Poker Condoms

‘I have better things to do than worry about what these retards want to think about me.’It wasn’t a cheese and pickle sandwich. It wasn’t egg salad or cucumber either.

If you really want to know what kind of sandwich it was that led to Luke “__FullFlush1__” Schwartz being barred from Grosvenor Casinos in the UK for the second time, he’ll be glad to tell you it was actually smoked salmon.

But the high-stakes London loudmouth, whose reputation for his own personal visceral brand of chat and confrontational attitude may actually exceed that of his considerable poker skill, doesn’t really understand why you want to know.

“There’s like 44 pages on the topic of this sandwich on the forums,” he said. “There must be a billion spastic idiots sitting there so tilted by me for no reason at all. They’re there writing about me all day, it’s hilarious.”

As of press time, the Two Plus Two forum’s “Sandwichgate” thread had more than 230 posts and 33,000 views.

All of this over a smoked salmon sandwich?

“It’s all these guys with $1 in their Full Tilt accounts banging away on the rail of the high-stakes games asking for a $5 transfer,” Schwartz said. “I have better things to do than worry about what these retards want to think about me, but I do think it’s funny the way they get so worked up hating on me.”

The truth is, Schwartz did take the sandwich from the food stands outside the tournament area at the European Poker Tour’s London leg, but he believes he was more than entitled to.

“I’d just been three-outed to bust from the EPT on Day 2,” he explained. “I was steaming. There was a long queue to pay for food and I was fucked if I was going to wait in it.

‘Who fucking cares about a five pound sandwich? It should be free.’

“All the fucking swings in poker, the beats, the coolers, they build up after a while. So I was frustrated, yeah, but it’s still not a crime. It’s a fucking sandwich. I’d just paid like £30,000 to play in the High Roller and the EPT. That’s like £1000 in rake. Who fucking cares about a five pound sandwich? It should be free.”

Schwartz previously told PokerListings he had been banned from Grosvenor’s flagship property, The Vic, after refusing to take his hat off inside the casino. After promoter and TV producer Eddie Hearn vouched for him, the ban was lifted, allowing Schwartz to play at the London Metropole for EPT London, which was run by staff from The Vic.

But even though the ban has been reinstated and a warning given to Schwartz by the EPT, he doesn’t seem to be sweating it.

“I don’t care anyway,” he said. “I’ll probably be allowed back in before long. Or else I’ll give them loads of bad press until they have to let me back me in.”

According to PartyPoker, the sandwich incident actually led to a delay in the start of Schwartz’ heat in last week’s PartyPoker World Open V.

Apparently the Palm Beach Casino in Mayfair refused him entry until tournament organizers agreed to escort him around the premises and accept responsible for his behaviour.

Schwartz won his heat and is on to Thursday’s final where a $250,000 first-place prize hangs in the balance. PartyPoker is still claiming he may be refused entry to play, but Schwartz isn’t buying it.

“It’s bullshit,” Schwartz said. “I’m in the final. Of course they’re going to let me play. They don’t have much of a choice and I’m going to smash it up. I’m going to win it.”