Give them hell. Anyone else besides the #1 chipleader get something? Did he sign something to get his shortstack in the WPT Championship?

stephen celeste, crustaceansteve@aol.com #15 in the chip stack, friends call me lobster pipes, the kids call me dadio. one of 27 if you already made a deal with the borgata than your out of luck. if you are only getting 19,123 like the most of us give me your contact info and i will call you and let you know whats going on asap. we only have until the end of may to file. if you already got your money no problem, this does not prohibit you from seeking the rest of what you deserve. but if your one of the ones who have a side deal (mostly chip leaders) than your out of luck.

What side deal?

The chipleader getting an entry into WPT Championship one hour after registration ended. Weren't you in at the time? How much equity was taken from you?

He was at my table. Can you prove this occurred?

a lawyer might...

The Borgata was genius in the way they settled this mess. Appease some of the random's, blow off the rest. Then make the 27 at odds with each other. Truly brilliant!!

Was Dan Smith in this tourney and at your table? The info might have come from him. Whomever posted this info, said the chipleader said it was compensation for what happened.

The problem is the only thing we have to go by is the post of a user who made the claim based on what someone else said. Do we know for a fact that it was the chip leader from this flawed event who sat down at that table? Do we know the person was actually put in late for free and wasn't someone who had already paid and was making stuff up to potentially upset people at the table? People say a lot of things for all kinds of reasons. Proving them is different.

whoa wait a second, take it easy..someone might be able to just ask this guy and the Borgata if this is true and they might just admit it...so start with that lol

All I know is that the info was posted here and I see the Final 27 chipleader as a Day 3 bustout

So if I tell someone at a table that Borgata paid the top 10 an extra $50,000 under the table to say they only received the ~$19k, that would become truth? Awesome!

You consider it entirely unreasonalbe to believe that he busted out on day 3 as a paying participant?

What are you foaming out the mouth for?

I'm not saying it's 100% confirmed true. Just relaying what I know for those who may care...rest of Final 27, Allen Kessler losing his equity etc. It may not take a private detective to prove..start by asking people. It may not be a secret.

The fact that the Final 27 chipleader busted on Day 3 is consistent with the report that we heard. Nothing more. Now relax imo

some of the chip leaders have loose lips and spilled the beans that they got paid on the side (extra cash) from the borgata. this is why im having trouble getting some of these players to contact me. if anyone knows of any of these players (final 27) have them contact me at crustaceansteve@aol.com the lawyer will work on contingency on the equity that was taken away from us. there is nothing to lose, no out of pocket costs. as far as im concerned, i dont care if it takes 2 years or more, if we do nothing we get nothing. wake up guys!!

So Borgata violated the terms of a State of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement ruling?

Exactly how did you deduce or come to question that?

Sounds like the Borgata has fulfilled all of its obligations as set by the NJDGE.

It also sounds like any good business they may be offering a little lagniappe to those that are willing to take it?

mrdadio48 is correct...the Borgata has made deals with the chipleaders(although i have no clue as to whether a free WPT entry was part of one player's deal). i would have to get into private conversations into how I know this but I feel comfortable that I can say a few people have been taken care without feeling bad about betraying confidences because the truth always comes out in the end anyway. without having the smoking gun i am reluctant to assert this but likely Pokernews or some legitimate journalist is going to look into this and all the details will soon be known. a few thoughts...

good for the chipleaders! they got screwed and they deserved more. if i were in their position i would have done the exact same thing: avoid the risk and hassle of a lawsuit of perhaps questionable merit and take the sure money. i have no hostility towards anyone that got more than the rest of us. have to look out for number one.

now, as for my chums at the Borgata...really, is there anything more that can be said about these guys? i guess if i was in the mood to view them sympathetically i would argue they have gone out of their way to make a dubious ruling more fair by giving extra equity to those who were cheated out of the most money. but, of course, what they really did was try to find the cheapest way out of this mess and avoid the possibility of a legal response from a united 27 players. well done i suppose(although perhaps it can be argued this will prove to be a bad move by the borgata as they should just stand firm rather than give some equity to the final 27). paying off some has meant that they have had to obscure the reality of the situation from other players: the only email i have received from the borgata, soon after the DGE ruling, said that they were happy with the fact that there was a resolution and that the matter was resolved. we would be getting nothing more. obviously the matter was not resolved, the borgata was scrambling to make it right with the players with the greatest incentive to lawyer up. the borgata's claim all along that it was all up to the DGE was obviously nonsense: if they were committed to standing behind the DGE then why give some players more? according to the DGE this tourney was so compromised by Lusardi that chip counts were irrelevant and that we all needed to be paid the same.

is this over? probably. i have spoken with crustaceansteve and i am not against pursuing legal action but i feel we should have at least 5 or 6 players to do so. has the Borgata done anything illegal? no, they are permitted to give money to whomever they want to. however, i think when the dust settles one or more people at the borgata will probably lose their jobs because the post-resolution business has been handled so shabbily. if the poker world is not too bored by this story there will soon be a small uproar over the back room deals and the end result might be all of the 27 getting a little bit more equity

as for me? well, this is my last post on this thread. i'd like to think i am beginning a long term relationship (hopefully profitable) with the game of poker and i don't want to be known as some guy who ran good in one tournament and then whined about lost equity for the next 15 years. i got a nice payday and, as circumstance seems to dictate here, i will move on.

Good luck man, hope you get some run good to make up for the equity stolen.

gl pninwin, why do you guys need 5-6 people? To make it worth the lawyer's time?

Anyhow, I'd take a list of the people and towns and try and find them via facebook or some other avenue. Not all post here.

Anyone able or care to divulge how much $$$ some of the chipleaders are getting?

Although it seems known already - I can confirm that I overheard one of the chipleaders discussing that borgata was making a special deal with him.

I do not know $ but he seemed pleased.

If they gave a free seat to someone who wasn't already going to play the main, that isn't fair to the other players.

Why?

If the TD gives everyone at the table a $10 meal voucher as a gift, but only has 8 vouchers and you don't get one, will you insist the others give back their voutures so everyone can be equal, or will you allow the others to enjoy their meal even though you get none?

What

Borgata giving cash as side deals to certain players isn't listed in the N.J.D.G.E. ruling. That could be another lawsuit in its own right.

Can't Borgata give additional benefits to any player it chooses? I am not familiar with gaming law so I have no idea. It seems like a scummy thing to do IMO but not illegal.