Influencer awards poker prize to boyfriend instead of fans
An influencer gave a $12k tournament package she had promised her fans to her boyfriend instead, invoking the wrath of Poker Twitter.
As you may be aware, the World Poker Tour has their biggest ever championship event this month. As part of the marketing for this event they have been giving packages to influencers in poker to giveaway to their followers.
Chess Grandmaster Nemo Zhou has recently become part of the poker world and was one of those high profile players giving away a $12,000 package. She launched a contest that involved cryptic messages and contestants having to make their case for why they deserved to win.
My editor will release the video any time from now until midnight PST, even I won’t know when. Only the first 10 comments using the “code phrase” will be eligible so turn on notifications! I will pick a winner from comment creativity and ability to use the seat. Good luck 😋😋
— Nemo (@akaNemsko) November 30, 2022
In the end, however, she awarded the package to her boyfriend and coach Alex 'Thallo' Epstein.
Thank you to everyone who participated. I've decided to give the package to my poker coach Thallo. Qualified in 4th and as anyone who watches my channel knows he's carried my poker over the last 12 months. I wouldn't have had this opportunity without him. Win it for the spcaLA!!
— Nemo (@akaNemsko) December 1, 2022
This was instantly met with cries of foul play in the poker community. Eventually Zhou and Epstein backtracked and awarded the seat to one of the other eligible contestants. However, initially Zhou was defiant at the accusations that the contest was rigged and there were also issues with how the eventual winner was awarded, because some contestants were ineligible because their reply comments had been moderated.
— Nemo (@akaNemsko) December 2, 2022
Zhou is quite young and relatively new to poker, so some have come to her defence arguing that she was being naive thinking a 'romantic gesture' would be well received. More anger has been directed at Epstein, an experienced high stakes bracelet winner who must have known how poorly this would go down.
What made this story particularly pernicious was how much more premeditated it was than it perhaps first appears. First of all, Zhou had a secret phrase as a requirement for entry and Epstein must have known about this ahead of time. Secondly it appears that Epstein already had multiple WPT packages because he was seen online selling one of them. It's one thing to award a tangible prize to somebody, but when they already have one they are selling you are essentially awarding them cash.
This story has brought into question the ethics of a lot of poker giveaways, in particular ones where human bias can creep in like in this one. Right now both PokerStars and the WPT are doing similar giveaways for their marquee events of the PSPC and WPT World Championship. In the case of PokerStars, most of their Platinum Passes are awarded on merit (by winning a tournament or leaderboard) or by random number generator, few are awarded for subjective reasons.
What is the best way to give away poker prizes? Let us know in the comments:
