same kind of crackdown, despite similar business models. This highlights a potentially massive miscarriage of justice when it comes to this case. It would not be surprising if leadership within the TABC was remodeled in the coming months.
We covered the track record of the TABC in our initial coverage, and it includes numerous blunders from the organization.
