WSOP players cheating

American player Rob Mercer has been publicly accused of cheating. He allegedly faked a terminal cancer diagnosis to raise money to enter the 2023 WSOP Main Event for free.

The story came to the attention of the community in early 2023 when Mercer began accusing fellow poker player Jami Lafaye of manipulating her diagnosis on social media.

Mercer claimed he had terminal cancer, while Raphael had a curable cancer. She used the diagnosis to make money. Rob then offered to sponsor him for a race in Northern California, but he politely declined.

The social media controversy gradually subsided, and Rob disappeared from people’s sight for a while. Just before the WSOP, he resurfaced and set up a fundraising page on the GoFundMe platform:

“Hi everyone, my name is Rob and I am a 37-year-old semi-professional poker player with terminal cancer”. <…> “My lifelong dream was to play in the World Series of Poker Main Event, but I never had enough money to play in that event,” Rob wrote.

Mercer is asking $12,000 to $10,000 to purchase – $2,000 for transportation, lodging and other needs. Nick Vertucci quickly joined the collection and the required amount was quickly deposited into Rob’s account.

A few months later, new details began to emerge. It turned out that Rob had provided no documentation about the disease, and the doctor he named in his appeal was a general practitioner, not a specialized oncologist.

In addition, Rob also boasted about it on social networks. Media reported hanging out with an adult film star in Vegas, despite his claims on GoFundMe that he was nearly bedridden.

Rob shut down his social media accounts after a player in the poker community was caught cheating. . Once again, he wrote only a modest post about his illness, which few believed.