Many poker news sites have today ran the story of an 8-year old Indian boy who supposedly won $500,000 in online poker. However, it's looking increasingly likely the story is a hoax.


According to the story, 8-year old Aashish Nanak won $500,000 in online poker but the site which is not named for "legal reasons" refuses to pay him. Supposedly the boy is a little computer wizard who was running his own web page at age 4 and started playing poker at age 6 on an account set up in his uncle's name. Allegedly the site refuses to pay because the boy is underage, but the lawyers representing his family have taken the case to a New Delhi court.

It's a nice story, but it seems the only basis for it is a private blog published on the tumblr.com blog hosting page here. The story does not contain any sources or details that can be verified, and it looks likely the whole thing is just for entertainment.

The picture is - supposedly - Aashish at 5 years old with a keyboard he found.