The World Series of Poker is investigating after the winner and runner-up of a Millionaire Maker event have been accused of collusion. The announcement came after the completion of a $1,500 buy-in no-limit Hold’em tournament at the Horseshoe in Las Vegas, which finished on Wednesday night.
At the final table of the event, which began on June 21, James Carroll held a 9-to-1 chip lead over Jesse Yaginuma. But Yaginuma pulled off a comeback to win the event, earning the first-place prize of $1.26 million. Carroll earned $1 million as the runner-up.
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However, in the wake of the matchup, Yaginuma and Carroll have been accused of engaging in “chip dumping,” with viewers speculating that Carroll was intentionally losing hands to increase Yaginuma’s stack as part of a prearranged agreement. Throughout the comeback, Yaginuma often won hands by raising or re-raising without Carroll contesting, per ESPN.
On Thursday, WSOP released a statement saying that it had opened an investigation.
“Last night, we were made aware of a potential breach of the official WSOP Tournament Rules during heads up play in Event 53,” the organization wrote. “At this time, 1st and 2nd place have not been confirmed and neither the prize money nor the bracelet have been officially awarded.”
In other poker tournaments, side deals between players are allowed. But WSOP official rules state that chip-dumping is a form of “collusion,” and is considered an “illegal or unethical act.” Under WSOP, collusion can result in forfeiture of prize money, ejection from an event, and exclusion from future WSOP events.
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Chip-dumping is usually done with the intention of splitting prize money. Though the difference between Yaginuma and Carroll’s prize money was less significant, there was an additional $1 million on the line as a result of an independent promotion run by online poker service ClubWPT Gold. Yaginuma was eligible for the promotion as a result of a previous win; Carroll was not.
Yaginuma, speaking with Poker.org, denied that he and Carroll had colluded.
If WSOP upholds the win, Yaginuma will be the second person to cash in on the ClubWPT Gold promotion, after Michael Lavin won a similar contest earlier in June. While WSOP has scrubbed posts congratulating Yaginuma’s win on social media, ClubWPT Gold’s congratulatory post is still up.
