Poker Player Mistakenly Sends $21K In Crypto; MonkerGuy Says Money Will Be Repaid
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This story was updated on Jan. 1.
Over the holidays, German high-stakes pro Daniel Smiljkovic publicly accused MonkerGuy of keeping $21,744 that Smiljkovic had mistakenly sent in a cryptocurrency exchange, while MonkerGuy denied ever receiving the money.
MonkerGuy is a poker service that lets players request game-theory optimal (GTO) simulations or rent servers to help them "play mathematically perfect strategy from UTG to Big Blind."
MonkerGuy said the money had been sent to a friend's exchange account and later agreed to repay Smiljkovic in full.
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Money Sent to Wrong Crypto Address
Smiljkovic, a pro best known by his online poker username "SmilleThHero", wrote in a Two Plus Two post that he tried to send a friend $21,744 in a crypto exchange about a month ago. Smiljkovic accidentally sent the money to the previously used crypto address, "which was the one I uses to pay for MonkerGuy."
Smiljkovic, who recently finished third in the $25,000 GGMillion$ High Rollers Championship at WSOP Paradise, said he texted MonkerGuy to ask about the money "and at first he said he never received it."
"I checked on the blockchain and the money had been transferred to an exchange an hour after it arrived," Smiljkovic wrote on Dec. 25. "I confronted him about it and he now said the address belonged to a friend. He then also said, his friends account got freezed for KYC (Know Your Customer) purposes. I have asked about who that friend was, what exchange it was, …. MonkerGuy has decided not to answer any of those questions."
In an email exchange, MonkerGuy told Smiljkovic that the money had been sent to a friend's exchange account that had been locked.
"I asked him about the $21k and he says he doesn't have access to that wallet any more / didn't receive $21k." MonkerGuy wrote, according to a screenshot shared on Two Plus Two. "I'm trying to find out exactly what this means and how to get the $ back now."
In a follow-up email, MonkerGuy offered Smiljkovic a discount of $200/month on his server rental to make things right, an offer that the German pro did not take kindly to.
"Not going to happen," Smiljkovic replied.
Poker Community Responds
Many Two Plus Two users sided with Smiljkovic over the dispute. "This is super shady, if the whole kyc frozen wallet thing is true he should be very transparent about it and provide proof," wrote one user. "Not a good look!"
"Dude really wants to kill his business and trust within the community over this?" another user wrote.
A few prominent poker personalities weighed in on social media, including Lodge owner and content creator Doug Polk.
"This is actually ridiculous," wrote prominent online pro Alex Theologis.
MonkerGuy noted on X that the crypto address the money went to "wasn't a MonkerGuy wallet, we often trade USDT for PayPal to pay for servers and often use different addresses and have payments sent to different people."
"Smille realized his mistake 3 days later, told us what happened and asked us to return the USDT," wrote MonkerGuy. "We have been trying to resolve the issue and get the money back for him."
Other players, including high-stakes pro Chris Brewer, were more empathetic of MonkerGuy.
"From an outside perspective it seems like MonkerGuy story doesn’t feel made up," Brewer wrote on X. "I lean towards not believing that he is ruining his business for a poorly attempted 21k theft."
MonkerGuy did not respond to a request for comment from PokerNews at the time of publication.
On Jan. 1, MonkerGuy posted to X that they had "come to an agreement with the person who received $21744 USDT, sent by mistake."
"The money will be repaid in full," MonkerGuy wrote in a post that was re-shared by Smiljkovic.
*Images courtesy of "smille1337" via Two Plus Two.
