The World Series of Poker (WSOP) Paradise was a grand success but an unfortunate situation happened at the end when only three players were left in the Main Event. One of the three players, Daniel Neilson, a well-known pro from Australia, accidentally paid an extra 10 million in chips after losing a big all-in pot to the ultimate champion Stanislav Zegal, according to PokerMedia Australia.
The dealer made a mistake resulting in incorrect chip count – 48 million instead of 38 million. This left Neilson with 5.2 million in chips as opposed to 15.2 million. This mistake was not noticed by officials and resulted in the wrong counts on the live stream. Daniel exited the final table sooner than he should have been.
“The official position in any tournament is that if action was accepted by all parties there would be no recourse once tournament play has concluded. Any corrective action would need to take place while the player remains in the event. We do not, nor does any operator in the world that I’m aware, retroactively award ICM value or any monetary compensation in such situations. We are thoroughly reviewing the matter.” – WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart told PokerMedia Australia.
Neilson, who had started the final table of the $5,300 Main Event as the chip leader, busted in third place for $900,000. The error occurred in Level 37 (500,000/1,000,000/1,000,000) when Zegal opened to 2 million on the button and Neilson 3-bet to 7.5 million from the small blind. Zegal called.
Neilson continued for 8.5 million on the flop Qh Kh 5d and Zegal called. He then bet the turn 9d to prompt Zegal go all-in and he made a snap call. Zegal turned over Kc Qc and Neilson showed Ah Kd.
The river 10c bricked off, earning Zegal a major double-up. Zegal received a lot more chips from this hand as a result of a mistake. The dealer counted the chips as he thought that there were 48 million chips instead of 38 million. Unfortunately, this error in the counts went unnoticed and costed Neilson $116,000 in equity.
When PokerNews reached out to Neilson, he shared the following statement.
“I don’t really know what to say, obviously it’s a shitty situation and I’m disappointed. At the time it happened, when she said the amount, I questioned it as I was really sure he had 37 or 38 million, but the dealer confirmed it, I assumed she was correct, and I made a mistake, I should have double checked, but I assumed being the final three of the WSOP Paradise Main Event, with all the cameras, and the dealer was confirming bet sizes with the stream crew via earpiece, I just didn’t think it was possible for them to make a mistake this big.
“For all the other all-ins a supervisor was double-checking the counts. I have no idea why they didn’t for this one, the biggest pot of the entire tournament. In general, the dealers were great, and I didn’t notice this dealer make any other mistakes. I don’t think I’ve ever complained about a dealer before; however, I did find it surprising they used a local Bahamian dealer who was very inexperienced twice for the final table. It’s not his fault as he shouldn’t have been put in the situation, but he was making many errors and announced the wrong bet size nearly every time.
“I understand that when something like this happens not much can be done, but I think being three-handed of the WSOP [Paradise] Main Event they really should have more procedures in place to make sure something like this doesn’t happen. It cost me an enormous opportunity to win a Main Event and bracelet. On top of that, after the hand the stream was showing the incorrect amount of chips I had for future hands, it made my play look horrible, the commentators even commented that my cards must be wrong as they can’t believe I would play like that. I’ve received over 100 messages asking WTF I was doing. I’m hoping they can do something to make the situation right.”
While it is not certain that Neilson will receive any monetary compensation, but the WSOP officials are conducting an investigation. They will definitely look into the matter and examine the procedures in place. They would want to ensure such an error doesn’t repeat again in the future games.
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Source: PokerNews
