In the wake of a collusion scandal that saw two players allegedly agree to allow one of them to win the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event, the World Series of Poker has handed down an unprecedented ruling.
"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 WSOP said in a statement posted to social media. "The remaining prize pool will be split between the final two players."
It is believed to be the first time that no bracelet will be awarded in a WSOP live event because of integrity concerns. Earlier this year, the series canceled its online $250 Mystery Bounty event due to technical issues and, thus, did not award a bracelet there.
Jesse Yaginuma, the winner of the Millionaire Maker event before the ruling, and second-place finisher James Carroll, who allegedly dumped chips to Yaginuma during heads-up play, will now evenly split the approximately $2.3 million in combined winnings. Unlike other professional poker competitions, the WSOP does not officially allow deals to be made between players so that they can split prize money, otherwise known as a chop.
ClubWPT Gold, whose promotion essentially sparked the entire controversy, will still award a $1 million bonus to Yaginuma, the company confirmed to PokerNews.
The controversy concludes just before the start of the WSOP's most coveted competition, the $10,000 Main Event No-Limit Hold'em World Championship.
"If the volume we've seen this summer is any indication, the main event could be the biggest of all time," Jack Effel, senior vice president of poker operations and World Series of Poker at Caesars Entertainment, told ESPN.
ESPN's David Purdum contributed to this story.