- Jesse Yaginuma was denied a bracelet after the controversial event ending
- James Carroll’s passive play raised chip-dumping suspicions
- WPT bonus could have influenced remaining desk dynamics
World Collection of Poker (WSOP) officers mentioned Monday Jesse Yaginuma received’t obtain a winner’s bracelet for his controversial first-place end final Wednesday within the Millionaire Maker occasion that sparked allegations of chip-dumping. Nor will Yaginuma be acknowledged because the official winner of the occasion.
Jesse Yaginuma, above, entered heads-up play in final week’s WSOP Millionaire Maker with simply 10% of the chips in play however went on to win the occasion. The result sparked hypothesis amongst some observers that his opponent, James Carroll, could have performed unusually gentle, elevating questions concerning the $1 million ClubWPT bonus tied to Yaginuma’s victory. (Picture: WSOP/PokerGO/YouTube)
The WSOP stopped in need of accusing Yaginuma and his heads-up opponent, James Carroll, of collusion, however its determination strongly implies impropriety. Nonetheless, the remaining prize pool will probably be break up between the 2 gamers.
“The investigation into WSOP Occasion 53 [Millionaire Maker] has been accomplished,” WSOP officers wrote on X. “We’ve concluded that with a view to uphold the integrity of the sport and to uphold our official WSOP Match Guidelines, no winner will probably be acknowledged, and no bracelet will probably be awarded for this yr’s event.”
Suspicious Play
Many observers cried foul after Carroll, who took a 9-1 chip lead into heads-up play, started to play uncharacteristically passively, regardless of being an awesome favourite to win.
He folded repeatedly to preflop raises the place calling would have been optimum. In a single spot, he jammed all-in with pocket aces preflop – a transfer some consider could have discouraged motion. He additionally three-bet with 8-3 offsuit, a notoriously weak hand, earlier than folding to a four-bet.
Carroll is not any novice. He has two World Poker Tour (WPT) titles and two WSOP Circuit rings to his title, and is extensively thought to be a extremely competent event participant.
It turned out that Yaginuma stood to earn a $1 million bonus on high of the $1,255,180 first-place prize for profitable this event, because of a ClubWPT Gold ticket he had received on-line. ClubWPT Gold is a WPT promotion that awards a $1 million bonus to ticket holders who go on to win one in every of 11 designated occasions, together with the Millionaire Maker.
Thus, a Yaginuma victory would increase the heads-up prize pool from $2.3 million to $3.3 million. Many suspected a backroom deal existed to engineer a Yaginuma win.
WPT Million?
It stays unclear whether or not Yaginuma will obtain the $1 million bonus from the WPT, or whether or not his actions violated the phrases of the ClubWPT promotion.
On line casino.org has contacted the WPT for remark, together with whether or not the group plans to revise the promotion to stop situations that might unintentionally incentivize collusion.
