Kevin “KGAO” Gao Tells His Side of Alleged Lynne Ji Stabbing in Doug Polk Interview

Kevin “KGAO” Gao has gone public with his account of the October 10 incident in Los Angeles that led to the arrest of high-stakes cash game player Lynne Ji on an attempted murder charge. In an 18-minute interview published on the Doug Polk Poker YouTube channel on October 22, Gao claims Ji attacked him with a kitchen knife inside the apartment they shared. Ji, released on a $1 million bond, has publicly denied all charges, and no court has tested any of Gao’s allegations.

• Read more: Join poker.pro on Telegram for Breaking Tournament News and Results

Two Hustler Casino Live Regulars

Both people involved are familiar faces on poker livestreams. Ji has appeared on Poker After Dark and Hustler Casino Live, and PokerNews reported that she played four episodes of High Stakes Poker Season 8 in 2021, losing more than $300,000 combined, before booking a $165,000 win on a High Stakes Poker livestream in 2023. Her most recent Hustler Casino Live session came in April 2026.

Gao is a much newer name. He told Polk he left school to play poker, spent nearly a year in Asia climbing the stakes on poker apps, and hit a pair of bad-beat jackpots before moving into big live games. He said he played Hustler Casino Live for the first time on his 21st birthday and turns 22 in early November. Polk first learned of Gao during the summer dispute between Hustler regulars C Ye and Britney Jing, whom Gao said he had been seeing earlier this year.

According to Gao, he first met Ji at a Los Angeles game in April. The two began spending time together a few months later, split during the summer in Las Vegas and continued seeing each other on and off. He said they signed a lease together about three weeks before the incident, when they were officially no longer a couple.

Gao Describes the Alleged Attack

Gao said he told Ji the night before that he wanted to end things. The following afternoon, he claims, she came home while he was playing online, asked to talk, and refused to leave when he said he wanted space. In his account, the argument turned physical: she kicked or hit him and bit his leg hard, and he pulled her hair to get her off him.

Gao claims Ji then walked out of the room and reached for a kitchen knife. He said he locked the doors and called 911, then held a door shut as the blade came through it. According to his account, she got the lock open, he tripped and fell in a corner, and she stabbed down at him as he rolled away, catching him in the shoulder. He said he wrestled the knife away, cutting his hand in the process, ran downstairs and waited for police.

Photos of Gao in a hospital bed circulated on X shortly after the incident, and PokerNews noted one showing a deep cut to his left shoulder. Gao told Polk that before he was treated, officers handcuffed him at the hospital and told him he was also a suspect, because Ji had told police he strangled her and stabbed himself. Gao denied that, saying the shoulder wound was in a spot he could not have reached and that the marks on the door were at Ji's height. PokerNews reported that the claim Gao stabbed himself and then blamed Ji, which has spread on social media, is also Ji's defense. Police have not released details of the incident, and there is no indication Gao was charged.

Ji Denies All Charges

Ji was booked into Los Angeles County Jail and bonded out on October 11. In a post on X on October 16, she wrote "I fully deny all charges" and said she expects to clear her name in court.

I fully deny all charges and I look forward to clearing my name in court.

— lynne (@helloitslynne) October 16, 2026

Gao told Polk that a mutual friend relayed Ji's position that she did not stab him. He also said Ji and her mother came to the apartment the morning after her release to collect belongings, that he left within about 30 seconds and that his driver's license and passport were missing when he returned. Those claims have not been independently confirmed.

Gao said he plans to testify and will leave the outcome to the courts. When Polk asked what he thought was fair, he said he would let the criminal justice system do its work, with a felony charge that could carry five or more years in prison on conviction. Gao added that a police officer who responded to an earlier argument between the two, one he said ended with his laptop destroyed, had advised him to stop seeing her.

Why It Matters to Poker

This is a criminal case between two private people, and it belongs in court rather than in comment sections. It is a poker story because both are recognizable from the streams that have turned cash game regulars into public figures, and because the story is now being told one side at a time on YouTube and X. That is worth keeping in mind. Polk's interview is one man's account, given without cross-examination and with no response from Ji beyond her denial.

It also lands in the same small Los Angeles scene that produced the C Ye and Britney Jing dispute only months ago. Livestream productions have spent years building drama between players because it sells. When the drama becomes a police matter, the industry has to decide how much to keep amplifying. Ji is presumed innocent, and the next real development will come from a courtroom.

Lynne Ji Stabbing Case: FAQ

• Information courtesy of Doug Polk Poker and PokerNews.