Collusion at Final Table of Millionaire Maker!

Remember folks, the WSOP does NOT facilitate chops.
Unless they have to.

They already said they were going to pay it would be interesting to see if they backed out now given the publicity they gained with the quick payout to focus on WSOP not paying, then to pull the rug seems like the opposite of what they want from a PR standpoint…though I’m imagine if they went to a reinsurer to finance the promo they would want to claw the money back…

Weird they are "splitting" the prize money. Not sure what basis they have to do that.

No bracelet is whatever, probably just did the most they thought they could get away with.

Somewhat contrarian take. I'd like to see the WSOP adopt a policy similar to the one used for the last 15 years by the European Poker Tour. The prize pool consists of player money, the players have the right to negotiate deals at the final table, the tournament director will mediate all deals, and some prize money plus the winner's bracelet must be set aside for post-deal play. That the WSOP refuses to mediate deal-making at their final tables is a problematic impediment, to this way of thinking.

With that said, the above changes would not cover this particular and peculiar situation involving a third party reward. It would be good for game integrity if the WSOP were able to ban any and all third party rewards, but it's unfortunately beyond their reach. In cases like this, it makes sense for them to refuse to award a bracelet to the winner when a third party reward is involved and the driver of the deal.

Irrelevant now, but I think in such a case, the WSOP deposes their bank records to prove that they shared the 1M from WPT (and if that doesn't exist, the players can pretty easily prove they didn't do what they're accused of). The problem with all the "you can't prove it" stuff about the actual play is that the money will tell the truth.

This isn't a contrarian take and it's been suggested multiple times in this thread. It also would have done nothing to prevent this from happening as the only reason these players allegedly did what they did was to decide specifically who would win the bracelet, which would also be against EPT rules.

I think the resolution is the best the WSOP can do. There's no good way for them to not award the prize money since it has to be disposed of somehow. Apparently, the bracelet, according to all their friends defending them has zero prestige and isn't worth anything, so not getting it isn't a real punishment anyways. If they were banned from future events for all time? Maybe harsh, and a temporary ban would have done the job too, but it's a good reminder for all those pros out there that their livelihood is mostly dependent on a third party service provider, and you shouldn't bite the hand that feeds you.

If they're DQed from the event it's for cheating and if wsop deemed them to be cheating it makes sense to ban them.

What they did also just makes wsop and Caesars look bad. If a business thinks you're a net negative for them they have every right to ban you.

My guess is they didn't want to pay them at all, but didn't want the bad PR and weren't sure it would hold up in court.

I hope this is true. Very fair decision if so. They got the money but still got a real punishment for breaking the rules blatantly.

They should have at minimum did the same last year to Tomayo and his 2 scumbag friends last year but this is probably the most they could have done as far as a real punishment goes for these 2.

The bug in the corner knew they rigged the ending. But even if they were innocent there is way that the players could prove that they were.

Transaction might not have taken place yet, might be in bitcoin and/or cash etc etc

Yeah, the WSOP was stuck in between a rock and a hard place here. Even with this ruling there's still plenty of people complaining about their decision online, there's no decision they can make that isn't going to result in some segment of their customers being upset.

I think they took the path they could that would avoid the cost of a lawsuit and the potentially increased bad PR, while also sending a message that there are consequences to people trying to ignore the rules.

I imagine WSOP leadership after the Tamayo incident last year and this problem in 2025 are going to be moving to stricter rules and harsher penalties in the future in an attempt to try and curtail this behavoir

it was always guaranteed that they were going to get a lifetime ban. If you get one for stealing free sandwiches you’ll get one for this

Is it lifetime ban by Caesars or WSOP? Remember, two different entities now.

Caesars I believe but I thought the WSOP was going to be there for the next 10 or 15 years or so

So it’s a very long wsop ban

It could be both. They are one and the same in most regards for a decade though. Although if it’s just WSOP they could try and call Jack Binions Steakhouse’s bluff and eat the 32oz prime rib and potato in 20 minutes so it’s free

You could certainly be right. Ultimately, if they did have an agreement, and they chose to lie about it in a lawsuit they could probably get away with it.

I look forward to Scott Seiver defending their future perjury conviction by saying "well it's ok they lied because it was a stupid decision by a rich casino anyways, plus the court system is corrupt, and technically speaking they hadn't done the transaction anyways...if you disagree, I feel free to ignore you forever".

Can't wait for ESPN to line up to show the Main event final table on ESPN, sponsors are there, it's poker's big showcase, and the nine pros at the final table announce "we chopped it evenly, and we aren't going to entertain the nonsense of playing this out. Throw the bracelet in the trash for all we care. There is nothing wrong with what we're doing because no one is being colluded against and it's our money in the prize pool"

Yes if they ever had to challenge they would have had to lie under oath. While it’s very unlikely they would have been charged with perjury it just would have been cherry on top if they were presented with true nightmare scenario of trying to get their money back.

For the life of me I have no idea why people have their panties in such a twist over this, except maybe WPT Club Gold. Final table deals happen all the time. It’s their ****ing money. Sometimes, lore has it, people value bracelets more than the money and that changes their monetary incentives.

Def agree wsop should facilitate chops but have a rule that [1?]% of the prize pool and the actual bracelet be held back, with clear and firm penalties for breaking that rule.

well im not certain but thats how i read it (because the 1m is a bonus for the "winner" and they declared that there was no "winner")

can anyone confirm that the 1M bonus is paid or not?

According to Polk, WPT said they were paying regardless of findings. That’s likely all that anyone knows unless/until Yagi gets paid and tells people

That still wouldn't have stopped what happened here.

And while I've said on here I'd rather come in 20th or whatever in the main for 300k than win a bracelet for 290k, overall they're a great marketing gimmick which is why they don't facilitate chops. The lure of winning braclets brings people in not the lure of negotiating for them.

I completely agree. My guess is the WSOP saw the writing on the wall and realized if they dont give big punishment this **** will keep slipping in the wrong direction.

Outcome is fair enough imo but I'm interested to see how they go about preventing a third party offering promotions on their events which seems to have caused this chain of events. Until that is solved this can and probably will happen again.

You sign up to play a tournament, you follow the rules of that tournament. Imagine if PGA pros just said at the 17th hole - "I was leading at by 1 stroke and I wanted the jacket so I paid the only guy who could catch up to me half a milly to throw the game so I could win" lol. If anyone did something like that and it came out they would be life time banned from all competitions. Before you say "PGA pros dont put their own money into the PGA prize pool", thats a completely moot point. In poker you hand over the money to the tournament when you buy in and follow their rules from then on out. It would tarnish golf as a competition of merit and similarily this crap tarnishes poker as a competition of merit.

People are outraged because what they did is so contrary to the spirit of competition. Its BS, simple.

There’s more residual b-hurt from Tomayo stuff last year than I would have expected but none of this is remotely similar or linked.

Going to rail was always a thing, in telecasts it was commonplace for them to say “he will be informed by his rail in 30 minutes he was bluffed”. Certainly helping with ranges and such on laptop was taking it way too far.

The TD last year was completely asleep at the wheel and is to blame. He could have stopped those guys huddled around the laptop. But no decision they made on this rigging HU bracelet was made based upon what they did or didn’t do last year.