Poker Financier Of Jose "Girah" Macedo Costs Pro Big
May 5, 2011 8:09 amPortuguese online poker prodigy Jose “Girah” Macedo has been a sponsored pro at Lock Poker since joining the site last month.
The 18 year-old even managed to earn $104,824 throughout the month to finish top of April’s Bluff Pro Challenge but has now been disqualified from the competition for multi-accounting.
In what appears to be an embarrassing mistake for the team LockPRO Elite, Jose “Girah” Macedo’s financial backer apparently accessed Jose’s account to check the latest balance but also ended up playing a $10/$20 and $25/$50 PLO session, as well.
In addition to losing some of Macedo’s funds, an audit by Lock Poker then revealed that Macedo’s account had been accessed from a different IP address thus violating the terms of the competition.
This eventually led to the disqualification of Jose “Girah” Macedo from the Bluff Pro Challenge, despite the fact he had earned enough money in his own right to win the contest.
A very contrite Macedo then expressed his regret for the incident and explaining the situation in his blog chose to further elaborate on various details.
Apparently, Macedo has secured his financial future by cashing out his own online winnings and relying on the stake of a backer to now fund his poker endeavours. However, as Macedo explains:
“My backer had access to my account, since of course in backing, transparency and accountability are very important. I trusted my backer, so I had no problem with this…the next day he informed me of his loss. I shrugged it off, and kept on playing and doing my thing. I did not think anything of it at the time.”
Nonetheless, the contravention of the rules did not go unnoticed by Lock Poker auditors who subsequently made a statement disqualifying Macedo from the contest, whilst showing understanding and compassion for their star.
It seems Lock poker has now put to rest this latest misunderstanding, with CEO and Lock Poker CEO Jennifer Larson stating:
“We pride ourselves in standing for trust, legitimacy, and loyalty…Although Jose won enough money from his own IP to have legitimately won the challenge, the unfortunate fact remains that breaking the rules is strictly disallowed. The fact remains Jose is an exceptional player and I firmly believe that mistakes only lead to greatness if learned from.”