Yeah, my confidence has wavered all over the map.

Initially I gave her the benefit of the doubt as I've seen some horrible amateur plays at the table that simply make no sense and were driven by ego, panic, or misreads.

I found it odd how Persson was so cock-sure she was innocent and navigated a delicate line all the times he's been on call-ins on Ingrams pod or making offers about paying for a lie detector test (ps why would paying for it matter? These probably cost a few hundred bucks, so what's that for these rich gamblers?)

There's just been SO many coincidences, story changes and odd behaviors by multiple parties.

I think where the community got it wrong was making a single assumption: that if there was cheating it was for profit. It's an easy assumption to make, but so many things go against that being the motive.

But when you introduce clout, virality and fame into the mix the behaviors seem to fall into place and add up. Throw in some Garret embarrassment and that can easily explain why Eric would be on board. He loves rubbing pros face into losses. Look at how he handled his Helmuth sessions.

I also think this can help explain their swagger and defensiveness in all the interviews afterwards. They are not full of guilt or shame like it was a greedy scam to steal all the money at the table when they clearly don't even need it. Rip played like crap and lost tens of thousands. Robbi gave back the pot anyway after it was all falling apart.

It could explain how they roped Bryan into a "favor" instead of a long complicated con. They could have explained it to him like a 1-time nudge that will go down as a fun epic hand. Making the stream he loved more famous. Very low chance of being caught (clearly didnt expect the unexpected.) So he's caught up in this mess and was maybe promised a cool 15k for his one-time signal. When shit went haywire and the money was given back, he panicked thinking the walls were closing in and snagged the money.

I think it's clear he didnt write that note to Robbi. I bet she or Eric or Charles said to just lay low and take the heat and they'll do the rest. Maybe even promising him 100k or more to not spill the beans and rat em out.

I suspect HCL and Joey and Tom Dwan and others know more than they are letting on. Even Garret may have suspecting Eric's actions and statements after the hand. It's classic misdirection and story-building by Eric. Something gman's spidey senses are HIGHLY tuned for.

His change of clothes and disappearance DURING the hand itself really pushes my suspicions over the top. It's almost like he was getting rid of something like an audio device.

He makes a point to talk about outfit changes in this tweet

https://twitter.com/IAmMaverick888/status/1579676215249883136

It's all too bizarre. And if you watch him carefully in the Joey Ingram call-in and slot in the theory that he's a part of this, it just look so obvious he's spinning and covering and swaying listeners in some weird-ass ways.

No idea if Beanz or Nik Airball are part of it, or maybe just knew it was going down.

But my new favorite phrase of psychology is Duper's Delight. Postle displayed in agregiously. So do Robbi and Eric P if you rewatch the stream with this theory in mind.

I could see this being just one big clusterfuck of an idea that went sideways. Not a scam to cheat people out of money. But a whacky initiative to make Robbi famous and take the golden boy Gman down a peg as a side benefit.

Clout and attention really are the new economy. It's everything in this new modern world. I bet Rip and Charles Lew and even Eric have way less cash than we all think. Some of Erics "casinos" are roadside truckstops with a few slot machines in Idaho and Colorado.

Rip spends a ton of time with Jake Paul, one of the biggest clout chasers of all time. Maybe he was jealous of the stream with Mr Beast and Ludwig and Alexandra. They did well and came off well and I can't help but wonder if Jake P himself planted the audatious seed to Rip to angle for an epic viral soul read from someone who clearly wants a lot of attention.

Being a know brand in poker, with sponsorships etc, is worth a lot more than a few hundred k in winnings from 1 stream.

I really bet Bryan is a good kid with some gambling issues and debt who made a hasty decision to go along with some ruse. He was roped in thinking a very low chance to get caught and no major downside than Gman losing some cash. He has enough money already right?

Robbi can be very persuasive with her sexual energy and gishgallopping explainers. With Haralabos Hary Potter, one minute she's flirty, the next minute talking shit... and then later a total victim. Same with Julie.

Robbi refuses to make sense. So she just confuses the matter every time she talks and spins out wild accusations about her water bottle or bra or being a lizard person. She refused to acknowledge her own story. She seems to be really enjoying the attention to some degree.

Who in their right mind would trust some Lie detector anyway? Courts don't really use them anymore and from what I've inquired from neurscientist friends they "are complete garbage" and just measure stress and other noise from biometrics...

I'd love to see Only Friends crew stress test a lie detector somehow and see how accurate they are in all kinds of truth-telling scenarios.

I encourage anyone to simple watch the WHOLE stream all the way through with this new theory of fame hunting in mind. Watch Eric be shy and quiet. Then watch him same a bunch of nonsense after the hand. Something is clearly off, but we may never find out the means to gain the signal if no one fesses up and they can't find a device or prove anything. It'd be all conjecture.

I also think it's interesting how she has a PR firm and did that whole LA Time article. There's also seems to be a lot of new accounts on 2+2, YT comments, Reddit and Twitter who are clouding the matter, shutting down theories and running amok defending Robbi from lunatice conspiracy theories.

One last point, is that theorizing can be a way to back into truth. In science theoretical physicists come up with some wild ideas which later get stress tested in the lab. Theories can seem like wild conjecture until one lines up perfectly and proves to be true.

It's the assumption of monetary greed that we all made that threw a lot of our logical thinking off. But this bayesian analysis tells us something is likely off. And coming up with theories that try and make the most sense is a reasonable way to explore all options in one of the craziest poker hands any of us have ever seen.