'Secret' Poker Ledger Shows Who Tom Goldstein Won and Lost Against
Some of embattled lawyer Tom Goldstein's most high-profile opponents were named in court this week, including two-time Poker Players Championship winner Dan "Jungleman" Cates and billionaire Silicon Valley investor Chamath Palihapitiya.
Goldstein's high-stakes heads-up matches, which began in 2016, are the subject of a January 2025 indictment accusing him of tax fraud and lying to mortgage lenders. Some of his poker opponents were identified earlier in the trial, including billionaire Alec Gores, real estate mogul Bob Safai and two Asian gamblers called "Tango" and "Chairman."
Now, additional names are coming out after federal prosecutors introduced an evidence exhibit that they are calling Goldstein's "secret poker ledger." The names include Cates and Palihapitiya, as well as World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet winner Tony Gregg and high roller Alfred Decarolis.
PokerNews was in Maryland last week covering Week 4 of the trial, which is expected to wrap up in mid-February.
Poker Ledger Revealed at Trial
The new names of opponents were revealed during the Feb. 5 cross-examination of Zachary Marks, a forensic accountant and expert witness for the defense. Marks testified that Goldstein's accountant, Walter Deyhle of Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman CPAs, hadn't asked the right questions.
But US Department of Justice prosecutors countered that Goldstein had never shown Deyhle his poker ledger.
"You've never seen Mr. Goldstein's secret poker ledger, have you?" a prosecutor asked Marks.
“I don’t know if this is a gambling ledger, and I don’t know who it was shared with," he replied.
In a later court filing obtained by PokerNews, prosecutors wrote that "Mr. Marks was so laser focused on Gelman that he could not give intelligible answers to simple questions about Goldstein’s failure to report poker winnings" and "did not know that Goldstein's poker ledgers ... were in fact poker ledgers."
"In other words, after Goldstein chose not to provide the poker ledgers to Mr. Deyhle in 2016 and 2017, he again chose not to provide the poker ledgers to the expert witness he picked to criticize Mr. Deyhle’s and Gelman’s work," prosecutors wrote.
Goldstein Played "Jungleman," California Businessmen
Goldstein had an incredible year of poker in 2016 — he won $50 million in heads-up matches against Alec Gores and two Asian gamblers — but his year closed out with some losses that hadn't been previously reported on.
For instance, a December 2016 entry in Goldstein's poker ledger shows that he sent $750,000 to Dan "Jungleman" Cates, apparently to cover a poker loss. A note on the ledger states that the transaction is related to "Last Manila Trip."
Cates, who has $18.8 million in Hendon Mob earnings, is widely recognized as one of the top heads-up poker players in the world. Last year, Cates won $15 million in three consecutive heads-up matches at Onyx Super High Roller Series Cyprus.
Also in December 2016, Goldstein logged an entry showing that he paid $60,000 to Tony Gregg, including a note to "Come Up w/ Date For Heads-Up."
Gregg is a Washington, D.C.-based poker pro with $12.8 million in live earnings. In addition to being a WSOP bracelet winner and World Poker Tour (WPT) champion, he finished runner-up in both the 2009 and 2016 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure Main Events, as well as 11th in the 2015 WSOP Main Event for $750,000.
Yet another December 2016 entry shows that Goldstein paid billionaire tech investor Chamath Palihapitiya $176,000 from an undated heads-up match.
Palihapitiya, a host of the All-In Podcast, is a longtime poker player and close friend of all-time bracelet leader Phil Hellmuth. Palihapitiya, who PokerNews interviewed at the 2023 WSOP, occasionally plays tournaments but mainly plays high-stakes private games.
Goldstein also may have faced off against high roller Alfred Decarolis, a California businessman with $3.1 million in live earnings, most of which came from a seventh-place finish in the 2019 Triton Million for Charity in London for $2 million. The ledger includes a December 2016 entry in the loss column with Decarolis' name, but entry doesn't list a dollar amount or any notes.
The ledger also breaks down Goldstein's matches against Alec Gores, which produced his biggest-ever win of $26.4 million. He first beat the billionaire for $9 million in November 2016 before winning nearly double that, $17.4 million, the following month.
Additionally, the ledger shows Goldstein won $750,000 in an October 2016 match against an unidentified opponent, and lists funds he received and returned from Stewart Resnick, a California billionaire who gave him a $10 million line of credit for poker games.
Goldstein claims to have won $88 million overall in heads-up poker matches, most of which he says went to his financial backers. Some of those payments to backers are documented in the ledger, including payments to his coaches Keith Gipson and Andrew Robl, both of whom testified in the trial.
Other high-profile opponents of Goldstein that have been revealed during his trial include high roller Rick Salomon, actor Kevin Hart and Texas billionaire Andy Beal. Robl testified that he had a piece of Goldstein's action in the match against Beal and is still owed his share.
Tom Goldstein's "Secret Poker Ledger"
Funded
| Date | Name | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/16 | Stewart Resnick | $1,200,000 |
Returned
| Date | Name | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Stewart Resnick | $100,000 | |
| 2016 | Stewart Resnick | $100,000 | |
| 2016 | Stewart Resnick | $1,300,000 |
Money In
| Date | Name | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12/16 | Alec Gores | $17,400,000 | Heads-Up Match |
| 11/16 | Alec Gores | $9,000,000 | Heads-Up Match |
| 10/16 | ? | $750,000 | Come Up w/ Date For Heads-Up |
| 8/16 | Andrew Robl | $50,000 | Return from Robl |
Money Out
| Date | Name | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/17 | Bob Safai | $770,000 | Prior Loss |
| 12/16 | Bob Safai | $1,600,000 | Dec. 12 Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | Daniel Cates | $750,000 | Last Manila Trip |
| 12/16 | Andrew Robl | $403,000 | Share of Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | Keith Gipson | $178,000 | Share of Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | N/A | $1,300,000 | |
| 12/16 | N/A | $1,000,000 | |
| 12/16 | Tony Gregg | $60,000 | Come Up w/ Date For Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | Chamath Palihapitiya | $176,000 | Come Up w/ Date For Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | Andrew Robl | $2,900,000 | Share of Heads-Up |
| 12/16 | Alfred Decarolis | ? | ? |
