The winner of the 2018 WCOOP Main Event, wann2play, has been disqualified 18-months after winning $1.35million. The funds will be redistributed this week among the other players.
News of the shock DQ, believed to be for multi-accounting, was broken by English pro Max Silver on Twitter, who congratulated ‘Eze88888’ who therefore becomes the new champion.
2018 WCOOP Main event winner "wann2play" account was frozen shortly after the tournament. Looks like his $1,352,267.97 was finally redistributed to the rest of the prize pool.
Looks like we have a new champion @EzequielWaigel 💪💪💪
— Max Silver (@max_silver) February 28, 2020
Although PokerStars haven’t publicly commented on the investigation and subsequent DQ, there are reports that the anonymous Dutch account ‘violated PokerStars’ terms of service’.
It means that ‘Eze88888’, aka Argentinian pro Ezequiel Waigel, receives an extra $272,000. The original final table heads-up deal seeing ‘wann2play’ taking $1.352 million and ‘eze88888’ taking $1.257 million.
That deal wasn’t the smoothest ever, Waigel asking for $18k more than the chip-chop numbers offered, before settling on an extra $10k. He then asked for tip money, as can be seen below…
According to PocketFives, Waigel was suspicious of his opponent’s play in the later stages of the tournament.
After reviewing the tournament and speaking to other ‘well-known players’, he was apparently in regular contact with PokerStars during their lengthy investigation.
The identity of wann2play is not public knowledge. However, there are rumors that many in the community know who it is. Several claiming that it may actually be a US player.
The account was registered in the Netherlands and qualified for the WCOOP Main Event via a €530 satellite, going on to defeat some of the biggest names in the online game.
The final table included Linus ‘LLinusLLove’ Loeliger, Robby ‘PlayaPlz’ Lipkin, Michael ‘mczhang’ Zhang, and Noah ‘Exclusive’ Boeken.
It’s far from the first time that a player has been DQ’d and/or had their prizemoney withheld.
Gordon Vayo’s forgeries
The year before ‘wann2play’s’ tainted victory, Gordon ‘holla@yoboy’ Vayo was at the center of a huge controversy following his 2017 SCOOP victory.
The 2016 WSOP Main Event runner-up took down the $1050 Phased event. His $692,000 cash is the second-biggest payout in a five-way deal.
Vayo’s problems arose when he tried to cash out his winnings. PokerStars froze his account for an ‘investigation of suspicious activity’.
What followed was the stuff of movies, Vayo suing Stars on counts of fraud, deceit, false advertising and breach of contract, accusing the site of ‘unwarranted bullying tactics’.
PokerStars’ suspicions that Vayo was not in Canada during the SCOOP event. He produced bank details and receipts to prove he was.
However, those documents were discovered to be forgeries after the man whom Vayo paid – a document forger – came forward to spill the beans on Vayo’s cheating and attempted fraud.
Legal counsel for Stars’ then-named parent company, Rational Entertainment Enterprises Limited (REEL), revealed details in a counter lawsuit against Vayo.
They claimed ‘REEL received a “tip” from a third party that a document forger altered Vayo’s bank and internet records …specifically in order to create the false impression that Vayo was in Canada during the SCOOP Tournament so he could fraudulently demand payment from REEL’.
This revelation led Vayo to immediately drop his lawsuit. Although PokerStars could have chased Vayo through the criminal courts, they quickly dropped the matter.
The WCOOP itself has previous for multi-accounting, the no-no that is believed to be behind wann2play’s breach of Stars’ T&C’s.
‘TheV0id’ $1.2million WCOOP win voided
In 2007, Natalie ‘TheV0id’ Teltscher- sister of English pro Mark Teltscher – won the Main Event for $1,228,330.50, the first-ever $1million+ score in the series.
However, the site disqualified her and redistributed her prizemoney, Vanessa ‘LadyMaverick’ Rousso’s third spot improved to the runner-up and $700k instead of $463k, with ka$ino taking the title and $1.37million.
PokerStars claimed that ‘internal investigations demonstrated beyond doubt that she had not played on the account.’
Teltscher launched a lawsuit against Stars’, but later admitted that someone else, unnamed, had played on her account. She also agreed to pay towards PokerStars’ legal costs in defending her suit.
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