This year’s WSOP Main Event winner, Espen Jorstad, has gone public with details of a swap dispute after Greek pro Alex Theologis claimed he had 3% of the Norwegian’s recent monster $10,000,000 win.
The following post is regarding a WSOP main event swap dispute with community member Alex Theologis, aka Pwndidi:
— Espen Uhlen Jørstad (@UhlenPoker) August 29, 2022
Jorstad decided to make the dispute public after he was approached in Cyprus by an aggressive player who told him to “pay the man his money”.
“He proceeded to get right up to me and said stuff like ‘Do you want to discuss it outside??’ etc in a pretty aggro manner, basically hinting there would be violence if I did not pay Alex,” wrote Jorstad, clearly shocked by the incident.
The dispute centres around a claim by Theologis, a coach for bitBstaking and RunItOnce, that he had agreed on a 3% swap with Jorstad, worth a tidy $300k, although Theologis has no recollection of when it was agreed, nor has it agreed anywhere in writing.
Espen Jorstad writes: “He explained that he thought he had swapped with me, but could not find any evidence for the swap. Pads [Patrick Leonard, the bitB staking boss] asked me about it, and I told him that I had no memory of ever swapping with Alex. By the time I was chip leader going into the final table, Alex had become certain that there was a swap in place.”
The Norwegian explains further: “Whenever I swapped with people for the main (or any other tournament) we always confirmed it in a chat, and I also wrote it down in my own document to keep track. For Alex, I had neither.”
This was confirmed on Twitter by at least one other player…
Can just state the fact that me and Espen have been swapping/selling pieces to eachother for 5 years. And it has always been confirmed via text. No text, no swap/buy.
— Kayhan Mokri (@KayhanMok) August 29, 2022
…and with Theologis unable to even recall WHEN they agreed to swap, it seems like that should have been an end to it. However, Jorstad reveals that instead things escalated…
Theologis claims he feels “so betrayed and disappointed” and says of Jorstad, who has even offered to take the matter to arbitration: “not sure how you can sleep at night and be happy with yourself”.
After this, the incident at a meet-up game in Cyprus occurred when he was accosted by “a clearly intoxicated Irish fellow”.
“It was a very uncomfortable situation, having a drunk aggro guy in my face ‘wanting to discuss it outside’, and questioning my integrity and credibility in a public setting,” says Jorstad.
Public opinion, however, is behind Espen Jorstad and dead set against Theologis and his brazen claims of a swap it seems.
Personally feel you’re being far too kind towards Alex here – this strikes me as someone who is masterfully manipulative and wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s pulled/tried this shit before
Downswing and bad summer make this all the more sus
— Henry Kilbane (@henry_kilbane) August 29, 2022
Tony Dunst, however, believes that it’s 25 times more likely that Jorstad just forgot than Theologis is trying to scam him:
Well, one of three things happened:
A. Alex conflated a swap with someone else for a swap with Uhlen.B. Alex swapped with Uhlen and Uhlen forgot during the craziest week of his life.
C. Alex is angling.
Roughly I think its 75% to be A, 24% B, and 1% or less C.
— TonyDunstTV (@tonydunsttv) August 29, 2022
Alex Theologis, who doesn’t appear to use Twitter, has been absent from the online discussion so far. But if he takes up Jorstad’s offer to arbitrate, it’s unlikely he will emerge with a payday unless he can somehow persuade people that no record, and no proper memory of a swap, is a credible argument.
This is the easiest judgment call I’ve ever seen. You owe nothing. I don’t know Alex but the approach he’s taking is the way any scammer can take. He has no evidence
— Jack Steinberg (@Jack_Allen87) August 29, 2022
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