January 24, 2007 -- A Texas hold 'em player on a run of bad luck led feds to bust up a high-stakes underground poker game with links to the Russian mob.
According to court papers, the illegal poker game was run out of Rasputin's - a garish Sheepshead Bay supper club where the player racked up a $70,000 tab and refused to pay because he said the game was rigged.
Michael and Alex Mitselmakher - who recently sold Rasputin's - and reputed Russian mobster Arkady Seifer were arrested yesterday and charged with extorting the unnamed player.
The trio, who were arraigned in Brooklyn federal court yesterday and held without bail, also allegedly threatened another player who they said encouraged the loser not to pay his hefty debt.
According to the indictment, the Mitselmakher brothers ran an illegal Tuesday night poker game in the restaurant, helping themselves to a percentage of every pot.
