Jim Collopy Victim of Controversial Ruling at ANZPT Perth; Threatens To Leave Country
The PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 6 Perth kicked off today, and already there has been controversy coming out of Western Australia. According to a hand reported by PokerNews' Josh Bell in the event's live blog, a controversial hand took place in Level 4 (150/300/25) of Day 1a involving Jim "Mr_BigQueso" Collopy.
“If my hand is somehow dead, I’m leaving the country,” a frustrated Collopy said.
What had him so upset? Let's find out. Here's a look at the hand as reported in the live blog:
We arrived to find Collopy up out of his seat, telling everyone who would listen the bizarre ruling he was contesting. The clock had been paused as the tournament director decided that they needed to go to the security cameras.
The story goes that Collopy had checked on the river of a 6♥10♥5♦2♦10♦ board and so had his one opponent on his direct left. Now that both players had checked, naturally, it was time to go to showdown.
This is where things got dicey.
Collopy apparently, according to the ruling by the dealer, mucked his hand.
According to Collopy, and many of the players at the table, Collopy had simply tried to turn his cards over to show that he had Q♠Q♣. Considering both players had checked, and Collopy's opponent had not yet showed their cards, it is very safe to assume that Collopy would never muck here.
The dealer told the TD that Collopy’s cards had landed in front of him face down – which, based on the rule here at Crown Perth means an automatic muck. This rule is regardless of a player’s intention or the best interest of the player.
While the ruling was being made, Collopy was holding tightly onto those queens.
“This is absurd, they are going to have to pry these cards out of my hand,” Collopy said.
Time ticked on, Collopy’s opponent sat there stoically, not showing his cards, but it did seem clear that Collopy had the winning hand.
“Where is Danny McDonagh, his job is on the line,” Collopy said somewhat jokingly, while still fuming and still pacing around the table.
ANZPT President McDonagh arrived and explained to Collopy that unfortunately due to Western Australia’s gaming regulatory body, he doesn’t actually have the authority to make TD decisions.
So with that, Collopy was at the mercy of the Crown Perth staff.
Eventually, Crown Perth poker room manager Deb Wyatt said that she had watched the footage on the video and Collopy’s hand was dead as his actions of moving the cards forward, and them landing face down, was in line with the Crown Perth rules.
This strange rule was explained to the room at the beginning of play, as Crown Perth understands it is not a rule that exists in almost any other poker room in the world.
For your information, this is the actual wording of the rule:
“9.1: Any player at the showdown may pass their cards to the dealer without disclosing them, in such circumstances that player shall not be eligible to win the pot.”
Crown Perth interprets this rule in the way that means Collopy’s hand was dead.
Collopy talked to PokerNews after play ended for the day.
Danny McDonagh from PokerStars released a statement regarding the incident, and it reads as follows:
All ANZPT events in Australia are subject to the local state or territory regulator (there are eight different sets of rules in total in this country) and the local rules override PokerStars rules. There are some rules (or interpretations of rules that a regulator maintains) that are not in the best interests of poker and/or the player and over the years we have worked with various Australian casinos in overcoming them.
Crown Perth Poker Manager Deb Wyatt is working on getting this rule changed with the state regulator, which I hope can be achieved for next year's event.
You can follow the action from the PokerStars.net ANZPT Season 6 Perth all week long in our live blog. In the meantime, what are your thoughts on the ruling? Let us know in the comments section below.
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