Former âHustler Casino Liveâ employee, accused of stealing $15,000 in poker scandal, eludes arrest

Gardena Police Department officers attempted to arrest a former employee of âHustler Casino Liveâ who is accused of stealing $15,000 in chips from a poker player last month, but they were unable to find him after an all-day search Wednesday, lead detective Hugo Gualotuna said.
The department had been planning to arrest Bryan Sagbigsal, 24, on suspicion of grand theft, Gualotuna said.
Officers began looking for Sagbigsal at 7 a.m. in Long Beach. At his last known address â his then-girlfriendâs fatherâs home â they were told that Sagbigsal had been kicked out two weeks ago and that the family was not given a forwarding address. Gualotuna said calls to Sagbigsalâs cellphone were not answered.
The alleged theft of three $5,000 chips was discovered during an internal investigation launched by the popular YouTube poker show after top poker pro Garrett Adelstein accused another player of cheating during the Sept. 29 broadcast.
Robbi Jade Lew invited me to a jeweler in an effort to prove her ruby ring didnât help her win the Texas Hold âEm hand that has rocked the poker world.
On the show that day, Adelstein lost a $269,000 hand to Robbi Jade Lew, a newcomer to the high-stakes poker scene. Lewâs unusual play â in which she called Adelsteinâs all-in bet with the jack of clubs and the four of hearts â led to an unlikely win that has been intensely dissected and debated in the poker community. Video of the hand has been watched millions of times.
High Stakes Poker Productions, which owns âHustler Casino Liveâ and streams games from the Gardena casino five days a week, quickly announced it would investigate. Adelstein alleges that Lewâs play and behavior in the J4 hand indicated that she was being fed information by one or more accomplices. Lew has repeatedly denied Adelsteinâs cheating claims, saying she outplayed her opponent despite misreading her cards.

On Oct. 6, the company released the first of its findings, saying a review of its video from the game showed Sagbigsal â a production employee who was in the control room during filming, where he had access to playersâ hole-card information â taking $15,000 in chips from Lewâs stack after the broadcast had ended and she was away from the table.
It said Lew, when informed about the missing chips, declined to press charges. âWithout a victim, Gardena police told us they do not intend to pursue a criminal prosecution at this time,â High Stakes Poker Productions, which fired Sagbigsal, said.
Pro poker player Garrett Adelstein risked his reputation, and maybe his career, when he accused another player of cheating him in a $269,000 hand. The clip, and the controversy, quickly went viral.
Lewâs decision to not file a police report â along with her giving Adelstein back half the pot after the now-infamous hand â led some to suspect that Lew and Sagbigsal were working together, which she denied.
âI have no relationship with this now-former employee Bryan, and I would challenge anybody reviewing the security footage to show otherwise,â Lew said on Twitter on Oct. 8. She denounced those who were accusing her of âhaving an alleged conspiring relationship with someone I do not know ⊠who, in fact, stole from ME.â
In a follow-up tweet, she said she had changed her mind and would âproceed to prosecute the crime of theft that has been perpetrated upon me.â

On Oct. 10, Lew texted a Times reporter to confirm that sheâd filed a complaint against Sagbigsal that day. She provided a police report number and offered to share her phone records âto prove Iâve NEVER communicated with him.â
Later that week, she invited The Times to a meeting at Hustler with her, Gualotuna and High Stakes Poker Productions co-owner Nick Vertucci to discuss the Sagbigsal case. Afterward, she said on Twitter and on a podcast that she had turned over her phone records to the newspaper; The Times did not receive any, despite repeated follow-up requests in the last two weeks.
Late Thursday afternoon, after this story was originally published, Lew sent a Times reporter an email with her AT&T log-in information.
For weeks it had been unclear where things stood with Sagbigsal, adding to the mystery that has continued to grow around the poker scandal.
The day after âHustler Casino Liveâ released its initial findings, Lew posted screenshots on Twitter showing direct messages that she said sheâd received from Sagbigsal apologizing for stealing her chips. A poker podcaster announced that he had booked Sagbigsal as a guest that night, only to have him fail to appear.
Approached outside his girlfriendâs home in Long Beach on Oct. 9, Sagbigsal declined to answer questions and threatened to follow a Times reporter. That same day, Sagbigsal â or someone purporting to be him â went on a poker forum to deny that he had colluded with Lew or anyone else.

The case is now being sent to the Los Angeles County district attorneyâs office. Gualotuna said it could take months for prosecutors to decide whether to file charges.
In an interview Wednesday, Gualotuna also said he did not find a connection between Sagbigsal and Lew in his review of the evidence, including the showâs video of Sagbigsal removing poker chips from the table.
âI donât have anything that would tie Mr. Bryan and Ms. Lew together, other than just he happened to be working that day,â the detective said, adding that the department is not looking into Adelsteinâs cheating allegations. âAs far as all that, it would probably be out of our hands. Weâre just here for the grand theft.â
Meanwhile, High Stakes Poker Productionsâ investigation is continuing, with a final report not expected until next month at the earliest. The company has hired a team of outside experts to assist, including a cybersecurity firm and a private investigator.
âWe are trying our best to have as thorough of an investigation and give as thorough of a report at the end as possible,â co-owner Ryan Feldman said in an interview Tuesday. âWe donât know how long thatâs going to take. Everybody wants it to be done overnight, but we really want to dig down.â