{"id":12753,"date":"2018-08-28T16:49:29","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T16:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=12753"},"modified":"2018-08-28T18:13:52","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T18:13:52","slug":"maryland-poker-player-suing-the-wsop-doesnt-have-much-of-a-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/maryland-poker-player-suing-the-wsop-doesnt-have-much-of-a-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Poker Player Suing The WSOP Doesn\u2019t Have Much Of A Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

A poker player who spent years creatively skirting around his ban from Caesars<\/strong>\u00a0properties to play in the World Series of Poker<\/strong> is now suing the organization for kicking him out deep in the middle of the 2017 Main Event.<\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s Joseph Stiers<\/strong> knew full well that Caesars had previously banned him from all its properties when he registered for the 2017 WSOP Main Event<\/strong>. It is precisely the reason why he did so as Joseph Conorstiers<\/strong> from Washington, D.C. in 2016, combining his middle and last names in an effort to fool WSOP staff into letting him play<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It worked. Joseph Conorstiers finished 640th for $18,714<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2017, he reportedly dropped the Stiers name altogether in a further effort to conceal his identity. This time he registered for the 2017 WSOP Main Event as Joseph Conor<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

He actually managed to run up his starting stack to around 630,000 in chips heading into the dinner break on Day 3. Then WSOP brass figured out who he was. They kicked him out on the break<\/a> and pulled the chips from play.<\/p>\n

Now, Stiers has the gall to cry foul. He filed a federal lawsuit in June<\/a><\/strong> seeking equitable and injunctive relief and punitive damages.<\/p>\n

Stiers Vs. Caesars<\/span><\/h2>\n

Stiers\u2019 ban from all Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> properties stems from when he was caught counting cards playing blackjack and 86\u2019d from the Horseshoe Casino<\/strong> in Maryland in 2014. He admits he counted cards, but has been arguing against Caesars\u2019 right to ban him for it ever since.<\/p>\n

Any notion that Stiers was unaware it was a ban from all Caesars properties is dispelled by the fact he acknowledged it when he courted media attention for his case in 2015. He called the ban unfair<\/a> in the Baltimore Sun<\/strong>, admitting\u00a0all kinds of things<\/a> to Sun staffers. This included the fact he\u2019d been barred from WSOP events. Plus, he\u2019d been kicked out of the middle of a poker tournament in Maryland in much the same way he would eventually be booted from the 2017 WSOP Main Event.<\/p>\n

The ultimate freeroll<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the suit, Stiers now claims the WSOP freerolled<\/strong> him. He says the WSOP allowed him to buy in to as much as $200,000 worth of prelim events while he was losing. Then, it sought to institute the ban only when it appeared he might run deep in the WSOP Main Event:<\/p>\n

\u201cCaesars\/WSOP had always accepted my money and retained my money when I was losing poker tournaments, which totaled to over $200,000, but only enforced this trespass eviction during a tournament when I was in a position to win up to $8 million and had around $150,000 in current chip equity.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly, WSOP security needs to take some responsibility for failing to effectively police its ban<\/strong> on Stiers. However, it\u2019s highly unlikely there was any nefarious reason for this failure. Accusing the organization of freerolling him is a massive stretch.<\/p>\n

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