PokerStars disqualifies the 2018 WCOOP ME winner

[Shells]

pokerstars has disqualified the winner of the 2018 World Championship of online poker Main Event, transferring the player’s prize money in order to compensate others who cashed in the tournament. It’s unclear what wann2play did to earn his disqualification. There are a few likely issues that would lead PokerStars to take such drastic action but nothing has been disclosed - only speculation from the poker community and we may never know the reasons.

2018 WCOOP Winner Disqualified by PokerStars, $1.35M Prize Money Redistributed to Other Players

 

[iwont20]

Hmm what is a little off in this story for me is that it's 2018 ME, not 2019. Why did it take so long to make this decision? They never allowed him to withdraw for 1.5 years?

 

[Shells]

Hmm what is a little off in this story for me is that it's 2018 ME, not 2019. Why did it take so long to make this decision? They never allowed him to withdraw for 1.5 years?

I will assume large payouts, like this, might not be on hold normally? I'm not sure how that works for large prize pool games. However, the article states the winner's account was frozen due to the dispute.

This is the part that caught my attention - Waigel said he suspected there may have been something amiss with wann2play late in the WCOOP Main Event. Afterward, he reviewed the tournament with other professionals and reached out to PokerStars, prompting the site’s own investigation into the event.

It makes sense to me that they would all have to wait till the dispute had been resolved - I have no idea why it took so long other than it might be a little more difficult to prove with online games as opposed to live games.

 

[iwont20]

I will assume large payouts, like this, might not be on hold normally? I'm not sure how that works for large prize pool games. However, the article states the winner's account was frozen due to the dispute.

This is the part that caught my attention -Waigel said he suspected there may have been something amiss with wann2play late in the WCOOP Main Event. Afterward, he reviewed the tournament with other professionals and reached out to PokerStars, prompting the site’s own investigation into the event.

It makes sense to me that they would all have to wait till the dispute had been resolved - I have no idea why it took so long other than it might be a little more difficult to prove with online games as opposed to live games.

Yeah, I've read this. I'm just surprised the investigation took so long. Or it's alright practice winning a million - to wait for a green light for a year?

BTW the name of the thread says it's SCOOP and article says it's WCOOP.

 

[Shells]

Yeah, I've read this. I'm just surprised the investigation took so long. Or it's alright practice winning a million - to wait for a green light for a year?

BTW the name of the thread says it's SCOOP and article says it's WCOOP.

Oops! Thanks for the correction!

 

[Vallet]

I saw information in the article that it could be a Ghost player-who takes advice from several other professional gamblers. I don't understand how they can prove such things.

 

[antonis32123]

Many times the investigation takes too long , many hands to be reviewed , analysed , etc , that's why they delayed so much .

If he was actually ''ghosting'' , multiaccounting , using bots or whatever else reason, they did they right thing to ban him . Although no specific details of this incident came to the surface .

But I didn't read anything about this banned player complaining (revealing his true name and complain on his twitter account , maybe complain with his true name or even annonymously in a forum providing ofcourse strong evidence , etc ) . That's very shady of this player ,so I guess I will support Stars on this decision .....

 

[LotharMcDowner]

Interesting, like everyone I wonder what took so long to prove. I hope the full story gets out eventually, sounds juicy.

 

[roger perkins]

it probably took so long because with that sum of cash you need to get the lawyers involved if you are thinking about disqualifying and redistribution. I mean if thats me im definitely hiring a lawyer

 

[fundiver199]

I saw information in the article that it could be a Ghost player-who takes advice from several other professional gamblers. I don't understand how they can prove such things.

Maybe the other players noticed, that even simple decisions always took a long time. Which could indicate, he had to listen to the advice of others before taking any action. During the investigation he might then have been asked to explain his decisions in individual hands and send video footage of him playing other games to prove, he actually play this way. This seem to be the main tool used against players being suspected for using bots or playing on somebody elses account. This is just my best guess, since I know nothing about the case.

 

[RutgersOneTime]

this is wild. I'm not surprised by the length that it took, but if people really think they can get away with this, im sure some actually do get away with it, and I wonder what that number is.

 

[zinzir]

BTW the name of the thread says it's SCOOP and article says it's WCOOP.

It would have been funnier if the thread said SCOOP and the article said POOP

 

[Space635]

PokerStars has disqualified the winner of the 2018 World Championship of Online Poker Main Event, transferring the player’s prize money in order to compensate others who cashed in the tournament. It’s unclear what wann2play did to earn his disqualification. There are a few likely issues that would lead PokerStars to take such drastic action but nothing has been disclosed - only speculation from the poker community and we may never know the reasons.

2018 WCOOP Winner Disqualified by PokerStars, $1.35M Prize Money Redistributed to Other Players

Apart from disqualification, what other punishments can the player take?

 

[Shells]

Apart from disqualification, what other punishments can the player take?

Other punishments? I would assume there is potential the player could be banned from playing on the poker site? and of course, the money would not be in his account any longer.

 

[throughstruggle]

Other punishments? I would assume there is potential the player could be banned from playing on the poker site? and of course, the money would not be in his account any longer.

why could he not immediately withdraw funds?

 

[Shells]

why could he not immediately withdraw funds?

The player who had initially won the game had been accused of 'cheating' and PokerStars would have put a hold or a 'Freeze' on the winnings till the dispute would have been resolved. So, if the player had withdrawn from the winnings, there is very little chance PokerStars would have been able to retrieve the winnings from the former winner. When the funds were released back to PokerStars they then paid the 2nd place finisher and others who cashed in the game.

 

[DS3]

As others have noted it simply takes time and lawyers to work through the process if winnings have are frozen/disputed.

It took one and a half years for the Gordon Vayo dispute to resolve (not completely even then). He was the wsop main event finalist who then later played and won a tourney for $690,000. PokerStars claimed he had used a VPN from within the US whilst claiming to play from canada (I believe). Vayo sued to receive his winnings but dropped the case when PokerStars produced his forged documents.

PokerStars then countersued...

 

[Sintubai]

It is incredible to have the prize frozen for all this time of investigation .. Very annoying for all honest players! I believe that these programs that are used in parallel with poker software, like hud, etc ... facilitate the action of bots and fraudulent players. each with their notes would only be much better and fairer. I would like to know the real reason for the disqualification. thanks for the news! long live to fair play![emoji41]

 

[nikoszwtos93]

I could wait 1 year for a million..
(btw today was 1million spin go)

 

[fundiver199]

It is incredible to have the prize frozen for all this time of investigation .. Very annoying for all honest players!

True but honest players dont get accused of cheating all the time. And if they do, they can likely provide evidence of their legal play relatively fast, so that the investigation is concluded in much less than 18 month. The fact, that this player has not publicly disputed PokerStars decision speaks volume about his guilt. If someone wanted to take life changing money away from me for no good reason, i would certainly not be quiet about it.

 

[Shells]

True but honest players dont get accused of cheating all the time. And if they do, they can likely provide evidence of their legal play relatively fast, so that the investigation is concluded in much less than 18 month. The fact, that this player has not publicly disputed PokerStars decision speaks volume about his guilt. If someone wanted to take life changing money away from me for no good reason, i would certainly not be quiet about it.

Spot on! So many good points over this issue right there!

 

[MAGICUZ]

I did not quite understand)let's say my friend wanted to play poker for my account and won the money.how does pokerstars know that it wasn’t me playing? if that’s even so!Then my friend played with my money and with my consent and at the same time I was next to him)Why create an account for a busy person, if he wants to play, have fun, for example, at a friend’s house with his consent)Strange policy of course!It seems to me that when an account passes an identity check and is not involved in fraud, then who cares who plays with this account?Grandfather, granny, dad, mom, brat sister or friend,the main thing with my consent is)Maybe I'll understand when one million flies to me!!!???

 

[deyvsonflp]

I was just wondering how the distribution of what he won will be. Will it be everyone who entered ITM?

 

[Shells]

I did not quite understand)let's say my friend wanted to play poker for my account and won the money.how does pokerstars know that it wasn’t me playing? if that’s even so!Then my friend played with my money and with my consent and at the same time I was next to him)Why create an account for a busy person, if he wants to play, have fun, for example, at a friend’s house with his consent)Strange policy of course!It seems to me that when an account passes an identity check and is not involved in fraud, then who cares who plays with this account?Grandfather, granny, dad, mom, brat sister or friend,the main thing with my consent is)Maybe I'll understand when one million flies to me!!!???

If you did have your friend play for you and your account happened to win, I'm pretty sure your friend would have something to say about the winnings. Would you be ok with that? But aside from you giving consent for someone else to play your account, it is against rules and policy of PokerStars. The most likely outcome for this is both of you get banned from Stars and your account is confiscated. I would have to look into it more, but those are the rules I remember way back when I opened my PokerStars account.


In this instance, there is no way of knowing what exactly the issue was that caused other players alarm as to what the former winner had done or did during the game - we can only speculate.

 

[MAGICUZ]

If you did have your friend play for you and your account happened to win, I'm pretty sure your friend would have something to say about the winnings. Would you be ok with that?
Let's say my friend is a rich man and he doesn’t need this gain, the money automatically lies on my account, then I will dispose of it as I want.Question?How can they find out that personally I didn’t play by myself?Verified account, I always play at the same address.It remains a mystery to meHow do they know?Or is it connected only with large winnings?