Is there anything in Nevada gaming law that deals with a situation where a player is allowed to affect a tournament they haven't paid to play in? Does the casino have any obligations of how to handle this?

Kinda surprised they booted the guy. Seems like the fallout could be pricier for them than 25k.

This is such a cluster****. I can't think of a single way to fix it honestly. Best thing I can think of is adding 25k to the prizepool after you disqualify the dude and letting the tourney run, but that takes away a ton of chips from the table he was on which negatively affects his table by a LOT. But it's probably the best thing to do. Aria probably won't want to do it too much though.

The only thing they should do is add an additional $24,875 to the prize pool.

Obviously the players that are out or in poor chip position at the time this was discovered are going to do all they can to get some kind of compensation or favourable treatment but this circumstance likely had very little effect on their result.

Another thought is that in some of the most important sporting events ever played referees have made mistakes that have changed the result of a game. No one gets compensated for these refereeing errors and nor should anyone be compensated for this "refereeing error".

My thought as well.
- Boot the guy
- Aria makes up missing prize $
- Let tourney finish
- No opponents get any recourse/refund
- If you're really worried about his table now being at a disadvantage b/c the guy's chips are getting taken off the table, do a complete seating redraw to start the next day. (Or keep his chips on the table, and let him blind out...tho i prefer the former. well actually i prefer just taking the chips off the table, too bad so sad.)

They should have added the 25k and let the guy play. It would have saved the integrity of the tournament and saved Aria of all the negative press. They can then decide how to deal with the guy after the tournament is over

Any casino is going to ban/prosecute any player who takes advantage of a cashier error. One of my favorite players at my casino was banned because he had his girlfriend cash him out. In his case, it was unjust because she was paid an extra $100 out of around $2,500, clearly they didn't even notice.*

Also he likely would have returned the extra had he noticed. Any ethical person would, because you know that if you don't the cashier is going to either have to repay it or be fired.

And before any of the morally deficient jump in and say something stupid like "screw them, wouldn't pay me back if they shorted me", both me and friends have been called to the cashier and repaid money we were (unknowingly) shorted days before.

In this case, getting a $25K ticket instead of a $125 ticket and actually going to the wrong tournament area and playing the wrong tournament means he knew what he was doing. So I hope they never lift the life-time ban on this scumbag. A customer service error is never an free-roll invitation to grand larceny.

* Typically if you pay the money back you aren't banned. He was banned because he refused to pay the $100 back without video of the transaction, which casino refuses to let players see. He appealed, and word was he was winning his appeal when he lost his temper and called a female tribal elder a c**t. Again, in the case of the $25K tournament thief, he should never be allowed back, there is no possible argument he wasn't trying to steal a large sum from casino.

lol what.

The obvious solution is to remove the guy and his chips and add 25k to the prize pool. WTF are you guys talking about smuggling chips etc.

When this guy gets the wrong card, one of two things happens, and both are good for the real players:

1. Aria never realizes their mistake and they pay out the full prize pool as if the player had paid $25k. Real players are not harmed, Aria loses $25k because of their mistake. Real players benefit as a fish plays their HR and the prizepool reflects it.

2. Aria at some point realizes their mistake mid-tournament, they still pay out the full prize pool as if the player had paid $25K. Real players are not harmed, Aria loses $25k because of their mistake.


No matter what the scenario, all real players in the tournament either gain by having a fish play a $25k, or by having $25k freely contributed to the prizepool as overlay. Thus the scenario where a random guy accidentally gets to play the tournament benefits all real players, so all would agree to it beforehand.

If you think busted players should be refunded and/or the tournament should be voided then you're probably the same guy that asks for a wash when he's running bad or gets upset if the dealer burns two cards by accident or something.



Even if Aria doesn't add the $25k to the prize pool, it's still net beneficial to the real players. In Scenario 1, it's still net beneficial to the players, and in Scenario 2 it's exactly zero EV change net on net since everybody has equal chance of being seated with this guy but the extra chips don't add any extra equity. So the action of giving the guy the wrong card which sometimes has outcome 1 and sometimes has outcome 2 is still net on net beneficial to the players as long as outcome 1 has nonzero probability.

That said, I still think it makes more sense for Aria to add the money to the prize pool, since if they don't it allows players to collude with someone at the cage and try to angle shoot their way into SHRs.

Depends if once curly got seat card he continued with knowledge of mistake and intent to profit from it.

If he did then that's fraudulent, right?

If they did in fact ban him , then Aria must believe there was knowledge and intent


I have a hard time distinguishing between that alleged fraudulent activity and smuggling chips.


As far as what to do with a tainted tourny . I have no effing idea. Same discussion / debate points as borgata chip flushing fiasco imo

lol people are funny.

Is it too much to hope that Michael Borovetz scrounged up the funds for not only a $125 bullet, but also a wig?

+1 to all of this. Having this guy in the tourney was +EV for all other players (provided that Aria always makes up the missing prize pool $). If he's found out and booted, free overlay. If he's not found out, neutral EV for everyone else (though arguably +EV b/c he's presumably a 25K fish). All this talk about a tainted tourney is silly. No game rules were broken. It's just a cashier goof on the part of Aria that gets rectified in full when they make the prize pool whole.

all of this

Yes, but he is defrauding the CASINO, not the players. If his fraud is not caught the CASINO loses and the players are neutral (or if he is a fish, the players gain)

Someone with fake chips is defrauding other PLAYERS, not the CASINO. The casino still pays out the same amount when the player is not caught, but the other players have a smaller slice of the prize pool equity and lose.

If you pay for your entry fraudulently (check bounces, fake cash, or a rare mistake like this) then the players cannot be harmed as explained by the logic above, even if the fraud is not caught.

If you smuggle chips into the tourney, then your EV goes up and the other players EV goes down and therefore other players are harmed.

They're not even close to the same thing.



No. It's not the same. The situation is very different, and the solution is very obvious.

typical casino **** up that they blame on the consumer. just another way for you to get ****ed out of your money by the people who want to **** you out of your money

Lol at the 3 "pros" who this guy knocked out.

There is also the outside possibility that he basically said at the table "Lol, this is a $125, isn't it?" and the other players decided it would be plus EV to keep him at their table and not report it or confirm to him he was at the wrong table. It's a small possibility but it would at least explain why none of them have posted ITT.

Obviously he used the $20 trick to upgrade his tournament.

And the dealer?

And the floor?

And the signage?

Why people dislike poker players 101
Bring the fish!
Fish brought and felts 3 players.
Get this guy out of here!

The topping is scumbag Bonomo outs him.
RIP POKER

Yeah true.

I tend to think the Aria should give up some of it's rake and put it in the prizepool.

imagine he binked it then they figured out he hadn't paid

This would seem to be the best way to proceed.

I keep trying to come up with some way where it was an honest mistake on his part but there is just literally 0% chance he didn't know better and was trying to freeroll 25k and has now completely ****ed up the tournament for the property and other players.

25k softer than 125 obv

There's certainly a chance he had no idea, however small it is. Aria should 100% be liable for his entry fee, he obviously should be removed from the tournament but to ban him seems awful.