The eventual winner staged a 10-1 comeback which poker fans felt was a bit too suspicious!

PublishedJune 26, 2025 3:03 PM EDT•UpdatedJune 26, 2025 3:03 PM EDT

Facebook

Twitter

Email

Copy Link

There is some high-stakes drama happening in Las Vegas at the World Series of Poker Tournament. 

On Thursday, the WSOP officially announced that it would not be rewarding first or second-place prizes or bracelets from Wednesday night's World Series of Poker Event #53 - Millionaire Maker tournament until it completes an investigation into possible collusion. 

The drama occurred after first-place winner Jesse Yaginuma came back from a 10-1 chip deficit in the final heads-up round against runner-up James Carroll. Immediately, social media poker fans and Internet sleuths started questioning the legitimacy of the accomplishment, especially when more details were revealed.

SIGN UP for The Daily OutKick. New Look, Same Attitude

YAGINUMA ALSO RECEIVED A PREVIOUS $1 MILLION BONUS

Without getting too in the weeds, or should I say chips, much of the drama surrounds third-party online poker platform ClubWPT Gold. 

Yaginuma had won 1 of 11 ClubWPT Gold "Summer Majors" tournament sweepstakes, which meant that he would be eligible for a bonus payment of $1 million if he also won the WSOP Millionaire Maker tournament. 

Conveniently, Yaginuma was able to pull off an unbelievable comeback victory, which meant not only would he receive the WSOP tournament's first-place $1.2+ million earnings, but also his $1 million bonus from ClubWPT, bringing his total winnings to $2.2 million as well as receive his fourth WSOP bracelet.

Runner-up Carroll was set to win a little over $1 million for coming in second before Thursday's WSOP investigation was announced. Both players could still win the money should the investigation determine that nothing shady happened.

Yaginuma has denied any collusion claims. 

WORLD SERIES OF POKER PROBLEMS

The question is - was there some sort of deal made? Did Carroll essentially chip dump, which is to purposely lose certain hands in order to allow Yaginuma to come back, win the bonus and ultimately split some of the winnings?

According to PokerNews.com, both players took "a lengthy break" before they competed in the final heads-up round, leading to Thursday's poker panic. 

The stakes are high as this type of scandal would severely impact the integrity of poker, let alone the internationally recognized World Series of Poker series (despite possibly not even being directly involved in the potential scandal).

WSOP HAS LAUNCHED AN INVESTIGATION

WSOP has since deleted all social media posts on X acknowledging Yaginuma's victory, as well as any that mentioned the elimination of third-place winner Josh Reichard, who some believe may end up winning the tournament if evidence of wrongdoing is found.

According to the World Series of Poker's 2025 Official Tournament Rules: "Poker is an individual game... Chip dumping and other forms of collusion will result in disqualification."

However, just because the Internet may think something shady happened, can you really punish both tournament winners and withhold their winnings because of a rumor from the social media mob?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

As one person on X wrote, "The remaining prize pool belongs to both players. Anything outside of honoring that in full is pure theft." Others, however, believe that if the two made an agreement with each other during the final round, it would be no big deal because no one else was harmed by it.

Of course, the whole point of competitive poker is for the best player to win, not to cut side deals. The significance of this could be detrimental to the international poker community, especially the WSOP (and its advertisers), which is why we are where we are right now with an ongoing investigation.

There's nothing like drama in Vegas, baby!

DO YOU THINK CHEATING OCCURRED DURING THE POKER TOURNAMENT? TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow