Gordon Vayo suing PokerStars for $692,000

The former November Niner had his 2017 SCOOP winnings seized for playing in the US via a VPN, which he denies.

Last year Gordon 'holla@yoboy' Vayo won SCOOP Event #1 for $692,460 but had his funds seized by PokerStars because they alleged he was playing in the US on a VPN, which is a breach of their terms of service. 

Vayo claims that he was in Canada at the time and has now filed a lawsuit to get the funds back. 

When he tried to request return of the funds directly with PokerStars, Vayo claims he was told by PokerStars that it was 'not inconceivable' he wasn't in the US at some point during the tournament (It was a multi day Phase tournament). 

Speaking to Forbes, Vayo commented:

I am deeply disappointed it has come to this, but feel that taking legal action is necessary to protect my rights as well as those of other PokerStars players who are in my situation, but may not have the means to get their message out and protect themselves against the unwarranted bullying tactics that I have experienced during this ordeal.

PokerStars have not commented publically on the case. Historically in instances where a player has been caught cheating against other players, their winnings have been redistributed to the other players in the tournament. This famously happened in the 2007 WCOOP Main Event when champion 'TheV0id' was revealed to be Mark Teltscher playing several accounts. However, in cases where the player won within the parameters of the game but was violating terms of service (like being underage or using a VPN) PokerStars have tended to donate the seized funds to charity.