Samuel McMaster Jr.

Most of you probably won’t remember the name Samuel McMaster jr. However, some of you will no doubt remember that piece of news that came out a few months ago about a scam artist who was sentenced by the court to prison unless he could win enough money to pay off his debts through poker.

Make or Break

Samuel McMaster Jr. probably thought it was a great idea to cheat people off of their money in order to make himself rich. He posed as a stockbroker and encouraged people to invest their savings with him. However, he took all that money, ran, and – get this – he gambled it all away. Of course, it didn’t take much time to expose McMaster for the fraud that he was. He was eventually found guilty but was given the opportunity to stay out of jail. He has to do this by – and this is the best part – gambling! He told the court that he was a poker professional so the judge decided to give him a chance. He would travel all over the states and try to win back the money he stole by playing poker. Now, he had to win $7,500 each month so that he could begin to pay back the $444,000 that he stole from all those people.

It was an interesting story, no doubt – one which made you feel ambivalent about whether you’d root for the guy or wish him bad luck. Well, now it doesn’t matter either way because McMaster’s journey is over.

The Day of Judgment

McMaster apparently was no Phil Ivey. He hadn’t managed to win a single penny during the six months that he went traipsing around the state and playing poker. Not one bit of the money was paid back to the victims and now McMaster will be going to jail. He did get a little extra from all the poker he’s been playing, though – a test on gambling addiction. The New Mexico district has decided that McMaster’s fixation on gambling may be pathologic and he might just have become a gambling addict. This would, without a doubt, make his sentence even worse. He’s facing twelve years in prison right now and things are not looking up for him.

You’ve got to give him credit, though, for managing to get a “last hoorah” before finally settling in to rot in prison for over a decade.

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