Court Case Reveals Ex-NFL Player's Terrible Poker Skills

Former NFL running back Anthony Hutchison is on trial in Houston for bribery and fraud charges. The trial details also paint the Houston businessman as a pretty poor poker player.

Hutchison allegedly used falsified tax returns, leveraged his construction company, and bribed employees with the Houston Independent School District so that his companies won landscaping and maintenance contracts.

His poker prowess, or lack thereof, also took center stage in testimony this week.

Houston poker pro Ayaz Mahmood has nearly $1.8 million in poker tournament winnings, including a World Series of Poker bracelet, and took the stand to testify about games involving Hutchison. He said that he regularly played pot limit Omaha games with the businessman, and Hutchison lost “99% of the time.”

“He would chase it,” Mahmood said of Hutchison’s play. “We call it poker tilt, which means if you’re losing, you chase it and try to make your money back.”

Mahmood said the group played a couple of times a week, and the defendant once lost $300,000 in a session. He later described Hutchinson’s poker skills as “Not too good.”

Hutchison played football at Texas Tech and was drafted by the Chicago Bears in 1983. He also played for the Buffalo Bills during his four-year stint in the NFL.

This is not his first run-in with the law regarding some of his business interests. According to the Houston Chronicle, he was convicted of bribery, conspiracy with intent to commit bribery, two counts of presenting counterfeit government documents, and one count of harboring illegal aliens in 1989. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail, followed by eight months of home detention and five years of probation. He also paid a $2,000 fine.

In the current trial, Hutchison has pleaded not guilty and is represented by famed Texas defense lawyer Rusty Hardin.

Poker has been a part of several interesting criminal cases of the last few months, including a Michigan businessman and poker player facing fraud charges and possibly faking his kidnapping.

Supreme Court attorney, SCOTUSblog co-founder, and high-stakes poker player Tom Goldstein also faces tax evasion charges, falsifying tax returns, failing to pay taxes, and making false statements to two mortgage lenders regarding high-stakes poker winnings.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock

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