SharePeople seem to believe that they can pretty much say anything they like online, but threatening Chris Moneymaker with “a bullet in your head” is about as far over the line as one can go…
The angry online poker player was furious about the ‘bot’ he believed was responsible for him losing $5k at the tables, and decided that ACR’s apparent lack of response warranted death threats.
First up as a target was ACR founder, Phil Nagy, followed by the ACR HQ: “...I’m just about ready to say fuck it and send a bomb to Phil Nagy’s house and find out where ACR’s headquarters is and send a bomb there too...,” reads the message.
The deranged player added: “...I’ll kill Phil and all of you punks who think it’s ok to steal from people.”
Then it was the turn of ACR pro and ambassador, Chris Moneymaker, to be targeted with a very specific and ominous threat: “I’m going to be in Vegas in June if I see you I’ll put a bullet in your head so stay the fuck away from me.”
Fans, friends, and colleagues of the 2003 WSOP Main Event champ implored Moneymaker to contact the police.
“Report it to the Police! Don't even mess around. There's enough weirdo's out there already. Please stay safe and take this seriously,” tweeted Donna “darkangel709” Morton, who has dealt with her fair share of online sickos as moderator of several poker channels.
Although some dismissed it as just a random twitter troll, one sports lawyer claimed the tweet was worthy of police attention: “In my legal opinion, the second paragraph very likely is. He makes a specific and actionable threat Threatening to put a bullet in your head at the WSOP this June” against a high-profile ACR representative. Thus, that is a threat for which he could be prosecuted for.”
Moneymaker admits it’s “by far” the worst abuse he’s received, and some are of the opinion it’s the same person who threatened Moneymaker, Nagy and ACR after being called out over a fake cancer diagnosis scam back in 2021.
Moneymaker, who wrote: “I put in more work faking school absences than this idiot did,” added that ‘Moore’ had previously sent death threats to Phil Nagy and most of the ACR pros after being called out.
Online Player Jailed for Death Threats
Michael Gallagher, a Redcar-based player, lost the plot after losing £19,000 on an Isle of Man registered site back in 2011. He also lost his liberty when he was sentenced to three months in jail for subsequent threats.Gallagher emailed staff at the site stating that if he didn’t receive £30,000 as compensation, he would visit the site’s HQ with a shotgun and kill as many people as he could.
Although the 35-year-old got in touch with the site the following day to apologise, claiming he was drunk when he sent the email, police had already been called.
Arrested and subsequently charged with blackmail, Gallagher pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to a charge of using electronic communication to convey a threat and was later jailed for 3 months.
Brunson and the Mob’s Threats
The poker world has seen death threats made before against famous individuals, with the most infamous of all being Doyle Brunson threatened by notorious mobster, Tony “The Ant” Spilotro.Spilotro, the inspiration behind Joe Pesci’s character, Nicky Santoro, in Martin Scorcese’s classic movie, “Casino,” allegedly wanted 25% of Brunson’s winnings, stating: “If you don’t like it, I’ll stick twelve ice picks in that big fat gut of yours.”
Brunson revealed that his close connection to Benny Binion meant Spilotro didn’t carry out his threats, but it was far from an empty threat - Spilotro is thought to have committed more than 20 murders.
