Gossip Column: Maria Ho Appears in CNBC Game Show & Underground Sites Like PPPoker Come Under Fire For Scams

The New Year has begun with no end in sight to the antics in the poker world. We bring you two stories this time starting with Maria Ho who appeared on CNBC game show Deal Or No Deal to support a contestant.

We then move on to the flavor of the times, unregulated poker sites and their scams. Two cases in particular were reported and it took no time for the stories to go viral!

Well, follow our lead on this one – sit back, relax and get set to enjoy the sizzle of the gossiping kind!

Maria Ho Appears on CNBC Game Show “Deal or No Deal”

One of the most recognizable female poker faces – Maria Ho returned to mainstream television last night on CNBC as she made a short appearance on the game show Deal Or No Deal.

Ho boasts of over $2.9 Million in live tournament winnings including 54 WSOP cashes, 4 WSOP final tables and 7 WPT cashes. She certainly has a lot of TV experience given her various gigs with CBS Sports, ESPN, NBC Sports and Poker GO in the past.

Ho supported contestant Shireen Mui who was playing for a $1 million prize on the broadcast. Ho was one of Mui`s poker idols.

Who has two thumbs, loves @howiemandel and is the special guest on an all new @dealnodealcnbc WEDNESDAY January 9th at 9p ET/PT on @CNBC? ??‍♀️ #DealOrNoDeal
VIDEO: pic.twitter.com/t8CJVWlNxL

— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) January 5, 2019

??‍♀️??‍♀️??‍♀️ https://t.co/beCglkLWzX

— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) January 10, 2019

Hercules, Hercules! ???? https://t.co/BAhtRpY7Q7

— Maria Ho (@MariaHo) January 10, 2019

Scams of Over $100K Reported on Underground Sites PPPOKER & 5DIMES

A number of unregulated poker sites have come under scrutiny these past few days after two separate instances brought a lot of attention to the issues plaguing such unregulated sites.

Setting the ball rolling was poker pro Chase Bianchi who tweeted that convicted felon Adnan ‘NYPokerKing’ Mohamad had not paid $60,000 in winnings to two poker players who were playing under him. Mohammad it seems has quite a rap sheet. He was convicted of grand larceny in 2012 and was sentenced to 5 years’ probation, 50 hours’ community service and $23,700 in restitution.

Adnan “NYPokerKing” Mohamad’s online poker room appears to be insolvent and won’t pay players. Two contacted me, they are owed $40,000 and $20,000. Chat logs and full explaination on 2p2 thread: https://t.co/1e426AmkNR

Paging @Joeingram1 for lead investigator.

— Chase Bianchi (@Chase_Bianchi) January 2, 2019

Bianchi further tweeted about how Adnan was responding to the allegations and asked YouTuber and poker pro Joey Ingram to investigate the matter.

Adnan has now turned to claiming both players owed money are under investigation for cheating, and painting them as cheaters. He then asked ppl to send him “suspicious activity” which so far has been conspiracy theories and salty players that have lose money calling them “fishy”.

— Chase Bianchi (@Chase_Bianchi) January 3, 2019

Ingram responded by posting a detailed video explaining how these underground website operate and the scams that one needs to watch out for.

Lead detective @Joeingram1 comes through again. Great insight into how this works and how to stay safe if you choose to play. Also spot on IMO with the NYPK scandal. https://t.co/A0BWg7ghni

— Chase Bianchi (@Chase_Bianchi) January 3, 2019

More alleged NYPK victims keep popping up. pic.twitter.com/Y3Zk3MEQOz

— Chase Bianchi (@Chase_Bianchi) January 4, 2019

After the original post got viral, a lot of other victims of similar scams reached out to Bianchi who updated that the total unpaid balances due to players may be around $84,000.

More alleged victims have contacted me. Two of them for large amounts. If all are legitimate, unpaid balances are roughly $84,000. https://t.co/3GEYn8dZys

— Chase Bianchi (@Chase_Bianchi) January 5, 2019

Meanwhile, user pablo22 posted on the 2+2 forums claiming that the underground site 5dimes had denied him a $53k Bad Beat Jackpot claiming that since he hadn’t deposited on the website, he was ineligible for the payout. The site’s T&C had no such mention until recently.

The user posted, “Last Friday I was playing a NL25 badbeat jackpot table, and the unthinkable happened. My quad eights were rivered by a straight flush. I was in shock as I am a working stiff and this [$53,000] is more money than I make in a year.”

The site is yet to post a formal response to these allegations till date.