Harnam Matharu was enjoying a great deal of success while playing the Fallsview Poker Classic, which was being hosted at the Fallsview Casino, Niagara Falls, Ontario. He bought into the tournament for a buy-in of $1,100 and began playing for his share of a guaranteed prize pool of $5 million. The Fallsview Poker Classic attracts some of the top poker players in the world.
Having won around $7,000 in the course of his career, Matharu is one of the top poker players. He beat a field of 600 players and reached the final table. Brian Friesen, a poker player hailing from Winnipeg, said: “You sometimes wait your whole life for an opportunity like that. It’s a big tournament and hard to win.”
Unfortunately for Matharu, a few players felt that they had seen him at Kahnawake in Quebec, where a poker player had $5,000 stolen off him. The assault and robbery was captured on the motel’s cameras, but the thief escaped. Ever since, the police had launched a manhunt for him.
One of the players took a picture of Matharu on his mobile phone and sent it to Uri Miro, the victim of the robbery and assault. Miro replied saying that it looked like the thief.
Unaware of all these developments, Matharu played on. When it was time for dinner break, he held the largest stack of chips. However, officials of the Ontario Provincial Police’s Casino Enforcement Unit arrived at that moment, handcuffed him, and led him away.
Matharu has already been interrogated and he will be produced before a court soon.
Meanwhile, the other finalists continued the game. Although they were surprised at Matharu’s absence, they maintained his hand and kept track of his blinds and antes. When the game came to end, Matharu had finished third and won $80,000.
