Look up the term “Sashimi Poker” in a search engine and you’ll find one of the more infamous incidents in the history of live-streamed poker.

Sashimi Poker is the social media name used by Japanese poker player Yuuki Kaida. She’s most famous for an appearance on Hustler Casino Live, one of the most-watched poker shows in the U.S.

The incident surrounding Sashimi stirred up plenty of controversy, involving an exposed breast (which turned out to be part of a bodysuit) during a live-streamed poker game. The well-timed stunt certainly garnered attention for Sashimi, with seemingly everyone in the poker industry posting a take on the incident.

Let’s answer the question – Who is Sashimi the poker player?

The Sashimi Stunt on Hustler Casino Live

Yuuki Kaida was in the lineup for an episode of Hustler Casino Live’s Max Pain Monday in December 2022. The episode brought together a group of social media stars and poker players for a No-Limit Hold’em cash game at $10/$20/$40 stakes.

One of the social media influencers in the game was Nick Austin, a content creator with nearly 10 million followers on TikTok and another three million on Instagram. Sashimi and Austin were seated next to each other on the stream, setting the scene for an occurrence that, at the time, appeared to be a wardrobe malfunction for Sashimi.

The following clip from the show was posted by Sashimi herself on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter (now called “X”). Note that she only talks about the details of the hand itself in the written part of the tweet, and doesn’t address a very obvious aspect of the moment that’s unlike anything we’ve ever really seen on a live poker show:

Yesterday at @MaxPainMonday

10/20/40 500 Straddle
I call KJo in SB
BB makes 1400. I call
Flop 769r
He bets 1100.
I raise 3000 as bluff. He goes ALL IN for 9k.

What should I do? pic.twitter.com/sI7c8koP8p

— さし美🐟Sashimi (@sashimipoker) December 6, 2022

With Sashimi appearing to expose her left breast on the stream, the wardrobe slip is acknowledged on commentary, and the camera pans to Austin after Sashimi raises on the flop. The exposed breast is still in view, however, with Sashimi playing on stoically and making no effort to cover up.

The apparent clothing slips continue to happen at various times throughout the stream after that. It does become fairly obvious, however, that Sashimi is pulling a prank on her fellow players and HCL viewers.

After the show, Sashimi admitted that the apparent nudity wasn’t actually real. The visual from that clip is actually a body suit that Sashimi wore to the game, with the purpose of pulling a well-timed stunt.

The Aftermath Of The Stunt

If Sashimi was looking to create a stir in the poker world, the stunt worked. As could be expected, the incident polarized the poker community, some of whom found nothing offensive about the stunt, and some who were outraged.

Hustler Casino Live co-founder Ryan Feldman posted that had he known Sashimi was going to pull the stunt, he would have vetoed it:

IMO we have a done a ton to grow the game & get lots of eyeballs. We bring in influencers, athletes, musicians, YouTubers, etc. We want poker to be bigger.

In hindsight I wish I knew what sashimi was doing & that THAT might happen. Didn’t know til it happened. I wish I vetoed it

— Ryan Feldman (@TheRyanFeldman) December 6, 2022

Feldman also didn’t outright condemn the prank, however:

But most people will find it entertaining and innocent, even though it might be in bad taste and def unnecessary. Didn’t know in advance what was going on and that could happen. But not sure it’s that big a deal. Either way, we care a ton about poker and want to grow it a lot.

— Ryan Feldman (@TheRyanFeldman) December 6, 2022

Veteran poker player and content creator Todd Witteles offered a similar perspective in a tweet, with this quote coming from that tweet (published by Gambling.com):

“This is much ado about nothing. The casino itself is named after a hardcore porn magazine,” Witteles wrote. “This isn’t a church function. Yeah, the prank was a bit crass but who cares? This incident should be the least of poker’s concerns right now.”

Others weren’t so forgiving of the incident. Poker player KL Cleeton was among that group, with the following tweet drawing a response from HCL co-owners Feldman and Nick Vertucci:

Welp it’s official and final – @HCLPokerShow is a joke and just objectively awful… There is zero that can be done to fully rebuild credibility

— K.L. Cleeton (@highhands89) December 6, 2022

It’s a bodysuit and a joke.

— THE NICK VERTUCCI SHOW (@NickVertucciNV) December 6, 2022

Also notable is that the Sashimi stunt happened just a few weeks after one of the biggest alleged cheating scandals in the history of poker happened on the Hustler Casino Live stream. That incident saw recreational poker player Robbi Jade Lew make an unlikely call against high-stakes pro Garrett Adelstein, the nature of which prompted nearly everyone in the poker community to question whether Lew had access to hole card information that allowed her to cheat Adelstein out of a six-figure pot in the hand.

In any case, the timing and positioning of the stunt made Sashimi the talk of the poker world for a few days in late 2022.

You can still find Sashimi playing on high-stakes poker live streams, generally donning more standard poker apparel. Check out this hand from HCL as an example:

Check out this Reddit thread for more speculation on Sashimi. You can also find Sashimi’s Instagram account linked here.

The post Who is Sashimi the Poker Player? appeared first on Upswing Poker.