Harry Demetrieu Escorted Out of tournament??

[Lawman007]

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In my opinion, he is a first class person, and I find it hard to believe that if he has some sort of complaint that it's not legitimate to at least some extent.

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I have no problem with his complaint. It's the way he handled it that I have a problem with. By his own admission, he was yelling and screaming. Therefore, he deserved to be thrown out. I can't believe that they refunded his money after the way he acted.

[FeliciaLee]

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Hi Everyone:

Due to other issues concerning Two Plus Two Publishing LLC (such as all our computers going down) I've spent very little time at the WSOP. So I don't know the details of this incident.

However, I do know Harry Demetrieu fairly well. I've played against him many times, and he's joined us for coffee on occasion. In my opinion, he is a first class person, and I find it hard to believe that if he has some sort of complaint that it's not legitimate to at least some extent.

Best wishes,
Mason

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Thank you so much for posting this, Mason. I feel exactly the same way.

I feel for Harry and just about everyone else who is getting constantly lied to at Rio.

I sometimes wonder when I read the posts about people amazed why someone would get upset at what is going on there if they have ever played in the series. Or any other big festival like this. It is simply impossible to walk into this arena, pay something like 6-11% right off the top, and then accept all of the lies, marked cards, horrible floor decisions, last minute changes, disappearing chips, 101,000 in chips being given to a short stacked player and all of the other FUBAR with a big smile.

Harry is one of the few bigger names who will stand up for the integrity of poker regardless of how it might personally hurt his bottom line. I wonder how many of the players flaming him would do the same?

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Quicksilvre]

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Harry does have some very legitimate issues with Harrah's/WSOP, if you go to the main page at thehendonmob.com you can see what his complaints were up to the HORSE tournament.

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This is true. I guess we just got fed up with everything else that harrah's has been doing.

[Lawman007]

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I wonder how many of the players flaming him would do the same?

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That's easy. I wouldn't behave like a third grader. I would speak to someone about it in a civil and professional manner, then sit my butt down and play poker if they wouldn't do what I wanted them to do.

I sure as heck wouldn't start yelling and screaming like some maniac. There is nothing at all admirable about the way he acted. He is certainly not the martyr you are painting him out to be.

[FeliciaLee]

I take it you have played in many big festivals, including the series, over the course of the last several years?

I believe he tried this route before. Many times. And was made promises which were never kept.

And then there is the circus quality which is Rio. The crushing crowds, the noise, the pressure. Some of those people have been playing non-stop, every day. It wears on them mentally. I've snapped before. We are human. Just like Arieh in 2004, painting someone who snaps and has a temporary lapse during a festival as a villian doesn't help anything. It only hurts us.

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I wonder how many of the players flaming him would do the same?

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That's easy. I wouldn't behave like a third grader. I would speak to someone about it in a civil and professional manner, then sit my butt down and play poker if they wouldn't do what I wanted them to do.

I sure as heck wouldn't start yelling and screaming like some maniac. There is nothing at all admirable about the way he acted. He is certainly not the martyr you are painting him out to be.

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[Kevmath]

If ~600 people turn up for a tournament, and they've allocated 100 tables, with 100 people move on to Round 2, how could it not be 6 handed? The rules stated a limit of 100 tables, with 100 moving on. Could they have allowed more people to sign up, making some tables 7-handed while others are 6-handed? I'm sure people would be upset with that idea as well. Players have every right to be upset over the way Harrah's has treated them, but as long as enough people turn up for these events, they're going to allow this to happen to them. Regarding the 101k in chips that was added to the tournament, can't some of the blame be associated with the player who doesn't bother to look at the bag of chips across from him that contains his chips? I thought those chips were eventually removed from play once that particular error was discovered. Players hate the "World Series of Holdem", but when the Plaza attempted to do different events last year (HORSE, A-5 Lowball, etc.), they weren't turning up in droves. Some would say that it was the Plaza's fault because of their lack of promotion, others would say since they wouldn't want to play downtown or there wasn't any chances of being on TV.

Maybe the big name players will eventually get something together and form some sort of "union", but it just seems there's too much concern about themselves first, and screw anyone else. Maybe Jesse Jones could be the one person to get it done, only time will tell.

[AThermopyle]

There were 599 players who did not throw a fit.

Ok, a couple were getting their beauty sleep.

But most understood that a Shootout that is advertised to have 100 players advancing to 10 tables on Day 2 cannot have only 60 tables on Day 1.

[UATrewqaz]

Considering alot of people on this thread would go back into Burger King and complain if their $4 burger was not made the way they ordered it, I think Demetrieu is far within his rights to air a grievance for the $2K+ product he purchased.

Whether or not the grievance is legit enough to rise to the level of a refund, escorting him out is very shady/crappy of the organizers.

[pineapple888]

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painting someone who snaps and has a temporary lapse during a festival as a villian doesn't help anything

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Who said anything about a villain? And what's with this elitist attitude that only long-time tournament players have the right to judge his behavior?

He snapped. He had his reasons, which I suspect are not his stated ones. But his behavior was still unacceptable, and the tournament organizers responded appropriately.

Now let's all move on. Whatever issues there are, throwing fits is not the way to solve them.

[FeliciaLee]

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Regarding the 101k in chips that was added to the tournament, can't some of the blame be associated with the player who doesn't bother to look at the bag of chips across from him that contains his chips?

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I had read his own chips were at another table altogether (albeit the table across from his). I wouldn't expect any player to go searching out other tables looking for his lost chips.

We all make mistakes, and that is my point. Festivals are a very high pressure situation, and players occasionally blow up. Harry might have been fed up with just about everything, and finally simply lost his cool. The floorman who booted him might have been overstressed as well, and reacted violently (the whole quote about "take him where we put the very bad people" comes to mind). Later they may both have calmed down and apologized to each other, issuing Harry a refund out of a gesture of goodwill.

We don't know all of the facts. I simply hate to see Harry painted as the villian.

Felicia [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]