Did High-Stakes Poker Pro Angle Shoot Recreational Player at WSOP?

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Jun 21, 2025 4 min read

A recreational poker player has accused a well-known Los Angeles high-stakes cash game pro of angle shooting during Day 1c of the $1,500 Millionaire Maker at the 2025 World Series of Poker.

Brent Philbin, who has $226,155 in live earnings according to The Hendon Mob, took to both X and the r/poker subreddit to call out GGPoker ambassador Andy Tsai — better known as Andy Stacks — for what he claims was unethical behavior at the table. Tsai, a regular on streamed cash games like Live at the Bike and Hustler Casino Live, quickly found himself at the center of a heated exchange.

The Hand in Question

The hand started with Philbin raising preflop with 7♦7♠ from early position with Tsai flatting his Q♥Q♠ in the big blind.

Tsai checked his overpair on the 6♥5♦5♠, and Philbin continued for another 4,000. Tsai raised to 7,500 but was informed this was not a legal raise size and was forced to make it 8,000. Philbin responded by making it 29,000 and after a several minute tank, Tsai jammed for around 72,000 and was snapped off by Philbin, who covered.

The board ran out with the 3♣A♣ and Tsai took in the pot.

Philbin would later bust the starting flight with Tsai bagging a stack of 196,000 for Day 2, which begins on June 22.

Fallout Spills to Social Media

Philbin, a self-described "rec" who has "comfortably beaten 2/5NL and some 5/10", said he was done with playing the WSOP for the summer after the hand, writing in his Reddit post:

I end up at a table I know I’m outclassed at: Mike Holz, Eugene Katchalov, Brian Green all to my left. Everyone else seems competent. Then Andy Stacks shows up with a GG patch, custom avatar, and a camera crew. Cool—another crusher.

We get into a hand. I open, he’s in the BB, and TANKS preflop for like a full minute. Then TANKS again on the flop before checking. I bet, he TANKS again, then puts in 7.5k on my 4k bet—not a legal raise. Doesn’t say anything. Dealer’s confused. I'm used to helping out in these confused dealer spots, so I just clarify to make it 8k and move on. It's probably an angle, and when I saw the outcome of the hand I was more certain that it was, I 3 bet, he tanks forever again, then shoves. I make a bad call and lose.

I told him afterward that I hated the way he plays—not the line, but the excessive tanking and the angle-y stuff. He denies angling, I say I don’t believe him. He gives me the ol’ “sorry you feel that way.” To his credit, he picked up the pace after that.

When I walk away, I hear the table laughing and talking about my bad hands. And that’s fine—I am a rec. I wasn’t planning on grinding Day 2 with crumbs. I just wanted to play, have fun, and maybe run good. But here’s what they don’t get: I’m done.

Tsai defended himself on his own X account, where he shared footage of the hand. However, it's worth noting that the clip doesn't include the moment he made the illegal raise. It begins with 8,000 already out in front of him.

"He busted later then decided to post on X, accusing me of angle shooting, also writing a lengthy Reddit post about it," Tsai wrote in his X post. "Here’s a clip of the hand (again, sry for the long tank.) I told him I only play like 2 tourneys/year in the past. If I was better at tourneys, this hand wouldn’t have taken this long.

"Looking back, I think we both played this hand terribly. But the term angle shooting gets thrown around way too liberally these days."

At the end of the video, the two foes are heard jousting; however, some of the audio is unclear due to the background noise.

"I hate everything about the way you play poker," Philbin said. "The excessive tank, the angle-shot with the check-raise."

"You think that was an angle?" replied Tsai.

"I think you understand what a minimum raise is," Philbin added before some more words were exchanged.

"Andy Stacks" isn't known for his tournament prowess. He has just $154,000 in live tournament cashes, according to The Hendon Mob, largely because he rarely participates in tournaments. The poker pro is primarily a cash game grinder and is known for competing against some of the top high rollers in Southern California, including Garrett Adelstein and Art Papazyan.

Was this just a case of sour grapes or did Philbin have a legitimate argument against the GGPoker ambassador? Let us know what you think in the poll below.

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Calum has been a part of the PokerNews team since September 2021 after working in the UK energy sector. He played his first hand of poker in 2017 and immediately fell in love with the game. Calum has written for various poker outlets but found his home at PokerNews, where he has contributed to various articles and live updates, providing insights and reporting on major poker events, including the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

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