European Poker Pro Evicted In WSOP Incident

Published: Sunday, July 23, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

DEMETRIOU'S DRAMA

European poker pro evicted in WSOP incident

Drama and loud protest attended the $2000 No Limit Hold'em event at the World Series of Poker this week when European poker pro Harry Demetriou was escorted, and not quietly, from both the table and the venue of the event following a dispute over the rules.

The player was escorted out after witnesses saw him shouting loudly and angrily at a floor person during the early stages of the tournament.

Apparently Demetriou had been playing for some 15 minutes when it was decided to remove four of the stacks from each table, which meant the players would be playing a 6-handed shoot-out. Demetriou felt this was a serious departure from the structure as published and an exchange of opinions with a floor manager took place in which Demetriou protested and asked for a refund on his buy-in.

This was apparently refused and after some argument the manager disqualified Demetriou and had him escorted from the hall.

After a delay of almost an hour, Demetriou finally managed to speak to a senior but unidentified WSOP executive who reconsidered the rules, acknowledged that the eviction had been an error and offered to reinstate Demetriou or refund his buy-in. Demetriou accepted the latter option and departed, but later had a productive meeting with the tournament director at WSOP on improving channels of communication. This resulted in an agreement to introduce a player's consultation booth where players can have issues addressed in a calm and professional manner.

Demetriou is signed up for the WSOP Main Event but after that he is at present unsure of his future support for WSOP. He said: "I don't know. I'd dearly love to win a bracelet. I've made final tables here before, haven't managed to get one yet and it's not the end of the world if I don't. If it seems to improve and they listen to players, I will play in events - if they don't, I'll just stick to the WPT."