Sooo... it looks like a WSOP bracelet was just blatantly chip dumped right on stream

ClubWPTGold has been running a WSOP-long promotion called "Gold Rush", where if you win one of these promotional passes on their site, you get an extra million dollars if you win a 2025 summer bracelet during one of 11 pre-selected events.

I believe one guy has done it so far, and it was non-controversial, as nothing about his win looked sketchy.

Unfortunately, the inevitable has occurred, and a very likely chip dumping seems to have taken place right on stream, where the Gold Rush ticket holder "miraculously" came back from a 9:1 initial heads up chip deficit (and then as large as 15:1), where his previously well-playing opponent suddenly turned into the world's biggest fish.

Notably, the difference between first and second was rather mild compared to usual. First place was to get $1.255m, while 2nd would get $1.012m.

The well-regarded $1500 Millionaire Maker NL Holdem event featured one of those Gold Rush ticket holders, Jesse Yaginuma, but he came into heads up play with a tremendous 9:1 chip deficit. His opponent, James Carroll, did not have a Gold Rush ticket.

Carroll, who had been playing well during the entire final table, suddenly collapsed. This didn't seem due to bad luck, tilt from a bad beat, or just choking heads up. This was a blatant and sudden change in playstyle, which coincided with being heads up against the guy who would get an extra million for winning first place.

Both players are experienced. Carroll has no bracelet but 2 WPT titles. Yaginuma had won a bracelet each year from 2022-2024.

It was broadcasted on PokerGo, so you can see it for yourself below:

https://www.youtube.com/live/KCaX-xe-iac


Go to the 3:09:31 mark to see the beginning of heads up play, which followed a break.

Coming into heads up play, Carroll led 270m to 30m in chips.

At 3:14:32, there's already a semi-questionable spot, where the very short Yaginuma doesn't shove in his last 28m holding 2 overcards and a flush draw, against an opponent checking the flop twice. He ends up checking it down and losing to a flopped pair of 3s. But okay... perhaps he just didn't want to possibly get it in drawing for 1 card.

As you continue watching, you'll see Yaginuma going all in with hands like 44 and KQ pre. That's standard, EXCEPT both times it follows a limp by Carroll -- perhaps a signal that his hand is weak enough to fold without making it look bad on stream.

At 3:19:15 you can see that Carroll raises pre with unknown cards, as he didn't show the camera. Yaginuma did this twice earlier, but then did show the cards to the camera before the flop was dealt. In this case, Carroll never showed his cards, but did flip over a 6 after Yaginuma folded his KT on an A66 flop.

This left Yaginuma down to 18.3m to Carroll's 281.6m -- a whopping 15:1 chip deficit.

Then it got stranger. Note that the blinds were 1.2m/2.4m/2.4m, meaning that Yaginuma was down to about 7 BB. Even if you're chip dumping, you have to be careful here not to accidentally bust your opponent.

So what does Carroll do? At 3:22:34, he open folds K2 suited on the button!!


The really controversial hand starts at 3:24:28. Yaginuma has 75o. He limps, and Carroll checks with T6o. Standard, but unfortunately for our "alleged" dumpers, they both hit the flop of 766, with Yaginuma drawing to 2 outs. Yaginuma ends up folding!

This is where it starts to become obvious what's going on.

Observers then came to notice a pattern:

When Carroll bet an odd number of chips, he was bluffing. When he bet an even number of chips (such as these trip sixes above), it meant he has it.

Note that Carroll bet an even number of chips in the other trip sixes hand a little earlier.

Starting at 3:28:14, they were both not showing their cards to the camera, and there was an all-in by Yaginum and fold.

At 3:30:35, Carroll went all in with AA preflop on the button, of course getting a fold from Yaginuma's 62. People noted that Carroll hadn't open-all-ined any previous hand, and suddenly does it with the one hand where he WANTS action. What?!

At 3:39:35, you can see a river where only Carroll's hand of K9 was shown to the camera, and he had only K high on a Q4TT8 board. Of course his bet was 5 chips, indicating he didn't have it. Yaginuma probably had worse and folded. (He could have gone all in there, but that would've been too obvious to spaz out there all of a sudden.)

At 3:41:05, you see Carroll holding 75 and betting into a 9-5-3 board with 4 chips. Yaginuma folds K2. Standard, but again notice the even chips.

However, at this point, Yaginuma simply is card dead and can't accumulate chips even with whatever is going on here.

The odd-even thing might be challenged by looking at the hand at 3:46:20. Yaginuma had nothing with 84o on 2K5AJ board, while Carroll had T5 for 4th pair. Yaginuma bet 6m (6 chips, even), and Carroll ended up laying it down. However, it's possible this odd-even thing was to only be done by Carroll.

At 3:49:50, you can see Yaginuma with K9 on a 629 board bet 3.5m (4 chips), and Carroll with QT raise to 9m (9 chips -- odd), and Yaginuma then shoves, where Carroll folds. The fold is obviously correct, but the 9m check-raise bluff followed by a fold looks suspect. After this hand, Yaginuma is up to 62m.

At 3:52:25, Yaginuma has 22, limps, and Carroll has J9o and checks. Flop is 3K6. Carroll fires out 5m (5 chips, odd again), and Yaginuma makes it 14m with his deuces, causing a fold! What a soul read!

At 3:55:41, commentator David Tuchman finally can't stand it. He says, "We've seen some really interesting all-ins from Yaginuma... 65, J8, hands you don't conventionally think you're gonna move in with those kinda hands, but Yaginuma... he just seemingly always knows where he's at."

At 3:58:08, Tuchman stops being as subtle. When Yaginuma limped with K4o, and Carroll raised to 9m with JTo (again, notice odd chips), Tuchman remarked, "What do you think Yaginuma is going to do here?.... I bet you he shoves.... It's just the way Yaginuma likes to do it." Sure enough, he re-raised to 23m, and Carroll folded. LOL!

At 4:14:47, with Yaginuma now in the chip lead despite never being at risk for his tournament life despite being down 15:1, limped with J8o. Carroll raised 13m (odd, of course) with 63o, and Yaginuma called. Flop came JT5, and Carroll bet 17m despite having 6 high. Of course, being odd again, Yaginuma called with top pair, letting him bluff at it. Turn was 7c, giving both guys a 1-card flush draw, and Carroll a straight possibility. They both checked, and when Qs rolled off (changing nothing for either player), Carroll bet 57m -- again, an odd number. Yaginuma of course called after some phony tanking, and won the hand!!!

At 4:20:20, Caroll raised Yaginuma's K5o limp to 13m, Yagiuma went over the top to 51m, and got a fold. Amazing!! By the end of this hand, Carroll was down to 38m and Yaginuma had 261m, and you know where this was headed.


Spoiler alert... Yaginuma won the bracelet!!!!!1111

WHAT A COMEBACK GUYZ


ClubWPTGold played it off like everything was cool, and awarded the $1m, either not wanting to call attention to the fact that their promo indirectly led to this, or fully knowing and being happy that the controversy would make their competitor look bad.

https://x.com/ClubWPTGold/status/1938090565863719263


WSOP did the same, trying to act like this was a normal finish (but notably didn't mention the improbable comeback from 15:1 down by Yaginuma!)

They posted two tweets -- one congratulating Yaginuma for winning, and another congratulating Carroll for his 2nd place finish. The Yaginuma one was deleted quickly, and I never saw it. The Carroll one stayed up awhile, and I commented on it.

Nothing has replaced the deleted tweets. There are currently ZERO tweets from WSOP regarding the result of the event!


Of course, PFA always has the goods, so here's the Carroll tweet they deleted (and you can also see my Dr. Evil response):





PokerGo seems to have no problem celebrating this "victory":

https://x.com/PokerGO/status/1938111200354562478




I'll give "Cookie Monster" credit. He's the guy who won the Seniors $5k event last year. Quirky dude, but I like him. He predicted this would happen, way back on June 6:

https://x.com/PokerCookieM/status/1931203266936815894



More on this in the next post...

This is more than just a very bad look for WSOP, ClubWPTGold, and PokerGo.

This is possibly a Nevada Gaming violation, which could affect Caesars, GGPoker (WSOP owner), and the WSOP.

It remains to be seen if this will be investigated.

This is the first known instance of a WSOP bracelet being dumped. I'm sure it's happened before, but it's definitely the first time it happened blatantly on stream.

The only modern comparison was the 2018 Fallsview WPT chip dump, which was done so Mike Leah could finally achieve a WPT title.



It's interesting that Carroll was willing to give up a highly likely first bracelet. I guess the money was more important. They were only playing for $200k, so the $1m bonus made that amount 6x as large. There was probably some deal where Carroll would get both first place money and half the million bonus -- basically Yaginuma paying him $700k at the end of it all, and both walking away $500k richer than had the match played out normally.

Great breakdown. I’m never going through it without the timestamps, but I did since you laid it out

Kind of easy decision for both to simply split the million given both are accomplished players and a bracelet doesn’t have $500k worth of equity. But harder to pull of than they expected. Really hard to chip a guy up at that deficit without looking suspicious.

Now, who is to blame here, aside from the players?

ClubWPTGold indirectly caused this with their promo, but you can't really blame them. They were simply running a lucrative promo, which then resulted in two players acting badly in order to redeem it.

PokerGo was the broadcaster. They had to complete the broadcast contractually, so they're not at fault for anything there. Additionally, their commentators, David Tuchman and Joe Stapleton, made it very clear that this match wasn't kosher.

WSOP is the problem here. They should have stopped the match and issued warnings to both players, once they realized what was going on. Did nobody on the WSOP side understand what was happening? Were they asleep at the switch? It's possible, because they congratulated both players on X, before removing both tweets.

To be fair, while this is the first known dumped live bracelet, I'm sure there have been others in the past, but simply weren't streamed. Also, there's been a ton of shenanigans with the online bracelets. Some people accused former poker pro Mark Herm of having won two "ghost bracelets" online under other people's names. There was also the big Bryn Kenney ghosting/multiaccount scandal, as well. There was the situation where Jeremy Ausmus claimed he was cheated out of a bracelet in a $7777 online event, which was supposedly won by Jared Strauss. Suffice to say that many online bracelets weren't won honestly, or necessarily by the players having won them.

So I won't say that this is the one and only event which has tainted the bracelet. The bracelet was tainted a long time ago. This was just the most brazen and embarrassing example of it, and there might be a fallout from it.

Some people like Matt Berkey don't see the big deal here:

https://x.com/RRobbiepoker/status/1938129922922291676

Patrick Leonard is also defending the situation, claiming this was equivalent to dealmaking, since the promo wasn't by WSOP:

https://x.com/padspoker/status/1938130741482889484


I disagree. This caused the winner of the tournament to flip, and a bracelet to falsely be awarded to the wrong person. Why have bracelets at all if this is going to occur?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Patrick Leonard is also defending the situation, claiming this was equivalent to dealmaking, since the promo wasn't by WSOP:

https://x.com/padspoker/status/1938130741482889484


I disagree. This caused the winner of the tournament to flip, and a bracelet to falsely be awarded to the wrong person. Why have bracelets at all if this is going to occur?

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Would you do it though? You already have a bracelet. If you knew you could pull it off without it looking suspicious?

Like I would even though I don’t have a bracelet if I had to be the one who dumped. I’m not stealing from any other player. I’d feel like an idiot not to if it’s a free $500k. It would be cool to have a bracelet, not $500k cool.




There are a million people with WSOP bracelets by now. It isn’t like the old days where it had a ton of marketing value to the player.

Give me the $500k extra. Obviously in this spot the chip leader takes first place money and you split the million. While it may be the WSOP’s fault, the only victim is the one paying the million. If they wanted to hold it up it would be understandable. I assume they agreed it for some reason caught, the dude who won owed the other 250k.


The WSOP probably didn’t know quite what to do and fuck it, it’s not their money. Pulling them aside during a break and kind of threatening them would be the only play.

It’s kind of a unique spot to have two guys and one has to have the million possible, they have to trust each other, etc. Also while it’s obvious, hard to prove. Like no one thinks it if the guy dumping was an unknown random.


I get it’s a bad look for the WSOP but I’d feel stupid to not do it if the scenario presented itself.

I have two perspectives on this:

1) They were absolutely right to do it. That’s exactly what the old-school poker hustlers would’ve done, and what most poker players probably would. Who really cares if ClubWPT got burned for a million? We all play this game for a reason.

2) That said, it’s a pretty bad look for the WSOP in the eyes of the general public.

All things considered, though, it’s not that big of a deal. Good on them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrTickle

I have two perspectives on this:

1) They were absolutely right to do it. That’s exactly what the old-school poker hustlers would’ve done, and what most poker players probably would. Who really cares if ClubWPT got burned for a million? We all play this game for a reason.

2) That said, it’s a pretty bad look for the WSOP in the eyes of the general public.

All things considered, though, it’s not that big of a deal. Good on them.

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Yeah, we both walk with a million after taxes or we both walk with less than a million after taxes kind of clarifies the situation. I feel like I’m an idiot if I don’t.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Some people like Matt Berkey don't see the big deal here:

https://x.com/RRobbiepoker/status/1938129922922291676

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And he's right.

Any players who wouldn't do this for the money are stupid.

Who gives a shit about a fucking bracelet? These guys should be celebrated.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Some people like Matt Berkey don't see the big deal here:

https://x.com/RRobbiepoker/status/1938129922922291676

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Good grief:fraudalert

This is worse then the HU in the Main last year. Deal making is fine but the WSOP doesnt allow it officially but this is a major major issue and CLUBWPTGOLD trying to play it off they look like total fools in this.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BCR

Yeah, we both walk with a million after taxes or we both walk with less than a million after taxes kind of clarifies the situation. I feel like I’m an idiot if I don’t.

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Saved me a lot of reading.

Math wins

https://x.com/ToddWitteles/status/1938289377912008721



Any solution other than this is a fail.

I want to be clear about my position on this.

I don't blame the players for attempting this in order to presumably split $1m. It's easy to say you wouldn't do it yourself when you're not the one looking to give up $500k.

I actually wouldn't have done it personally, for various reasons, but I definitely wouldn't fault those who did.

I believe the WSOP should definitely pay out the money as they would have normally, while ClubWPT can decide for themselves what to do (either decision is ok from them, honestly).

However, I feel strongly that a bracelet should NOT be awarded. Why? Because a bracelet is a title more than a piece of jewelry. There was no actual title match played (the heads up portion), because it was very clearly intentionally thrown. Thus, there is no actual "champion" of this event, and nobody should be awarded a championship title for it.

They should simply not award a bracelet for this one, but pay everyone normally. I assume ClubWPT is going to pay the million, because they seem to be happy and lighthearted about the whole thing in their subsequent postings today. It is likely they are enjoying watching WSOP (a competitor) look bad, and they're presumably happy they disrupted things. This also bought them a lot of extra publicity.

Therefore, if the players walk away with the money they intended to get, yet no false title was awarded, that would be the best outcome.

Would you actually consider Yaginuma to be a "4-time bracelet winner" now? Of course not.



And for those in the snarky "bracelets don't matter" camp, they should especially agree with me, as withholding the bracelet should be trivial if it really "doesn't matter".

I'm also seeing a lot of people on X proclaiming, "See! This is why the WSOP should allow dealmaking! If they allowed it, this wouldn't have happened!"

I've seen that horrible take over and over, but it's false.

Dealmaking would not have helped here, because in order to get the $1m, Yaginuma had to be the actual winner. Therefore, allowing them to make a deal and play for less wouldn't have helped, nor would have a deal where they end the event early (where Carroll would get the title and Yaginuma would get additional money beyond 2nd place). Those are the two types of deals which typically occur when dealmaking is allowed.

You know what deal is never allowed at major tournaments? Declaring a phony winner -- that is, handing the title to someone who has anything besides the most chips when play is stopped. There's no way WSOP will ever allow this, and there's no way they ever SHOULD allow this. This would turn the bracelet into something you could literally buy heads up, by offering first place money to the guy behind, in exchange for declaring you the winner.

If that shit is going to be allowed, there is no point to have bracelets, Player of the Year, any fantasy leagues, or anything else that hinges upon honoring people for their results. If we're going to go that route, make tournaments like cash games, where you're just playing for the money, and titles/stats/accolades don't matter.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I want to be clear about my position on this.

I don't blame the players for attempting this in order to presumably split $1m. It's easy to say you wouldn't do it yourself when you're not the one looking to give up $500k.

I actually wouldn't have done it personally, for various reasons, but I definitely wouldn't fault those who did.

I believe the WSOP should definitely pay out the money as they would have normally, while ClubWPT can decide for themselves what to do (either decision is ok from them, honestly).

However, I feel strongly that a bracelet should NOT be awarded. Why? Because a bracelet is a title more than a piece of jewelry. There was no actual title match played (the heads up portion), because it was very clearly intentionally thrown. Thus, there is no actual "champion" of this event, and nobody should be awarded a championship title for it.

They should simply not award a bracelet for this one, but pay everyone normally. I assume ClubWPT is going to pay the million, because they seem to be happy and lighthearted about the whole thing in their subsequent postings today. It is likely they are enjoying watching WSOP (a competitor) look bad, and they're presumably happy they disrupted things. This also bought them a lot of extra publicity.

Therefore, if the players walk away with the money they intended to get, yet no false title was awarded, that would be the best outcome.

Would you actually consider Yaginuma to be a "4-time bracelet winner" now? Of course not.



And for those in the snarky "bracelets don't matter" camp, they should especially agree with me, as withholding the bracelet should be trivial if it really "doesn't matter".

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Why, what are your reasons?

I can't believe your Jew composition would give up $500k for a pointless accolade. They give out bracelets for absurd events now.

Not looking to denigrate your accomplishment from 20 years back, but for $500k?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sloppy Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I want to be clear about my position on this.

I don't blame the players for attempting this in order to presumably split $1m. It's easy to say you wouldn't do it yourself when you're not the one looking to give up $500k.

I actually wouldn't have done it personally, for various reasons, but I definitely wouldn't fault those who did.

I believe the WSOP should definitely pay out the money as they would have normally, while ClubWPT can decide for themselves what to do (either decision is ok from them, honestly).

However, I feel strongly that a bracelet should NOT be awarded. Why? Because a bracelet is a title more than a piece of jewelry. There was no actual title match played (the heads up portion), because it was very clearly intentionally thrown. Thus, there is no actual "champion" of this event, and nobody should be awarded a championship title for it.

They should simply not award a bracelet for this one, but pay everyone normally. I assume ClubWPT is going to pay the million, because they seem to be happy and lighthearted about the whole thing in their subsequent postings today. It is likely they are enjoying watching WSOP (a competitor) look bad, and they're presumably happy they disrupted things. This also bought them a lot of extra publicity.

Therefore, if the players walk away with the money they intended to get, yet no false title was awarded, that would be the best outcome.

Would you actually consider Yaginuma to be a "4-time bracelet winner" now? Of course not.



And for those in the snarky "bracelets don't matter" camp, they should especially agree with me, as withholding the bracelet should be trivial if it really "doesn't matter".

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Why, what are your reasons?

I can't believe your Jew composition would give up $500k for a pointless accolade. They give out bracelets for absurd events now.

Not looking to denigrate your accomplishment from 20 years back, but for $500k?

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Reasons:

1) Don't want to get banned from WSOP

2) Don't want to throw away reputation as honest player who doesn't pull shenanigans

3) No guarantee ClubWPT would pay me

4) Could get completely stiffed by other guy with little recourse

5) 2nd bracelet is worth something to me. Not $500k, but not trivial either.

Great write-up as always Druff.

Both the WSOP & WPT need to pay these 2 their money ASAP. We are talking about a million fucking dollars here. A deal such as this is clearly the most likely outcome in a situation such as this. The WPT and WSOP can continue their dick measuring contest after they pay up.

The WPT should keep their promos for their own tournament series. The WSOP can institute a new rule regarding how players must handle these kinds of promos going forward But again, these types of things can be mitigated if you stick to the tournaments you run. For instance, they can make it where bonuses will be given to all players who reach the final table with someone alive for a million dollars and ban any kind of deal making regarding the player alive for the bonus score.

Both entities should take it as a learning experience, pay up and then shut the fuck up about it. As long as there is no solid evidence of collusion before heads up play, then fucking pay.

I actually think Druff came up with a great solution…no bracelet awarded. Or better yet engrave a huge asterisk on the bracelet and give it to the guy. But I’m sure the WSOP is too cheap to do so. Anyways, not giving the bracelet is a way of them “taking action”. But pay them now!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JeffDime

Great write-up as always Druff.

Both the WSOP & WPT need to pay these 2 their money ASAP. We are talking about a million fucking dollars here. A deal such as this is clearly the most likely outcome in a situation such as this. The WPT and WSOP can continue their dick measuring contest after they pay up.

The WPT should keep their promos for their own tournament series. The WSOP can institute a new rule regarding how players must handle these kinds of promos going forward But again, these types of things can be mitigated if you stick to the tournaments you run. For instance, they can make it where bonuses will be given to all players who reach the final table with someone alive for a million dollars and ban any kind of deal making regarding the player alive for the bonus score.

Both entities should take it as a learning experience, pay up and then shut the fuck up about it. As long as there is no solid evidence of collusion before heads up play, then fucking pay.

I actually think Druff came up with a great solution…no bracelet awarded. Or better yet engrave a huge asterisk on the bracelet and give it to the guy. But I’m sure the WSOP is too cheap to do so. Anyways, not giving the bracelet is a way of them “taking action”. But pay them now!

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I’m just getting caught up on this.

My thoughts:

A.) I agree with the vast majority here you say that any player who WOULDN’T have done exactly what Carroll did is a fool.

B.) WPT should have seen this coming ten million miles away.

C.) Bracelets just don’t mean what they used to anymore

D.) Todd’s solution is the only reasonable one, provided it can be established to everyone’s satisfaction that no collusion occurred prior to heads up play.

I wouldn’t put it past WSOP to try to weasel out of paying the players here. Of course gaming will have something to say about that, but WSOP just basically got owned by ClubWPT here and they have to be massively embarrassed. They may attempt to temporarily withhold payment as some kind of means of saving face.

ClubWPTGold just sent out an email:

"We’re doubling the number of Gold Rush Tickets awarded in our daily freerolls, with 32 tickets awarded in all open Gold Rush Ticket Freerolls this week."

:lol


They really want another one of these to happen.