A Poker Player Apologizes for Lying About Cancer to Enter World Series of Poker

A poker player who told a tall tale about having terminal cancer just to raise enough money to enter the prestigious World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas is now expressing remorse for his fib. Rob Mercer, a 37-year-old from Vallejo, California, concocted the story back in June, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in a desperate attempt to gather the $10,000 buy-in fee.

Mercer set up a GoFundMe campaign and surprisingly managed to collect between $30,000 and $50,000 from sympathetic donors, allowing him to secure a spot in the tournament. However, his behavior during the event raised suspicions within the poker community. Mercer provided evasive answers about his illness and failed to provide concrete evidence of his supposed terminal colon cancer diagnosis.

Furthermore, witnesses claimed to have seen him gambling at a casino, which didn’t align with his claim of being gravely ill. When confronted about the inconsistency, Mercer became defensive. Eventually, he came clean and admitted that he shouldn’t have lied about having colon cancer, stating that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision when someone asked about his cancer type.

However, Mercer maintains that his story wasn’t entirely fabricated. He now claims to believe that he has undiagnosed breast cancer and made up the colon cancer tale out of embarrassment, as breast cancer is less common in men.

Despite his confession, Mercer has no plans to return the money he obtained through his GoFundMe campaign, citing his belief in having another form of cancer as justification. Moreover, he stated that his health has deteriorated to the extent that he is no longer able to play poker and spends most of his day in bed.

“At the end of the day, I lied to a lot of people because I was scared to tell the truth,” Mercer admitted. “And I guess I’ll have to pay for that.”