What happened to mysterious WSOP Main Event Finisher #1286?

[Dan Druff]

Take a look at this list of people cashing the WSOP Main (so far), and scroll down to the bottom: http://www.wsop.com/tournaments/resu...ayof=7655&rr=5

Notice anything missing?

1286 spots were in the money, but only 1285 finishers are listed!

In fact, the WSOP even gave their traditional free Main Event seat for the following year to the bubble boy, which was 1287th place (not officially listed in the link above).

So what about the guy at 1286th? What happened to him?

I have a theory, and it's an unfortunate one.

The WSOP Main was a complete zoo when it got fairly near the money bubble. Stalling was super rampant, prompting complaints from many prominent poker pros on social media. In fact, stalling got so rampant that nearly every table stalled in order to avoid being at a disadvantage compared to other tables. That was the attitude on my table, which stalled plenty. "We don't want to have to do this, but we have to or other tables will have an edge on us as far as getting into the money," said one player.

Hand-for-hand was laughably scheduled to start at 1288 people left -- just two before the money, and just ONE spot before any prize was given (since the stone bubble gets a seat for next year, worth $10k).

People were BEGGING the WSOP floor to go hand-for-hand earlier, or at least make a rule for each table regarding the maximum tank time allowed per hand (kind of a temporary shot clock).

The floor did neither, citing that management refused to change the plans.

Finally, we went hand-for-hand at 1288 left, and the money was reached surprisingly quickly.

It was also noticed that the final hundred players didn't seem to be tracked well (starting from 1386 left). It would be stuck on a number for a long time, and then decreased rapidly.

There is some belief that the floor lost track of the number of players left, and a player may have busted 1286th thinking he had finished a few off the money, and left!

Of course there's no way to figure out who that is, or for that person to prove it.

There is also some possibility that the 1286th player simply walked off and never registered his cash, as he was supposed to, and will return later. But why hasn't he done so yet? It's been a full day since the bubble burst.

We may never find out about mysterious player #1286, but at the very least, that $15,000 he was supposed to get should be returned to the prize pool in some way, or we need to understand where that money is going.

[Hockey Guy]

Maybe he also registered in another tourny like the guy they showed on the coverage going back & forth between the main & a 50K Final Fifty & simply forgot after play was done for the night & will return later today to claim.

A little early to be talking about the need for full disclosure by the WSOP & adding that money back into the prize pool unless there is an actual rule about registering your cash that day which I don't think there is.

[Jayjami]

The main event creates a big incentive to stall. A net $5000 cash might be the biggest score of many players’ careers, and they get to go back home to their local cardroom and brag about it. It is a nice achievement. In fact, it is probably the only event I would give a shit about min cashing in.

The one time I played the main, I got to day three, about 200 out of the money. I was still playing to win, but don’t know how would have reacted with a short stack closer to the money.

[Dan Druff]

Still no list of the 1286th place finisher.

I think someone got fucked and doesn't know it.

[shoeshine box]

Still no list of the 1286th place finisher.

I think someone got fucked and doesn't know it.

Can it be they got the guy who enetred 2x and eliminated a spot? idk..speculating.

[Dan Druff]

I was correct.

The floor screwed up, and indeed a guy walked away thinking he bubbled.

This moved the stone bubble (who got a 2020 Main Event seat but no money) up to 1286th place ($15,000), and the second bubble (who got nothing) up to receiving that 2020 seat.

Unfortunately, the guy who benefited most -- the second bubble boy -- was Jonas Lauck, who already won a bracelet this year. Would have been nicer to have seen a recreational player get it.

Anyway, they figured this out by reviewing surveillance footage.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2019/...vent-34868.htm

[FaithKlim]

I was correct.

The floor screwed up, and indeed a guy walked away thinking he bubbled.

This moved the stone bubble (who got a 2020 Main Event seat but no money) up to 1286th place ($15,000), and the second bubble (who got nothing) up to receiving that 2020 seat.

Unfortunately, the guy who benefited most -- the second bubble boy -- was Jonas Lauck, who already won a bracelet this year. Would have been nicer to have seen a recreational player get it.

Anyway, they figured this out by reviewing surveillance footage.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2019/...vent-34868.htm

The guy who was the original "bubble boy" posted a thread on 2+2 about this

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[Dan Druff]

Thanks for bringing my attention to that. The thread is here: https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...quity-1747748/

Interesting.

[Dan Druff]

Here was my response to the guy in the 2+2 thread:

I finished 128th in this year's Main (sick brag obv), so yes, I was there when the bubble came on Day 3.

It was nothing short of a mismanaged disaster.

Problem #1: They weren't keeping track of the bustouts properly, starting from around place 1386 (100 before the bubble). It would be frozen for a long time at the same number remaining, then would drop rapidly, and freeze again. I pointed this out to people at my table, and the prevailing theory was that they were either incompetent or intentionally holding the number back in order to avoid stalling.

Problem #2: They had an obsession to stick with their silly plan to wait for hand-for-hand until there were 1288 left. This is insane because it's just one off the money (since spot 1287 gets the free $10k seat for 2020.) Floormen agreed that this was ridiculous, but when they tried to protest to upper management, they were denied.

Problem #3: Starting from about 15 off the bubble, stalling got to insane levels. Every single table was doing it. The floor was going crazy trying to stop it, but there was no way they could penalize everyone in the tournament. Every table felt they had to do it in order to make it fair in comparison to the other tables stalling. For example, at my table, nobody liked the idea of stalling, but people started doing it anyway, stating that "we're screwing ourselves if we don't". The floor told upper management about the rampant stalling throughout the tournament, and they still wouldn't go hand for hand.

Problem #4: Due to the lack of hand-for-hand, a few people busted at once without the floor realizing it, thus creating the problem where actual finisher #1287 was told that he had barely missed the money, and he walked away with no prize. Then finisher #1286 (presumably the OP) was called finisher #1287, and given the $10k seat instead of the $15k min cash.

It was a complete mess, and the worst part was that they had the power to fix it by simply going hand-for-hand when stalling became rampant, and management chose not to.

Regarding the OP, I'm sorry but your post doesn't make much sense. I feel for you that the WSOP's mismanagement caused you to believe you were playing the bubble instead of right after the bubble, but everyone at the table also thought it was the bubble, and you took the risk of busting with AK when you chose to play the hand.

What if the board ran out K76A2 and you doubled off him, then ran very deep? Would you be complaining about this? I doubt it.

Furthermore, as already pointed out, you oddly called a 60% pot bet with AK high on an 873 board, which was pretty much proof positive that you weren't playing cautiously. Same with that huge bet you called on the river.

Honestly the only way you were really a victim here was by having your emotions fucked with by the WSOP, by first being named the bubble boy getting a $10k seat but no mincash, and then later being told you actually did get the mincash.

[Dan Druff]

Someone pointed out that I misread the hand history and that the 18k flop bet was very small, and nowhere near 60% of the pot.

Oops. So I guess his AK flop call was ok, but the rest of my points still stand.