The poker community is angry and hurt after they say an amateur player from Vallejo pretended to have cancer to get sympathy and money. Jodi Hernandez reports.
A poker community is angry and hurt after they say an amateur player from Vallejo pretended to have cancer to get sympathy and money.
“Who would lie about having stage four colon cancer?” said Doug Parscal Jr., an amateur poker player and a fundraising donor.
Parscal says he can’t believe a man the poker community rallied to support duped them.
After learning about Vallejo man Rob Mercer, who claimed to have terminal colon cancer, Parscal convinced some social media influencers and fellow poker players to share his story.
Supporters shared Mercer’s GoFundMe and held telethons, raising enough cash to send him and another man with a terminal illness to the World Series of Poker Main Event in Las Vegas.
“I really, truly believe there isn’t someone more upset about it than I am,” said Cody Daniels, an amateur poker player and a fundraising recipient.
Daniels, 29, has been battling a life-threatening illness that requires a feeding tube. He says it was his lifelong dream to play in the tournament.
Daniels added that he was happy to share the experience with Mercer and even donated $2,500 of his winnings to the man. But he said that something didn’t quite add up.
“The only word that comes to mind is just sad. It’s just sad,” Daniels said.
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This week, Daniels said Mercer confessed in a text message he lied, claiming he actually thinks he has breast cancer but hasn’t been diagnosed.
“He sent that full confession to me saying, 'Look, I’m sorry. I did it. I own up to it and I think I have undiagnosed breast cancer as opposed to colon cancer,'" he said.
GoFundMe has pledged to repay everyone. But many people like Parscal donated privately. He says Mercer may be great at bluffing but he’s not welcome at the poker table any longer.
“it’s just sad. It’s truly sad that he used cancer as a guise to get all that money. Because we’ve all been affected by someone with cancer,” Parscal said.
NBC Bay Area tried to reach out to Mercer but he did not reply.
