Freaky Fortnight: Zaniness in Poker + Gambling, late March 2024

What could be better than starting a new month with some more entertaining tales from the poker and gambling worlds? We can’t think of anything. Which is why we have decided to bring you another edition of Freaky Fortnight. This way, you will find out everything amusing, odd, hilarious and enjoyable from the poker and gambling scenes, both online and offline, from late March 2024.

So, without further ado, let’s jump in!

Nik Airball Irks Polk With 20-Minute Tank

Sometimes, poker can be a very unkind game. Certainly, that’s likely how Nikhil “Nik Airball” Arcot felt during a high-stakes live stream at The Lodge Card Club in on March 16. The game, which took place near Austin, Texas, saw the player run into some coolers, with one of the hands putting him in the tank for over 20 minutes. That particular hand featured a pot of over $350,000.

Hosting the first of two big game streams on that weekend in March, The Lodge provided viewers with a plethora of engaging, intense action during the first session. Airball actually began firing in all cylinders, which will likely have kept him in high spirits at the start. If you know anything about Airball, you’ll know that he has gained quite a reputation for buying in for huge amounts and taunting his opposition while at the poker table.

It wasn’t a huge amount of time ago that we reported on Airball experiencing a vast loss in poker. That left him with a debt of $8 million – although he didn’t seem so overwhelmed by that fact, either.

Nik Airball Has Had Big Swings in Streamed Poker Games

Four hands into the game at The Lodge, he was up by $40,000. Quite a good position to be in, we’d say. Yet it didn’t take long for him to lose that and then some, falling to a loss of $120,000. This led to him adding another $500,000 to his stack.

While he won and lost many pots at the event, there is one particular hand that he will be remembered for – reportedly the longest hand experienced at The Lodge during live stream.

Airball started the round in question by raising the $100 BB to $500 with 4 of Hearts and 2 of Hearts from the hijack. Other players at the table held the following cards at this point:

• “Tesla” – 9 of Hearts and 8 of Clubs
• “Brown Balla” – King of Diamonds and 9 of Clubs
• “Stache” – 4 of Clubs and 3 of Clubs

Tesla called in the cutoff, as did Balla. As the BB, Stache went for a three-bet, hitting $2,500, which forced Balla to fold, but the other three came along.

The flop then came out as 5 of Hearts, 7 of Spades and King of Spades. At this point, all players checked and saw the 6 of Hearts on the turn.

Stache turned a straight but was drawing dead, and he bet out $5,000. Airball, with a combo straight and flush draw, raised that to $16,500. Tesla, holding the nuts, went for a three-bet, increasing to $31,625. Both players called to see the 3 of Diamonds on the river.

Stache checked his straight and so did Airball. Tesla, fired out a bet of $125,000 though, still with the nuts. Following Stache’s call, Airball found himself in a difficult situation, holding the same losing straight. Immediately, he went into the tank…and it almost seemed like he wasn’t going to come out of it. In fact, he tanked for so long that Doug Polk, who co-owns The Lodge, had to enter the live stream room to try and speed things up.

The tank, which was around 20 minutes, forced Polk to intervene, as no player in the game had called the clock up to that point. A few minutes later, Polk began the countdown. With the countdown reaching 0, Airball chose to throw his cards in, which saw Tesla scoop the $353,225 pot. Airball thus saved himself $125,000 – which, if he had lost, would likely have made his day even worse than it already was.

It wouldn’t have been quite as bizarre if Airball hadn’t been so triggered by poker vlogger Mariano Grandoli in February for tanking with pocket kings during a “Hustler Casino Live” episode. Clearly, he’s fine with doing it himself but not when other players engage in tanking!

Shohei Ohtani Mixed Up in Illegal Gambling Scandal; Says He Was Robbed

It’s not so uncommon for the worlds of sports and gambling to cross over. After all, betting on sports events is legal in 38 states across the USA. Thus, it’s easy to see where the two would get involved with one another.

Yet it’s never a good thing when the biggest stars of their respective sports find themselves embroiled in a scandal relating to gambling. That’s exactly what has happened to one of baseball’s most-known players. Japanese professional player Shohei Ohtani, who currently performs for the Los Angeles Dodgers, has been wrapped up in a gambling scandal as of late.

Baseball All-Star Shohei Ohtani

The whole thing doesn’t just surround him and an illegal bookmaker, though. It also brings his interpreter into the fold, as well as millions of dollars. According to the LA Times, attorneys for Ohtani have accused his interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara (who has worked with the player for a long time), of a huge theft. They state that he is responsible for stealing millions to cover gambling debts.

Attorney Berk Brettler spoke for Ohtani, releasing a statement claiming:

In the course of responding to recent media inquiries, we discovered that Shohei has been the victim of a massive theft, and we are turning the matter over to the authorities.

During the course of a federal investigation into illegal bookmaker Matthew Bowyer, Ohtani’s name was uncovered. The bookie’s house was raided in October last year, where banking documents, money-counting machines, casino chips and other associated items were discovered.

Bowyer, 48, of San Juan Capistrano, confirmed through his attorney that he was a bookmaker who placed bets with Mizuhara, whom he had first met in 2021. It was also noted by that same attorney that Bowyer never met with Shohei, only dealing with his interpreter. Yet officers discovered that wire transfers were sent from Ohtani’s accounts to the illegal bookmaker.

According to ESPN, bank documents revealed two transfers of $500,000 were completed. These were sent to an associate of Bowyer and definitely came from Ohtani’s account in both September and October of last year.

Sources suggest that Mizuhara began gambling on international soccer matches, as well as other sports, alongside Bowyer. At the same time, it was noted that the interpreter did not bet on LA Dodgers games or any other baseball events.

Mizuhara’s first encounter with Bowyer came at a poker game in 2021. At that time, he was already betting via DraftKings, and believed that gambling through Bowyer was a legal activity too. His gambling debts reportedly grew to a huge $4.5 million.

It was only recently that Ohtani was highlighted as a victim in the whole scandal by his attorneys. This doesn’t seem to add up when you know the original story, though. Initially, a line was spun that Ohtani, 29, was helping a friend and long-time business associate cover his gambling debts. According to Mizuhara, Ohtani wasn’t happy about transferring money over to cover those debts, but in the end, he obliged to do so and send the money to Bowyer.

According to Mizuhara, the Dodgers star sent the wire transfers while he was with him. The interpreter did note that Ohtani himself was never involved in the actual gambling, though.

Attorneys for Ohtani are now claiming that he did not consent to sending the funds to assist Mizuhara. Instead, they are indicating that the baseball player was robbed of $1 million in total by his interpreter. Bowyer, meanwhile, didn’t care where the money was coming from, as long as it was clearing Mizuhara’s debts. He did, however, use the MLB star’s name to help market himself and garner extra gambling business.

Mizuhara himself was fired from his interpreter position with the Dodgers following the reports of Ohtani being the victim of a “theft.” That decision severed the relationship between Ohtani and Mizuhara, which dates back to 2013 when the pair first started working together in Japan. Since the allegations were made against him by Ohtani’s legal team, Mizuhara has not made any comment.

Vegas Strip’s Tropicana Hotel and Casino Closes Months Ahead of Demolition

In the previous edition of Freaky Fortnight, we touched on a legendary casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Following the removal of a rare yellow-billed loon from its fountain, the Bellagio Casino was able to restart the water show there.

In this edition, we have insight into another famous Vegas casino – the Tropicana. That’s because the establishment, which has more than 60 years of history behind it, has closed its doors for good. Operating as both a casino and hotel, the venue is set to be demolished in October to make way for a $1.5 billion Major League Baseball stadium.

The hotel and casino was bought by Penn National Gaming in 2015 and then sold on to Bally’s in 2022. One year after that, the Oakland Athletics MLB team reached an agreement with Bally’s to permanently shut it down and demolish it. The closure of the establishment occurred on Tuesday, April 2 at midday.

Not only will there be a new baseball stadium built on nine acres of the Tropicana site though. A new resort bearing the Bally’s name is also to be constructed on the remaining land. Anyone who wants to continue experiencing casino gaming under the Bally name needn’t worry either. The new resort will feature a casino for visitors to experience whilst also providing 1,500 rooms. Construction of the new baseball stadium is scheduled for April 2025 and due to complete in January of 2028.

While a new casino will be provided, it is still quite the shame for the Tropicana establishment, which was the third largest casino in Vegas. It’s definitely a sad time for historians, considering that it first began operating in 1957.

Yet many people are also looking on the positive side of things. Because Las Vegas is transforming and moving with the times, hotels and resorts built in the 1950s aren’t in keeping with the modern day. Time will tell how the demolition and construction of the new resort proceed.

Bally’s maintains resorts around the United States, including those in Atlantic City, NJ, Lincoln, RI, Kansas City, MO, and Black Hawk, CO. It also has a separate establishment in Nevada, located in Stateline, close to the border with California. Bally Casino was also the first licensed online casino to launch in Rhode Island – an event that took place on March 5 of 2024.

Wildcard Kitchen Unites Cooking with Poker, Sometimes in Bizarre Ways

Television show creators are always thinking of something new to air on our screens. So much so that they will merge anything together to form something unique. That’s what you get with “Wildcard Kitchen,” the new show airing on the Food Network. Hosted by Eric Adjepong, who is known for his skills at the helm of the “Alex vs. America” show, Wildcard Kitchen takes elements from the “Tournament of Champions” series, also on the Food Network, and then unites them with other intriguing features.

The premise behind the show is quite simple when you get down to it. Three chefs who know each other go through three rounds of cooking. Prior to that, they sit down together with cocktails at a poker table. Eric then sets about dealing cards to the chefs, which determine the dish and amount of time they have to cook. In the second and third rounds, additional community cards come into play. These could feature a specific ingredient they have to use when cooking, for example.

Each chef also gets a wild card dealt out, which introduces an extra fun element. These cards can be highly beneficial, providing extra time for example, while others bring a devilish element to the show. This could include having to cook without dairy or without using dry herbs and spices. They don’t know the wild card the others have, but viewers get to see them.

Each of the three chefs takes a bet afterwards, deciding whether to raise, call, or fold. Sometimes, a chef will opt out of the round because they don’t think they can make whatever combination they have work. Others could bluff to try and force the opponent(s) to fold. If they can’t ante up, they can also be knocked out of the competition.

Watching the show will provide a lot of friendly trash-talking banter too both while at the poker table and while cooking is taking place. Of course, chefs take the dishes they cook and the money involved seriously. Yet “Wildcard Kitchen” brings a light and airy feel to the proceedings too. It’s almost like joining in with a few friends as they cook and chat.

There is a bit of a downfall with the show though, thanks to the weird judging that takes place and the thread of outright lies running through it from start to finish. The show suggests that the chefs provide $5,000 of their own money to gamble with, but in actuality, the production provides this. One chef even goes as far as to say that she took $5,000 from her husband for the show, with him standing nearby during it all. Of course, these things were likely something they were prompted to say on camera.

”Blind judging” is apparently taking place on the show, but actually, it uses a judge who knows the competing chefs. Yet they also don’t know what the wildcard twists are that each chef has had to work with.

So they instead sit and make wild guesses or judgements on the dishes, making it a little weird. A judge could complain about the size of a dish being too small when the wildcard insisted they make it bite-sized. Why not inform the judge of what the wildcard feature is beforehand for better judging?

Will you be watching? Do you enjoy the idea of merging poker rounds with cookery? If so, “Wildcard Kitchen,” as odd as it is in places, could be the show for you!