Conference:  Defcon 31

Authors: Scott "Duckie" Melnick Principal Security Research and Development, Bulletproof International

2023-08-01

On September 29th, 2022, one of the most controversial poker hand was played, winning an all-in $240K cash pot on the Hustler Casino Live poker stream (HCL) by newcomer Robbi Jade Lew. The controversy and accusations of cheating took the poker and media world by storm! Conspiracy theories emerged immediately within the media, podcasts and the internet sleuths, including crossover theories from the Chess cheating scandal, accusations of collusion with HCL employees, and advanced technology being used. This is the wild tale of my investigation into cheating live stream poker if it was done and what are all the ways I would do it. I will also show how I utilized my experience from attending hacking conferences such as DEF CON for over 26 years, the competitions and how I tapped into a broad range of resources throughout the years of making friends in the hacking community, reaching out to discord groups and doing that which isn’t covered in the academic world. This is why I am here; this is why you are here. This war story contains treachery, wild technology theories, drama and current criminals on the run. But you, the audience must all decide. Is Robbi innocent or guilty? Was something missing? How would you have cheated?