Player Gets Mistakenly Seated in $25k High Roller at the Aria

An unidentified player, who is being described as the 'curly hair guy' by those who witnessed the entire thing, was mistakenly seated in the $25,000 High Roller tournament at the Aria a couple of days ago. The man, who wanted to play in the $125 Deep Stack daily event, was given a ticket to the seat in a high roller tournament and proceeded to take his place as if everything was on up and up.

7 hours into this $25k tourney and a player was just escorted out. He paid for the $125 tourney, got the wrong ticket, and kept quiet.

— Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) May 30, 2015

The player had a lot of chips when he was disqualified. Chips removed from play after a few orbits of blinding down.

— Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) May 30, 2015

Apparently, this unidentified hero went on quite a heater, eliminating three players during the seven hours he spent at the tables before the error was eventually noticed by the Aria staff. In all likelihood, once the registration was over, they've realized there was money missing and started to look for what went wrong. It did not take them long after that to discover the 'curly guy' and he was escorted out of the tournament.

@JustinBonomo the guy with long curly hair who stacked me ?

— Thomas Marchese (@BigCheese_poker) May 30, 2015

What now?

This extremely unusual happening naturally led to a big discussion on Two Plus Two forums as to what would be the best way to go about the whole thing. Clearly, there was a player at the tables who shouldn't have been there and he influenced the game in a big way as

• He eliminated three players who actually paid $25k to play
• Substantial amount of chips was removed from play when he was disqualified

Quite a few solutions were suggested, from those extreme that would see the entire tournament void, to those saying that the only affected party in this case was a casino and as long as they covered the missing $25,000, the tournament should be played out as it is.

Making the entire tournament void is certainly not a realistic option. On the other hand, as one poster noted, this situation was similar to a referee mistake in any sport. It happened, someone was possibly damaged, but there isn't much that can be done about it, as long as the missing money is made up for.

The 'referee' comparison actually does make the most sense, but there are a few factors to consider that complicate this situation further. For one, this guy, whoever he is, was basically playing a freeroll, while everyone else put up $25,000 for their seats. That, combined with the fact that he probably knew he wouldn't get paid in the end (one would imagine) might have significantly influenced his play and made him relaxed.

On the flip-side of that theory, said player was likely at a big disadvantage playing in the $25k event and, as some posters emphasized, pros would be probably be all too happy to rid this guy of his chips. He probably happened to run very well and that resulted in three (painful) knockouts.

Aria decision

Any of the numerous proposed solutions has its upsides and downside (or most of them at least), but given how highly unusual this situation is, it is hard to say what's right thing to do. According to Bonomo's Twitter, Aria decided to reimburse the eliminated player, although they will not get the full amounts back, but rather something in the region of $3,000 - $5,000.

Looks like Aria is going to comp the players that busted to Mr. $125. Not the full $25k, but some real value (3-5kish). Very solid IMO.

— Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) May 31, 2015

What of a guy?

An even bigger and more interesting question for most of us is what happens with a 'curly haired guy'. According to the reports, he was not only disqualified from the tournament, but also received a lifetime ban from the Aria properties.

This decision created a whole different discussion in the same thread, as some believed the ruling to be unfair. Is it a realistic possibility that this player simply did not realize that he was sitting in the $25k tournament instead of a $125 one and it was an honest mistake.

Of course it is possible, but it doesn't seem likely, even if he was in Las Vegas for the first time. The topic of buy-in must have come up at least once during the seven-hour period and if he simply decided to keep quiet about it, then the punishment doesn't seem that harsh at all.

On the other hand, as some posters have noted, paying $125 to play with some of the biggest names in poker could well be worth it, even if you stand no chance to win the money. Whether it is worth getting yourself banned is another story, but one thing is certain - this guy will have one hell of a story to tell in his home game.

As for the tournament, it seems Justin Bonomo is doing well.

Small chip lead w/ 7 left in today's Aria $25k. Were in the money. $470k up top. I'm in for 3 bullets :-/ Updates at http://t.co/5IwNxrYp7Z

— Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) May 31, 2015

Update:

3rd for 175k. Had chiplead 3 handed but lost 5 all-ins in a row. That was a tough table. No missteps from anyone.

— Justin Bonomo (@JustinBonomo) May 31, 2015