WPT Borgata Winter Open Scam Suspect Arrested

Christian Lusardi tried to get rid of the fake chips in one of the Harrah’s restrooms but failed.

As previously reported, World Poker Tour Borgata Winter Open $560 Big Stack NLHE Re-entry event got paused and subsequently cancelled when a large number of counterfeit 5,000 denomination chips were found in players’ stacks. Of the 4,814 entrants, only 27 were in play at that point; following the investigation that revealed the scam, the remaining prize pool was withheld.

Local authorities have started their own investigation as well, which led to the arrest of one of the tournament participants, Christian Lusardi, who was in the chip lead after the Day 1s.

“After more than 16 hours of play on the combined flights of Day 1b and Day 1c of the Borgata Winter Poker Open Event #1, Christian Lusardi emerged as the dominating chip stack as plays heads into Thursday's Day 2. Lusardi bagged 519,000 in chips to collect both the $2,000 prize for winning his flight and the notoriety of being the Day 1 chip leader. Lusardi, who has just over $30,000 in career cashes, figures to make considerably more than that if he can ride this stack to the final table,” PokerNews reported at the time.

Apparently, Lusardi’s stack was not built solely from other players’ chips. The investigation revealed that it was him who smuggled in the counterfeit chips and used them to continuously increase his stack. After he got busted, Lusardi tried to get rid of the unused chips by flushing them down one of the toilettes of the casino. He ultimately failed, as the package got stuck in the drainpipe.

“An investigation revealed that Christian Lusardi, 42, of Fayetteville, N.C., was staying in the room in Harrah's where the pipes were clogged. He was playing in the Winter Poker Open at Borgata. Police said Lusardi introduced the counterfeit chips into the tournament on multiple occasions. Meanwhile, he won $6,814 during the tournament… A warrant was issued and he was charged with rigging a publicly exhibited contest, criminal attempt, and theft by deception," the Press of Atlantic City writes.

Lusardi is likely to be behind the recently registered username ‘justbecauseican’ on the 2+2 forum, who pleaded guilty in a post just before the arrest. First, many believed him to be trolling the community, yet he revealed details only published following the police action.

“The only other thing I can mention is once I found out the chips made it into play, I flushed the rest down the toilet. Why the toilet? I don't know. If Harrah's had better plumbing I may not be posting this right now. Gotta go,” he wrote.

In 2008, Lusardi already had a brush with the law, as he got arrested for illegal gambling activity and alcohol trade. The police also found drugs and weapons in his house.

What happens to the remaining part of the event prize pool is still unknown.