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Huge mistake at the WSOP Paradise Main Event final table
The WSOP Paradise's premiere stop in the Bahamas was a rousing success. It was also successful for Michael Sklenicka, who finished a nice second here with a $1,200,000 prize. The winner was online qualifier Stanislav Zegal, who took home a unique bracelet and $2,000,000 to go with it.
But things could have been different
Yes, everything might have ended differently. A very awkward situation happened at the streamed final table of the WSOP Paradise Main Event in the last three players. Australian player Daniel Neilson withAK and German player Stanislav Zegal with KQ were pitted against each other. After the turn we saw an All-in/Call situation, after which Neilson lost most of his stack.
The dealer told Neilson that Zegal's all-in was worth 48 million, so Neilson moved Zegal out of his 48 million stack. The reality, however, was that Zegal's all-in was worth 38 million. This left Neilson with 10 million from his stack, instead of 15.2 million, and he was left with only 5.2 million. Which is a significant difference.
However, the charts in the stream showed the correct amount of Neilson's stack the entire time, i.e. the value of the 15.2 million he was realistically supposed to hold. The Australian player commented that he had received about 100 messages about why he was playing so poorly when he had such a large stack. After this situation, he asked for more dealer scrutiny, especially in such big tournaments.
WSOP statement
WSOP Executive Director Ty Stewart commented to PokerMedia Australia that, "The official position in any tournament is that if all parties have accepted the action, there is no recourse after the tournament is over. Any corrective action should take place while the player remains in the event. In such situations, we do not retroactively award the value of the ICM or any monetary compensation. We are reviewing the matter thoroughly."
After this mistake, Daniel Neilson bid farewell to the tournament in third place with a $900,000 prize, leaving Stanislav Zegal playing with a $10 million bigger stack. If Neilson's stack had been the correct 15.2 million, would he have made it to second place or even become the tournament winner? Unfortunately, we will never know.
Source - Pokernews, PokerMedia Australia, WSOP