Controversy continues to reign at the World Poker Tour (WPT) Championship with ‘innocent until proven guilty’ not something at the forefront of the players’ minds. The last we heard of Ali Tekintamgac on the live poker circuit was when the Partouche Poker Tour booted him after allegations of cheating. The Turkish-born player has since sued the asses off the French for €1.5m. Whether or not he’s guilty, the mud has stuck and players are pretty certain that he’s TekinDAPISS.
Winning the WPT Spanish Championship last year gave him a place in the current event. No one thought he’d turn up though. Vanessa Selbst, winner of the Partouche Poker Tour that he was disqualified from, but not playing in the tournament, tweeted, “is Ali Tekimtamgac really playing this tournament? @SavagePoker why was he even allowed to register???.” @SavagePoker being the WPT Executive Tournament Director. As yet he hasn’t replied.
Daniel Negreanu was the most vocal and took to the floor of the Twitterverse with the following barrage.
“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.
“The cheater just threatened Scott Siever the floor was alerted and won’t do anything about it. Physical threat, he should call the cops.”
Tekintamgac successfully made it through day two with an average stack. The controversy over him even being involved is likely to rumble on and until he’s proven to be innocent. Any poker event he takes part in will be the same.
