{"id":275229,"date":"2023-05-29T17:56:39","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T22:56:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=275229"},"modified":"2023-06-01T14:27:40","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T19:27:40","slug":"kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Kiwi Poker Champ and Meth Kingpin Loses Parole Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand poker player<\/a> busted for overseeing a sprawling methamphetamine dealer network has failed in his bid for a shorter sentence.<\/p>\n

\"Shane
Shane Thompson, above, who played poker as Shane Tamihana, celebrates his win at the Skycity Festival of Poker in Auckland in 2017. (Image: New Zealand Herald)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shane Thompson, aka Shane Tamihana, was sentenced in 2018 to 13 years in prison. That\u2019s after he admitted to plowing $4.2 million worth of meth into the Hawke\u2019s Bay region on New Zealand\u2019s North Island over 11 months in 2016 and 2017.<\/p>\n

But around the same time, he was also tearing up the felt. He took first place in the $1,550 NLH Main Event at the Skycity<\/a> Festival of Poker in Auckland and second place at the $2,000 event at the same festival a year earlier.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s little evidence that he was the successful \u201chigh-stakes poker player\u201d described by local media. These two medium-buy-in events constitute his entire live career earnings, landing him a modest total of NZ$72.5K (US$44K).<\/p>\n

However, this may have been the only \u201chonest\u201d money he made at the time.<\/p>\n

Two-Hit Wonder<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 2017, when authorities raided Thompson’s home and that of his second-in-command, Petera Gamlen, they found 2.6kg of meth and more than NZ$170K (US$100K) in cash.<\/p>\n

In 2018, he was described by a judge as \u201cthe most comprehensive methamphetamine dealer Hawke\u2019s Bay has ever seen,\u201d according to The New Zealand Herald.<\/em><\/p>\n

Thompson\u2019s sentence came with a no-parole period of six and a half years, which means he cannot be considered for release until November 2024 at the earliest.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He attempted to challenge this in New Zealand\u2019s Supreme Court because the imposition of a minimum period of imprisonment undermined the established legal standard of granting discounts for guilty pleas.<\/p>\n

What’s in a Phrase\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Thompson\u2019s schtick as a poker player was to call out the phrase \u201cLater Bo\u201d in an unpleasant breach of poker etiquette as he knocked an opponent out of a tournament, according to the Herald.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Supreme Court resisted the temptation to bat the phrase back at him when it declined his application.<\/p>\n

\n

In 2018, New Zealand\u2019s Police Asset Recovery Unit seized five vehicles and $130,000 in cash from Thompson and Gamlen. Last year, they applied successfully for court orders to seize Thompson\u2019s house, an additional vehicle and bank deposits totaling more than NZ$90K.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This is despite Thompson attempting to hide assets by registering under other names.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A New Zealand poker player busted for overseeing a sprawling methamphetamine dealer network has failed in his bid for a shorter sentence. Shane Thompson, aka Shane Tamihana, was sentenced in 2018 to 13 years in prison. That\u2019s after he admitted to plowing $4.2 million worth of meth into the Hawke\u2019s Bay region on New Zealand\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":275230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,83771],"tags":[86485,81907,86484,86483],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKiwi Poker Champ and Meth Kingpin Loses Parole Bid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Shane Thompson, aka Shane Tamihana, a New Zealand poker player and meth dealer fails in parole bid on 13-year prison sentence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kiwi Poker Champ and Meth Kingpin Loses Parole Bid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shane Thompson, aka Shane Tamihana, a New Zealand poker player and meth dealer fails in parole bid on 13-year prison sentence.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/\" \/>\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=\"2023-05-29T22:56:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-01T19:27:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Thompson.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"892\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\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\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/\",\"name\":\"Kiwi Poker Champ and Meth Kingpin Loses Parole Bid\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Thompson.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-29T22:56:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-01T19:27:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Shane Thompson, aka Shane Tamihana, a New Zealand poker player and meth dealer fails in parole bid on 13-year prison sentence.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kiwi-poker-champ-and-meth-kingpin-loses-parole-bid\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Thompson.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Thompson.jpg\",\"width\":892,\"height\":605,\"caption\":\"Shane Thompson, above, won the Sky City Festival of Poker main event in 2016. 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