In der letzten Woche berichteten wir über den so genannten Moneypool-Skandal in der Slowakei. Die Organisatoren eines Pokerturniers im Golden Vegas Casino in Bratislava hatten 100.000 Euro Preispool garantiert, es wurden aber nur 86.666 Euro ausgeschüttet. Der Final Table wurde bestreikt, die Spieler dann nach ICM ausbezahlt. Jetzt hat der Veranstalter ein Statement an Pokerolymp geschickt, in dem er die Vorfälle aus seiner Sicht erklärt.
"Ich beschloss, dass ich den Spielern die höchste Garantie biete"
Valentín Mikuš, Eigentümer des Golden Vegas Casino in Bratislava, bestätigt in den unten abgedruckten Statement zunächst die Existenz der 100.000-Euro-Garantie:
"Zunächst haben wir seitens des EPS-Managements die Möglichkeit eingeräumt bekommen, innerhalb einer Buy-In-Range von 150 bis 300 Euro in Relation zu einem garantierten Minimum-Preispool von 20.000 bis zu einem Maximum von 100.000 Euro zu wählen. Ich beschloss, dass ich den Spielern die höchste Garantie biete, aber zu einem niedrigeren Buy-in als 300 Euro."
Das seltsame Moneypool-Konzept
Dann verteidigt Valentín Mikuš erneut das Konzept des 'Moneypools', dass also von einer zuvor garantierten Preisgeld-Summe nochmal Geld für diverse andere Dinge abgeht:
"Garantien in der slowakischen Poker-Szene, und damit meine ich auch die anderen Pokerrooms in der Slowakei, funktionieren immer nach dem Konzept des Moneypools – die Summe des Geldes abzüglich der Gebühren für den Club, Prozente für die Mitarbeiter, und Prozente für andere Ligen, im vorliegenden Fall der SKPS das Sponsoren-Paket."
Freeroll als Entschädigung im September
Von den 100.000 Euro der Garantie gehen laut Management und Valentín Mikuš demnach 5.000 Euro für das Sponsorenpaket und 3.000 Euro für die Mitarbeiter ab, die Spieler hätten demnach 92.000 Euro Preispool bekommen sollen, bekamen aber tatsächlich nur 86.666 Euro.
Jetzt soll die ausstehende Restsumme in einem Freeroll am 5. September 2015 um 15:00 Uhr unter den 28 Spielern von Tag 2 des Turniers ausgespielt werden. Insgesamt offeriert der Veranstalter dabei 10.334 Euro Preispool.
Mal sehen, ob dies die verärgerten Spieler beruhigt, es bleibt auch nach dem Statement ein gewisses 'Geschmäckle'. Eine Garantiesumme ist eine Garantiesumme, ist eine Garantiesumme. Punkt. Das Wort 'Moneypool' könnte zum Poker-Unwort des Jahres werden.
Statement des Veranstalters im Original
Dear poker community,
I personally play poker for 20 years and it was the only and the main reason I decided to develop this beautiful game within Slovakia and I believe I can proudly say that I have with my team raised Slovak poker scene to the professional level. Whether it was the world series of World Poker Tour in Slovakia in 2009 and 2011 with the participation of the world's poker elite, first poker festival organized in cooperation with large foreign online gambling poker Blue Bull Poker, the first year-round series with guaranteed prizes in cooperation with the Doxxbet site, tournaments in the recent history of my poker room in cooperation with the biggest online poker room in the world PokerStars or the amount of own projects Golden Vegas Poker Club: Championship of Bratislava, Championship of Slovakia, Vegas50 and others. During the existence of my poker room I have also established cooperation with a number of other poker rooms and online poker sites such as Kings Casino Rozvadov, Montessino Vienna, Card Casino Prague, Casino Opera Brno, Monte Carlo Košice, Bluff Poker clubs in Nitra, Žilina and Banská Bystrica, Double Star in Liptovský Mikuláš and Trenčín, PokerTour.pl, PokerStars, Doxxbet and many more.
Therefore I can only start my statement by defending the poker room Golden Vegas Poker Club in terms of its rich history and undeniable contribution to the poker game in Slovakia. Those of you who still remember the beginnings in Hron does not need to be persuaded. Location change of the poker room to shopping center Retro had no impact in the terms of my attitude and I was always determined to continue in a transparent and fair form of business – where particularly you – customers of the Golden Vegas Poker Club – could profit from this business mindset. With regards to the current negative campaign which has spread against my poker club in staggering manner, I would kindly ask for exploitation of the good name of my club, which has build its reputation based on a fair approach over many years of existence, to stop.
My idea to link the whole Slovakia and bring something unprecedented to the poker players was transformed years ago into the Championship of Slovakia. This year this particular championship has been moved to even higher level by establishing an astonishing poker event that within Slovak poker conditions was unheard of: 1. SLOVAK POKER FESTIVAL. The numbers from the 2015 Championship of Slovakia speak for itself - 583 players (the highest in the history of any Slovak poker tournament) and a record payout of €133,966 (also the highest in the history of Slovak poker tournaments). This tournament took place in coordination with poker rooms in nine cities across Slovakia from Košice to Bratislava.
However, still in that same year, I have decided that I will contribute to the formation of a pan-European series European Poker Sport (EPS) and I will bring this tournament to Slovakia. Here we come to the recently organized international tournament Slovak Poker Sport (SKPS), which was held for the first time in my poker room Golden Vegas Poker Club last weekend.
First of all, from the EPS management we have received the possibility to choose from the buy-in range of €150 to €350 in relation to the guaranteed minimum of €20,000 up to a maximum of €100,000. I decided that I will provide the highest possible guaranteed to the players, but at a lower buy-in of €300 in order to make the tournament accessible to the broadest number of participants from all over Slovakia.
Part of the agreement with the management of the EPS series and also personally to me pleasing fact was the possibility for at least one player to win sponsoring to 5 tournaments of the EPS series for the season of 2016 in the value of €5,000. This agreement also included the fact that from the prize pool of the tournament 5% will be deducted for this package. The first mistake made by the Golden Vegas Poker Club management team occurred, as the provided information prior to the start of the tournament was not entirely complete and therefore could create misunderstanding on the side of the players. The second significant mistake occurred in the final decision at the final table when Golden Vegas Poker Club’s manager decided against my directive as well as against the rules of the EPS series and paid out the final table participants with the €2,500, amount which was part of the sponsorship package of the EPS series. I will not consider these €2,500 as a part of the already paid out prize money and I will pay the amount back to the sponsoring package (while the money already paid out will remain among the paid players).
Another part of the agreement with the management of the EPS series was the fact that the national series in the country will be handled by the internal rules of the club, which organizes the event. Thus Golden Vegas Poker Club adjusted the conditions of the tournament and announced a €300 buy-in and guarantee of €100,000. Guarantees within the Slovak poker scene, and I mean the other Slovak poker rooms as well, has always been set on the concept of money pool - the amount of money collected minus the club fee, percentages for staff and any percentages to various leagues (in the case of the SKPS the sponsorship package), which are ultimately returned to the players. The third major error was made by the Golden Vegas Poker Club’s management team due to incomprehensible information promoting this event to the players on the percentage amount withheld from the guaranteed amount.
FINAL STATEMENT OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE GOLDEN VEGAS POKER CLUB
In the long-term perspective Golden Vegas Poker Club is bringing the biggest tournaments with the biggest guarantee in Slovakia, which are also attended by foreign players and help my poker club to excel over the competition. I am myself a poker player and for this reason I am well aware of the fundamental error of my management team has made. While I did not agree with the approach of the final table players, who came to their complaint about the prize pool up on the final day, having already been aware of the payout structure from the Day2, I offer this solution to all the players who finished on the paid places in the SKPS tournament and I believe this will lead to general satisfaction:
Within the guarantee of €100,000 - € 5,000 is the sponsorship package (according to the rules of EPS), € 3,000 for staff - therefore the sum is € 92,000, out of which €86,666 been already disbursed to the players plus €2,500 above the guarantee. €2,500 paid by the manager without my consent were divided among the final table players, this amount will not be taken in consideration to settle the players and therefore the total outstanding sum is € 5,334. €86,666 + €5,334 equals € 92,000 and € 2,500 wrongly paid out remains in the hands of the players who received the money excessing the € 100,000 guarantee. The fairest solution would be to distribute this amount among the 28 players who were on the paid positions corresponding to their placement.
Due to unfinished tournament play and therefore pending winner of the tournament who would receive the EPS sponsorship package according to the EPS terms I have decided that at the premises of my poker room the following freeroll tournament will take place:
ON THE SATURDAY OF THE 5TH OF SEPTEMBER 2015 at 3 PM A FREEROLL TOURNAMENT WILL BE HELD FOR THE 28 PLAYERS – ALL THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE DAY2 OF THE SKPS TOURNAMENT – WILL PLAY AGAINST EACH OTHER FOR THE SUM OF € 5,334 + € 5,000 SPONSORING PACKAGE FOR THE TOURNAMENTS OF THE 2016 SEASON OF THE EPS SERIES FOR THE WINNER OF THIS TOURNAMENT.
All the players in this freeroll tournament will be ITM, the amount of the chips will correspond to the exact amount of the chips from the Day2, the blinds will start at 400/2000/4000 and will last for 20 minutes. The money will be distributed according to the percentage payout structure SKPS and the EPS sponsorship package will only be won by the winner of this tournament. Any player who fails to attend on this day will receive the amount corresponding to the placement in the freeroll (after blinds removal from the stack).
In conclusion, I would like to assure the poker community, that in the same manner as up to now, I will continue my aspiration to make every effort to promote poker in our country as the game of skills and I will continue bringing the biggest poker events in Slovakia to its poker players and the enjoyment out of these events. Also I will personally place great emphasis on clearly predetermined and comprehensively published conditions for tournaments.
I hope that Golden Vegas Poker Club will not lose the trust that it has rightfully built over the years. This trust will be verified at the next larger event – Championship of Bratislava 2015, which will be organized in September.
TOGETHER WITH MY MANAGEMENT TEAM I APOLOGIZE FOR THE UNFORTUNATE SITUATION AND I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR NEXT VISIT AT THE GOLDEN VEGAS POKER CLUB.
JUDr. Valentín Mikuš
Owner of the Golden Vegas Poker Club
Dieser Artikel erschien auf PokerOlymp am 06.08.2015.
