Espen Jorstad $300K Swap Dispute Ends with No Deal, No Payment

05:49
02 Sep

Image courtesy of PokerGO.com

WSOP Main Event champion Espen Jorstad reached out to his fellow poker pros recently for help in determining whether or not he was on the hook for a $300,000 payment to another player who claimed to have swapped action in the ME with the $10 million winner.

The player making the claim, Alexandros Theologis, seemed to recall making a 3% swap with Jorstad during one of the only two times the pair had ever met in person prior to the Main Event. However, neither Jorstad nor Theologis had written down any details of the deal.

Jorstad, as many may recall, clearly took careful note of all of his swapped action. The champ posted the info on social media not long after claiming the 2022 WSOP Main Event title.

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Theologis, a/k/a “pwndidy”, wasn't among the 14 players who benefitted from Jorstad's victory. Getting snubbed when he felt that a swap had been established didn't sit well with Theologis, who stated this to Jorstad while they were hashing it out:

"F*** I knew this would happen when I didn't write down in chat with my (swaps). I am sure that we swapped 3% at some point, maybe it was on our way or during dinner? Maybe at the wynn? I'm not sure at what point but I've swapped with everyone and I'm very confident we swapped."

It also didn't sit well with an intoxicated man who approached Jorstad while he was playing poker in Cyprus recently.

“Pay the man his money, pay the man his money," the drunk, who apparently watched 'Rounders' one too many times, said to Jorstad, threateningly. "You know what I’m talking about, pay him his 3%.”

It was this encounter that prompted Jorstad to go public with the dispute, asking the opinions of other poker pros in a lengthy TwitLonger post and going so far as to suggest arbitration, if need be.

Many poker pros responded, heavily favoring Jorstad's side of the story considering that Theologis can't remember exactly when the swap took place and that he has absolutely no proof that it ever happened.

Jorstad took the high road with regard to the confrontation with the drunk in Cyprus, choosing to believe that Theologis had nothing to do with it.

Um ...... yeah ..... OK.