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Thread: Midway Poker Tour Precious Metals Shadiness

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    Diamond PLOL's Avatar
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    Midway Poker Tour Precious Metals Shadiness

    Crossposting this. I am the OP.

    PokerNews and Bravo were advertising the "Midway Poker Tour", which is supposed to be the inaugural event for what will be an ongoing series. It was advertised as a $1,100 tournament with $100k guaranteed. They said $100 is being taken out for rake and $20 goes to the dealers, with $980 going to the prize pool. The event is being held at the Sheraton Hotel in Elk Grove, Illinois. Even though it's listed as a "charity event", I figured that's pretty reasonable rake so I decided to play it.

    I show up on Saturday to register, and they tell me I need to enter my PokerBros player ID, and if I don't have pokerbros I'll need to download the app and create an account and they'll also send me some free money to load my account. Uhh, ok already shadiness with them giving me their sales pitch for their PokerBros affiliate account. I signed up for PokerBros, and then entered the tournament with $1,100 cash.

    So I make day 2 of the tournament and come back Sunday morning for day 2. They had some fail with not having enough chips and delayed the start time by 30 minutes. I start hearing people in the hallway talk about how they're going to pay people out in gold. ???? I think it's obviously ridiculous as it wasn't mentioned anywhere, either when signing up or in the advertisements or on PokerNews, which is reporting on the event. Pokernews listed all the prizes as USD.

    Before the tournament starts, the tournament director starts talking and says "apparently some people are just finding this out" but per Illinois charity gaming regulations we can only pay out $1,600 in cash. Anything above that will be given out in precious metals. Apparently they bought a bunch of precious metals from some guy and were planning on having him onsite to immediately convert the precious metals to cash, but then the attorney general found out about this and said they absolutely cannot convert the precious metals on site as it would be illegal. I got the impression that the Attorney General was not happy with the event overall. They also informed us that they would give us the contact info for the precious metals guy and we could contact him to sell the metals. But of course I have to assume he's taking some sort of commission, so now we're paying additional rake that wasn't advertised. I got some info from the staff working the event and they informed me that the TD they hired for the event opted not to come back for Day 2 because of the situation, and the owner/founder of the tour has not been on-site for 24 hours. He's essentially disappeared.

    So I ended up busting pretty early on and got what they call a "$2,600 cash". So they pay me out $1,600 in cash (in $20s for some reason), and give me 28 1oz silver coins, which they tell me is worth $1,000. As I'm leaving the hotel, the guy who was in the cashout line in front of me is telling me how the coins are only worth $700. So we're being shorted 30%?? I looked up the price of silver and it's $24/oz. I assume I can sell these coins for around $25, which would be $700. So they're stealing $300 from me, which isn't the biggest deal but that means everybody is taking a big cut. First place prize is listed as $55,060, of which over $53k will be paid out in gold. If they undercut the price of that by 30%, they're ripping off the winner by over $15k. If they chop off 30% of the prizepool they're taking out an additional $65k+ on top of the rake they took. They gave out contact info for the precious metals dealer that they obtained the coins from. I reached out to him and he hasn't contacted me back (though it's only been a few hours), but I can't imagine he'd pay 45% over the spot price. I also googled all his contact info and he's nowhere to be found on the internet, even though they supposedly bought $210k worth of metals from this guy.

    The whole tournament is filled with shadiness, and I would not recommend people play this event in the future. Had I known we were going to be paid out in silver and gold I would not have entered the tournament to begin with. Yes I still made money and only got shorted a few hundred, but that's not the issue here. They should have been upfront about how they're doing cashouts, but if they did that a lot of people would've not bothered to play. If the winner of the tournament gets shorted a five figure amount, it may be wise for him to explore a class action suit.


    Edit: At the beginning of Day 2, PokerNews posted the following. It appears they weren't aware of the precious metals angle either until Day 2. Here is what they posted on the matter:

    Day 2 hasn't officially kicked off yet and already there have developments in the inaugural Midway Poker Tour.All 31 players returning to action today are guaranteed a $2,300 prize, while the eventual winner is slated to receive $55,060. However, due to the Illinois Charitable Gaming Acts and regulations (230 ILCS30), organizers are only able to pay out $500 in cash atop the cost of the buy-in. As such, players will only receive $1,600 in cash no matter their finish, while the remainder of their prize will be awarded in gold/precious metals/collectibles.Apparently, not all players had been aware of that fact. Tournament officials just informed the players that they have contact information for someone off-site willing to buy said gold/precious metals/collectibles if players are interested in selling after the fact.The payouts are a topic of conversation among the seated players, many of whom seem to be unhappy with the situation and the fact the payout situation wasn't more clearly explained prior to the tournament
    I also want to emphasize that I spoke with Chad Halloway, and he relayed to me that PokerNews was simply hired to report on the event and was not privy to the cashout situation. I believe they were also blindsided by this and did not purposefully deceive anybody.
    Last edited by PLOL; 10-05-2020 at 08:16 AM.
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    I would spill the beans to a government agency about this metal scam. Governments take precious metals very seriously. Either the organizer is trying to pocket a little extra, the dealer is shady or it's a mess of communication from both.

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    When you have to physically drag your payout to your car

    Name:  Screen Shot 2020-10-04 at 4.22.01 PM.png
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    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    Some updates. After I spilled the beans players started grumbling and the tournament is now paused 10-handed while they sort this mess out. It's coming to light that some known scammers are associated with this.

    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    Even if those rounds were higher premium, they would be worth 900ish. But i bet they were generic that could fetch 26 an oz.
    Even though i love precious metals I would be ticked off about the bait and switch.
    With new info about scammers being involved I am interested in seeing where this story goes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Pablo View Post
    Even if those rounds were higher premium, they would be worth 900ish. But i bet they were generic that could fetch 26 an oz.
    Even though i love precious metals I would be ticked off about the bait and switch.
    With new info about scammers being involved I am interested in seeing where this story goes.
    Assuming they're even real. And now I have to find a dealer who won't totally rip me off or go through a huge pain of reselling them myself.


    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    Some accusations about the owner. I don't find this surprising. They were trying to push me into his PokerBros club and I found it very shady.

    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    I believe the Jeremy Smith (HPT Tournament Director) was wprking this event, he may have been the one to walk out? (Big tall guy)

    I worked for him the year that I dealt the circuit and he's a ztand up guy that would never knowingly promote anything shady.

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    Two representatives from the state have shown up on site. Shit's about to go down. They may not even finish this tournament.

    Quote Originally Posted by AhoosierA View Post
    I believe the Jeremy Smith (HPT Tournament Director) was wprking this event, he may have been the one to walk out? (Big tall guy)

    I worked for him the year that I dealt the circuit and he's a ztand up guy that would never knowingly promote anything shady.
    This is correct. It was Jeremy and he quit in protest when he found out.
    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PLOL View Post
    Quote Originally Posted by Pablo View Post
    Even if those rounds were higher premium, they would be worth 900ish. But i bet they were generic that could fetch 26 an oz.
    Even though i love precious metals I would be ticked off about the bait and switch.
    With new info about scammers being involved I am interested in seeing where this story goes.
    Assuming they're even real. And now I have to find a dealer who won't totally rip me off or go through a huge pain of reselling them myself.


    Generics... ouch. They did you dirty.

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    If you know someone with a scale, they should weigh 31.1 grams.

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    I found out that the owner Dan Bekavac runs a wholesale company called Bekavac trading:

    https://www.bekavactrading.com/

    Both he and his father have the same name, so it's hard to pinpoint it on the dad or him, but my rationale of the guy who started the series would be articles like this:

    http://www.casinocitytimes.com/news/...awatomi-229940

    The Season 10 Milwaukee Poker Open at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino saw 625 players take to the felt in search of an MSPT Main Event victory. Dan Bekavac, a Wholesale Distributor for Amazon from Chicago, Illinois, who in Season 4 shipped MSPT Ho-Chunk Wisconsin Dells, bested the field and shipped the $126,998 top prize for his second MSPT Main Event title.
    The "about us" page looked shady and google images confirmed it:

    Name:  stock image sham.png
Views: 637
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    This guy's trading company hit some snafu for trying to be an official distributer of a certain boardgame, and then buying 20,000 bootlegs of that boardgame and selling it on amazon:

    https://www.courtlistener.com/docket...llc-v-bekavac/

    Page 9 of 1829.On or about April 2019, Defendants applied with Plaintiff to become an authorized reseller of Plaintiff’s LCR® products. A true and correct copy of that application is attached hereto as Exhibit C. Defendants’ application was declined.

    30.Defendants nevertheless and without authorization caused to be produced in China and shipped into this judicial district at least 20,000 counterfeit and infringing sets of Plaintiff’s famous LCR game which bear counterfeit versions of Plaintiff’s LCR Marks and reproductions of the LCR Works. A copy of Defendants’ invoice for this order, predating their reseller application by approximately four months, is attached hereto as Exhibit D. Example photographs of a test purchase of Defendants’ Counterfeit LCR Product showing the reproduced LCR Works and Counterfeit LCR Marks are as follows:
    Attached Images Attached Images  

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    So it looks like these coins are FAKE. Or at least their metal guy "Andy Mettille" is selling fake coins online. Likely the prize pool is worthless beyond the $1,600. Winner likely to get $50k in fake silver coins.

    These ones have been sold with QR code’s on the package you can scan for checking authenticity since at least 2016
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CF0nDdon..._web_copy_link
    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    People who sold pieces are going to be like "Ok, so I owe you 14 and a half coins"
    TRUMP 2024!

    Quote Originally Posted by verminaard View Post
    Just non-stop unrelenting LGBT propaganda being shoved down our throats.

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    Quote Originally Posted by PLOL View Post
    So it looks like these coins are FAKE. Or at least their metal guy "Andy Mettille" is selling fake coins online. Likely the prize pool is worthless beyond the $1,600. Winner likely to get $50k in fake silver coins.

    These ones have been sold with QR code’s on the package you can scan for checking authenticity since at least 2016
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CF0nDdon..._web_copy_link


    Amazing stuff here. Wow.

    Great reporting, PLOL. Also great job being the one to stand up and call this out. Are you the one who also reported it to state officials? At least there's hope some people might get arrested here.

    Sorry you got ripped off, but at least you can take some solace that you busted early.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    The amazing thing is that they would short people 30% in "value" in fake coins. Why not pay out more generously if the coins are fake? They couldn't even do that right.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    They may be benefiting from the fact that it's Sunday at 7pm, and there aren't a lot of people to call at the state right now.

    If you're convinced the metals are fake, you should call the police, if you haven't already. Shorting you in perceived value is more of a civil matter. Handing out phony precious metals which everyone essentially "bought" is a criminal matter.

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    Owner Dan Druff's Avatar
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    https://twitter.com/KidWithDream/status/1312883950864433156

    You're likely correct.

    I cannot find an "Andrew Mettiller" or "Andy Mettiller" in any of my public records databases.



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