Top themes of 2019: the biggest scandals of this year
Sometimes there are so strong battles at the poker tables that you have to call security. It even happens that it comes to a shootout, and such situations endanger the lives of poker players.
We wish everyone as few scandals and as many high-profile victories as possible in 2020. But it’s hard to ignore the scandals of 2019 and therefore we’ve made a selection of the most scandalous events of the past year for Cardmates’ readers.
1. Girl was kicked out of the Main Event WSOPC
Catherine Valdes has registered in one of the $400 WSOP Cicruit Bally's Las Vegas tournaments. The event organizers mistakenly put her in the WSOPC Main Event cost $1 700. A few hours later, the tournament director approached her and asked if the girl knew which tournament she was playing in.
The girl tried to explain that she had been put into this tournament by mistake, and that she hadn’t known it was the Main Event for $1 700. Nobody heard her, and Catherine was kicked out of the casino with a scandal. Valdes added that they had spoken to her in an inappropriate manner. Howevet, the girl was allowed to play in the $400 tournament, which she had registered in.
The problem is that she had a very short stack in that event, but the tournament director refused to put her back in the Main Event. Cat's followers rose to defend her, and experienced players took a tough stand. As a result, the girl admitted that she had been wrong, but Valdes didn't withdraw her comments regarding the rudeness of the casino staff.
2. Outrageous behaviour at the ME WSOP 2019
Kenneth Strauss showed how you shouldn't behave at the Main Event WSOP. At first, the fairly drunk guy was simply playing poker, and then he started to act strange.
After Strauss went all-in, he suddenly got up from his chair and took off his pants. Then Ken began to show his genitals to all other participants of the event.
To top it off, Kevin threw a sneaker at the dealer, and this was the final straw. The player was immediately disqualified from participating in the tournament. After such a situation, the guy became a very "popular" person.
However, Ken’s adventures weren’t over yet, as the player posted on Twitter that he would destroy all the casinos, which would ban him for entering. The police took this as a threat of terrorist attack and sent the American to the remand centre. Later, the expertise recognized him to be deranged and insane.
3. Shootout at the casino in New York
This event has become one of the most dangerous in poker news of 2019. The shooting that occurred in one of the underground casinos in New York, took the lives of four people.
The gunman was a 37-year-old man – Chester Goode. The guy was playing poker with two friends, but in an instant, he pulled a gun and started shooting at the ceiling. Law enforcement authorities assume that the man lost a large amount of money, and it was the reason he opened fire.
In response to this, the guard started firing at Goode and thus, the shootout began. As a result, Chester, two of his friends and the security guard of the gambling establishment were killed.
4. Shirtless dealers at the poker tables
The dealers in the women's tournament at the Battle of Malta were topless. All dealers dealt cards after getting naked to the waist. Despite the fact that only women participated in the event, there were those who did not like such innovations.
A women's human rights defender, Daiva Byrne, said that she was outraged by the dealers’ clothes. She also believes that things like that are humiliating for all ladies participating in the event.
According to one of the dealers, each of them has been promised to pay €50 for sitting at poker tables without shirts.
In a short while, the organizers apologized on the official website of the series and added that they had just wanted to create a fun and festive atmosphere.
5. Poker player was accused of playing too well
Mike Postle, a regular player of the casino Stones Gambling was involved in one of the biggest scandals of 2019. The guy was accused of fraud because he didn’t make wrong decisions and folded strong cards when his hand could be beaten by the stronger hand.
The Stones Live organizers conducted their own investigation. Having reviewed all Postle’s hands during the streams, they came to the conclusion that everything was honest and dispelled rumours of fraud due to the fact that they could not find any evidence.
Despite the guy proved his innocence, he was sued in the amount of $30 000. The analysts found that Postle’s income was six times higher than the expected one, and that Mike was getting all the necessary information about the opponents ’cards through his smartphone. The proceedings on this case are still ongoing.