Golden Nugget pulled the plug on Day 1a of a $1,200 buy-in, $1 million guarantee after the Grand Poker Series tournament had already begun Wednesday morning.
The Las Vegas card room would inevitably cancel the session and refund all players after receiving criticism from those who'd entered and expected to be playing for a seven-figure prize pool.
PokerNewsspoke with the poker room's Director of Poker Operations, Joel Garcia, and a player who entered the tournament, David Mcconachie, to find out what happened.
The Grand Poker Series at Golden Nugget, one of the biggest annual summer poker events in Las Vegas, promised $5 million in guarantees across 105 tournaments from May 27 to July 2. Day 1a of Event #86: $1,200 Goldenaire Mystery Bounty started at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, and that event was supposed to represent 20% of the guaranteed series prize pool.
Mcconachie, a British poker pro with nearly $1 million in live tournament cashes according to The Hendon Mob, expressed his dissatisfaction with Golden Nugget in an Instagram post.
Garcia explained that, as of June 10, some of the guaranteed prize pools were adjusted to estimated guarantees due to a lack of participation. He referenced the recently completed $600 Championship Main Event that originally had a $500,000 guaranteed prize pool that was lowered before the tournament began. That event, however, actually ended up with more than $500k in the pot.
The Goldenaire, it appears, was unlikely to reach the $1 million guarantee. But Garcia said that the decision to drop the seven-figure guarantee had been made in advance, although he acknowledged that several players on Day 1a were unaware, and that is why the session was canceled after Level 1, and all players were refunded the buy-in.
Mcconachie left Golden Nugget following the cancellation to enter a tournament at Venetian. He said just 19 players had registered at the time the tournament's first session plug had been pulled.
The poker player, after becoming aware that he wasn't playing for a $1 million pot, asked the tournament director if he could unregister. He was originally told players couldn't do that and to resume play. But he decided to take it up with the "top boss" who agreed to refund all players.
Mcconachie said two players wanted to continue playing. One player, he said, asked for the ICM value of his stack, which was 10% higher than his starting stack just one level into the tournament. That wish was not met, however. He also took issue with Golden Nugget failing to do a better job informing players on social media that some originally advertised guarantees have become estimated guarantees based on expected demand.
The Mystery Bounty event will resume with the Day 1b session on Thursday.
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*Featured image courtesy of David Mcconachie/Instagram.
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