WSOP nullifies result of ‘Millionaire Maker’ event after investigation

The World Series of Poker vacated the result of one of its largest events after two players were accused of colluding during heads-up play.

In a statement released Monday night on social media, the WSOP announced it completed its investigation into the $1,500 “Millionaire Maker” No-limit Hold’em tournament and will not recognize a winner.

“We have concluded that in order to uphold the integrity of the game and to uphold our official WSOP tournament rules, no winner will be recognized and no bracelet will be awarded for this year’s tournament,” the statement said. “The remaining prize pool will be split between the final two players.”

Professional poker player Jesse Yaginuma won the “Millionaire Maker” event Wednesday night at Horseshoe Las Vegas, overcoming a 9-to-1 chip deficit at the beginning of heads-up play to defeat fellow pro James Carroll.

Viewers of the online stream raised suspicions that Carroll was “chip dumping” and deliberately allowed his opponent to win. The WSOP released a statement Thursday saying it was investigating a “potential breach” of tournament rules.

The WSOP defines chip dumping “as any agreement between or among two (2) or more participants for one or more of the participants to bet chips with the intent of increasing another participant’s stack.” WSOP Rule 118 states, “Chip dumping and other forms of collusion will result in disqualification.”

Yaginuma was eligible to collect a $1 million bonus from rival promotion ClubWPT Gold, affiliated with the World Poker Tour, if he finished first in the “Millionaire Maker” tournament.

Yaginuma told Poker.org that there was no deal in place with Carroll before heads-up play.

ClubWPT Gold posted on social media Tuesday that it will pay Yaginuma the $1 million bonus regardless of the WSOP not declaring a winner of the event.

The “Millionaire Maker” drew almost 12,000 entrants and had a first prize of $1,255,180. Second place earned $1,012,320.

Yaginuma is a three-time WSOP online event winner and has almost $3.8 million in career live tournament earnings, according to the Hendon Mob Poker Database.

He would be the second player to collect the $1 million bonus from the ClubWPT promotion for winning a WSOP event after Michael Lavin won the $1,500 buy-in No-limit Hold’em Shootout on June 6.

Carroll is a two-time World Poker Tour champion and has two WSOP Circuit rings, awarded for tournament wins. The seven-figure payout from the “Millionaire Maker” pushes his career live tournament earnings past $7.1 million.

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