Americas Cardroom (ACR) is giving away 50 seats to the 2018 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event—but the WSOP does not approve.
ACR reportedly started running 10 online qualifiers which commenced from April 22 and will run to June 24, where 50 WSOP Main Event packages worth $12,500 can be won.
Buy-ins to the qualifiers range from $300+20 to $1000+50, depending on the date you join. The biggest qualifier will be held on June 17 for $500+40, where at least 30 packages will be given away.
Each ACR package will cover the $10,000 Main Event buy-in, plus include an additional $2,500 for travel expenses and accommodations.
But there’s a catch—the package payouts will be credited as cash to the player’s ACR poker account, which can be withdrawn via Bitcoin. This means the player who has won the $12,500 package has the choice to either use the cash to buy a WSOP Main Event seat or just take the cash and use it to continue to player online poker at ACR.
WSOP Calls Out ACR Over Fake Satellites
While the qualifier sounds like any normal qualifier, Americas Cardroom was called out by the WSOP in a tweet.
Reminder that we have nothing to do with ACR. These are illegal satellites they are unauthorized to run. We will not be able to honor anything related to this company. https://t.co/N8UIlMfex6
— WSOP (@WSOP) April 16, 2018
WSOP’s reply to the satellite has put many players on guard. Calling out the qualifiers as “illegal” mean that the WSOP is not in any way affiliated with the cardroom, has not endorsed the qualifiers, and does not offer guaranteed seats to those who will win the packages.
ACR has also acknowledge that their qualifiers are not associated with the WSOP. Players were not impressed by this stunt since ACR is essentially using the WSOP brand to advertise a tournament that’s essentially just giving off $12,500 as a cash prize. A regular tournament with this amount of prize money will not receive a lot of attention from the poker community but since it is tagged with the WSOP brand, the qualifier becomes more interesting and will surely draw more entrants.
The package won in our satellites will be credited as cash ($12,500) to the poker account and money can by withdrawn via Bitcoin. As stated on the site, @WSOP does not sponsor or endorse, and is not associated or affiliated with ACR. . Full info: https://t.co/AWzJXVQRWf
— Americas Cardroom (@ACR_POKER) April 16, 2018
At the end of the day, it’s all false advertising and player deception since ACR is essentially just using the WSOP brand to promote their satellites.