It's no surprise that poker players bluff. It’s part of the game and the other players expect it.
But there is a difference between bluffing and flat-out lying and Rob Mercer allegedly crossed that line when he declared he had stage-4 colon cancer and began raising money to fund his treatment.
"I did lie about having colon cancer. I don’t have colon cancer. I used that to cover my situation," he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "What I did was wrong. I shouldn’t have told people I have colon cancer. I did that just as a spur-of-the-moment thing when someone asked me what kind of cancer I had.
Now, switching to the bluff, Mercer the newspaper said, “Mercer said he had no plans to return any of the money because he believes he has undiagnosed breast cancer. He said GoFundMe reached out to him to tell him he violated the terms of service and people who donated were reportedly told they would be getting refunds.”