if there was an even chop and the wsop doesn't facilitate it, how do you get around the extra tax liability for the "winner?"

Ummmmmmm, the winner takes more???

brilliant

This issue could be at least partially remedied by having Caesars facilitate the chop but demand that money still be left to the winner. Maybe 10% of the first place prize or something like that, equally split between all remaining spots. Enough that people are still interested in winning.

To be honest, though, even with the deal I'm shocked that it went so quickly. There's still prestige and probably sponsorship money in being the main event tournament winner. Even if no money is at stake I'm surprised these guys weren't playing their best. I guess maybe the exhaustion set in from all the pressure and playing for a week straight and once the deal was set they just didn't have the energy to keep going.

So they decided the winner took 12.1 million

Huh?

Thanks to our good friends at PokerGO we’ve seen more poker coverage this year ever. And not even close.

easy peasy

It was 1776 all over again, the Americans kicked in some teeth

Americans need to get a win once every few hundred years

Americans win every single day because we wake up being American.

So we’ve now had 4 straight winners who had pretty extensive career resumes before winning the Main Event. Aldemir and Weinman especially. Ensan had a lot of EPT results prior to and Jorstad had just won a bracelet.

And Cynn did have a main event 11th place finish before so he was fairly known as well.

Qui Nguyen might end up being the last complete unknown to win it won’t it getting harder and harder for those types to make it through such a field.

Anyone who doesn’t own a scarf or skinny grey pants is a winner in my book

0% they didn’t do a deal

The structure is so good that it's hard for an average player to get that deep, but it still happens every year. Maahs, Manion, Hesp, Blumenfield, etc.

Only a matter of time until another amateur luckboxes all the big spots and wins.

That’s a double negative

By the way they played the FT it sure seemed like a deal was made and the massive ICM pressure was off, but then again Deeb (who may have had a % of the winner) says no deal was made so who knows.

Their somewhat relaxed manner was telling but could also be due to giddiness of situation with 4M locked up. They secured 3.1M from 9th so relief about not being a Phillip Hilm or other blowup.

But otherwise nothing too insane. Jones was in a tough box with top pair. 88 was a lil aggressive but he was looking out for fact that Weinman had been quiet and would squeeze many hands. Which he probably would.

Maybe I think a deal was more likely than not but it’s not 100% in my book

Donnie Peters and Tim Duckworth have cited the $500K figure on the WSOP podcast many times, so I assume IWB is correct.

As for a deal, what is the most likely scenario? Three-way chop of $20 million, adjusted slightly for the chip stacks, then agree that the winner gets the bling and the remaining $2.6 milly, just to incentivize it a little?

Or a three-way chop of the entire remaining $22.6 million, with the first price "only" being the bracelet plus the ancillary benefits of being the official champ?

those two specific bustout hands could have been played like that without a deal 100%, Walton got wild in plenty of spots like that and Jones turn shove was similar to how he played a hand earlier (Was either top pair or TT on a lower board something like that and shoved turn over raise)

not to say there wasnt a deal, but i dont think those hands prove there was.

weinman's edge on those two may have been bigger than many realize too, so if he had swapped or sold action and had those people advising him to play it out, not that crazy imo.

Twitter is awful but at least people use it to out themselves as dickwads

Sorry too busy rubbing my winnings on my titties to care what you have to say....

Someone said, that WSOP does not facilitate chops, which is true, but they never said they would not pay out according to a deal that was made between players.

If that is true that would make things much easier and explain how taxes are not a problem.

Watched the replay on youtube last night well after I had read about it on 2P2.

Not only was it obvious a deal was made, but I'm with the side that says they left almost nothing, and maybe even nothing left to play for money wise. Maybe even the bracelet too. The winner gets bracelet but owes the others 50K each of something like that.

It was horrendous. It was like watching a play money table but they had to act like they were playing serious. "Relaxed" is an understatement. It looked like they didn't care at all who won the hands. When they lost a huge pot, it didn't look like they were upset at all. The rails would shout and act out some, probably because they were drinking and there to have a good
time. This is after days of watching these same players tank and sweet over every chip put in the pot. Sure having 4 million locked up would have them in a great spirit and more relaxed. But no ****ing way does that describe what I saw at that final table. That was guys playing for nothing or next to nothing.

You would think winning would have future value on it's own for being the main event champion. In the past it was worth a ton. It just eroded less and less each year to the point where nowadays I guess it's not worth much at all with sponsorships, paid appearances, etc. Personally I guess it should be too surprising, I couldn't name any of the last 5 champs, but could probably name at least 5 from before 2015.

What a fiasco and sham that final three was. Would have better to just announce chop and end it there. It was like watching a friend play a $20 freeroll Sit N Go.

I'm not sure how to fix it. Can't blame the players. Maybe when it gets down to 15, no more devices, no talking to your rail, no chop talk at table. Just play until there is a winner for a couple hours.