WSOP cancels online event after ‘connectivity issues,’ refunds players

The World Series of Poker canceled one of its largest online tournaments after players encountered “connectivity issues” on the second day of the event.

The $250 buy-in No-limit Hold’em Mystery Bounty event on WSOP.com was set to resume Monday when hundreds of the remaining participants were unable to log into the client.

WSOP.com sent an email to players Wednesday notifying them that play on Day 2 is “considered null and void” and there will not be a bracelet awarded for the event. The tournament will not count toward the WSOP Online bracelet leaderboard.

“With so many people being affected, this is the first time we’ve had to cancel the tournament midstream. We know that people were disappointed, they were anxious,” said Jack Effel, senior vice president of poker operations and World Series of Poker for Caesars Entertainment.

“We had to go and figure out what would be the fairest way to rectify the situation with all the Day 2 players.”

In its email, WSOP.com said all player investments in the tournament will be returned, and all players who pulled bounties or cashed in the event will keep their prize money.

“The remaining prize pool will be distributed in a way we believe upholds the integrity of the game and is the fairest and most respectful to the spirit of the competition,” the email said.

WSOP.com also said it would award the 1,100 players from Day 2 who were impacted with a $500 tournament ticket.

The online Mystery Bounty event attracted a field of more than 7,600 entries and easily surpassed the $1 million guaranteed prize pool. First place was worth more than $140,000 in addition to any bounties, which ranged from $57 to a top prize of $100,000 for eliminating an opponent.

When Day 2 resumed with 1,100 players, about 60 percent of the field was disconnected or sitting out of the tournament, according to Effel. That allowed active players to raise nearly every hand and steal the blinds until the disconnected players ran out of chips.

During that time, the $100,000 bounty was pulled by a player, as were several other top bounty prizes.

The tournament ran for nearly two hours before WSOP.com halted the action with 234 players remaining. Numerous participants complained on social media that they were unable to access the tournament and take their seat only to find out the support room was closed for the evening and would reopen at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

“We’re sorry that there was an inconvenience. We’re sorry that the players had a bad experience,” Effel said. “Hopefully all the players will continue to believe in our ability that when things go wrong, we will make it right, that we want them to continue to believe in us that we’re going to provide the best experience that we can and that we will continue to look at these types of situations to try and ensure that they don’t happen again by working with the provider.”

Two-time winner

Tyler Brown became a two-time WSOP winner when he finished first in the $600 buy-in Mixed No-Limit Hold’em/Pot-Limit Omaha Deepstack event Monday.

Brown topped a field of 2,775 entrants to earn a $178,126 payout.

The victory came after Brown was assessed a one-round penalty deep in the event for swearing at a tournament official. According to PokerNews, Brown was asked to color up his chips and refused. When the situation escalated, Brown told the floorperson to have inappropriate relations with himself.

“I may have yelled an expletive,” Brown told PokerNews.

Colossus champ

Courtenay Williams was crowned winner of the $500 buy-in Colossus No-limit Hold’em tournament Tuesday at Horseshoe Events Center.

Williams earned $542,540 for the victory, and Ramaswamy Pyloore finished second. The event drew 16,301 entries.

Matt Glantz, who was looking for his first WSOP event win after two WSOP Circuit victories, finished third.

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on X.