Nick Marchington Speaks Out on WSOP Main Event Staking Lawsuit

Nick Marchington, the young Englishman who scooped $1,525,000 for his 7th place finish at the Main Event in Vegas last month, has spoken out on the lawsuit that has seen his winnings tied up in court – members of a staking group claiming he owes them 10% of the WSOP windfall…

C Biscuit Poker Staking partners, David Yee and Colin Hartley, allege that they had a deal with Marchington and have filed suit in Clark County, Nevada seeking $152,500 in restitution, plus legal fees and punitive damages, for breach of contract.

Mark-up problems

The somewhat murky staking affair, detailed in a series of messages between the warring factions in court records, saw the staking duo pay Marchington $1,750 for 10% of his action across two events.

One of those, the Main Event, saw the 21-year-old Englishman pull out of the deal, claiming he could receive a better price – 1.7 markup instead of 1.2 - apparently agreeing with his stakers on a refund.

Marchington speaks out

Marchington himself has been playing his cards close to his chest, an earlier tweet about the divisive situation the only comment he had made publicly…

…until today, when he released a series of tweets ‘clarifying a few key points’…

Marchington’s lawyers have already hit out at the lawsuit claims, Mac Verstandig stating:

“It is disappointing to see a backing operation argue a player does not have the right to cancel a stake before a poker tournament starts, especially after accepting the player’s refund."

Negreanu and Leonard on Twitter

Twitter, naturally, has been alight since the lawsuit news broke, Daniel Negreanu on the side of the stakers, though it’s not clear if he was aware of all the details…

There were others, though, of the opinion that although Marchington’s decision to back out of the deal and seek a better price was unethical, he had the right to do just that… 

…while partypoker’s Patrick Leonard, who runs a staking site himself, fell firmly on the side of Marchington in a series of tweets…

As it stands, the staking partners managed to get a judge to put a restraining order on the huge winnings, with Marchington’s cheque portion now on hold, though it’s unclear how much of the $1,525,000 that accounts for.

Jamie Gold’s $12million dispute

Staking and backing problems occur quite regularly in the poker world, the most famous case involving Jamie Gold’s 2006 WSOP Main Event win.

In that case, Gold was sued by Crispin Leyser for half of his $12million winnings, a pre-tournament verbal deal at the heart of the discussion.

Gold, shortly before his final table appearance, left Leyser a voicemail message stating:

"I promise you, you can keep this recording on my word. There's no possible way you're not going to get your half after taxes".

The case was eventually settled in private for an undisclosed sum.