By Cheyenne West | Staff
When we caught up with Anna Khait for her profile piece in the relaunch issue of Rounder Magazine, we knew right away it wasn’t going to be your typical poker interview.
“Can I pray before we start” just isn’t something you hear from a poker player. RounderLife TV host Cheyenne West, who’s also a Christian excitedly answered “Absolutely” and after a sweet prayer, the two dove right into the task at a hand.
The task? Weeks earlier, we reached out to Anna to get her side of the story in regard to a New York Times article published on May 13, 2021 insinuating she worked as a “honeypot” and the poker community’s alarming reaction.
The article “Activists and Ex-Spy Said to Have Plotted to Discredit Trump ‘Enemies’ in Government” co-authored by Adam Goldman, insinuated she and Project Veritas “may” have investigated the FBI.
Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe wasn’t amused. “Because The New York Times is losing to Project Veritas in a court of law, it is trying to smear Project Veritas in the court of public opinion,” he said. “I think the court, like me, may well be appalled at The New York Times’s continued pattern of defamation of Project Veritas.” – James O’Keefe
Despite the ‘Times’ protecting itself with terms like “allegedly” it didn’t stop mainstream and poker media outlets, along with a slew of poker pros from regurgitating the salacious headlines.
Why did the poker community which prides itself as intellectually superior, not to mention loving and tolerant, gullibly go “all-in” on what turned out to be a “fake news” salacious hit piece directed at one of their own?
Does everyone in poker dislike Anna or did we simply hear like-minded haters screaming their way to a unanimous “cancellation” in what’s become an “uber-left-leaning” political echo chamber on the felt, at least at the elite-pro level.
Did the fact Anna transitioned from an atheist liberal to a Christian conservative make her persona non grata in an industry she stepped away from years ago on amicable terms?
The vitriol spewed was astonishing, and it wasn’t just from low level trolls. It came from media, influencers, and especially poker elites, most of whom never miss an opportunity to at least “talk the feminist talk.”
Owain Flanders summed up gaming media’s progressive groupthink in a piece he penned about Anna on VegasSlotsOnline.
“The ex-poker pro has received criticism for her controversial right-wing views on social media.”
It’s no surprise when Big Tech labels conservative views “controversial” but the once apolitical gaming media attacking patrons over politics hasn’t always been the norm.
Flanders continued with the media industry’s ubiquitous pro-vaccine stance.
“This year, the ex-poker player also received criticism for her spread of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Misinformation? Apparently Anna ditched the mask, didn’t get vaccinated, and cautioned others against putting their faith in Big Pharma.
In other words she said out loud what millions of Americans were thinking but dared not repeat. Her anti establishment stance on body autonomy is now considered “controversial.”
Anna’s not the only female poker player to be targeted by a politically biased media. When superstar Kristen Foxen (Bicknel) spoke out against vaccine mandates implemented at the 2021 WSOP, poker.org opted to take her down with the white supremacy race card.
“Reaction to WSOP vaccine mandate sees Kristen Bicknell retweeting a white supremacist.” – Poker.org
Her stance against mandates wasn’t noteworthy in their eyes, apparently because she retweeted someone they determined is a white supremacist, a label attributed regularly by mainstream media pundits to half the country.
Poker.org, ‘The Voice of the Players’ has since deleted the article.
We’ll address the WSOP’s decision to mandate the vaccine in 2021, in an upcoming issue.
To understand the “excommunication” of Anna Khait from the “poker community” we decided to start from the beginning.
Who is Anna Khait and how did she become a household name in poker?
PART 1: Anna Khait In Her Own Words
Cheyenne: “Tell us a little bit about your background. Where were you born and how did you end up in America?”
Anna: “I was born in the Soviet Union and my family brought me here when I was 4 years old with my sister. We came to America for better opportunities, political freedom, religious freedom as well, because there was a lot of antisemitism in Russia and my father being Jewish it wasn’t easy, so by God’s grace we came to America.
I grew up in New York but returned to Russia to visit family and friends over the years.
When we immigrated to America we moved to an area called Brighton Beach which is in Brooklyn New York. It’s a very heavy Russian immigrant city. I spent most of my life in Brooklyn New York until I started playing poker and moved out to Jersey to be in Atlantic City.”
Cheyenne: “How did you get started in poker and being around casinos?”
Anna: “”I was introduced to the game when I was about 17 years old. I was playing handball at the time. It was a sport I played all summer long and was in good shape and all that, and I had a friend who invited me to play a poker game and so I did and it was so much fun. I was like wow what is this?
So I went home and I googled poker and up on YouTube pops all these games by Daniel Negreanu and all these tells, and poker tells and reading people and I thought it was such a fascinating game with psychology and reading people and then discerning and then trying to figure out what cards they have and then making the right moves.
I just loved the game. I realized the game theory behind it. I started studying, I started learning and watching a bunch of videos on YouTube. I started binging and I realized this is a really, really interesting game and I got so into it to the point where I was in college I would be playing final tables on PokerStars during class…then I’d have to leave class because I wanted to make a few hundred bucks.
So I realized it really supported me and was very lucrative even more than my waitressing jobs and my other real estate jobs and it was really fun.
Cheyenne: “Were your parents supportive of you playing poker?”
Anna: “When I broke the news to my parents after I graduated college, I said listen I know you guys are all expecting me to go to medical school.
I did apply to medical school but I’m going to rescind my applications and I’m going to give poker a chance for a year or two to see what happens.
They were devastated. They were disappointed. They thought I was crazy but I said it was my life
I get to choose what I’m going to do and I gave poker a chance.”
Cheyenne: “Did you start with cash games or tournaments and which do you prefer? Which do you feel you’re best at?”
Anna: ”I started with tournaments. That was always my favorite. Cash definitely allowed me to have a stable income, when I was playing cash in Atlantic City, but mostly it was tournaments.
There’s a really fun strategy with tournaments. Again, studying it, learning it, and having a lot of amazing poker pros around me that taught me the game that helped elevate my game.
I want to say this too, regarding poker tournaments. When the story broke and you know the media came against me and all that, and PokerNews as well, they told everyone ‘Well, she doesn’t have any earnings in tournaments.’ Well, I played most tournaments online, so most online tournaments you don’t get to see how much someone’s made. I didn’t play too many live tournaments. I wish I did. I played a few. My first WSOP I got to day 4.”
Cheyenne: “What was the most difficult thing about playing? Were you intimidated?”
Anna: “When I first started playing it was having the confidence to make certain moves. I had a really good tip from a friend that told me ‘Anna, when you’re playing just pretend, especially cash games, pretend that those chips, that money is no longer yours. These are tools. If you’re worried about the money then you should not be playing. Think about that money as gone and from there you can play your game.”
Cheyenne: “Do you still play now, or do you not play anymore?”
Anna: ”I don’t play anymore. After I filmed Survivor back in 2015 I got back home and one morning I just lost my desire to play poker and I lost even my desire to even focus on Survivor anymore. Those were my two dreams.
I remember when I was 18 years old I was dating a high school sweetheart of mine and I told him at 18, you know one day I’m going to get on the show Survivor and I’m going to be a professional poker player and he laughed at me and said ‘That’s never going to happen.’ He goes, ‘You’re crazy what are you talking about?’
You know, I got on my favorite show Survivor and was the first female poker player on it and was able to accomplish my dream and then once it happened it was just a new phase in life and I know now it was God who really transitioned me into the next chapter of my life.
So I really enjoyed the poker chapter I had a lot of fun. I met a lot of great people, had a lot of great friends in poker and in Survivor and it was just time to move on, time to move on to more Godly things. But I don’t look back on it and regret anything.
I look back and I’m very happy I took a chance and very happy to have met the people I’ve met and travelled to the places I’ve travelled and I’ve learned so much. It helped me grow, but the last few years stepping away from poker I’ve grown even more.”
Cheyenne: “Do you think any of your poker skills helped you in Survivor?”
Anna: “Yes it definitely did. I remember when I auditioned for the show, they asked me ‘Why do you think you would be good on Survivor’? I responded that poker, Survivor, and life are all very similar.
There’s making moves, taking risks, reading people, and adjusting to various situations.
It takes discernment and an understanding of game theory to make the best decision in each situation. Just like in poker tournaments, Survivor has various strategies at each point of the game: beginning, middle and end. And it takes a certain amount of risk and luck to be successful.
I explained to them that I sat with all different religions, beliefs, and nationalities at the poker table, so adjusting to various personalities wouldn’t be difficult.
What really fascinated me to the game of poker and Survivor was the psychology behind it. I studied psych in college so it made the games even more fun. I learned that most humans are emotional, and are easily manipulated by it, something the media takes full advantage of.
So, it really helped me in the game to notice common non-verbal cues of lying and scheming, something I learned from reading poker books on tells.
And as I mentioned before, there is an element of “luck” to any game. Some things just happen and you can’t control it. Obviously, that was what happened to me on Survivor — I was on a winning streak with my tribe and thought I was going to win the million. But, I was dealt a random tribe switch, and it changed everything for me. When I was taken out of the game, there was nothing I could have done to change it. Sometimes, there is only so much you can do with a hand you’re dealt.
Cheyenne: “Was there a certain turning point where you were done with the poker, done living the life you were? What was turning point that made you turn towards religion and Christianity?”
Anna: “Great question. Well, after I filmed Survivor in 2015, I got back home and at the time, I was living with my then poker boyfriend who I was with for many years, actually during my entire career. This is funny because the very promiscuous poker community labeled me all types of things but I only had one relationship my entire poker career.
But anyway, I got back home and one morning I woke up, and even though I didn’t understand it then, I understand it now: my addiction to poker was gone.
I didn’t realize I had an addiction. I never used to say poker was an addiction until I realized it had a stronghold on my life.
All I could do was think, breathe, live and play poker. That was it and it totally consumed my life. And one morning I woke up and that addiction, that stronghold, was gone.
My addiction to Survivor was also gone. It was the weirdest thing. I couldn’t play, I had no interest at all anymore. My friends were like ‘What’s happening with you, what’s going on with you?’ But, I just did not want to play anymore.
Every ounce of me was done. It didn’t make me happy anymore. I was forcing myself to play and I realized that the grace to play the game was gone. So, I stopped and about six months later I had an encounter with God, and then it all made sense.
I happened to be on YouTube and a video popped up about our country and the issues we were facing: overwhelming debt, drugs pouring in, child trafficking, and no one was talking about it. I was shocked.
On the news, you would see an occasional robbery but never did they mention that child sex trafficking was the second biggest crime in our nation. I was blown away, and so I kept digging.
You can say, I went down the rabbit hole and man, my life changed. I lived a very apolitical life up until then. I realized that I had always been conservative. I’ve always had a deep appreciation for America and its Constitution.
And after having an encounter with God, I realized how immoral this nation had become. That was when I decided I could no longer be silent, that I had to speak up, even though I knew it would come with a heavy price.
And that was actually around the same time that Donald Trump went down the escalator. I heard his speech, and I agreed with almost everything he said.
There was so much to fix — we needed better trade agreements, we needed to fix our open borders and stop the drugs from pouring in — and I’ll say this, I’m an immigrant. I’m all for immigration, legal immigration. It’s what makes our country unique and amazing.
You know, here is a candidate who was telling the truth about the state of our country, but the media bashed him and twisted every word he spoke.
I’ve been to countless of his speeches in person, and the coverage by the media was always taken out of context. I’ll submit that Donald Trump isn’t perfect. He said some outlandish, harmful things, but, no human is perfect. I’m certainly not perfect. You’re not perfect. There was only one perfect human that walked the earth, and it wasn’t Donald Trump, it was Jesus Christ.
Back to what I was saying, our Canadian border is extremely secure but our southern border has been completely wide open. The drug problem we have in this nation is astounding! I have an old friend from NY who’s an undercover cop that tells me how many young girls drop dead every month from fentanyl overdoes — it’s by the dozens — in my home town, where I grew up. It could have been me!
So, from there I realized that I didn’t want to live in Jersey anymore. I didn’t want to play poker anymore. I knew I wasn’t were I was supposed to be. To be honest, I was lost.
I remember the day when I reached my breaking point. I went upstairs. I closed the door and locked it behind me. I got on my knees and cried out. I said out loud, as I cried my eyes out, ‘I can’t handle this anymore.
I hate seeing all this evil in this world and nothing being done about it. I feel lost and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go.
God, can you hear me? Are you real? If you created this world and you created man, then you can answer me. If you’re not, you won’t respond. But, if you’re real, show me!’
I also said on my knees, ‘Tell me the truth of the world. I feel like I’m being lied to. There is so much deception. I don’t trust the news. There are so many lies!’
A few weeks later, I was invited to speak on a Survivor tour in Nebraska at junior high schools, high schools, and colleges about drugs, alcohol and bullying. And it was on that trip that God sent someone to answer me. It was truly remarkable because I had been an atheist almost my entire life.
The gentleman came up to me, and said, to paraphrase ‘Anna, you’ve been asking if God is real, and He wants you to know that He is. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.’
He also explained a very supernatural, amazing and profound experience I had in Jerusalem when I was 18 years old that I couldn’t explain. And that was when I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that Jesus is the son of God sent to set us free.
I accepted the gospel and gave my life to Jesus. And my life has never been the same again! I found a new love for life. I felt free, real joy for the first time, and it only confirmed that I was a new person in God. The old hopeless, unforgiving, selfish Anna died that day and a new Anna was born, full of love for God and people!
You look at the world, and you realize that life is short. Here today, gone tomorrow. What’s the true meaning of it all? We have been told: make money, become ‘successful’ and be happy. But, that’s a lie. I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve seen the famous, ‘successful’ people and they’re miserable.
They hide behind their smiling instagram photos. Some of the world’s most successful people, and their kids are on drugs, they’re miserable, and committing suicide. You can’t have true happiness in worldly possessions. Your fat bank account will never fulfill you. The true riches and happiness is in God, your creator.
People misunderstand God. They think he is an angry, forceful God. He is not. God is a gentle, loving God. He gave people free will. Love is not love without it being a choice. And Heaven is spending all eternity with Him. He won’t force anyone into Heaven against their will. There is so much Jesus changed in me and in my life. I realized God is not a religion, He wants a relationship.
Even my family noticed how much I’ve changed: always smiling and joyful now. Jesus is worth crying out to! The Bible says, he will hear your prayers and answer them. God invites all of his creation to have a loving relationship with him, but there’s many who refuse to accept his invitation.”
Cheyenne: “And your parents were happy right? No more poker and you came back to your roots.”
Anna: “Um, not necessarily.
My mom was because my mom became a Christian in America, but my dad being an atheist wasn’t so pleased, but he was happy that I gave up poker for sure.
You know what’s amazing? My atheist dad right now he told me himself he said ’You completely changed.’
He goes ’Listen if it’s God that helped you change then so be it because you are completely different than who you used to be.’
You know I used to be insecure and sad and hopeless and now I’m confident. I’m hopeful. I’m full of joy and full of piece and they see a big difference and the Bible says when you’re born again you are a new creation so I told him I’m a new person.
The old Anna is dead. She is dead and gone. She’s 6 feet under. This is a new me and a totally free me and it’s been amazing with God. It’s such an amazing journey and actually my whole family is opening up to God especially my atheist family because they’ve seen such a stark change in me that they’re starting to wonder.
My dad is now curious about God and so it’s amazing to see and I know my whole family will be saved as well in Jesus name.
I want to clarify when people say religion, I’m not religious, I have a relationship. There’s a big difference between religion and having a relationship with God. Religion will say you can’t do this. You can’t do that, you can’t do that. Uh-uh that’s not God ok.
It’s having a relationship with God that it’s easy, you don’t want to do certain things. It’s not that you’re forced not to do it, you don’t want to. But there’s a big difference.
People really need to understand that part.”
Cheyenne: “How did you get so involved in politics?”
Anna: “Well, after I got home from Survivor, and my entire life changed, I began researching politics and reading various political books. I starting reading the Constitution and learning more about American history. I read books from Thomas Sowall, Ron Paul, and others.
I even read the communist manifesto and works from a famous Italian communist, Antonio Gramsci. And to my surprise, almost everything he outlined in the 1930s, in his blueprints to destroy a nation — is being done in America. And it started decades ago.
We have enemies within every facet of our society: government, media and education — just as Gramsci recommended.
The goal is of course, to destroy capitalist nations. This is done, as Gramsci recommended, by ‘brainwashing society to hate their own country.’ And this is done by continuously ‘attacking the foundation of the nation’ by telling people that the constitution is racist, the founding fathers were racist, and God isn’t real.
So, I decided to get involved. I realized that merely sending out a tweet in support of then-candidate Donald Trump, as much backlash as I got — wasn’t enough. I wanted to get involved and serve my nation, a nation that has given me and my family so much.
I didn’t necessarily want to run for office, but I considered it. It was then that I was invited to speak at an event for the ‘California Federation of Republican Women’. They wanted to hear me share my views, as I was the only person from reality television to endorse candidate Trump for presidency.
And at that conference, by fate, I was the morning speaker and James O’Keefe was the evening speaker. I was a big fan of his work, so it was an honor to meet him. He truly is a muckraker and a big thorn in the side of modern “journalism”. Journalists nowadays only cover top-down approved stories. They don’t do hands-on, boots-on-the-ground undercover reporting anymore. We have activists in the media, not journalists.
James and I ended up having dinner together that evening since we had mutual friends. I sat at that table and just listened as some of the most influential conservative men, some who worked in the background and were closely associated with the Trump campaign, spoke about the recent 2016 DJT win. It was an amazing evening.
At dinner, James asked me some questions and we had a good chat. A few days later, he reached out to me and asked if I wanted to work undercover. I was more than happy to do so, so I went through the interview process.
I was impressed by the first interview. They asked me ‘what wouldn’t you do for a story?’ I said, ‘well, that’s easy. I’m a Christian, so anything unethical including kissing for a story is out of the question’. They said ‘great, that’s what we wanted to hear.’
The next thing they mentioned was that UCJS (under cover journalists) conduct all investigations lawfully. Nothing was to be done illegally. We were taught which states were one-party consent states that allowed us to record undercover.
Jame’s overwhelming concern with following the law enabled him to defeat every law suit thrown his way. He has a 100% winning streak in legal cases.
Project Veritas stands for ‘Project Truth’. And the truth is the ultimate goal. Our goal was to expose corrupt politicians (left and right), dirty organizations that funnel government money for their own pleasures at the expense of tax payers, and any media covering up stories from the American public.
Why would government officials and the media be scared of being exposed if there was nothing to hide?
And, sure, you may disagree with our tactics. But, we were simply trying to fill a void in a vacuum of transparent-less big government and a castrated news media.
And these weren’t ‘dates’ I was going on. Most of the time, my investigations were held in public settings with many of my other journalist colleagues around.
Some investigations I didn’t even wear make-up, for example when I infiltrated a communist organization. More of a vinegar pot than a honey pot. Ha!
The other one-on-one follow-up meetings with targets were held in public. I had my security guard behind me at all times monitoring me in case any of these braggadocios government pin heads decided to lace my drink. This can be confirmed by b-roll (in the publicly released videos) my security guard was recorded during these meetings.
I was never alone, and I never had to “honey pot” anyone. I was simply good at my job.
And it wasn’t just politicians and organizations I was investigating. I led an investigation into the corruption of the highest levels in the NFL. Some of that story came out.
I infiltrated dozens of public organizations, including DSA (democratic socialists of America)— who were openly communists in their private D.C. meetings.
Many government officials are members of such organizations. It’s not a crime to have various political views. But, it is a crime to do communist (or any other work) at your federal job, which is funded by American tax payers.
This broke the Hatch Act.
Subsequently, some of these communists were fired from their government positions because of my investigations. You’d think the NYT would applaud good journalism (since I’m doing their job) and say thank you to combatting communists. Instead, they wrote a hit piece on me.
The NYT insinuated that some journalists at Project Veritas “may have infiltrated the FBI”. They never mentioned my name as being the “alleged” journalist, but it’s wasn’t hard to figure out who they were referring to. And I was shocked. I never investigated the FBI. This was truly fake news.
I even called James to clarify that no one else investigated the FBI, even though I was pretty certain no one would be dumb enough to do that. He said “Anna, we are journalists, not spies.”
No one investigated the FBI or McMaster. It was a salacious and malicious hit-piece. And many fell for it. Including the poker community.”
Backlash From Poker Community
When poker media outlets began circulating the provocative “honeypot-spy” narrative, numerous poker pros and amateurs alike in the far-left-leaning “Poker Twitter” community, already at odds with Anna for what they deemed unacceptable political views (she voted for Trump), jumped at the opportunity to spread the gossip.
When she hit back at the talebearers she described as “a pathetic group of self-righteous, hypocritical, slanderer lefties” many took offense pointing out the community’s inclusivity and what they viewed as her “not so Christian-like” response, while simultaneously mocking her faith in a ‘sky fairy’ and using sexual innuendo to attack her character.
“Finding god and Trump made you crazy.” – Chris Moneymaker
“I just love the idea of a sexy twenty five year old republican going up to someone in the FBI and being like ‘I’ll give you a bl**job if you say something bad about Trump right now.'” – Terrence Chan
“Anna is one of these Trump republicans, completely crazy.” – Dave Schwartz
“Batsh*t crazy!” – Daniel Negreanu
With the perceived authenticity of spy allegations from mainstream media and negative takes from some of poker’s biggest stars, emboldened trolls doubled down on the smears.
“I’ve always thought that it’s been low key SUPER OBVIOUS that she’s some Russian asset/spy – @THAY3R
“hahaha time to lock up that crazy b*tch” – @TaylorMadePoker
Although Anna specified her comments weren’t directed at the entire poker community, but rather the “uber-uber left,” WPT ambassador Tony Dunst suggested everyone “block” her, a tactic usually reserved for the most vile and threatening agitators, not just anyone with an opposing view you may be offended by.
“The only appropriate response to Anna’s tweet (and every Bad Take Artist trying to incite you for engagement) is to block her and never mention her in public. FFS don’t reply or retweet, it’s giving her what she wants.” – Tony Dunst
Silencing conservatives on Twitter is nothing new as evidenced recently when Twitter Files revealed actor and avid poker player James Woods was censored.
Anna was compared to Woods, who’s also not particularly well liked in “Poker Twitter” circles and was cancelled by Hollywood due to politics.
“I mean she kind of reminds me of James Woods. He’s incredibly nice in person and a blast to be around but on twitter he’s unrecognizable as well.” – @zestyne3
The underlying message seems clear. Conservatives are welcome on “Poker Twitter” as long as they keep their political and religious opinions to themselves.
Look for PART 2 of Anna Khait In Her Own Words on rounderlife.com
Anna: “I didn’t know how to react against the most devious, evil slander attack coming from my community, colleagues and friends as I was a baby Christian at the time.
I should have turned off my social media, but I was so shocked and deeply hurt that I reacted in a tweet.
Praise God that I have grown spiritually since then. I asked my God for forgiveness, I truly forgave the community, and I forgave myself. (1 John 1:9).
I’ve learned to be more graceful even if attacks are below the belt.”
