Kirill Rapoport, 41, and William Barbalat, 42, both made the pleas in a New York court for participating in gambling rings connected to organized crime. It was found that the high stakes poker games were strongly connected to various Russian mafia figures, who were believed to have laundered up to $100 million from such games.

Both Barbalat and Rapoport were deemed to have had “lesser roles in the ring” but still face up to five years in prison when they are sentenced for their crimes in December. The men are two of 34 figures who have been indicted for crimes relating to the high stakes poker incident, a list which includes notorious Russian mafia figure Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov.

The list also includes WSOP Gold Bracelet winners Bill Edler and Abe Mosseri, as well as prominent professional poker player Peter Feldman. The US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) made the first arrests and indictments relating to the case back in April. It came after an investigation uncovered a ring which operated online gambling rings and live high stake poker matches often attended by celebrities and other high class clientele.

It is always alarming when it is found that there are major organised crime figures who use the game of poker for their financial gain. Poker is not about breaking the law, most of us who play and love the game know that.

Poker has been portrayed in a highly negative light as a result of this case, something that has been compounded by the fact three high level poker players were involved at the top level. Despite that, the game itself will likely not suffer as a direct result of this case.

That’s because the game has, more or less, become accepted by much of the general public – it has long moved beyond the stereotype of an underground game played by mostly shady characters. A number of professional poker games and tournaments are now broadcast on mainstream television channels and millions of people all over the world have played the game, whether amongst friends or for money.

Although there may be some segments of the community who may point to cases such as these as to why poker should not be regulated, such cases are not representative of the game. That is something that, fortunately, most people seem to understand.