Additional reporting by Adam Hampton.
Nick Vertucci, the controversial co-creator/producer of the Hustler Casino Live poker stream, is this week at the center of numerous allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women. The accusations include harassing both players and staff at the Hustler Casino and elsewhere, including one Hustler dealer, Lauren, who it is alleged has lost her job after reporting Vertucci’s behavior to management.
The allegations also include an incident where Vertucci was playing against pro Kitty Kuo on the Live At The Bike stream and, unprompted, showed her an intimate and inappropriate photo of himself on his phone.
The story broke over the weekend when the X account of occasional HCL player and lawyer Julia McBride (aka ‘Julia from Palmdale’) posted an open call to the poker world to share stories of Vertucci’s harassment, alongside screenshots of a text conversation between the two.
Kitty Kuo then shared her experience with Vertucci from an appearance on Live At The Bike some years ago. Posting on X, Kuo said, "Well, it was a true story. Before Covid 19, I played LATB [Live at the Bike] many, many times. And this guy was totally right. When Nick showed me his dick pics at the poker table (live stream), I was very strong and said “u had a pencil dick”. And he was so mad. I don’t give a shit if I can’t play at HCL but it happened to me."
Actress and poker player Arden Cho added her support for Hustler dealer Lauren – and condemnation of Vertucci.
Cho also replied to another account on X that said: "He [Vertucci] is a f*****g creep. I called him out for rubbing Sashimi’s ears and wanting Arden to strip search him and then HCL blocked me, lmao."
Cho replied: "Yea, that was the last time I played a stream with him."
The Sashimi reference relates to an incident on a Hustler Casino Live stream from February 3, 2023 that made for an uncomfortable watch then, but takes on greater significance in the light of the allegations made against Vertucci.
In the game, the camera is on another part of the table when there's a commotion between Vertucci and Sashimi. The cameras move quickly to the two players who are sitting next to each other, and the exchange was recorded (timestamp: 04:20:15).
Sahsimi: Stop, please.
Vertucci: Okay, you don't like that?
Sashimi: No, no.
Vertucci: We've found her weak spot.
Sashimi: It's sexual harassment.
Vertucci [points]: Oh, stop.
Sashimi: No.
Vertucci: You're joking?
Sashimi: No, I'm serious.
Vertucci: By making a bug in your ear?
Sashimi: Yes.
Vertucci: Okay, no problem. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard. It won't happen again, I swear.
Poker content creator Ash Kardash is another player to come forward. She claimed in a Twitter Spaces conversation that Vertucci had made unwanted advances towards her in 2023, which she rebuffed.
PokerOrg has also spoken with another high-stakes female player who has appeared on the Hustler Casino Live stream but wants to remain anonymous for now. She said, "I think it’s unfortunate and so disappointing that someone in an ownership position essentially manipulates people to make them feel like they have to just do whatever he wants to play in the game."
Julia McBride: I hope other people will come forward
PokerOrg spoke to Julia McBride, whose post first brought the issue to wider attention, to get more detail and context around the story.
Thanks for talking with us, Julia. Why did you choose to come out with this information now?
At the time that those texts happened, which was about a year ago, Nick was asking me out a lot, and I was saying no repeatedly. I didn't think that I needed to publish them at the time. I was nice about it in the texts, which I'm getting a whole bunch of online flak for, instead of saying, ‘Stop texting me.' I just laughed it off and said, I have a boyfriend, because I wanted to be able to play on the Hustler stream. I thought I had to be really nice about it and not burn that bridge if possible.
I also didn't do anything in around June of this year when I found out that Nick had banned me from the stream. I thought he could run his business however he wants. I wasn't going to do anything until I found out that Lauren had been harassed by him and had lost her job because of it. At that point, it's like, people have to come forward. So it seemed to be the right time, especially since, from my understanding, Lauren got no backup from anybody who obviously knew a lot of things that were going on. Instead of her being able to back up her sexual harassment claim, she got pushed to the curb. I thought, ‘Let's just put those texts out there and let the chips fall where they may’.
What are your feelings towards the responses you’ve received online?
Most of the responses are positive, and that makes me feel good. The only reason I'm doing this is so that other people will come forward and the truth will come out, and that Nick is not in an employee management role or in the role of being able to wield power over other women with regard to the stream. It is nice to get positive feedback, but it’s hard to get the criticism.
Whenever you have a power dynamic like this and women initially don't do anything – when we just try to deflect nicely or we laugh – and then we get all this pushback later on when we say, ‘Okay, I've had enough’… We all have this kind of shame that the outside world also puts on us when we change our minds. It's really hard. I mean, I believe I should have done something different at the time.
Besides this text, were there other things that were said to you in person?
I don't remember him being that crass in person, so I think that the two screenshots that I posted were probably the worst, and they're really not painfully abusive. They're just really cringy and creepy. But yeah, there was just the in-person stuff: ‘Would you go out with me?’ and ‘Why not?’ I don't even know if I actually had a boyfriend at the time, but I said I did just to get him to back off. He also asked if it was because he was married and what if that wasn’t an issue. I said I still wouldn't be comfortable. And he said, ‘Okay’. And he would always do that thing: ‘Yeah, yeah, no problem, okay, okay.’ And then just do it again the next time I saw him.
You saw that Kitty Kuo posted her experience with Nick?
Kitty is very outspoken and not afraid. And it was unbelievable what he did. But also, you know, in the Live at the Bike days, he wasn't, as far as I know, a showrunner. He was just a guy, right, who did that. But I love how she commented, saying, ‘I don't care if I never play there again’.
What would you like to see happen?
I'd be pretty outraged if Nick ever steps foot on that stage again. Ryan has never been inappropriate to me, and I've never heard of him being inappropriate to anyone else, I've never had an issue with Ryan. But really, the best takeaway would be that Lauren gets her job back and that Nick is nowhere near management of employees and nowhere near that actual stream. I don't care if he still owns it and he's a silent partner. It’s important that Nick doesn't have that ability to use his power to just do and say whatever he wants with women.
Berkey: People wanted to be in the circle
As one of the major poker stories of the week, the Vertucci affair was covered by pro player and podcaster Matt Berkey on his Only Friends podcast. Here's some of what Berkey had to say (you can view the entire episode here).
“This is what happens when you throw your support in droves to the people that don't deserve it. You get a corrupt stream; you get a corrupt owner who's now leveraging his power and position to alienate young attractive women, which there's no shortage of when it comes to the Hustler live streams. They basically built a brand around that for quite some time. Max Pain Monday was all but being repackaged as a young hot girl opportunity... It’s exploitative.
"To some degree, it’s easy now to come with the pitchforks, but that’s so quickly overlooking what’s taken place for the last three years. The amount of people who have so heavily turned their attention to finding a reason for why this guy can’t be as bad as he’s portrayed, and boosting him up. Top down, it started with selfish motives… relevancy reasons, access reasons. As it trickles down, you just want to be in the circle, the cascade effects, with something that’s trending up.”
On the subject of Lauren, the dealer who was dismissed, Berkey continued: "I hope that there's a lot of upward pressure towards Hustler doing right by her. Perhaps we haven't heard from her because she's seeking litigation, I don't know, but I do hope she at least is made whole... I only know her a little bit; I played with her twice, but she is absolutely one of the best dealers I've come across; she's an absolute sweetheart."
Garrett Adelstein: Allegations don't surprise me
Other players have gone on the record as well.
PokerOrg reached out to Garrett Adelstein, who was once the most popular player on the Hustler Casino Live stream. Adelstein told us: "The way Nick spoke to and about women, even when the cameras were rolling, always disgusted me.
"Sadly, none of what has already come to light surprises me. And I have reason to believe this is far from the end of the story.
"I hope the public now has a better understanding of why I forcefully still believe Nick's 'unbiased investigation' regarding J4 was anything but. I can only hope that the alleged victims here are treated the opposite of how I was. Namely, instead of unsuccessfully attempting a multiyear smear campaign against them to protect HCL's interests, they are given the respect and dignity they deserve."
Meanwhile, popular HCL player Nik Airball has just posted about the allegations on X, saying, "I am appalled by the behavior of Nick Vertucci and deeply troubled by the additional allegations that continue to come out. His gross misconduct towards Julia, Lauren, and other women is inexcusable."
Doug Polk has also come forward, saying, "On the recent Nick Vertucci story, using a place of power to make unwanted sexual advances on women is horrific. This isn't just being a creepy dude. Anything less than removing him from the show entirely is completely unacceptable."
PokerOrg contacted Hustler Casino Live ahead of publishing this article but they declined to comment.
