{"id":151352,"date":"2020-10-06T15:19:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T22:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=151352"},"modified":"2020-10-07T12:05:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-07T19:05:38","slug":"missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Poker Player May Have Been Killed Because He Blew Backer\u2019s Cash, Informant Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Icelandic poker player who vanished without trace at the Dublin Poker Festival last year may have been killed for losing the wrong person\u2019s money in a high-stakes cash game, according to The Dublin Herald.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Jon
Jon Jonsson, seen here, vanished in broad daylight in February last year. Now an Icelandic criminal believes he knows what happened. (Image: Garda Press Office)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Jon Jonsson was last seen leaving Dublin\u2019s Bonnington Hotel at around 11 am on February 9, 2019, the day before the festival was due to commence. He was captured by the hotel\u2019s security camera heading out along Swords Road before apparently disappearing into thin air.<\/p>\n

At the time, Jonsson\u2019s disappearance resulted in urgent appeals<\/a> for information about his whereabouts to poker players and the wider community. The story made the national news in Ireland and has received even more media attention in Iceland.<\/p>\n

Jonsson\u2019s mystified relatives hired a private detective to track him down. The disappearance was completely out of character for the 41-year-old father of four, they said.<\/p>\n

Informant Spills Details<\/h2>\n

But an unnamed criminal currently in prison in Iceland has told authorities there he knows what happened to Jonsson, The Dublin Herald<\/em> reports. According to the Icelandic inmate, Jonsson was killed \u201caccidentally\u201d by an Icelandic man who was also in Dublin at the time after the pair argued over money he had lost.<\/p>\n

\n

While Jonsson was not involved in criminality, said the source, he had been entrusted with his killer\u2019s cash — more than \u20ac4,000 ($4,690), which was to be distributed among other players as tournament buy-ins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But Jonsson got involved in a cash game the night before his disappearance and blew the lot. According to the prisoner\u2019s account, he tried to leave when he started to lose but was coerced into continuing by others in the game, who were described as \u201call foreign nationals\u201d by the Herald. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Meeting Gone Wrong<\/span><\/h2>\n

Jonsson had arrived in Dublin earlier that day, alone. His fianc\u00e9e, Jana Gudjonsdottir, had agreed to join him the following day. The couple planned to enjoy a ten-day stay in the city.<\/p>\n

Gudjonsdottir said that when she arrived, she found Jonsson asleep in their room. They argued, and the girlfriend left to go to the bar for a coffee. When she returned, Jonsson had gone, leaving his phone and passport.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He went to meet the man whose money he had lost, according to the prisoner, who has also told his story to Jonsson\u2019s family via an intermediary.<\/p>\n

Irish national police, the Garda\u00ed, are aware of the new revelations and have been in contact with their counterparts in Iceland. The investigation remains open.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Icelandic poker player who vanished without trace at the Dublin Poker Festival last year may have been killed for losing the wrong person\u2019s money in a high-stakes cash game, according to The Dublin Herald. Jon Jonsson was last seen leaving Dublin\u2019s Bonnington Hotel at around 11 am on February 9, 2019, the day before […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":151354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMissing Poker Player May Have Blown Backer\u2019s Cash, Informant Claims<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Poker player Jon Jonsson, missing from Dublin Poker Festival in February, may have been killed by backer, per new lead.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Missing Poker Player May Have Blown Backer\u2019s Cash, Informant Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Poker player Jon Jonsson, missing from Dublin Poker Festival in February, may have been killed by backer, per new lead.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-06T22:19:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-07T19:05:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/jon.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/\",\"name\":\"Missing Poker Player May Have Blown Backer\u2019s Cash, Informant Claims\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/jon.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-06T22:19:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-07T19:05:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Poker player Jon Jonsson, missing from Dublin Poker Festival in February, may have been killed by backer, per new lead.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/missing-poker-player-may-have-been-killed-because-he-blew-backers-cash-informant-claims\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/jon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/jon.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"Jon Jonsson, who disappeared in Dublin five years ago. 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