Alleged Cheater Enrages Players At WPT Championship

A player who last year was disqualified  from the Partouche Poker Tour for alleged cheating, has now caused another public outcry after he was allowed to enter the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Last November, German player of Turkish origins Ali Tekintamgac succeeded in reaching the final table of the 2010 Partouche Poker Tour. At the time Tekintamgac was lying in 4th place and still stood a good chance of taking down the €1,300,000 ($1.824,190) top prize when he was pulled off the final table.
Allegedly, Tekintamgac was being supplied with information on opponent’s holecards from phony reporters at the event, and after he was disqualified it was believed he would face a ban from all future major tournaments.
Previously, though, Tekintamgac had also won the WPT Spanish Championship which included a free ticket to this year’s WPT Championship. However, Ali Tekintamgac’s appearance at the $25,000 buy-in WPT Championship has now sent players in the tournament seething, with Daniel Negreanu even confronting Tekintamgac at the poker table. Talking about the incident, Negreanu tweeted:
“Ali Tekimtamgac who was caught cheating in Partouche is in #WPTChamp I called him out, and floor told ME I can’t do that! When will we learn.”
“Bellagio/WPT should absolutely not allow this person in the event. He was caught red handed cheating and should be banned. This is absurd.”
Apparently even earlier in the day, fellow pro Scott Siever found himself at the same table as Tekintamgac and was then threatened by him after voicing his disbelief of his being there. As Negreanu wrote on his Twitter:
“The cheater just threatened Scott Siever, the floor was alerted and won’t do anything about it. Physical threat, he should call the cops.”
At this moment in time it is not clear why Ali Tekintamgac was even allowed to register, but apparently he has continued to deny the accusations and is currently suing the tour following his disqualification.
Meanwhile, Tekintamgac has progressed through to Day 2 of the tournament and will likely come under more fire with players such as Phil Hellmuth, Mike Sexton and Cliff “JonnyBax” Josephy still left in the competition.