Today, in our Top 5, we will tell you about five poker players who have been in the spotlight.
#5. Mike Matusow
Mike Matusow had quite a few notable achievements in poker, but one victory cost him dearly. In May 2002, he won a bracelet at the World Series of Poker in a heads-up match, beating his friend Daniel Negreanu. Unfortunately, at that time, Mike had a drug problem, and as a result, this led to a prison sentence. The celebration of his victory stretched out over several months, and during this time, Mike was actively using drugs and throwing wild parties. One of his friends, Mike Fento, brought him to one of these parties. Over time, Fento told Mike that he was actually part of an organized crime group in Chicago and Vegas, and that he had come to open a strip club-maybe even do some other dirty deeds.
After some time, Fento turned to Mike for help in buying drugs-cocaine and ecstasy. For acting as an intermediary, he even offered Mike a small fee of $200. Mike was genuinely amazed by this: first, they were friends, and second, he was playing tens of thousands of dollars in cash games. Why would he need $200? Still, he agreed to help his friend. Later, Matusow said that he liked the guy, plus he was afraid of him because of all these stories about crime. He even told his mother about it, and she advised him to do whatever his new friend Mike asked. For people like him, you can't say no. But in reality, all of Mike Fento's stories were fairy tales-he was an undercover police agent working in the department for combating drugs.
Eventually, in September 2003, Matusow was arrested in his own house, after which he spent six months in prison. It wasn't enough that he spent six months in prison-he also lost on bets out of boredom. At that time, he had all his savings, $250,000, and he blew it all while in prison. However, after he was released in April 2004, he borrowed $5,000 from Phil Hellmuth and, in a few months, spun it up to $750,000. He then even won the so-called Tournament of Champions.
#4. Cory Zeidman
Fourth place goes to Cory, a notorious slowroller, scammer, and just an unpleasant person. Zeidman is a well-known amateur in America. He played limit games and even took part in the filming of the second season of the show High Stakes Poker. In 2012, he won a bracelet in the H.O.R.S.E. event. However, he is widely known to the public thanks to the famous slow roll in a hand against Jennifer Harman in the 2005 Main Event. On Cory's TV table, he managed to buy one out on the river with a nasty flush and put on a circus act.
In general, his behavior at the table always irritates those around him. So, I think none of his poker rivals were upset when, in May 2022, he was arrested by state police in Florida on charges of fraud and money laundering.
Back in 2004, the cunning Cory Zeidman founded the company Phoenix Organization, which offered so-called consultations on sports betting. In advertising on radio and television, clients were promised investments based on reliable forecasts. When people called, they were told in plain text that the company had inside information about match outcomes and promised bets that would, of course, win. All this insider information turned out to be pure fiction or just superficial analytics collected on the internet. Unfortunately, there was no shortage of gullible clients. According to the investigation, from 2004 to 2020, Cory and his accomplices earned more than $25 million. It's no surprise that he could afford to play in limit games at the World Series.
Immediately after the arrest, Seidman indignantly rejected the accusations and stated that under no circumstances would he plead guilty. However, his lawyers convinced him to change his categorical attitude, and in the fall of 2024, he confessed to everything. The trial is still ongoing, and the sentence is pending. Seidman faces up to 20 years in federal prison and fines of more than $3 million. Since his arrest, Cory has been out on bail and is prohibited from leaving the country, but I expect that Cory will get what he deserves.
#3. Christian Lusardi
In third place is Christian Lusardi, who came to a live poker tournament with his own chips. In January 2014, at the Borgata Winter Poker Open in Atlantic City, the $560 buy-in tournament was stopped at the top-27 stage. While it may seem like a small buy-in, considering there were almost 5,000 participants, so the prize money was quite decent. The issue arose when the organizers found a lot of extra chips with a denomination of 5,000 in the tournament. The event was initially suspended for 24 hours, but the next day, they announced its complete cancellation. By this time, 423 players had already received their prizes, but the remaining funds from the prize pool were frozen until the investigation was completed.
42-year-old Christian Lusardi was arrested after authorities discovered counterfeit casino tournament chips in the sewer pipes of his hotel room at Harrah’s. During the Borgata Winter Poker Open, Lusardi was a chip leader at the start of the second day and even received a $2,000 bonus for his performance. He managed to add to his stack several times before the third day, but he didn’t make it much further-he was knocked out before reaching the top prizes, cashing for $6,814.
Shortly after, investigators found that Lusardi had flushed $2.7 million in fake Borgata chips down the toilet, which caused significant plumbing damage at Harrah’s. This bizarre attempt to cover his tracks led directly to his arrest. The Borgata tournament was canceled, and the remaining prize pool was frozen until the investigation concluded.
Further investigation at Lusardi’s home uncovered more than 35,500 pirated DVDs, along with equipment for their production and packaging. At the time, pirated discs were still in high demand, and authorities estimated that Lusardi’s bootleg DVD business had generated nearly $1 million over several years.
In September of that year, Lusardi pleaded guilty to copyright infringement and distributing counterfeit products. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay $1,000 in damages for the DVD operation. The hearing for the counterfeit chips took place in the summer of 2015, where Lusardi again confessed. He was ordered to pay $463,000 to Borgata Casino for lost revenue and $9,000 for the damaged sewer system. His prison term was extended by another three years for the poker chip scheme, but he was released early in January 2017, having served about five years in total.
A high quality video about Christian's scam was recently brought to Youtube, which we recommend you take a look at:
Lusardi’s story reads like a crime thriller, with elements straight out of a Guy Ritchie movie. His actions not only disrupted a major poker tournament but also led to sweeping changes in casino chip security at Borgata, including new authentication features and more complex chip designs.
#2. Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott
Moving on to second place, Dave Ulliott’s early life was marked by brushes with the law. At 19, Dave and his younger brother were involved in a street fight against five men, during which the wife of one of the men attacked Dave with a metal comb. Despite the odds, Dave and his brother managed to defend themselves and returned home unharmed. Ulliott later reflected on the experience, saying it taught him resilience.
Around the same time, Dave became involved with a gang of safe-breakers. After losing £5,000 at a bookmaker’s, he and his associates stole the bookmaker’s safe, transporting it on a supermarket cart. When one gang member was arrested, he gave up the rest, including Ulliott, who was then arrested and served nine months in prison. Later, Dave was arrested again for a fight near a nightclub and spent another year and a half behind bars. It was during this time that he met John, with whom he planned a bank robbery after their release. However, John was arrested again before the plan could be carried out, and Dave decided to leave his criminal life behind. He turned to poker, quickly rising to become one of the most charismatic and well-known English players, especially after winning the first season of Late Night Poker.
Special mention goes to Darren Woods, the only player on the list convicted for online poker fraud in England. In 2011, Woods won a World Series of Poker bracelet in a limit Hold’em event and signed a sponsorship deal with 888poker. However, allegations soon surfaced that Woods and his father had created multiple accounts to collude at high-stakes tables, using dishonest methods to win hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2015, Woods was sentenced to 15 months in prison and fined £1 million.
#1. Micah Raskin
Finally, topping the list is Micah Raskin, a typical VIP tournament player who often played in the U.S., the Bahamas, and Europe. Raskin presented himself as a successful businessman and software company owner, but in 2018, it was revealed that his real business was drug trafficking.
Raskin was arrested by the FBI after 162 kg of marijuana, a loaded shotgun, a stun gun, two cars, and detailed payment records were seized. He was charged with five counts and faced up to eight years in prison but ultimately made a plea deal, serving the minimum mandatory five-year term. Raskin was released in 2023 and has since returned to the poker tables, including high roller events.
So, if you ever make it to the high roller tournaments, you might cross paths with some of these infamous figures. Just don’t follow in their criminal footsteps.
