The World Series of Poker (WSOP) has not handed out the bracelet to Jesse Yaginuma for winning the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event on Wednesday due to an investigation into potential chip dumping during heads-up play.

Yaginuma, after beating out a field of 11,996 entrants, was set to receive a $1,255,180 first-place prize and another $1 million in a promotion from ClubWPT Gold. But the poker community began questioning the legitimacy of the heads-up match against James Carroll, who lost a 10-1 chip advantage.

Did WSOP Champ Chip Dump?

ClubWPT Gold has been running a contest this summer, and the winners have been given an opportunity to win a $1 million bonus from the sweeps coin poker site if they take down a qualifying WSOP bracelet event. Michael Lavin won the seven-figure bonus prize earlier this summer by conquering the $1,500 No-Limit Hold’em SHOOTOUT tournament.

Yaginuma, it appeared, was set to take home over $2.2 million total between the WSOP cash and ClubWPT Gold bonus check, and he still might. But the WSOP has opened an investigation into the matter.

“Last night, we were made aware of a potential breach of the official WSOP Tournament Rules during heads up play in Event 53. An investigation is underway. At this time, 1st and 2nd place have not been confirmed and neither the prize money nor the bracelet have been officially awarded,” the WSOP tweeted Thursday morning.

Chip dumping is the act of intentionally losing chips to another player. In this case, the purpose of chip dumping, if it occurred, would have been to ensure Yaginuma won so that the $1 million bonus would be paid.

The World Series of Poker’s rulebook has a rule in place to prevent collusion of any sort, and it states: “Poker is an individual game… Chip dumping and other forms of collusion will result in disqualification.”

PokerNews was informed by a representative from ClubWPT Gold that the online poker platform is also “looking into the matter.”

Carroll began heads-up play with nearly a 10-1 chip advantage. He’d go on to double his opponent up about 30 minutes into the match in a standard bad beat hand. But there were a few questionable hands that followed, leading numerous poker players on social media to accuse the runner-up of chip dumping.

The first and second place finishers took a lengthy break before the start of heads-up play. Some poker pros defended the alleged chip dumping, arguing that the only two players allegedly involved agreed to the deal and no one was affected in the process.

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