I believe it was very clear how much we wagered initially.  I was very clear that I wanted to bet $50, and when 'A' wanted to take the action, I offered 'W' half of it.  'A' and 'W' were on either side of me at the poker table when the bet was made, and I confirmed cleared that each person is betting $25 against me before we shook hands.

In addition, when this happened two nights ago, it was clear to me from the way 'W' responded, he was trying to get 'A' to buy into his story.  A normal, upstanding guy would ask 'A' if the bet was really for $25 each.  Instead, he was trying to make it sound like 'A' got duped and that I had scammed 'A', and is now trying to scam 'W' for $25.  Oh yeah, he kept saying he had it on tape, LMAO.

You weren't there to see what happened, but it was pretty obvious to me he was trying to weasel out of his half of the wager.  Believe me, if 'W' really seemed like he was mistaken about the wager amount, I would have let him off the hook and took the $12.50.  In fact, I would have refunded $12.50 to 'A' to make it fair to him also.  But, based on my read, this was a clear attempt to weasel out of the bet.  You can play devil's advocate all you want, but that's my read and I'm sticking with it.

PilyinPhil says..."From the amount of the wager it does not seem to me that "W" is trying to weasel out of half his wager"

If you don't know 'W', I don't know on what basis can you make this statement.  People have been known to kill for less.

No, he was stone sober, he just got to the casino.  I don't think he was trying to tilt me, and especially not when I had racked up my chips and left my seat.

This is the same guy who was really irate a few weeks ago because someone slow rolled him preflop with AA.  Well, about two years ago, he did exactly the same thing to me.  I limped in late position with 1010 (I think there was a button abuser I wanted to trap).   'W' was next to me and made a sizeable raise.  I don't remember exactly my stack size, but it was kind of short, a bit short to set mine in any case, and happy to get it all in preflop if he had AK/AQ type hand.  I shoved and 'W' start asking me if I was slow playing a big pair, basically giving me a hard time about sandbagging him, etc., etc.  After a full minute of this, he calls, and then waited till I turned over my pocket 10s, he flipped over Aces.

His Asian side kick, he is a piece of work too.  I agree, this whole situation is kind of funny.  I love it when someone makes themselves look bad.  He just painted a big bull's eye on his stack.  Not that I would ever soft play him, but now I am motivated to punish him just a little bit harder.

1) he isn't exactly a stranger.  We are all regulars in the poker room for the past few years

2) not sure why you thought I flew off the handle.  I calmly asked him to settle the bet, and when he told me to f-off, I said he can keep the money and I left.  I didn't even raised my voice the whole time.  This post was written a day after the event, after I've had a chance to reflect on what happened.  I've tried to be as factual as I possible can.

3) pretty sure he was going to ask for 50cents back, lulz

4) this is the first time I've made a bet with him, it will never happen again

5) I never said he is the top scammer.  I said he topped the list of scumbags I've come across.  May be I've lived a blessed life and didn't have to deal with a lot of bad people :)  Ok, may be I was exagerating a little, may be he doesn't deserve to be on the top of the list, may be just the top 5. 

For me it isn't about the money, it is the principle that matters.  I do not like to be taken advantage of.  I didn't write this post to get sympathy or retribution.  I actually wrote this initially in my (pseudo) blog elsewhere, but I decided to cross post it here because it happened in the local scene.  I choose to not use names to protect the innocent (or presumed innocent).  May be this whole thing was a fictional cautionary tale.  You are welcome to take whatever you want from this, or not.