I’d like to address the recent controversy unfolding at MGM National Harbor.
A tournament was originally advertised with a $40K guarantee, but at some point in the process, that figure was changed to $20K. Players took to Twitter to air their frustrations — at MGM, at Tournament Director Sean McCormick, and at others involved — over what they viewed as a failure to honor a posted guarantee.
I want to approach this from a slightly different angle: What should we do when a poker room or operator does something we feel is wrong or unjust? And how should we handle it as a community?
First, I don’t have many specifics about what happened at MGM National Harbor. But based on Sean’s response, it’s reasonable to say that mistakes were made. The severity of those mistakes depends on who you ask and how closely they are associated with the situation.
I can easily imagine multiple scenarios that would explain how the sequence of events unfolded, scenarios where, when you hear the details, you think, 'Yeah, I can see how that could happen.'
The distinction matters
When mistakes are made in good faith, our goal should be: How do we prevent this from happening again?
That’s very different from situations where someone is acting in bad faith, intentionally harming, cheating, lying, or defrauding players. Those aren’t 'mistakes.' Those are actions that deserve to be exposed and punished.
The problem arises when the two get conflated — when honest mistakes are treated as intentional wrongdoing.
Most people in this industry are genuinely trying to do a good job and provide a good product for players. When they slip up, players absolutely have the right to call it out, post about it on social media, and ensure others are aware. Transparency is a good thing.
Moving forward
If your goal is truly to make poker better moving forward, then some of what I’m seeing in the discourse around the MGM National Harbor situation isn’t helping.
There is never a reason to attack someone’s character or accuse them of intentionally misleading players unless you have tangible evidence of bad intentions. And generally, that’s rare in this industry.
We all make mistakes. We’ve all been in spots where something slipped through the cracks. I want to encourage operators to take ownership of those mistakes, learn from them, and make improvements. And I want players to push for accountability in a way that actually leads to better outcomes, and not deeper divides.
If we approach these situations with the mindset of making things better, rather than tearing people down, the entire community benefits.
Want to test your rules knowledge? Got a tricky ruling or situation you’d like my take on? Drop it in the comments — I’ll feature the best ones in future columns.
Justin Hammer is the Live Events Director for PokerAtlas, online Tournament Director for the Texas-based poker app Hijack, and a Tournament Director for Thunder Valley Casino Resort. He also brings his expertise as a consultant and minority owner of Desert Bluffs Casino in Kennewick, Washington.
With years of experience across live, online, and casino operations, Justin has established himself as a trusted leader in the poker world.
For more info visit PokerAtlas.com, HijackPoker.com, and bluffs.poker. Follow Justin on X.
