Remaining silent
Professional poker player Anthony Zinno has been accused of stealing $20,000 from a backpack at Encore Las Vegas.
video footage allegedly captured Zinno taking the backpack into a restroom
Allegations are circulating that Zinno took a backpack that belonged to a man named Corel Theuma. Casino video footage allegedly captured Zinno taking the backpack into a restroom. He has also reportedly been banned from Encore and all Wynn properties and is currently under investigation.
Nothing has been posted on Zinno’s X account about the matter and he has not addressed the allegations.
Prior to this, Zinno had a good reputation in the poker world. And he has been one of the best tournament players in the world for the past decade – he has won four WSOP bracelets and three WPT titles, won the WPT Season XIII Player of the Year award, and has nearly $11.5m in career tournament earnings.
Zinno has had a slow few years of tournament earnings for someone of his stature, but it is still curious why he would allegedly steal $20,000.
Missing bag
The allegations date back to December 2023, but came to light over the weekend when briefly mentioned on the Only Friends poker podcast. The topic made its way to a 2+2 thread, where someone on a little-used account claimed to “know the victim, Corel…and believe the allegations to be 100% true.”
According to the poster, Theuma left his bag under a poker table and Zinno took it, later emptying it of the money inside. When he was caught, Zinno is reported to have admitted that he took the bag, but not the cash.
Another user said that he could confirmed that the story was true.
On Monday Theuma posted on X to tell his side of the story, starting with: “as the victim, I’m confirming it.”
According to Theuma, he accidentally left his bag under his chair in the poker room and only realized it when he was outside Encore waiting for a cab. He ran back inside to retrieve it, but it was gone. The next morning, he called lost and found and was told someone had returned the bag, but there was only $1,000 inside.
Theuma returned to collect his bag and file a police report. He continued, saying that same night, casino security called him to let him know that officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department were there and wanted to speak with him. When Theuma arrived, he saw that they had Zinno in custody and were questioning him.
His girlfriend’s bag?
In a write-up about the situation on his site Poker Fraud Alert, Todd Witteles relayed a DM from from a listener of his podcast who told him what Zinno is telling people. According to this person, Zinno said he thought the bag belonged to his girlfriend, a poker massage therapist, or one of her clients.
doesn’t answer the fact that $19,000 was missing from the backpack
He took the bag to the restroom and looked through it to try to figure out whose it was. When he couldn’t determine the owner, he took it to security. While possible, it doesn’t answer the fact that $19,000 was missing from the backpack when it was returned.
At the moment, all the poker community knows for sure is what Theuma has said, so hopefully more evidence, like the police report, is produced so the complete picture is revealed.