One of the year’s most anticipated online poker events has ended with a controversy that’s rocked the poker world. The champion of GGPoker’s WSOP Online $25K GGMillion$ Super High Roller Championship, known by the username ‘forzaitalia,’ was reportedly disqualified, leading to his $1.1 million prize being redistributed among the other finalists.
This disqualification meant significant prize increases for top players like Chris Brewer, Bryn Kenney, Patrick Leonard, Adrian Mateos, and Ole Schemion. Daniel Negreanu also joined the event, streaming from Canada, but was eliminated shortly after late registration closed on September 24.
The identity behind ‘forzaitalia’—widely believed to be Francesco Garofalo—had sparked speculation on Twitter prior to the final table. Although Garofalo had limited prior winnings on GGPoker, he started the final table with a strong chip count, ultimately defeating Brewer heads-up and originally securing a payout of $1,122,201 and a WSOP bracelet.
However, following his disqualification, the prize money was reallocated, and affected players, including Leonard, reported receiving refunds. Leonard tweeted that he received an additional $152,733.53 from GGPoker, the difference between third and fourth place. While GGPoker confirmed the ban, they did not disclose the specific reason, though some players speculated about multi-accounting. GGPoker announced that the disqualified players had been permanently removed from the platform.
Despite the reshuffling of prizes, Brewer will not receive the bracelet, though he expressed satisfaction with the situation. This incident ranks among the largest disqualifications and refunds in online poker history, although not the biggest. Other notable instances include the disqualification of ‘TheV0id’ in the 2007 PokerStars WCOOP Main Event, where a $1.37 million prize was reassigned, and a 2018 WCOOP Main Event disqualification involving the user ‘wann2play.’
Source: https://www.poker.org/latest-news/1...ig-name-stars-get-huge-pay-jump-aPtZP5z8YZgJ/
This disqualification meant significant prize increases for top players like Chris Brewer, Bryn Kenney, Patrick Leonard, Adrian Mateos, and Ole Schemion. Daniel Negreanu also joined the event, streaming from Canada, but was eliminated shortly after late registration closed on September 24.
The identity behind ‘forzaitalia’—widely believed to be Francesco Garofalo—had sparked speculation on Twitter prior to the final table. Although Garofalo had limited prior winnings on GGPoker, he started the final table with a strong chip count, ultimately defeating Brewer heads-up and originally securing a payout of $1,122,201 and a WSOP bracelet.
However, following his disqualification, the prize money was reallocated, and affected players, including Leonard, reported receiving refunds. Leonard tweeted that he received an additional $152,733.53 from GGPoker, the difference between third and fourth place. While GGPoker confirmed the ban, they did not disclose the specific reason, though some players speculated about multi-accounting. GGPoker announced that the disqualified players had been permanently removed from the platform.
Despite the reshuffling of prizes, Brewer will not receive the bracelet, though he expressed satisfaction with the situation. This incident ranks among the largest disqualifications and refunds in online poker history, although not the biggest. Other notable instances include the disqualification of ‘TheV0id’ in the 2007 PokerStars WCOOP Main Event, where a $1.37 million prize was reassigned, and a 2018 WCOOP Main Event disqualification involving the user ‘wann2play.’
Source: https://www.poker.org/latest-news/1...ig-name-stars-get-huge-pay-jump-aPtZP5z8YZgJ/
