Philip Wiszowaty on the dark side of poker in Hollywood

An Unfortunate Acquaintance

Philip Wiszowaty is a poker veteran, former Supernova Elite on PokerStars, and a 2024 WSOP cash game winner.

During the 2020 COVID lockdown, he met Michael "Meatball" Morton, an organizer of private poker games. After some time, Philip was invited to play $200/$400 PLO (with straddles and re-straddles) in Florida.

"I won on the first day, but on the second, I lost $1,076,000—the worst session of my life," Wiszowaty recalls.

For the next nine months, he was forced to work off his debt by grinding daily, but fortunately, "Meatball" decided to help him by backing. Philip lived with Michael's other "horses", and they all played poker apps from the same room, sharing information about their hands before making big decisions on the river.

However, despite witnessing cheating online, Philip is confident that all the live games Michael organized were fair.

The Glass Mansion and Shady Company

In the spring of 2021, Morton invited our hero, who had already paid off his debt, to a high-stakes game in Hollywood, held at the "Glass Mansion," a popular spot among celebrities. Philip himself began living in one of its rooms for $4,400 a month.

The house was rented by Craig Franz, the owner of a chain of strip clubs and Morton's partner. Games were held with buy-ins ranging from $5,000 to $15,000 and blinds starting at $50/$100, quickly escalating to $500/$1,000.

"Most of the people at the tables were involved in illegal activities. Many were Israelis and Armenians. There weren’t many celebrities, though—I played with Paul Pierce, Irv Gotti, and a couple of times with Arenas. I had 57.5% of my stake, Michael had 26.5%," Wiszowaty recalled.

In early August,Philip won $820,000 in a 36-hour session. The player double-checked his stack, took a photo of it, and took it to the cashier. But the next day, "Meatball" congratulated Wiszowaty on his $680,000 win.

The scam was obvious, but Filip decided to stay.

Million Dollar Heads-Up

On August 28, 2021, the game in a mansion descended into madness.

A man named Braden from Arizona was straddling $100,000. The full-ring game lasted 20-30 hours until just two players remained: Philip was up $440,000, while Idan Assayag was already down $400,000 but desperate to win back his chips.

"He was on tilt, smoke coming out of his ears. We agreed on $500/$1,000 heads-up, but he was straddling $2,000 every hand. I won another $800,000 from him."

Idan borrowed chips. Craig and Michael assured Philip he would receive his winnings later, but in reality, they hadn't paid the player even four years later.

When Wiszowaty tried to remind him of the debt, Morton got into a fight. After the incident, Philip was ordered to leave the mansion, despite having already paid the rent.

Threats, Letters, and the Shadow of the Mafia

In February 2022, Philip received a photo of a letter from Idan's lawyer to Craig, asking him to stop threatening his client.

The letter confirmed that Idan was invited to a private game in August 2021 and, while intoxicated with alcohol, lost and owed $1.2 million.

At first, they offered to reduce the total debt to $700,000 – in which case Idan would have to pay 150-200k upfront, followed by $10,000 monthly. This didn't satisfy the debtor, and they then demanded the entire payment at once.

Following the failed "negotiations," Idan began receiving threats from people acting on Craig's behalf beginning in mid-November 2021.

The Investigation and the Israeli Mafia

After Idan contacted the police. The investigation led authorities to an Israeli group linked to Evgeny Gershman, the right-hand man of the head of the Russian mafia in Israel.

Gershman helped collect poker debts and even threatened other debtors. After his arrest, weapons, including an AR-15, were found on him.

The LA Times wrote about "a man with a $1.2 million debt who was threatened with grenades" - Philip was certain this was Idan.

What happened to the debt is unknown. Wiszowaty believes the matter may have been "dealt with."

Philip was very surprised that the Israeli mafia was blamed for everything, while Craig and Mike got away with it, and wondered if they made some kind of deal with the feds.

This article was based on Doug Polk's podcast featuring Philip Wiszowaty.