As we have already reported, WTP winner Ali Tekintamgac was disqualified from the PPT Cannes Main Event final table because of cheating. It turns out, there is a bigger picture: there are more cheaters, dealers and a floorman involved in the conspiracy all relating to a Nuremberg Card Club.
Individuals in the scandal:
Deniz Yavuz
The Turkish Deniz Yavuz has been the owner of the Nuremberg Card Club and the pokerevents.de website. He also owns pokertravels.de, checkraiser.de, and also head of Pokerevents GmbH, which organized many Full Tilt Poker tournaments such as the 2009 Million Euro Challenge (MEC) and the 2010 Merit Cyprus Classic He started playing poker at live cash game tables and has been participating in live tournaments since 2008, but his main interest is organizing tournaments.
Dejan Dimov
Winner of the 2009 Million Euro Challenge mentioned above, also frequently a guest of the Nuremberg Card Club.
Perica Bukara
Winner of the $25,000 High Roller Event at the above mentioned Merit Cyprus Classic tournament. His live tournament winnings are $464,495.
Ali Tekintamgac
Winner of the WPT Barcelona Main Event. His live tournament winnings are $461.080.
Ersin Burun
Worked as a dealer for Pokerevents GmbH.
Roland Schuster
He was a floorman at the Czech King's Casino Rozvadov. Schuster is a friend of Deniz Yavuz, with whom they were representatives of the CheckRaiser team at the 2009 Mountain Poker Team Cup tournament and delivered presentations at the IPEX (International Poker Exhibition).
The scandal, however, did not brake out when Tekintamgac was disqualified from PPT Cannes, it already did a a little earlier. Still, it didn't attract as much attention as the disqualification since Full Tilt Poker allegedly tried to conceal the conspiracy which Ersin Burun described to a German newspaper:
"I want to tell the truth about Dejan Dimov, and about his ways of getting into the final table, in which he didn't have the right to participate. He only managed to do so because I helped him, as I've worked there as a dealer and a floorman. His starting stack was 10,000. He has hidden 300,000 chips in his clothes, with what he filled his stack up slowly. He easily made it to the final table, other players didn't have a real chance against him. At first I didn't want to participate in this, but he promised me to split the winnings. Later I contacted Full Tilt Poker, and after a conversation with one of their representatives I was asked not to talk about this to anybody, as Full Tilt has already paid the winners and do not want the case to be public as it would shed a negative light on Full Tilt Poker."
Full Tilt Poker soon issued an official statement on the matter in which they claim that the whole situation is blown up, no evidence was presented to reinforce accusations that some players have been given better chances of winning by the help of the external agency that organized the tournament. Full Tilt also rejected accusations of them wanting to hold back information about the case. Their supervisors have investigated, and found everything legitimate and in order. They admitted that the accuser contacted them after the tournament, but he just wanted money, and Full Tilt will not submit to blackmail. However, if the accuser can prove the validity of his accusations, they will do the required steps.
Tekintamgac was watched much more closely at the PPT Cannes since he was already suspicious at the EPT Tallinn, and as an acquaintance of Bukara and Yavuz. They, and Dimov frequented the King's Casino Rozvadov that lies near the German-Czech border to play cash games and tournaments, so their connection was highly obvious.
The scandal is a trending topic in German newspapers and online media for days now, and judging from the many comments on the topic, there might be some truth to the accusations.
The Austrian poker pro, Manuel Blaschke, who finished 4th at the WPT Barcelona and was sitting at the same table as Tekintamgac really has some experience concerning the conspiracy:
"Tekintamgac is not only the worst player at that final table, but overall the worst I have ever played against. He went all-in for small pots on dangerous flops. When there were only 4 of us at the table, we were talking about making a 4-way deal, but I rejected it, because only Ali's stack was threatening to me, but he played so badly I didn't feel him to be winning. We played 5 weird hand afterwards, during which I lost half of my stack."
Individuals in the scandal:
Deniz Yavuz
The Turkish Deniz Yavuz has been the owner of the Nuremberg Card Club and the pokerevents.de website. He also owns pokertravels.de, checkraiser.de, and also head of Pokerevents GmbH, which organized many Full Tilt Poker tournaments such as the 2009 Million Euro Challenge (MEC) and the 2010 Merit Cyprus Classic He started playing poker at live cash game tables and has been participating in live tournaments since 2008, but his main interest is organizing tournaments.
Dejan Dimov
Winner of the 2009 Million Euro Challenge mentioned above, also frequently a guest of the Nuremberg Card Club.
Perica Bukara
Winner of the $25,000 High Roller Event at the above mentioned Merit Cyprus Classic tournament. His live tournament winnings are $464,495.
Ali Tekintamgac
Winner of the WPT Barcelona Main Event. His live tournament winnings are $461.080.
Ersin Burun
Worked as a dealer for Pokerevents GmbH.
Roland Schuster
He was a floorman at the Czech King's Casino Rozvadov. Schuster is a friend of Deniz Yavuz, with whom they were representatives of the CheckRaiser team at the 2009 Mountain Poker Team Cup tournament and delivered presentations at the IPEX (International Poker Exhibition).
The scandal, however, did not brake out when Tekintamgac was disqualified from PPT Cannes, it already did a a little earlier. Still, it didn't attract as much attention as the disqualification since Full Tilt Poker allegedly tried to conceal the conspiracy which Ersin Burun described to a German newspaper:
"I want to tell the truth about Dejan Dimov, and about his ways of getting into the final table, in which he didn't have the right to participate. He only managed to do so because I helped him, as I've worked there as a dealer and a floorman. His starting stack was 10,000. He has hidden 300,000 chips in his clothes, with what he filled his stack up slowly. He easily made it to the final table, other players didn't have a real chance against him. At first I didn't want to participate in this, but he promised me to split the winnings. Later I contacted Full Tilt Poker, and after a conversation with one of their representatives I was asked not to talk about this to anybody, as Full Tilt has already paid the winners and do not want the case to be public as it would shed a negative light on Full Tilt Poker."
Full Tilt Poker soon issued an official statement on the matter in which they claim that the whole situation is blown up, no evidence was presented to reinforce accusations that some players have been given better chances of winning by the help of the external agency that organized the tournament. Full Tilt also rejected accusations of them wanting to hold back information about the case. Their supervisors have investigated, and found everything legitimate and in order. They admitted that the accuser contacted them after the tournament, but he just wanted money, and Full Tilt will not submit to blackmail. However, if the accuser can prove the validity of his accusations, they will do the required steps.
Tekintamgac was watched much more closely at the PPT Cannes since he was already suspicious at the EPT Tallinn, and as an acquaintance of Bukara and Yavuz. They, and Dimov frequented the King's Casino Rozvadov that lies near the German-Czech border to play cash games and tournaments, so their connection was highly obvious.
The scandal is a trending topic in German newspapers and online media for days now, and judging from the many comments on the topic, there might be some truth to the accusations.
The Austrian poker pro, Manuel Blaschke, who finished 4th at the WPT Barcelona and was sitting at the same table as Tekintamgac really has some experience concerning the conspiracy:
"Tekintamgac is not only the worst player at that final table, but overall the worst I have ever played against. He went all-in for small pots on dangerous flops. When there were only 4 of us at the table, we were talking about making a 4-way deal, but I rejected it, because only Ali's stack was threatening to me, but he played so badly I didn't feel him to be winning. We played 5 weird hand afterwards, during which I lost half of my stack."
