When is WSOP going to learn that they need to stop with these "strategic partnerships" with companies which tarnish their brand?

There was the "World Series of Poker School of Poker" which turned out to be a scam.

There was (and still is) the partnership with Kings Casino, owned by Leon Tsoukernik. He was accused of ripping off high stakes players for millions, as a result of being a sore loser.

While embarrassing, at least these were not attached to the main brand of the WSOP -- the bracelet events. Those were always run and managed in-house, and therefore the WSOP has maintained a high amount of respect and prestige over the 16 years it has been owned by Caesars.

However, WSOP decided to license their bracelets out to an untested third party -- GG Poker -- to run their non-US online bracelet events in 2020. This was a pure money grab. The WSOP sold it as giving a way for international players to compete for bracelets (since they're unlikely to travel to Nevada or New Jersey just to play the online bracelet events on wsop.com). However, make no mistake, this was about the almighty dollar.

Not surprisingly, it's been an embarrassment. There were bracelet events for $50 and $100. There have been bad technical problems after the site was woefully unprepared for potential DDoS attacks, and tournaments had to be halted and continued days later.

But there was always one huge issue hanging over GG Poker, which would have been easy to find if WSOP did their research. They ban winning players from their site, unless these players adhere to a ridiculously strict set of rules regarding play patterns.

Back in April, I raised issue about a player named STINKYBLUFF who was banned for "bumhunting" from PokerOK, a GGPoker skin. He attempted to sign up to GGPoker instead, believing that was okay. They confiscated all of his money -- both his cashout from PokerOK and his GGPoker deposit!

While it's easy to claim that bumhunters are predatory assholes and deserve such bans, a closer look reveals that GGPoker's definition of bumhuning is overly strict, and also too arbitrary.

They define being a bumhunter as one who sits only when fish sit. Okay? But what's a fish? Serious question. If you are the 9th best player in the world, and sit with the 1st through 8th best players, you're the fish. If you're the 9th worst player in the world, and sit with the worst 8 in the world, you're the shark. The term "fish" is relative. Similarly, I would be a tremendous basketball talent if put on the court with a bunch of 10-year-olds, whereas an NBA "12th man" is the weak link of his team. In games of skill, "good" and "bad" are not absolute -- they are relative according to the level of competition you're facing.

This is important because GG can ban anyone at any time for supposedly "playing only when a fish is there". Are they trying to claim that you're only allowed to sit with players better than you?

Anyway, this is a really bad look for a site which partners with the WSOP, which is all about pro worship and bracelet chasing.

But it gets worse. Recall the story I linked above was about a guy getting his money confiscated because he was banned from one skin for bumhunting, then signed up for GG Poker and got banned again, with the money confiscated in both places.

It's happened again. For some reason GG Poker got away with it in April with relatively little controversy (I was one of the few to cover it). However, the incident now has gotten everyone's attention, especially because high-profile social media figures like Chicago Joey have jumped on it.

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