Online actions follow him into live play
When is the last time you saw someone disqualified from a live tournament for something that had nothing to do with what was going on in the tournament room? It just so happened that this scenario played out this past weekend, when high-stakes poker pro Tony “Ren” Lin was ejected from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) Super Circuit Cyprus Main Event for online poker shenanigans.
Lin made it through his Day 1 flight and was all set to play on Day 2 of the Main Event at Merit Royal Diamond Hotel & Casino when, according to Merit Poker on social media, Tournament Director Andy Tillman told him he was out. The reason: a “violation of the Poker Integrity Policy on GGPoker.”
That sounds a little odd at first blush, but remember that GGPoker’s parent company, NSUS, acquired the WSOP last year. GGPoker has said that it will ban/disqualify players from WSOP events for rules violations online, and this is what happened here.
One player to a hand, please
About a week ago, the $10,000 GGMillion$ event wrapped up on GGPoker, won by Chinese player “RealOA.” A few days later, the third-place finisher, “Buzzcut” publicly accused RealOA of receiving “real-time advice from other players to gain unfair advantage.”
Specifically, Buzzcut, claimed, RealOA shared his screen with other poker players, one of whom was Lin, also from China. He knew this, in part, because he ended up in a group text conversation with, among others, both RealOA and Lin. In that text chain, RealOA thanked Lin “for the coaching” that aided him in his tournament win.
Other people sent Buzzcut screenshots proving that Lin helped RealOA, but the topper was Lin himself texting Buzzcut to apologize for helping his opponent. On top of that, Lin actually told Buzzcut on the phone that this sort of assistance was commonplace in online poker.
GGPoker’s rules state that “every decision made at the poker table should be made free of any external assistance.” Pretty straightforward – RealOA and Lin clearly violated this rule.
Lin apologizes
On Monday, Lin posted a public apology on social media, emphasizing that he received no incentive or “form of profit” for helping RealOA. He explained that during a break from a tournament in which he was playing, he received an internet meeting link from RealOA. In that meeting, he saw that RealOA was playing at the final table.
“When he asked for my opinion on a hand, I responded instinctively, offering my personal advice simply out of a desire to help a friend,” Lin said. “The entire interaction lasted only a few minutes, after which I left the call and returned to my live tournament. As it was my first time entering such a live session, I failed to recognize it as a rule violation at that moment, mistakenly equating it with post-tournament hand discussions common in our chat groups.”
Lin continued, saying that once he realized what he had done, he reached out to Buzzcut to apologize.
“I believe that as a player of this generation and the admin of this community, I have both the responsibility and the confidence to set a positive example,” Lin added.
Lin also said that RealOA has returned “the majority” of the prize money and that he will cover the rest.
Image credit: World Poker Tour
