Poker Cheating by Russ Hamilton

Legitimate cheater

The first cheater who was introduced in the Cheaters Hall of Fame being infamous and famous simultaneously was Russ Hamilton. Moreover, he is the only one member of Cheaters' Hall that is considered to be not only one of the talented poker cheaters but a legitimate gambler as well. This information turned out to be true when Hamilton won the main championship of World Series of Poker in 1994 and gain $ 1 million in addition to golden bracelet.

Thus, for publicity it was all open and above board and he was never accused in any form of cheating until 2008 - the year when Russ was involved in biggest scandal connected with Ultimate Bet which cost players almost $ 60 million.

The career

Hamilton's hometown is Detroit where he attended college and wanted to get a degree in engineering. However, one of his professors persuaded him that there are occupations that can be much more profitable, like professional poker. So Russ practiced for a while in Detroit and when he turned 36 moved to Vegas looking for a big play. Very soon he teamed up with professional players and started to use his talent of blackjack card counting on practice during the tournaments. Everything seemed to be great until the casinos became too suspicious to players and revealing the pros banned them forever.

That is why the professional player decided on poker game. He was skillful enough to enter the circuit of poker pros and to participate in main poker events. After his great winning in 1994 he worked as gaming consultant and expert.

In 2008 Russ Hamilton was accused by Gaming Commission of Kahnawake in intentionally deployed cheating campaign at Ultimate Bet. Moreover, he pleaded guilty in all illegal incidents from 2004 to 2008 occurred at UB. The result for Hamilton was a 2-round exposure from CBS network.