WSOP Ban for Card-Ripper with History
7 years ago
27 Jun
(Photo: Cardplayer.com)
What does it take to get yourself a life-time ban from the World Series of Poker? Calling others āidiotsā multiple times a la Phil Hellmuth? Calling someone a cheat at the table or threatening violence as in the Friedmann-Lisandro episode? Well, neither of those worked, but apparently ripping up the cards and throwing them across the table will!
Jared Blesnick, a well-known online high-stakes pro with a privileged but murky background, found out that thereās only so much that WSOP tournament director Jack Effel will put up with, and when he over-stepped the mark, he was thrown out of the event, the series and the Rio casino.
Known on the virtual felt as āharrington25ā, his online poker skills (primarily at PLO) are legendary. However, his live poker antics have upset a number of players over the years, and this week saw him lose the plot ā and the pot ā completely.
As reported on the WSOP.com website, Blesnick was down to the final two tables of Event #34, the $1500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit).
With more than 120,000 in the pot after the second draw, Bleznick had a single 1,000 chip left behind. Andrey Zaichenko drew one card from the cutoff in the final draw, and Jared Bleznick drew one from the button.
Zaichenko looks over at Bleznick', reported the official site, 'and he says "I only have one thousand left, give me a payout ticket!" Zaichenko bets 1,000 and Bleznick fires his last chip into the pot. "Floor, give me a fucking payout ticket now," says Belznick.Zaichenko shows 10 6 5 4 2 for a ten low. Bleznick's first four cards are tabled in front of him 8 5 3 2. He stands up, lifts up his last draw card, and crumples it up in his hand, throwing it across the table. He then grabs the rest of his hand, and crumples them up as well, spiking them down on the table. Zaichenko quietly takes in the big pot, and Bleznick is escorted to the payout desk.ā
Eliminated in 14th place for $4,706, Blesnick was then apparently banned from the WSOP for life ā having been warned on multiple occasions about his behaviour. It remains to be seen if such a lengthy ban will be enforced, but itās hardly Blesnickās first brush with poker controversy.
As reported by BluffEurope magazine back in 2013, Blesnick was at the centre of a multi-accounting scandal.
The issue [of multi-accounting] was dragged into the spotlight last September when the shit really hit the fan in an explosive high-stakes row,ā they wrote. āThis happened when English pro Luke āFullFlushā Schwartz accused Jared āharrington25ā Bleznick of multi-accounting on PokerStars. Bleznick, Schwartz alleged, was fraudulently behind accounts such as ālongerpigā and āGozoboroā, as well as his main āharrington25ā handle. Schwartz blasted the New Yorker for this, saying in chat āI think itās wrong [ā¦] not knowing who your [sic] playing.ā
This led to a free-for-all amongst high-stakes poker pros ā many of whom feel it is not āillegalā or āunethicalā, including Tom āDurrrrā Dwan.
Dwan stated at the time:
Multiaccounting isnāt cheating. Itās a flawed rule that the sites try to enforce partly for their own benefits. That said,ā continued Dwan, āin the current climate u shouldn't do it, just like u shouldn't angleshoot in a poker game. but angling and throwing in a chip that looks like a raise intentionally, while scummy, is way different than marking the cards and knowing all of them.ā
Others, such as Dani āAnskyā Stern, disagreed with Dwanās stance and Blesnickās actions.
So very disappointing to see you [Dwan] post this. Surely you realize you are looked up to and when you speak people listen. You didn't exactly give multi accounting your consent, but why post anything even mildly condoning it? We aren't talking about someone playing on someone else's account occasionally while they are bored or something. This is extremely deliberate and malicious multi accounting being used to squeeze out every cent available, from already winning players.ā
As for Blesnickās latest bad behavior, there are many who feel a lifetime ban is too long for such a āmisdemeanorā, but others have pointed out the repeated warnings he was given and his generally āscummyā behavior on a number of other occasions.
With the WSOP still to comment publicly on the ban, quite what the full story is nobody really knows. But what some people are asking is this: if it was Phil Hellmuth ripping up the cards and throwing them about the table, would he also be banned? Answers in the comments section below please!
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