It's not often that we see any type of disturbance or threat to players' lives at European or Asian stops of various poker series. However, in the US, the situation is completely different and we have witnessed riots on more than one occasion, including during the WSOP in Las Vegas. In the local media, it is almost a daily occurrence to see a shooting, a murder or a fight in a casino, players being assaulted or robbed, and so on.
Now the WSOPC festival at Harrah's Cherokee Hotel & Casino Resort in North Carolina has caught the attention of the media. That's because the $1,700 buy-in Main Event is currently underway here, and has brought in 1,710 entries and a prizepool of $2,590,650. The winner here will be awarded $368,380 and a gold ring to boot.
Day 2 of this tournament got underway last night and there were still 65 players left in the field. During a break in the tournament, an unknown man walked into the tournament hall and in a fit of rage knocked over 3 tables full of chips. The man allegedly shouted that God had commanded him to do so. Immediately after this act, security swooped down on the man and escorted him out of the casino.
Wild times at @HarrahsCherokee @WSOPC $1700 main day2
- @rEaLrUeTaMa (@realruetama) February 23, 2025
At the end of 10/25k a guy takes a running start and crab 🦀 scuttles under tables flipping them and all chips
He gets 3 tables flipped before stopped (65 left ) pic.twitter.com/V2f8NvA4IM
Unscheduled break
With players' chips flying through the air after the act, it was necessary to find out the exact stack size of each player affected by the incident, or the tournament could have been ended by splitting the money among the remaining 65 players in play.
However, the players wanted to continue playing and so we saw an unscheduled break lasting up 2 hours. During this time, tournament staff were checking the camera footage prior to the incident and recalculating the stack of each player sitting on the overturned tables.
Tournament directors biggest nightmare! pic.twitter.com/CEMG8scQVv
- Matt Savage (@SavagePoker) February 23, 2025
Matt Savage commented on social media on the whole incident, stating that this is a tournament director's biggest nightmare. After the stacks were recalculated and the subsequent discussion with the players, the WSOPC Main Event went on as scheduled. At the end of the day, 18 players had advanced.
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Source - X/Twitter, Pokernews, Our State Magazine, Poker.org, WSOP