DETROIT — The arrest of former Pistons great Chauncey Billups for allegedly rigging high-stakes poker games has been deemed a bombshell since the news broke Thursday.

But you can count many in the poker community as those who weren't overly surprised.

Matt Berkey, a high-profile poker player, described on a podcast two years ago how he had heard Billups was involved in cheating at a high-stakes poker game, first in Los Angeles, then in Las Vegas. Berkey said on the "Only Friends Podcast" that he'd been invited to the game, but had heard too many horror stories from close friends.

Berkey, in the clip that resurfaced after Billups' arrest Thursday, described his invite to the game as being around 2019.

"Here was this game, it started in L.A., then it came to Vegas for a few days, and it was all built around Chauncey Billups," Berkey said on the podcast. "And I had heard about the game, and the person who told me about it was like, 'Look, I know the game runners, I'm telling you 100 percent this game is on the up and up.' ... And I was like, 'Well, I know a lot of the people that are involved and I'm telling you 100 percent that it is not on the up and up.

"I just wasn't going to go play it. ... I had some friends who went and played it. ... It obviously was like, for sure, confirmed to be cheating. People who clearly didn't even understand the rules of No Limit Hold'em (were winning).

"Only the pros are losing. ... It was basically confirmed amongst all the pros that the game was cheating, but there was no recourse, and they got absolutely filleted."

Pegging the game around 2019, that was during a time when Billups was between his playing and coaching careers.

Billups has been placed on leave as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers after he was arrested Thursday, as part of a years-long federal investigation into not just the alleged illegitimate high-stakes poker game but also alleged sports betting improprieties.

More than 30 people were arrested as part of the dual investigations, which are separate but have some overlap. Miami Heat player Terry Rozier was among those arrested.

Berkey, 43, from Pennsylvania, declined to comment to The Detroit News, but poker stars from Michigan didn't seen overly surprised by the news of Billups' alleged involvement in the high-stakes scheme. Ryan Riess, a Clarkston native and Michigan State alum who won the 2013 World Series of Poker Main Event, said cheating in big cash games isn't uncommon. Riess said he used to play a high-stakes game that included multiple celebrities, and cheating was eventually discovered — though in that case, the celebrities were victims, too.

"It's super sh----," Riess told The News on Friday. "People get greedy."

As for Billups' alleged involvement in rigged games, Riess, a huge Detroit sports fan who wore a Lions jersey at the final table when he won the Main Event in 2013, said, "It's super sad." Riess said he grew up a big fan of Billups.

While many casual poker players might've been surprised at the alleged level of sophistication to pull off the cheating in the Billups game — including, according to the federal indictment, a rigged shuffling machine, invisible ink to mark the cards, X-ray tables to see face-down cards, and high-tech contact lenses and glasses — Riess said he wasn't shocked. He's heard of the rigged shuffling machines, which can report which seat is going to get the winning hand.

Riess confirmed Berkey's assessment that there's not much recourse once cheating has been uncovered, other than "taking it on the chin." Riess said high-profile stars like Billups can be a big draw for deep-pocketed poker players, because, "It's super cool to play with celebrities."

"It's tough, too, whenever you're dealing with somebody high-profile like that, because they carry a lot of weight and hoard a lot of power," Berkey said in the 2023 podcast appearance. "So all you can do is kind of unite together and threaten to publicly out him or extort him in some capacity.

"Good luck."

In the case against Billups, who won an NBA championship with the Pistons in 2004 and was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2020, he was allegedly used as what game runners called a "face card," or someone who could draw in players with big money to gamble — and lose.

One unnamed victim, according to the feds this week, lost $1.8 million in the poker games allegedly held in New York around 2023. Feds allege each game netted the game runners, including those with Mafia ties, at least tens of thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Feds say the high-stakes poker games also took place at homes in the Hamptons and Miami, not in legalized gambling halls. There are more than 2,000 legal casinos, sportsbooks and gambling halls in the United States, where 38 states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized sports betting, and seven states have legalized online gambling.

Michigan has 26 land casinos, and has legalized sports betting and online gambling.

"It goes to show why regulation is so important," said Shelby Township's Joe Cada, the 2009 WSOP Main Event champ who isn't overly involved in the high-stokes or home-game poker scene.

"Just another cautionary tale, in my eyes."

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