Brian 'Smitty' Smith has been coming to the World Series of Poker for nearly two decades. Each summer, he looks forward to his time in Las Vegas, and in recent years, he's donated portions of his winnings to a local charity that's near to his heart.
Smith, or Smitty as he prefers, is the kind of guy you want at your poker table. Sure, he's there to compete and win money, but he's also there to enjoy himself and strives to allow others around him to do the same.
This week, Smitty experienced what he calls "the ugly side of poker." By now, you may have heard the story that swept the halls of the WSOP.
In Event #20: $300 Gladiators of Poker NLH, Smitty scored a clutch triple-up just as the tournament reached the final three tables. He ended up being shorted what he claims was a few million chips, but despite footage being looked at, the WSOP only officially recognised this shortfall as two million. You can see video of the hand play out and the aftermath here. And there's a one-minute recap of the whole incident from Sarah Herring below.
After battling for days and outlasting over 20,000 other competitors, Smitty crashed out shortly after, with his head still spinning.
We reached out to hear the full story, straight from the source.
Smitty, you've gone through something no poker player wants to experience.
Smitty: It was definitely the ugly side of poker. I've been in poker for a long time and I love the game. I'm thankful that now I don't have to play for my income; I can do it for sport and charity.
You seem to have kept your cool throughout the incident, but how are you feeling now a few days later?
Smitty: In the moment, there's so much going on that's probably undocumented. There was a pay jump for starters, so that river I hit was worth like $4,500, which is just more money I get to donate. If that card doesn't come, I'm just dead, and we're not talking about this.
The other thing is that I spent about a minute and a half begging and shouting at the floor to please come back to the table. I did go and high-five my rail and do a little leg kick out of excitement. Knowing I had seven outs and knowing about the pay jump. What you don't see is that I knew immediately that my stack was short. It was 10.5 million that the dealer pushed to me and not another second went by, not another hand. Nothing. The only thing that was said was, 'Congratulations players, final 27 redraw!'
And I said, 'Woah, woah, hold up Paul – which was the name of the floor man – my stack is wrong.' And he goes, 'It's not wrong, Smitty. I just counted it. I was there.'
Then how am I short 4.5 million chips? That's what no one sees, but that's what the players at the table saw. 25 players, other than Men the Master, all asked to stop the clock. Everyone was behind me and everyone was against the floor.
And they just kept things rolling with the redraw?
Smitty: The dealer said they thought it was wrong. I said I know it's wrong. I said, 'Paul, come back here.' He came back and said we have to keep the tournament going. Everyone kind of revolted and said they have to make this right. They ended up pausing the clock for fifteen minutes to review the tape and do the redraw.
They do the redraw, but the problem is I wasn't willing to move and go to the other table. I said I wouldn't do the redraw until my stack's correct – Men was the first one out of there. After about ten or fifteen minutes – time was kind of standing still for me – they said they couldn't validate anything on the cameras and that I had to play with the 10 million chips I had. I ran off and got in Paul's face, begging him and saying, 'This is wrong, it's simple math.'
It does seem fairly straightforward to get this right. You have x amount in your stack and go all-in; you're called by two players and win – so an easy triple up, plus blinds and antes.
Smitty: Right. So, I get dealt my first hand and everyone at the table agrees this is BS, except for Men.
It's nice that your table recognized the absurdity of the situation. Did any of them speak up to the floor on your behalf?
Smitty: They stepped up after the fact. The funny thing was this dealer Mac I've known for years said to me, 'Smitty, you gotta calm down. They're going to give you a penalty, think about what you're playing for.'
I don't care what we're playing for, this is so wrong. I told them I'm just going to sit here and tank, and you can call the clock on me if you want, but they have to make this right.
Then another player that I had taken a liking to – his name is Simon and he actually ended up getting second – he said to me, 'Smitty, please, I'm short stacked. The blinds are going up fast. I know this sucks, but what are you going to do? We can't play zero hands.'
I realized he was right and I resumed playing with the chip stack I had.
There were so many question marks. The floor then comes back and says they got verification that something was wrong. They gave me 1 million chips from Men's stack and 1 million from Steve's stack – Steve was the other player in the hand. And he [Steve] goes off the rails, and we're both saying this is the worst ruling of all time.
Do you think the WSOP handles this the same way if there's a prominent player involved?
Smitty: I thought about that a lot. That's one of the reasons I posted on Twitter. I just figured maybe someone would read it. And I know if it was Daniel [Negreanu] or Phil, any of the Phils, they're probably not reacting the way I did. That's where I'm holding myself accountable.
I have a job, I work hard at my job. When I don't do my job well, I would get disciplined, reprimanded, or maybe lose my job. And a dealer's job is so difficult, a floor person's job is so difficult. We were in the back of the Horseshoe, there's a million people there. It's loud. You've got new dealers, some inexperienced dealers and 40,000 things going.
I empathize with all of them. I would never want to be in that box, but I also expect people to do their job well and get it right. And when you don't get it right, that's what cameras are for. You're telling me cameras in the event center can't verify? That's where I feel the most hurt about all of this.
I'm not even expecting an apology from the WSOP, which is all I would like at this point, I just expect checks and balances.
What else comes to mind when you reflect on this incident?
Smitty: I want to make sure that I take the high road, that's just the kind of human I am, and we're all human. We all make mistakes. I just expect more from the system of checks and balances so that these issues don't happen. It probably happens at every World Series, and they probably deal with something like this every year, but there has to be a better way to do this in 2024.
I also feel strongly that the person who robbed me of my chips has not always behaved the way I hold myself in society. I feel very strongly about that. We're dealing with someone who has been in this situation before and yet continues to be allowed to play. And they penalize someone who has had zero blemishes on their career. That's not fair.
Do you have any plans to escalate your concerns?
Smitty: I will be planning something. I have to talk to a bunch of people. I know a lot of people in poker and feel pretty well-connected. I just want to talk to them and figure out what can be done. I've talked to some people that know Jack [Effel] and said they would reach out. It's just a matter of what is the correct action here? Because I have been cheated and I know that anyone who cheats in a casino is 86'd.
I'm really going to rely on my network to decide how to take action. I will not be returning to the World Series for the rest of the summer. I booked the next flight out of town. I didn't want to be a part of the madness.
I hope that they do something about it, I really do. And if they don't, other people will just do the same thing. They'll take advantage of very tired and inexperienced dealers. This could happen to another Smitty, and that wouldn't be fair to that person.
