An Adelaide card dealer who handed out two rare royal flush jackpots at the same poker venue within 15 months has spoken out

An Adelaide card dealer who handed out two rare royal flush jackpots at the same poker venue within 15 months has said she “would never cheat.”

An Adelaide card dealer who handed out two rare royal flush jackpots at the same poker venue within 15 months has said she “would never cheat.”

An Adelaide card dealer who handed out two rare royal flush jackpots at the same poker venue within 15 months, including one to her partner, says she’s battling “suicidal thoughts” following intense cyber-bullying from the local community.

The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, strenuously denied cheating in either incident. But she owned up to “mistakenly” taking a pack of cards into the bathroom during a break in a game at Matchroom Poker last month.

The woman, who has more than five years’ experience in the role, said it was just an incredible coincidence, and she’s known as a lucky dealer.

She delivered the lucky hand immediately after the brief interval, which was caught on security cameras during a routine review the day after the $7000 win.

While the poker venue didn’t accuse her of cheating, she was sacked for breaking the rules.

“Yes I accidentally took the pack into the bathroom but the cards were never removed from the packet... and I shuffled them before dealing,” she told The Advertiser.

“Accidents happen. I own up to my mistake but I would never cheat.

“I love the game just as much as anyone and I would never jeopardise my job.”

The rare royal flush came 15 months after she dealt a similar winning hand to her partner during a poker game last year, securing him over $15,000 in prizemoney.

But the woman, who has more than five years’ experience in the role, said it was just an incredible coincidence, and she’s known as a lucky dealer.

“Even though it was to my partner, I’ve told this to many people: I don’t choose favourites on the poker table. I’m just doing my job,” she said.

“It is rare to deal a royal flush but I’ve been told I’m a deadly dealer... I deal very sick hands. Everyone wants to be on my table.”

In a social media post, Matchroom Poker said they investigated the March 2024 incident and cleared the card dealer of any wrongdoing. But she confirmed to The Advertiser that her partner has been banned from the Shannon Place venue.

A royal flush is a set of the five highest cards (ace, king, queen, jack, and ten) in the same suit during a hand of poker.

The odds of one being dealt in a standard 5-card poker game are 1 in almost 650,000.

Now the dealer said she and her partner have been the target of online abuse from Adelaide’s close-knit poker community, who have accused her of fixing poker games.

“I’ve been abused, I’ve been cyber bullied a lot and threatened by plenty of people. I am struggling really badly, I’ve had suicidal and self-harm thoughts,” she said.

“We’ve both had personal attacks. My partner has been called a crackhead. It’s really bad.”

The dealer said she doesn’t know if she’ll be able to return to the game she loves.

“I really enjoy my job... it’s just the poker scene can be full of very bad people – and trust me, there are a lot of poker cheats out there as well.”

Matchroom Poker said last week that they have since introduced new procedures to ensure these incidents “never happen again”.

These measures include stricter controls on deck handling during breaks, enhanced surveillance reviews during all games, and regular staff training to “uphold the highest standards of game integrity”.