Garrett Adelstein breaks his silence

Garrett Adelstein, usually pretty camera shy outside of poker live streams, sat down to talk with Doug Polk on Polk’s podcast. The hope for the viewers was to see him tackle the Jack-4 incident and its insalubrious sequels.

Adelstein’s on-screen persona has always been one of good sportsmanship and personable professionalism and his chat with Polk was highly anticipated by the poker world.

What they got in Monday’s nearly two-hour interview was not quite what anyone expected.

Do your Jack-4 homework

It is worth having done your homework going into the podcast to have a basic familiarity with the Jack-4 incident. In brief, Robbi Jade Lew made the wrong move at the right time, surprising everyone with what appeared to be a horrendous call against Adelstein when he was holding one of the few reasonable hands that she could actually beat. This resulted first in her winning a massive pot, then giving money back to Adelstein during a heated off camera exchange in which he accused her of cheating.

The fallout has expanded to include a grudge match between Nik Airball and Matt Berkey, a renewal of hostilities between Polk and Berkey, the discovery of a probably unrelated chip theft, and of course the disinvitation of Adelstein from Hustler Casino Live.

Polk tackles each of these points one by one, managing to draw the usually-reticent Adelstein out on  several key issues.

Cliff notes to a poker podcast

The first thing is that Adelstein’s opinion of Robbi Jade Lew has not changed. He still believes firmly that she cheated “more likely than not.” He also stated that for this reason, he will not be paying Lew back.

The interview showcases Adelstein’s evenhandedness. In moments when he is calling people out, he still does not express certainty and makes room to understand other people’s feelings and motivations.

Poker can be “brutal,” he says, and its “zero sum nature weighs on [him].”

Calling poker a bloodsport its only partly justification for his behavior. It is also an expression of his general disillusionment. Poker can be “brutal,” he says, and its “zero sum nature weighs on [him].”

Adelstein claims he doesn’t want to be “causing people harm” for any reason, at the table and in his media appearances. However, that feeling doesn’t fully extend to Nik Airball, who Adelstein admits to hating.

He also stresses that his fear of cheating on streams reached a tipping point with the Jack-4 incident, leading to an interesting assessment of various anti-cheating methods. Polk, whose poker room runs a live stream, has plenty to say here, giving away some of how the sausage is made in the process.

It’s an interview worth watching if you’ve been following the poker world’s drama for the last few weeks. It seems very unlikely, though, that it will be the last word on the subject.