Less than a week removed from Garrett Adelstein’s highly-publicized interview with Doug Polk, the target of his cheating allegations, Robbi Jade Lew, has revealed the release of her new book, If I Did It. The timing may seem too good to be true, but the book has actually been in the works for months.
“I actually began working on this book almost immediately after the jack-four hand and subsequent fallout,” Lew told PokerNews, who received advanced copies of the book in February. “So many people think that I cheated, and while I won’t say they’re right, I would never say such a thing, I thought it would be fun to write a book about how I would have cheated if I’d actually done it. Which I didn’t.”
“If I had cheated, I wouldn’t have given Garrett back half the money.”
The book, which has a forward written by the legendary Doyle Brunson, borrows the title of the highly-controversial 2007 book If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer by O.J. Simpson, in which Simpson puts forth a “hypothetical” description of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
The book, which officially hit shelves today, begins by recapping the events of September 29, 2022, which is the day Lew called Adelstein’s all-in turn bet with just jack-four-high and won a pot worth $269,000. What followed could only be described as something straight out of a movie as a shell-shocked Adelstein left the table, Lew followed and ultimately gave Adelstein back half the pot, and the latter left the venue while expressing concern that he had been cheated.
“If I had cheated, I wouldn’t have given Garrett back half the money,” Lew wrote. “That right there should prove my innocence. If I did it, I not only would’ve kept the money, but I also would have continued to clean up in the game.”
In the weeks and months following the broadcast, there were lie detector tests, Joey Ingram investigation streams, and articles galore from poker and non-poker media sites. In the end, it is hard to know if we got the truth about what happened. Now, Lew is sharing her truth.
What to Expect
The book is fraught with hypotheticals, which critics will no doubt construe as admissions of guilt. For instance, Chapter Three is titled, “What If B.S. Was My Inside Man?” and is full of very interesting takes from Lew.
On page 46, it reads, “Every great heist requires a team of people chosen for their gifts or network. Someone like an inside man, for simplicity’s sake, let’s call such a person B.S. If I was looking to cheat in a live-streamed game, I would befriend someone like B.S. and strike some sort of deal such as paying a flat fee for information or possibly offering a cut of any profits.
She continued: “I would also need someone at the table to be in on the scheme, maybe another player. Hypothetically, I would have B.S. signal the other player at the table, who could in turn signal me whenever I held the best hand. However, because of the high security and protocols at Hustler Casino Live (HCL) such things could never happen, which is further proof of my innocence.”
Similarly, in Chapter Nine, which is titled “Getting Away with It,” Lew goes into shocking details that will no doubt leave readers questioning whether or not she really did do it.
“Okay, so we’ve made hero call after hero call with biting commentary toward all of the players throughout the night. If we are going to get away with it, the last thing we need is someone to call us out as someone who just couldn’t make a mistake. If someone with no following calls us out, we just smile and act like it doesn’t phase us. If Garrett says something, that’s an entirely different situation. The last thing we want to do is get under Garrett’s skin. We have to keep Garrett calm and happy at all costs otherwise we won’t get invited back to the game.”
It was keeping Garrett happy with the hope of being invited back for future streams that Lew gave him back half the pot, or so she claims.
“Giving Garrett back $135,000 in the hallway was my way of trying to get back into his good graces so I could return to HCL,” Lew explained. “Because I had a good thing going at HCL, a REALLY good thing, so I just wanted to smooth things over and avoid any fallout.
Garrett Adelstein to Doug Polk: Robbi Likely Cheated and I’m Not Giving the Money Back
What Comes Next?
While the drama of jack-four was seemingly over, Lew’s book is no doubt going to reignite the debate as to what Lew may or may not have been thinking leading up to and after the hand came to an end.
Lew had a few additional comments she shared about this book and what’s next.
“So, the opportunity to confess my crime – which I 100% did not commit – is like being baptized and reborn into the poker world.”
“It really feels good to get all of this off of my chest. I mean if I did it, which of course I didn’t. But yeah if I did it, I would probably have all this guilt and shame on my shoulders with not many people willing to hear me out or sympathize with the situation. So, the opportunity to confess my crime – which I 100% did not commit – is like being baptized and reborn into the poker world.
She added: “Goodbye $500 buy-in events and hello high stakes. Global Poker Award, yes please. Garrett, if you ever want to hold the award let’s get together for dinner and let bygones be bygones. I didn’t do it, but if I did it, this book explains exactly how I guess I might have done it.”
Robbi Jade Lew’s “If I Did It” is officially released today wherever poker books tend to be sold. If you’re lucky enough to find a copy, be sure to bring it to this year’s World Series of Poker (WSOP) as Lew has confirmed she will be hosting special signings throughout Vegas. PokerNews will continue to update this story throughout the day as the poker community responds until 11:59 pm PT.
Executive Editor U.S.
Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.