Agreed. There is such a huge difference between $4mm and $12mm from an impact on the rest of your life perspective (assuming you have a big % of yourself) that it would have been much higher stress without a deal, but also that steepness would have driven a deal in itself, particularly given how close they were in chips.

Yeah I agree with all of this

Before calling with the 88 Walton was probably predetermined to jam over a Weinman possible squeeze

And just to add we’ve seen shrug All in:calls HU in past cases where there were no deals. Williams was like “whatever I think I’m beat but just give me 2nd already” vs Raymer and same thing more or less with Danneman

WSOP should say they'll fascilitate deals but the players need to leave at least 20% of the money left to play for. Maybe.

I’m fine with no deals facilitated by WSOP. It’s just the nature of the beast but was slightly more pronounced this year because of the “gotta beat Jamie Gold money” thing.

But with day off there’s no reason why they couldn’t come back at noon instead of 2pm. Then just play the entire thing out, 9 to 1

Not sure it’s as easy as that. I believe payout structures are submitted to and approved by NGC/NGCB and there might be issues with suddenly altering stated payouts and receipts. Some pros have spoken about this before I think, possibly Fossilman.

Probably true up until the early 2000s

with no chops it would take 24 hours minimum to play down from 15 to 1

Think they should look into the payout structure. More even payout at the FT, especially in the top. Would still encourage battle, but discourage deals.

This year saw an inordinately large jump from second to first (percentage-wise, that is) because they seemed hell-bent on ensuring a first prize that exceeded the Jamie Gold win.

Funny, some people seem actually mad or offended that there was a likely deal, but a part of me would almost fault them if they didn't draw something up.

Yes, if the WSOP fails to have a reasonable structure, then players have to jump in and correct.

That was one of my thoughts too, but how can you stop them from chopping that 20% "under the table" even after the official chopped totals.


Yeah, I really didn't have any idea how long that would take. With my plan of no devices, no talking to your rail and no chop talk I bet things might move a little faster. Maybe throw in no food, one bottle of water and no bathroom breaks and I bet you it's doesn't take 24 hours. It will be survivor of the fittest. Don't even have to feel bad for older people, they usually don't make the final table that often anyway

Of course they made a deal, nobody can blame them for that. Just like tanking around pay jumps, how can you blame some of those players in those spots. Is there really no way to combat these issues in tournies?

Say $10M for first place, $8M for second, $7M for third, $6M for fourth? Coming in second is already 'punished' by not getting the bracelet, no need to beat the beaten.

For all the “Of course they made a deal” crowd, why not just take Deeb on his offer and collect free money?

How could he prove or disprove it either way? There was obviously a deal just from the speed of play and relaxedness at the table.

Wouldnt be suprised if the likes of Deeb and Arieh had side bets on the winner and thus have incentive to pretend that their friend won without a deal being made.

I'm not saying I believe they definitely did a deal

But the Deeb bet is sort of impossible [very hard] to win.

You bet with him. He then says, ok... now prove they did a deal or I win the bet.

Er... what...

Because unless you are one of the three - you can't prove there was a deal.

The best you can do is pay Deeb, and then when one of the players writes a book in 30 years time (finally telling all about their secret deal) - track Deeb down and get your money back, and get him to pay you for winning the bet. Not that the dollar will be worth anything by then.

Well he won it fair and square regardless of the deal. No way that woukd void the bet. He is the ME winner.

With money on the line, pretty sure Deeb would find a way to prove whether the deal was made or not.

He said $1k+. Why wouldn’t the other 2 players just call him out and book a massive bet since they obviously know what happened?

Cuz that'd be tarded. Instead, they should get a friend to book a big bet. But most likely theyre too busy enjoying their millions to bother with a 10k bet on this

He never said it’s capped at 10k. It’s literally free money. What is Deebs motivation to lie about it is the part I’m missing.

OK but two things are obvious:
- he's not going to bet 100s of k on this
- he's not going to (knowingly) make this bet with the actual players who allegedly made the deal

His motivation would be to cash in sidebets on Weinman. Any deal would most likely also contain some sort of deal not to talk publicly about the deal.

Im not saying this is definitely whats happening but its obvious there was a deal so I dont see what other reason he would have to tweet that. Last year there was tanking 20 minutes per hand on decisions which is perfectly understandable with millions on the line. This year they play like a 5$ donkament and try to pretend there was millions on the line... lol

Bill nye is a poker guy? Wow I had no idea.

as i said shortly after the final hand, Jones let the cat out of the bag when he said: "feels good to fade the snap"

No one is offended that they made a deal, it's perfectly reasonable. People are speculating because it's being adamantly denied which is a little weird unless that was some sort of contractual requirement with the WSOP and commented that the play was really disappointing after they made the deal. No one would've cared if they made a deal if they 1) admitted it and 2) played hard for the bracelet/win anyway and made for an entertaining finish.

It's the "ah good, we made a deal, time to play like a $5 turbo S&G and deny we made a deal" finish that people are talking about.

Think it’s getting more clear that there was no chop