According to a poster named “Scarmaker” on Two Plus Two, there was a controversy surrounding the guaranteed prize pool of a €300 Slovakian Poker Sport event held at the Golden Vegas Poker Club in Bratislava over the weekend.

The tournament reportedly advertised a €100,000 “guaranteed” prize pool for the small buy-in event, which, according to Scarmaker, tied for the largest guarantee in the country’s history. Early on, it looked like the field was going to fall well short of what would have been needed to meet the €100,000, so lots of players were re-entering on Day 1B expecting a sizable overlay.

Once registration closed, there was certainly an overlay. Or, to be more accurate, there would have been an overlay had tournament officials honored the guarantee. Apparently, they set the prize pool at just €86,666, claiming that the €100,000 wasn’t actually a guaranteed prize pool, but rather a guaranteed “money pool,” meaning things like fees for staff were still going to be taken out of the €100,000.

The nine players at the final table raised a stink over it and refused to continue playing. The tournament was eventually cancelled and the nine players were initially supposed to each receive an even chop of the remaining money, €8,002 each. According to Scarmaker, they eventually worked out an ICM split instead.

According to another poster, “aseHigh,” something similar just happened at the Live Events International Summer Cyprus Poker Festival this past week. There was an advertised €150,000 guaranteed prize pool for a €1,500 event, during which he said that the structure and re-entry period were changed in what appeared to be an effort to draw more entries.

However, only 96 players registered and when there were just 16 remaining, the payout structure was finally published, showing that the tournament would pay to nine players and the prize pool would be €130,500.

In fairness, the LEI tournament schedule stated that all guaranteed prize pools will be paid after certain deductions, including 10% of the prize pool for entry fees and 3% for staff. At the same time, though, this is not generally how people expect guaranteed prize pools to work.

Scarmaker added that the concept of a “money guarantee” isn’t necessarily all that odd in Slovakia, saying it is a “common practice in Slovak events.” If it were laid out where people can read it before registration begins, it is up to the players to decide whether they want to participate.

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