The World Series of Poker attracts every year thousands of players who dream about big money and the World Series trophy. There are however some that will never again be able to play there. What have they done to deserve such a fate?
Those who broke certain rules were quickly banned from WSOP. Here are a few examples together with comments from the tour co-organizer – Seth Palansky.
Improper behaviour and alcohol
Casinos are private companies. If you do something bad you may be asked to leave.
In 2013 Harrah's Hotel&Casino had an apportunity to rent a room to David Diaz. This guy drank some alcohol and became a nuisance to other players by bothering them. Afterwards he apologised at Twitter, but the ban from Harrah's stopped his participation at WSOP.
In 2011 Carter Gill decided it would be great fun to throw women's clothes through the window. This is how he threw away the chance for a WSOP bracelet. He advanced to day 2, but this is where his career ended.
Threatening other people
If a person threatens another person then the casino will intervene. If something truly happens then the liability will be worse than all the money one player can potentially bring to the house.
Sam Panzica experienced that in 2013 when he drank too much and started talking with strangers. His rumbustious behaviour wasn't to others' liking and they asked managers to help.
Panzica drank a bit and left the railing area of November Nine for a while. When he tried to return he was asked by the security to move to the public viewing area. After he sat down he said something like: “I wish I had AK in my hands” [that is Kalashnikov].
He must have been very surprised the next day when he wanted to watch the game won eventually by Ryan Riess. Someone apparently reported that he threatened to kill everybody with an AK-47.
Violence against other people
Casino staff are sometimes in danger and all cases of attacks are reported to the security officers who later decide what to do.
No one should have any doubts that violence is something that is severely punished at World series. An example is Thang Luu, who won the $1,500 Omaha Hi-Low Split 8-or-Better back to back in 2008 and 2009.
Luu had a great run, but decided to bite the hand that was feeding him. When dealer wanted to move his cards so they could have been clearly seen he heard not to touch them as they were his. A few seconds later dealer could wonder what to do an a sick leave – Luu smacked his hand breaking a few bones.
As you may correctly suppose Luu hasn't appeared at WSOP since 2009.
Collusion
WSOP staff gains nothing from excluding players. Other participants can't be endangered by allowing any parties to make some kind of shady deals.
Casinos are very secure places these days. Thousands of cameras observe players all the time. Once in a while there are some who think they will be able to cheat them.
One of the best known examples is WSOP 2010. In the event #3 there was a huge pot between two players. The winner scooped the pot as well as chips from his neighbours stack.
The wise guy though he would get away with it. The fraud was quickly noticed and he was banned from World Series of Poker.
The World Series of Poker attracts every year thousands of players who dream about big money and the World Series trophy. There are however some that will never again be able to play there. What have they done to deserve such a fate?
