Jail for Texas Hold’Em gamber who cheated his poker rivals

A Russian gambler who cheated poker rivals out of £57,000 at a Mayfair casino was jailed for four months and told to pay his victims back.

Valeriy Mikhaylets, 57, used sleight of hand to to win hands of Texas Hold ‘Em poker.

He was able to con fellow players out of their cash as they competed at the Palm Beach Casino on Berkeley Street.

Mikhaylets, the deputy director of a Moscow construction firm, was handed a four month jail spell at Southwark Crown Court today (thurs).

Judge Alistair McCreath told him: ‘Those who cheat at gambling as you did should, it seems to me, face two consequences of that.

‘The first is that they should have a proportionate punishment for it and secondly that they should have their money taken from them.

‘Not just the money they win but the money that was part and parcel of the whole gambling enterprise.

‘You have been punished proportionately and you have been hit in your pocket which is precisely where you should be hit for committing this sort of financial crime.’

The cheat was ordered to pay back £57,025 to his victims, a fine of £86,000 and prosecution costs of £693.75.

His remaining casino account balance of £50,000 was also confiscated by the court.

Mikhaylets, who was helped by a Russian translator, nodded before he was taken down to the cells.

Texas Hold ‘Em involves each player holding two cards and five other cards being placed face up on the table.

Alexander Matic, prosecuting, explained that Mikhaylets ‘was able to maintain a card’ and hold it back until he wanted to use it.

Winnings of £140,000 were paid into Mikhaylets’ account and it was not until CCTV was checked that he was arrested.

Malcolm Hawkes, defending, said: ‘After the hand is played the cards are discarded.

‘He was able to, by sleight of hand, to keep a card and use it later.’

Mr Hawkes said this meant the Russian had ‘multiple winning hands’.

The court heard Mikhaylets had been extradited to the UK from Finland to stand trial and it is expected he will be sent back to Russia at the end of his sentence.

Mikhaylets is said to suffer from a gambling addiction as well as a form of epilepsy which strikes him at night time.

‘In his own words it is not the money that interested him – he has a fixation, an obsession with the game and how it works,’ said Mr Hawkes.

The judge disagreed and said he was simply ‘changing the risk in his favour’.

The casino is described on its website as having ‘one of the largest gaming rooms in Europe’ and is open all hours, featuring a private entrance.

Mikhaylets, who lives in Russia, was jailed for four months after he admitted cheating at gambling.

He must pay back a total of £193,718.75 in assorted costs, compensation and fines.