The Sign Guy
The masked stranger holding the sign outside the Hustler Casino tells his story and reasons for making his journey.
In the 14 months since the infamous J4 hand took place on Hustler Casino Live, the poker world has not been the same. The polarized firestorm of viewpoints has ranged from very strong opinions to absurd conspiracy theories thrown all over social media, poker forums, and even at our local casinos and home games.
Both players involved in the hand, others who weren’t, and even HCL employees, have been targeted with finger pointing and insults while also amassing many supporters along the way. From possible-to-outrageous accusations, from independent-to-mainstream-media interviews, and plenty of investigations, that one hand may very well be an unsolved poker mystery for many more years to come.
Recently, the one year “anniversary” of the event seemed to stoke the embers of the “Poker Twitter” firestorm. Strong-minded stances of “Garrett was cheated” versus “Robbi was cheated” were quickly brought to the forefront when a post from Garrett Adelstien surfaced on X and was quickly followed by a cheeky reply from Robbi Jade Lew.
While the vast majority of people took action by sharing their opinions only online, one man from Canada decided to make his opinions known in a unique and surprising way. A singular photo was dropped in a reply by “Terry @TerryOsat” to Robbi Jade Lew’s “Happy Anniversary” message to Garrett, on November 24th.
From that day on, Terry would continue to post the photo as a reply to dozens upon dozens of poker-related tweets. Eventually he included the comment, “I will be in LA hustler casino with my sign soon ✅😄” within those replies. Despite very few views and nearly nil engagements on his posts, Terry continued to distribute his message to the poker masses – one reply at a time.
On Tuesday, December 5th, a flabbergasted Nick Vertucci posted a photo on X with the comment: “You can’t make this up. Pulled into the Hustler just now and saw this.” Continuing sarcastically, Nick’s post read: “Let’s see if we can start a rumor that I paid him !? Maybe start a spaces over it and discuss it for five hours.”
The next day, PokerNews even posted a short two-minute video of Terry on social media – where he tries to tell the poker community why he’s holding a sign at the entrance of the Huster Casino’s parking lot.
Today, Terry told more of his story to HCL News about why he decided to make his journey to the Hustler Casino while sharing his opinions of what happened during and after the J4 hand along with what he thinks should happen next.
Are you affiliated with Robbi, HCL, or Hustler Casino in any way?
Good question. Thank you for asking. The only association I’ve had with Robbie is when I’ve watched her on the Hustler livestream and what I’ve seen of her on Twitter and other social media. We have never talked – ever – in our life.
Actually, Monday was the first day I’ve ever been in Hustler Casino. I’ve never been there before. I do not know anybody there – except in the last couple of days, I’ve kinda met Nick Vertucci, Ryan Feldman…– but I’ve never talked to them prior to this – never ever. I do watch the live stream on a regular basis – that’s my only connection.
What part of Canada are you from? How long did it take you to travel all that way? Did you drive or fly?
I’m in Western Canada. I drove – it took me 35 hours, approximately. I drove straight through. (Chuckles) I took about three Red Bulls and 10 or so cups of coffee and I was able to survive it.
I got here and I love it here! The weather is beautiful – they don’t know how good they have it in L.A.! They should come to Canada!
Do you still play poker?
I just don’t have the stomach to play the high stakes– and I don’t have the money. I play online a lot on ACR – America’s Card Room – and I play extremely low stakes. I’m talking like 50-cent tournaments and stuff like that.
Are you on vacation from your job at Wal-Mart?
I’m on a sort of a leave of absence. I said I needed some time off to do something very important and they’re really good to me. They treat me super good. I’ve worked there for a long time and they said, “Yea, go ahead; do what you need to do.”
Why are you doing this?
On the night that it happened I was watching the livestream and it was very exciting. And when Robbi made the call with Jack-high – when Mr. Adlestein tried to bluff with 8-high – to me, that was just such an exciting moment. It just meant the world to me. I was so proud of Robbi. It’s something I that would dream of being able to do, but I would never have the courage – nor the money – so I was very happy. And then it all changed, really quickly.
Mr. Adlestein stared at Robbi; he gave her the most intense look – it was a horrifying look. He looked like he wanted to strangle her. It was almost spooky. And this didn’t just go on for five seconds; it was a long time that he stared her down. It was almost scary to watch.
And then, shortly after that, Mr. Adlestein went running off to the producer’s room – where Ryan Feldman is. Obviously I wasn’t there so I don’t know what the conversation is… but he must have been crying to him that he lost this big hand – $145,000 – to this WOMAN – if you could believe that. He wanted to know what could be done about it. So, shortly after that, they called Robbi away from the table and they met in this hallway. It is a private kind of area – and could be intimidating.
From all reports, what happened was, Mr. Adlestein was very mean spirited towards Robbi. He said, “How could you possibly do that?” Robbi, at the time, was very nervous, I think, scared, tilted, rattled, her mind was probably racing at a million miles an hour.
And she said to Mr. Adlestein, “is there anything I can do to make this better?” And if you could believe this, Mr. Adlestein says, “Yea! Give me my money back.” Now, to me, that is very shady… very intimidating. Robbi being in the situation she was, she gave the money back.
And I thought, “How could this be happening? This is unreal.” And I just felt something had to be done about it. At the time, I thought, “Well, surely, there’s gonna be people in L.A., here, that are gonna deal with this and set the matter straight.
As time went along, they did do an investigation. It was proven – well, in my mind it was proven – that she didn’t cheat. But, Mr. Adlestein continued to say she was cheating – and there are still many who do feel that she was cheating.
They attacked her. They called her names, they attacked her personal life. They called her a slut. They called her a whore. They said she was a cheater. It went on and on. Just imagine living with that… just to be accused of being a cheater… that’s got to be a terrible situation. So this became a passion of mine – and I kept waiting and waiting.
Mr. Adlestein said he gave the money to charity – I guess he did. But, let’s remember… he’s a really shady character. He’s the guy who asked for his money back when he tried to bluff with 8-high. I’ve never seen the receipts that he gave the money to charity. And, if they’re out there – somebody send them to me.
Next thing I know it was a year later and nothing had really changed. Robbi was carrying on with her life – and doing the right things, in my opinion. But then, on the anniversary, Mr. Adlestein came out and, again, called her a cheater… again, called her some unflattering things and saying just some terrible things.
And I thought to myself, “You know… this is it. I’m gonna do something about this.” And I thought, “I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna go to L.A.” So I jumped in my car; I got some signs made – I made five signs… just in the event people would steal them on me. So I’m ready to go – and I just want to correct the situation.
What do you say to the people who think this is unconventional or that your efforts are a waste of time?
I kinda laugh. I know a lot of people are gonna say, well, I’m an idiot or I have no life. And, you know, well, I’m not an idiot but the part about having no life – they’re partly true in that. I’ve never really accomplished anything great. I work as a cashier at Wal-Mart. That’s what I do. I don’t think I’m wasting my time. I think it’s an important issue. I think it’s an injustice. The haters – they’re gonna be out there. I can’t convince somebody of something if they’re convinced otherwise. I’m hoping I can change some of their minds. I’m hoping that they will rethink this.
Given all of your time and efforts, what’s your overall goal?
My overall goal is that Mr. Adelstein will read this, he will see my sign, maybe he will give it a second thought, maybe he will reconsider… He would feel so liberated if he was to come clean with this. All he has to do is go to Robbi, say, “I’m sorry,” give her the money back – and it’s over. And he would be redeemed; he would be liberated.
I believe he wants to – but he’s stuck because of all the things he’s said and he doesn’t know how to get himself out of the situation that he got himself into. It’s tough for him; but I think that would be the best thing to do.
If it ever turns out that I find out that I’m wrong.. I will absolutely – in a heartbeat – go to Mr. Adlestein, get down on my knees, I would beg for forgiveness, and I would say, “I”m sorry.”
What’s next for you?
I have to leave for the Philippines, I have family there – of course, they’re more important than this. My plans for the future are to come back from the Philippines, in March. I plan to be here at Hustler Casino, I plan to have my signs, and I plan to continue to try to get the message out.
And before I forget, I wanted to say to Robbi: Robbi, if ever you feel you want me to stop, you just say stop and I will go away and I will never ever post another thing about this. I hope that doesn’t happen. But if for some reason I’m embarrassing you, or maybe you think I’m not helping your cause, just say, “Mr. Sign Guy – it’s time to go away…” and I’m gone. You’ll never hear from me again. This is about you, Robbi. I’ll go away as just quick as I got here.
CONCLUSION
Also contributing to sparking the J4 debate all over again are the rumors of the possible return of Garret Adelstein to livestream poker later this week. No matter what anyone thinks happened on HCL’s livestream on September 28th, 2022, or since — and no matter any opinions of who’s right and who’s wrong — one man from Canada simply decided to take his sign to the streets of poker.
Hustler Casino Live, owned and operated by High Stakes Poker Productions, broadcasts their free live stream on YouTube from Los Angeles, California, Monday through Friday starting at 5 p.m. PST.
