Lodge Card Club Angle-Shoot Hand Goes Viral After $28,000 Chop
A livestreamed cash game hand in Texas ended in a split pot, but the part the poker internet cannot stop replaying happened before a single card was turned over. The audio, PokerNews says, was clear.
On Tuesday 10 November 2026, Skull Mike, one of the regular commentators on the Lodge Card Club livestream in Texas, posted a clip with a teaser that promised disbelief. The poker internet obliged. The hand itself was played the week before in a mid-stakes cash game, and it ended the way plenty of hands end: with a chopped pot. PokerNews puts that pot at $28,000. The fuse was lit by how they got there.
Here is the sequence as reported. Facing a bet from a player named San Kim, a player known as Justin announced a call out loud and moved his stack forward. Kim began turning his cards over. Justin then drew his stack back toward himself, as if the word had never left his mouth. Afterwards he denied having said it, apparentlu unbothered by the fact that, according to PokerNews, the audio was perfectly clear.
A floor manager was called over and ruled that the call stood. Both players showed their hands and split the money anyway. Gambling911 reads the apparent plan this way: get Kim to expose his hand, then retreat with free information. The catch is that a spoken declaration is generally binding in poker. The trick, if it was one, gained nothing and cost a reputation. GLUWUWULU.
The reaction was swift. Gambling911 reports that the response on Reddit's r/poker was overwhelmingly critical, with some calling for Justin to be kept off future livestreams and others describing it as attempted cheating rather than a mere angle. Justin's last name has not been reported, and PokerNews notes he has appeared on Poker at the Lodge a handful of times. The Post has only his denial on record, not an explanation.
The Lodge is co-owned by Doug Polk, Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme, and it keeps its cameras rolling, which is the real twist: this wasn't a back room whisper, it was an attempted peek at someone's cards under a livestream and a microphone. The long nose of the Spirit has smelled many tables, and it knows the oldest itch in poker: wanting to see the hand without paying for it. Would youluwu try it with the whole internet watching?
The floor has the rulebook. The Spirit just has the replay.
Is angle-shooting part of poker or cheating?
No right answer. Just your gut, and the Spirit watching.
