The WSOP is the gift that keeps on giving, with more stories in 7 weeks than most series could muster in 7 years. Today it’s the turn of controversies – marked cards, RTA-cheating, scams and more – and all that was before the Main Event hit the headlines. Let’s dive in with our top 5 countdown…
5. Marked cards
It’s the stuff of poker-cheating legend, someone surreptitiously marking the aces and, in the old Wild West at least, getting shot when they are caught.
The modern way is to use some form of invisible ink and special glasses to read them, but Mike Holtz stumbled upon some old fashioned methods this year…
10 hands into sitting down at PLO8 $1500
EVERY A234 in both decks were marked, a woman who plays mixed grabbed both decks and was able to identify every A-4 from face down cards.
The floor replaced the deck and told us they were not going to investigate?!?! @WSOP
— Mike Holtz (@MikeHoltzPoker) June 5, 2024
Of course, ‘suited babies’ in PLO8 are the business, with chances to scoop both sides of the pot. Knowing where they are in the deck is therefore a money-printing exercise.
It’s far from the first or more most high-profile case of marking cards to hit the headlines. Last year saw Andrew Robl accusing fellow highstakes pro Martin Kabrhel of doing exactly that.
Robl tweeted: “How is Martin Kabrhel not banned from the WSOP? He makes any tournament no fun for anyone and on top of it I’ve seen him mark cards in every tournament I’ve ever played with him.”
4. RTA Cheating? Mind your business!
GTO solvers are the scourge of the modern game for some and the path to enlightenment for others, but consulting the latest ‘poker engines’ during play is supposed to be a big no-no. That’s why James Chen was so vociferous in outing Frederic Normand…
Caught a guy on @GTOWizard in the @WSOP 1k Mystery Millions NLH Flight A.
First photo was taken at Paris white section table 194 at 17:39. Despite the privacy screen protector, you can make out the GTO Wizard login screen. Second photo is for identification.
More details below. pic.twitter.com/G68cnwTPk5
— James Chen (@ChipBurglar) May 31, 2024
Holland claimed there was nothing remiss going on, responding: “Hey man. Thanks for yelling at me at the table like a psycho. I was caught changing my subscription and wanting to give my account to my housemate… damn sorry.
He added: “Mind your own business and stop taking random picture of people you’re cringe af. GL for the rest of the series.”
This would not be the last time this year’s WSOP faced this problem… far from it!
3. Scammer alert! Pay zat man hiz money
It wouldn’t be poker if there wasn’t a shout of “scammer!” somewhere in among the amazing folds, brutal river cards, and best player to never win a bracelet discussions.
This time it was Elvis Toomas doing the calling out and Brent Hart on the receiving end, just days after Hart had lifted a gold bracelet and $660,284. The sum in question? A measly $1000!
Another serial scammer Brent Hart, live on the PokerGo stream in the $5k. Be cautious at WSOP my friends. https://t.co/gFMCThOQYr pic.twitter.com/ak124EiWOc
— Elvis Toomas (@elvistoomas) June 7, 2024
Toomas wrote a lengthy thread back in 2022 claiming: “Here’s a name you should all be cautious of Brent Hart, he borrowed $1,000 from me on February 17th… and promised to pay me back in full the very next day after he cashed. He went on to finish in 2nd place for over $166k. Rather than settling his debt he left Vegas and went home to California.”
The moral of the story? Pay zat man his money otherwise your big wins will be tainted.
2. Sexism – How do you solve a problem like Marias?
They make up more than 50% of the population, but in the pokersphere it’s closer to just 5% – and sexist behaviour by male players is often cited as being one of the main factors.
For Maria Konnikova and Maria Ho, however, they hadn’t even made it to the tables before their problems began…
In her ‘Poker Players Only’ Substack entitled The Leap, Konnikova related the following tale:
“As we passed from the main Paris casino to the WSOP area, along with a crowd of other players on their way back to the tables, we heard cries behind us: Stop! Stop! …”
As Maria and I turned to look, a security guard ran up, barring our progress. “Poker players only beyond this point,” he told us. “You’re going to have to leave.”
“Excuse me? Maria and I looked at each other in disbelief. Here I am, wearing prominent PokerStars Team Pro patches. Here is Maria, one of the single most famous faces in the poker world, male or female. Here are crowds of men making their way unimpeded to the ballroom to play. And here we are, dealing with this—whatever this is.
“We are poker players,” is all I could say in the moment.
“I’m going to need to see some identification,” came the reply.
An incensed Konnikova and equally upset Ho took the guard to task, but it was only resolved when the “ever-so-slightly more imposing-looking” David Williams questioned the guard.
The Marias made it back to the table in time but were left with a sour taste: “I am kind of in shock. I can’t believe that happened,” Ho texted Konnikova.
Let’s all try to do better!
1. Laptopgate and the $10million question
Incredibly, the biggest controversy of all happened at the culmination of the biggest event of all – the 2024 Main Event!
Jonathan Tamayo was en route to winning the $10million top prize and a place in poker history, but that route involved endless runs to the rail where GTO whizz Dominik Nitsche was stood, a laptop in front of him apparently running GTO software.
To the disbelief of those watching at home, neither of his two rivals by this point, Niklas Astedt and Jordan Griff – the former a mainly highstakes online crusher, the latter a pure rec player – complained.
Daniel Negreanu reminded the world that such things were supposedly banned…
This was the announcement made at the beginning of the tourneys.
Listen below https://t.co/VXL7bnMpkf
— Daniel Negreanu (@RealKidPoker) July 20, 2024
Nitsche, however, doubled down and wound up the naysayers, tweeting: “The best part of having a piece win the main is definitely the money. But the 2nd best part is how mad the biggest dipshits on twitter get when they see someone using a laptop on the rail.”
It was a rather sad and unnecessary end to poker’s biggest day on the stage and showed the complete polarization between those who see such tools as part and parcel of their everyday lives as modern poker pros, and those who play mostly live and believe in the old-school approach.
And that, folks, is the story of the WSOP 2024 as told through the lens of dubious behaviour. What was your favourite/least favourite moment? Let us know on our social media channels.
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