It’s being called the “worst scandal in the history of the World Series of Poker.” Last week the $1,500 “Millionaire Maker” event was wracked with controversy when it was alleged the top two players engaged in a chip dumping scheme at the final heads up table in order to secure an additional $1M in prize money.
Jesse Yaginuma and James Carroll met at the final table, with the winner poised to make $1.26M and the runner-up set to make $1M — but it’s here where the wrinkle comes in. Yaginuma was taking part in third-party promotion that would pay him $1M if he won any qualifying World Series of Poker event, which the Millionaire Maker was. This effectively meant that if Carroll won the final table the combined prize pool would be $2.26M, but if Yaginuma won then the prize pool was $3.26M.
It’s here that viewers began noticing some stunning irregularities in Carroll’s play. Yaginuma continually raised, and re-raised uncontested, with Carroll folding numerous hands. Then to cap things off there was one hand in question where Carroll folded top pair on the flop, which stoked rumors that the pair might have worked out a back-door arrangement to ensure that Yaginuma would win, and they would split the bonus $1M in prize money.
Despite both players denying the allegations the World Series of Poker made an unprecedented decision on Monday night.
The investigation into WSOP Event 53 has been completed.
We have concluded that in order to uphold the integrity of the game and to uphold our official WSOP Tournament Rules, no winner will be recognized and no bracelet will be awarded for this year’s tournament. The remaining… https://t.co/giL0Ij9Cwj
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) July 1, 2025
This would be the first time in the history of World Series of Poker that a winner’s bracelet was not awarded due to cheating concerns. However, the side promotion will still pay Yaginuma the $1M for winning the event. Some poker events do allow agreements between players, but the World Series of Poker explicitly forbids it.
It’s unclear what will happen next. There’s no concrete evidence that the two players actually colluded, and their actions didn’t influence the event in any way outside of first and second place. They did not cheat any other player out of their placing, and that raises questions whether or not it’s right that they’ll lose their prize money.
There has also been no determination whether the players will be banned from future WSOP events.
