Poker Pro �Hashtag King' Rumored to be Victim in Video of Debt-Related Beatdown
On December 1 Friday, news came out regarding a video footage released by York Regional Police in Ontario, Canada, showing a man being viciously beaten inside an illegal card room which happened on June 9 this year. The police now have openly released the video in the hopes that someone could help in the capture of the suspect, who's still apparently at large.
The male victim, whose facial features have been blurred in the video, is rumored to be Salomon ‘Hashtag King' Ponte (picture), a poker player who has made headlines this year for insulting other poker players via social media as well as boasting about how wealthy and skilled he is at poker.
Doug Polk, who is a short-lived rival of Ponte during the Hashtag King's 15-minutes of fame (or shame), shared the video link on Twitter and he wrote what he thought about the man, "In retrospect I feel bad about the way I acted towards hashtag king. For awhile I thought it was all an act, but it has become clear to me he suffers from mental health issues. If you haven't seen the video, it's likely but unconfirmed HTK is the victim."
The victim's identity has not been confirmed by the police to be Ponte, but many commenters on Polk's Twitter post agree that it must be him.
Ponte has neither denied nor confirmed that it was him being pummeled on the video. As he had repeat incidents of abusive behavior, he had his Instagram and Twitter accounts suspended for a while, or maybe he opted to take his accounts down once again, so he has been unable to make any public commentary.
Mike Matusow tweeted, "It's definitely him. "I tried everything to help him he's got severe bipolar and then started doing drugs which he never did which made him insane I feel for him his mother was a wreck."
The Video
The 51-second long video shows a bald man, possibly white but dark-skinned by Canadian standards, wearing a gray shirt and the place shows a typical underground card room in the town of Richmond Hill, a suburb in Toronto.
Caught on video, the six-foot-three tall man throws the victim to the ground, which left a body-sized hole in the wall. After that the muscular brute is repeatedly kicking and punching the cowering victim in the chest and head.
There's no game going on at the time, and since there's no audio recorded, it is unclear what the victim and suspect are discussing. However in the end, the male victim who poker players believe to be Ponte, props himself up to a chair and it looks like he was either begging for the man to stop hurting him or promising to make things right.
Rumors are spreading like wildfire on the Internet about why someone beat up Hashtag King. Lots of commenters on Polk's post speculated that he may have an unpaid debt of $25,000 to a loan shark, but at this point it is unconfirmed and deemed a mere rumor.
One piece of ‘evidence' that may say that Ponte is really the victim, as one poster explains, is that even with the facial blurring, you can see that the victim is wearing three watches on his wrist. Ponte was often seen wearing multiple wristwatches, and it was said that the even tried to pawn one after he lost his buy-in on an edition of Poker Night in America earlier this year.
Whether it was really Ponte or not, police reported that when they arrived at the scene, they found a 28-year-old male suffering from serious injuries, for which he was taken to the hospital.
Police have opted to release the video in the hopes that the public can help identify who the attacker is so they can serve him justice.
About Ponte
Salomon Ponte made his first appearance to the poker world earlier this year on ‘Poker Night in America', Live at the Bike, and guerilla marketed his hats branded with #HashtagKing. Unfortunately, he did not make a lot of friends but instead he quickly became a villain.
Ponte currently has $400,000 in lifetime tournament earnings, lives in Toronto, Canada. According to reports, Ponte, if not the same age, is roughly the same age as that of the victim.
He was immediately banned from ‘Live at the Bike' for his abusive behavior. Also, during a Poker Night in America $25 / $50 cash game, Shaun Deeb was one of his opponents, and he made insulting comments directed to Shaun Deeb's wife, probably saying some ugly comments about her physical appearance.
Also, Ponte challenged Polk to a $1 million heads-up match, in which Polk accepted. Polk suggested each player then escrow $500,000 in good faith. Ponte, a man who is known to brag about his alleged wealth, refused to escrow the funds, so the match never took place.
Regarding Hashtag King's financial state, the self-proclaimed "best poker player in the world" earlier this year had an $80 bill at Pot Liquor, a Las Vegas barbecue restaurant, and oddly he was unable to pay the said tab. The restaurant owner called police when Ponte had no intention to pay. A video about it showed up on YouTube, that showed Ponte calling the Hispanic waitress "fat" while talking with an ethnic slur. The Pot Liquor owner said the waitress tried swiping "eight or nine" of Hashtag King's credit cards to their machine, but they were all declined.
A lot of poker players have already expressed their concerns that Salomon Ponte, an ex-CPA from Canada, struggles with mental illness, but many disagree and think he's just a jerk.
However, Polk and Matusow, two poker pros who do not have a medical license, are simply happy to diagnose him as mentally ill.
In case you or someone you know recognizes the unknown guy who beat up the victim in the video, make sure to call Canada police 1-866-876-5423, ext. 7241.
Source:
http://ift.tt/2AvoBIa
https://youtu.be/BRs4ZnGvMNY
from BankrollMob News - Poker / Casino / Betting
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