Missing Poker Player May Have Been Killed Because He Blew Backer’s Cash, Informant Claims

An Icelandic poker player who vanished without trace at the Dublin Poker Festival last year may have been killed for losing the wrong person’s money in a high-stakes cash game, according to The Dublin Herald.

Jon Jonsson was last seen leaving Dublin’s 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’s security camera heading out along Swords Road before apparently disappearing into thin air.

At the time, Jonsson’s disappearance resulted in 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.

Jonsson’s 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.

But an unnamed criminal currently in prison in Iceland has told authorities there he knows what happened to Jonsson, The Dublin Herald reports. According to the Icelandic inmate, Jonsson was killed “accidentally” by an Icelandic man who was also in Dublin at the time after the pair argued over money he had lost.

While Jonsson was not involved in criminality, said the source, he had been entrusted with his killer’s cash more than €4,000 ($4,690), which was to be distributed among other players as tournament buy-ins.

But Jonsson got involved in a cash game the night before his disappearance and blew the lot. According to the prisoner’s account, he tried to leave when he started to lose but was coerced into continuing by others in the game, who were described as “all foreign nationals” by the Herald.  

Jonsson had arrived in Dublin earlier that day, alone. His fiancée, Jana Gudjonsdottir, had agreed to join him the following day. The couple planned to enjoy a ten-day stay in the city.

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.

He went to meet the man whose money he had lost, according to the prisoner, who has also told his story to Jonsson’s family via an intermediary.

Irish national police, the Gardaí, are aware of the new revelations and have been in contact with their counterparts in Iceland. The investigation remains open.