Poker bad boy Nicholas ‘NickyP’ Palma has made the headlines once again, accused of scamming friends of Chicago pro Ralph Massey, and responding with a foul-mouthed tirade after Massey went public via a series of Twitter polls and posts…
A well known scammer/thief has recently stolen from 2 of my close friends after swearing he would right his wrongs and be a better person. In one case he begged for a free roll and then kept all the money after cashing. What should I do?
— ralph massey (@TheSilverStash) January 17, 2020
Massey stood by his Twitter followers’ votes and named Palma later that day, stating: ‘If you’ve been scammed or stiffed by Palma, know you’re not getting paid…’
If you’ve been scammed or stiffed by Palma, know you’re not getting paid and can substantiate your claims with text/DM’s slide in and give me the details. Measures are being taken and order wil be restored.
— ralph massey (@TheSilverStash) January 17, 2020
New York-born Palma, who has serious previous when it comes to being accused of scamming, and worse as we will see, responded in typically aggressive fashion…
— ralph massey (@TheSilverStash) January 17, 2020
It wasn’t long before others started piling in on Palma, with the well-known Connecticut pro Luke Vrabel, aka ‘slayamericainc’, joining in…
https://twitter.com/slayAbides/status/1218249881241845760?s=20
Palma’s previous for ‘scamming’
Palma was the subject of some serious discussion back in the summer of 2018, Tim Reilly outing him with a lengthy description of his dealings with Palma…
This post is long overdue. It’s time we take a stand against people that hurt our community. Do the right thing and get the word out. pic.twitter.com/Vseb1J50V4
— Tim Reilly 🇺🇸🇮🇪🇫🇷 (@TimReillyPoker) June 3, 2018
Foxen, Kessler and an 86 for Palma
That led to poker staking site, You Stake, 86’ing Palma and some very well-known pros also admitted to being scammed by Palma.
Actions taken today by YouStake – thank you to the community for speaking out. We do our best to vet all players that use our site, based on currently available information. We have never had an instance of YouStake backers not being paid and want to keep it that way. pic.twitter.com/Tlb8lr0aKh
— YouStake (@YouStake) June 3, 2018
Palma was adamant that they had got things wrong, however, replying: ‘I sold 62 percent of this event and played for 38 percent and can show who invested in me and my hhs from the tournament.
He added: ‘I have never oversold or scammed anyone. I have owed people money though and took the time to pay them.’
However, Alex Foxen, the Canadian double-GPI winner, stated on Twitter: ‘Sad to say I was another victim of this. Thought it was a one-off event and warned those whom I knew did business w him.
‘Apologies to any who got [got] because I didn’t say anything publicly. I still like to think that Nicky p was never malicious in his actions but maybe naïve’.
Allen ‘Chainsaw’ Kessler was another victim, although Palma’s habit of deleting tweets makes things difficult to follow at times.
This is an outright lie. Not sure why you're even bringing this up. My reputation is untarnished. I didnt receive the funds from @WAFoxen as promised. He didnt even know about it. I had @NickPupillo54 wait in ac for you to cash or I may never have gotten paid back apparently. https://t.co/zZt4xfsVtb
— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) June 4, 2018
Sexual assault and robbery claims
There was worse to come, as ex-girlfriend Stephanie Hubbard made laid some serious allegations against Palma…
No Ross it’s not at all. I was probably the 1st victim back in 2012.. except I got hit, sexually assaulted and robbed as well. I made my case known way back when this happened and basically was ignored by the entire poker community. Just glad the truth is eventually coming out.
— Stephanie Rivkin (Hubbard) (@StephHub31) June 3, 2018
Palma refuted Hubbard’s allegations, but there were others, including that he had punched a girl in the face outside a nightclub at Foxwoods after she attempted to stop him for allegedly bashing her gay friend.
Again, as with the other claims, Palma denied that these incidents happened as described, although he threatened Reilly publicly during the Twitter slanging match, posting: ‘I’ll tell u this much Timmy your gonna catch a slap in the face now. Keep it up’.
Palma later apologized publicly for his behavior…
just want to sorry to anyone ive ever lashed out at fair or unwarranted… time to grow up were all human. ive formed alot of good relationships over the years and the last few months have hurt me very much .. just going to live right and work hard.. sorry everyone
— NICKY P 🧙♂️ (@nicholas_palma) August 4, 2018
Freerolls and failure to pay up
The most recent allegations of scamming seem to revolve around Palma being given a freeroll by one of Massey’s friends, Massey explaining in a tweet: ‘Begging someone for a free roll, cashing and then keeping the $$ is incredibly scummy and it is a big deal’.
Not everyone was deadest against Palma, however, a supportive tweet claiming he had paid at least one debt off…
https://twitter.com/nicholas_palma/status/1218232413756829706?s=20
Palma’s Hendon Mob listing shows that he has lifetime tournament cashes totaling $1,528,681 going back almost ten years.
His biggest recorded score is $98,261 for taking down the Borgata Fall Poker Open in Atlantic City in 2015.
More recently, and more germane to the recent allegations, Palma scored a 10th place cash worth $17,081.
It came in this month’s $1100 buy-in WPTDeepstacks Main Event at the Lucky Hearts Poker Open in Hollywood, Florida.
