The 2025 WSOP collusion 'scandal' and investigation, explained
Here's what we know: Their $1,500 Millionaire Maker event was down to two players, with James Carroll up on Jesse Yaginuma. But it was Yaginuma who ended up with the bracelet and a cool $1.26 million.
Advertisement
That's not the controversy. Here's what could be that's led to an investigation, per ESPN: "Many of the hands won by Yaginuma came in the form of raises or reraises that were continually not contested by Carroll. Viewers of the event's livestream, including a number of professional poker players, began to speculate that Carroll was chip dumping to Yaginuma -- intentionally losing hands to build up his opponent's stack -- so that the two could split some portion of the prize money."
Is that collusion? Let's dive in further:
What are the WSOP rules about collusion?
Per the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
WSOP rule 40b states: 'Collusion is defined as any agreement between or among two (2) or more Participants to engage in illegal or unethical acts against other Participants. Collusion includes, but is not limited to, acts such as: chip dumping; soft play; sharing card information with another Participant; sending or receiving signals from or to another Participant; the use of electronic communication with the intent to facilitate collusion; and any other act that Host Properties deem inappropriate.'
What did WSOP say about the investigation?
So the prize money and bracelet haven't been given out yet.
Why would the two players collude in a WSOP event?
There's some speculation over a prize from ClubWPT Gold: a player could win an additional $1 million if they won a WSOP event and a "ticket" from a poker summer event. Yaginuma had one of those tickets, so maybe Carroll was trying to help him out?
What did the poker players say about the collusion allegations?
Per Poker.org:
Yaginuma told us there was no heads-up deal in his post-win interview, though the two did meet. "No, not really. We talked for a little bit about poker, but yeah, that was about it."
This article originally appeared on For The Win: WSOP collusion investigation, explained over Millionaire Maker ending
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
18 minutes ago
- Fox News
Police chief reveals new details about Idaho quadruple murders
Retired NYPD inspector Paul Mauro joins 'Fox & Friends' to discuss new developments in the Idaho quadruple murder case, including allegations of a second murder weapon, the FBI's involvement in the investigation, and who may have leaked details.
New York Times
18 minutes ago
- New York Times
A Question at the Heart of the Menendez Case: Who Deserves a Second Chance?
For years, Chandrika M. Kelso has worked with Lyle and Erik Menendez in prison, as they became leaders in nonviolence workshops, meditation groups and a hospice program for older, ailing inmates at R.J. Donovan Correction Facility near San Diego. She heard the gossip on the yards at the prison this year, as the brothers' case returned to the public spotlight, propelled by two new shows on Netflix and social media campaigns by young people. Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would consider clemency, and a judge in Los Angeles reduced their sentence of life without parole, giving them an immediate chance at freedom. Many inmates have been envious, Ms. Kelso said, as they learned that the governor was weighing in on the brothers' life sentences. 'That's not something that's lost on the other inmates who got life.' But she also hears another sentiment: 'Hey, if they go home, I have hope that I'll go home.' Indeed, while the case has played out as a reckoning with culture and politics of the 1990s — the era's tough-on-crime policies, the media obsession with celebrity and attitudes about sexual abuse — it has also raised a fundamental moral question. Who deserves a second chance? Many observers, fellow inmates and participants in the case believe that, while celebrity has certainly worked to the advantage of the brothers, their case may end up helping other inmates who are not well known, and have not benefited from celebrity supporters and media attention. 'There are thousands of people like Lyle and Erik who don't have the celebrity, don't have the personality, and don't have the good fortune of supportive family, to lift their case up,' said Michael Romano, one of their lawyers. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
18 minutes ago
- Forbes
How Businesses Can Rebuild Trust In The Age Of Impersonation Scams
James Garvert is the SVP of TruContact Communications Solutions for TransUnion. Whether you're an NFL player receiving a prank call about being drafted or the White House chief of staff being impersonated through a phone breach, the daily threat of imposter scams has increased substantially. In fact, impersonation scams were among the top reported frauds to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2024, with consumer losses totaling $2.95 billion. Consumers are hyperaware when deciding whether to answer phone calls or click on texts, but when convincing fraud actually occurs, anxiety kicks in, rational thinking goes out the window and accounts get cleaned out. These scams, which often incorporate a spoofed phone call, involve a fraudster pretending to be someone else to trick consumers into giving them money, access to financial accounts or personal information. Close to 48% of complaints to the FTC in 2023 were classified as business or government imposter scams or both. The lines between business and government impersonation scams have become blurred as fraudsters impersonate multiple organizations in a single scam. For example, a fake Amazon employee might transfer consumers to a fictional bank or even an 'FBI or FTC employee.' But consumers aren't the only losers in the impersonation game. For businesses, impersonation scams result in lost revenue and increased costs to reimburse impacted consumers, damage customer trust and relationships, tarnish brand names and make it difficult to reach customers by phone, since they're afraid to pick up. The FTC's Government and Business Impersonation Rule, which took effect in April 2024, made it illegal to pose as a government official or business. In the first year since the rule went into effect, the FTC brought five cases involving alleged violations and shut down 13 websites that were illegally impersonating the commission itself online. Nevertheless, impersonation scams continue. Although answers may seem elusive, it's clear that it will largely be up to businesses to protect consumers from fraud while promoting their brand. A Really Big Challenge For Businesses Sixty-three percent of decision-makers in a recent TransUnion-commissioned Forrester Consulting study rated call spoofing among their top five challenges in outbound voice and the second most common reason why existing customers aren't answering their phone. It's a serious issue with serious consequences that affects revenues. Other findings include: • 80% reported an uptick in customer service inquiries due to call spoofing, driving up operational costs. • 72% saw a decline in customer trust, which directly affects retention. • Nearly half face regulatory fines and revenue losses, highlighting the economic stakes. Interestingly, while over half of those surveyed aren't currently using call blocking, spam tagging or spoofing protection solutions, the vast majority said protection against call spoofing and related fraud is essential for enhancing customer engagement and increasing answer rates. Where Scammers Target: Industries We Trust The Most Consumers really want and need legitimate calls from their financial services and healthcare providers, and the government. So, it's not surprising that those industries are often attractive to fraudsters. A recent report from cloud platform provider Akamai found: 'Financial institutions are seen as highly trusted entities, making them prime targets for fraudsters who exploit that trust. By impersonating these institutions, attackers deceive users into willingly handing over their credentials, leveraging the institution's reputation to make their scams more convincing and effective.' This can result in hefty financial losses for large banks, but also for smaller banks and credit unions, which experience outsized impacts from even one account takeover. Healthcare institutions retain a wealth of personal and financial information, and patients are often vulnerable and more willing to trust calls from their providers, making them another attractive target for call spoofing scams. Government scams are also becoming increasingly prevalent. While in 2023 fraudsters stole over $179.6 million from thousands of unsuspecting Americans aged 60 and over, young adults frequently fall for scams due to their use of social media, tendency to make quick decisions and fear of missing out. According to Juniper Research (subscription required): 'On the fraudulent side, AI significantly enhances the sophistication of robocall scams. Scammers now use AI-generated voices which mimic real people, including public figures, to deceive recipients. These voice clones can be highly convincing, especially when paired with personal data harvested from social media or data breaches.' The FCC announced in February 2024 that AI-generated voice cloning in robocalls has been made illegal in the U.S. Steps And Solutions For Businesses One of the biggest problems with impersonation scams and call spoofing is that businesses typically don't realize it's happening until their customers complain. Businesses can determine if they have a fraud issue by closely looking at those complaints and measuring their telecom KPIs. They can also take some basic steps like: • Verifying the legitimacy of the organization, business purpose, calling behavior and ownership of numbers, reducing the likelihood calls will be mistagged as spam or blocked. • Monitoring the use of the brand across the caller ID ecosystem to help protect the business's reputation—and customers themselves—and minimize the risk of liability. • Adopting cross-channel threat detection and informing customers about the risks of coordinated scams across channels. But to really have an impact, identifying and blocking fraudulent calls before they reach the consumer is the key. Otherwise, it's left to the consumer to distinguish between a fraudulent and legitimate call—and that's becoming harder to do. The use of end-to-end call authentication and solutions like spoofed call protection and secure branded calling can be used to identify an outbound call as verified and authentic. In addition, new tools that leverage AI or machine learning algorithms can identify fraud patterns, while tools using natural language processing can analyze voice behavior and biometrics. Ensuring bad actors are kept out of the ecosystem and identifying and blocking fraudulent calls as close as possible to the moment they're happening is the most effective way to protect consumers. When that happens, we'll start to see a real reduction in fraud and an increase in trust in the phone channel, enabling consumers and businesses to safely connect and get things done. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
