WSOP Circuit Scandal: Player Eliminated in a Chop Pot

Poker really never disappoints as there’s always something crazy going on. It’s only January and we already have two big stories brewing up. First one is of course Mike Postle returning to poker wearing a disguise and second one will be this.

It was a WSOP Circuit Main Event final table at King’s Resort in Rozvadov, Czech Republic when Lupo and Pierre Kauert went all-in preflop and Kauert was eliminated in 5^th place. But here’s the catch – he didn’t have the worse hand! Watch the action in the video below.

https://twitter.com/EnjoyUrLifeTV/status/1617927264985034753

As you can see from the graphics the pot should’ve been chopped between the two, but no one noticed including the dealer and Pierre himself, as he was sent to the rails with €58,350 in the pocket.

Mistakes happen and dealers are only human after all, but what conspired after that is inexcusable. The hand might have gone unnoticed in King’s Resort poker room, but not for viewers of the livestream on YouTube and Twitch. The moment chat started pointing out the mistake, livestream ended, VODs were scrubbed from the channels and anyone mentioning in the chat got banned. They certainly haven’t heard about Barbara Streisand.

We said that no one noticed at the final table, but is that 100% true? Looking at the reactions from the players we think at least few have noticed, including the man “winning” the pot as he wasn’t very thrilled about the 6 on the river. But of course, who can say no to a money ladder, right?

Also, whoever was behind the stream graphics knew that something wasn’t right as the tournament tracker of course chopped the pot between Lupo and Kauert, so an imaginary board (KKK 8 6) had to be run right after the actual hand to give Lupo all the chips.

Of course, it was all too late as livestream had 30 minutes of delay and according to rules, when the next hand is dealt it’s already too late for any kind of disputes. It’s player’s responsibility first to know the rules of poker and to read hand correctly.

Federico Brunato, who is a poker director from King’s Casino, issued the following statement on Facebook:

Dear poker community,

I am sharing with you a very interesting situation that has occurred on one of our annual WSOPC events.

I am glad to have it documented on the livestream as it is something that happens very often during the games and is not talked so much about. With this post I want to raise awareness and give official piece of advice to our poker community.

To start with our poker dealers are very highly trained professionals that undergo a 6 week training course before entering their career paths at King’s. I myself have started as a poker dealer at King’s and know the work ethics. The dealer in the clip is our dear Sona that has been a member of our family for the last 6 years. When it comes to the standard of our streams we do our maximum to ensure that it is at the highest possible level and accordingly Sona has been a constant member of our TV crew since her first steps in our team.

When it comes to the Hand number 35 of the final day of the WSOPC ME where Mr. Pierre Kauert was eliminated and cashed a stunning 58,000€ incl. a WSOPE ME ticket.

I would like to refer to one of the most important rules of poker – always read your hand. At the end of the day we are all humans and we all can make mistakes, Sona is no exception. Even though she has dealt thousands of successful hands in her life, this hand unfortunately she misread. Nonetheless alongside with Sona, Mr. Pierre Kauert and all other competitors at the table misread the hand as well which of course is very unfortunate. The hand was supposed to be a split and we can now only guess how it would turn out in the Main Event path of Pierre Kauert, perhaps he would now be crowned a champion with a Golden Ring, perhaps he would be eliminated in the next hand.

At the end of the day I would like to refer to rule number 76. Of WSOP which states: The right to dispute a hand ends when a new hand begins. This applies not only to WSOP, but also to nearly all regular poker games that are played.

To take from this I strongly advise the poker community to not criticise other peoples mistake and not to try and find guilty, instead learn from this, know your rights and follow your game as every single occasion is individual in its own way.

Thank you!

addition to my previous statement:
I would like to stress that my intention was not to instruct anyone, but rather to highlight that such incidents happen frequently even outside of streamed tables. And how is important for all players to be vigilant and to not forget how crucial it is to monitor the game and be aware of the rules.

Nonetheless, we will remain vigilant in our efforts to improve communication within the team, so that we can avoid similar situations in the future.

I take full responsibility for any mistakes that may occur within my team, as the individuals I have chosen to work with reflect on me and my commitment to carrying out my duties in a highly professional manner.