Doug Polk has publicly criticised Hustler Casino for backtracking on a $250,000 tournament guarantee. The Lodge Poker Club owner was unimpressed with the move after his own business lost $625K from guarantees in the month of May alone.
Doug Polk Criticises Hustler Casino for Cancelling Tournament Guarantee
We were ambitious with our guarantees at @LodgePokerClub in our championship series this year and the result was we lost 625k in guarantees in May. But we honored our guarantees and sucked it up.
Hanging poker players out to dry like this is unacceptable. https://t.co/KfxOh68cGf
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) August 3, 2022
It should be unimaginable for any poker tournament organiser in 2022 to even consider for a brief second that cancelling a tournament guarantee might be the best course of action.
A guarantee is exactly that: a promised minimum prize pool. Okay, sometimes this comes with a minimum number of entrants but this is usually extremely low.
One angry posted their thoughts, mirroring what most were thinking.
“Better to honor your guarantee than to go back on your word. As of now, your credibility and word are zero, nothing, worthless. I’d trust a toothless crackhead before I’d trust a Hustler guarantee.”
Hustler Casino General Manager Shaun Yaple explained that their schedule had been stepped on by a bigger outfit in the area and that he thought it was best to step back and regroup for another day.
A terrible mistake.
“Bigger club stepped on us after we released our schedule. Better to re-group and plan for the future then head off a cliff.”
Hustler Casino Forced into Humiliating U-Turn and Apology
It looks like the social media outburst had the desired effect and Shaun Yaple was quick to respond and do his best to remedy the situation before the reputation of Hustler Casino was ruined for good.
Think this was a good response and should cover the value that the tournament would have missed.
Good recovery from Hustler. https://t.co/OpKbMUCAg0
— Doug Polk (@DougPolkVids) August 4, 2022
All players who registered will now be refunded their buy-in and those who qualified for Day 2 will play for the prize pool in a freeroll without the $250,000 guarantee. A reasonable start to putting matters right.
Furthermore, there was a promise made that in September a special event would be organised with big names from the Hustler Casino Live stream taking part and an extra $50,000 added to the prize pool.
@TheRyanFeldman @NickVertucciNV pic.twitter.com/DYpImdMHFn
— HUSTLER Casino (@HUSTLERCASINOLA) August 4, 2022
All in all, we think that damage limitation has been carried out effectively enough to placate the angry masses on social media.
People sometimes have long memories in the poker community but the way that Shaun Yaple owned his mistake and the fact that the casino will now take an even bigger financial hit than before kind of puts everything right in the end.
- Get the best rakeback deals
- View all poker strategy articles
- View the latest poker news
- Watch more poker videos
- Get the biggest poker bonus
- Watch the best Twitch Poker streamers
Terms and conditions apply. New customer offer and 18+ only. Should you require help regarding your betting pattern, please visit www.begambleaware.org
