UK poker pro Thomas Clack has been disqualified from a 2026 sponsorship package he won with Grosvenor Poker after being banned online for using a solver while playing.
Clack, a British player with over $1 million in career earnings, won Grosvenor Poker's 2025 National Poker League, which netted him a £40,000 sponsorship package.
It came after the biggest score of his career when he finished runner-up in the 2025 Goliath for £217,500 last summer.
Clack: 'One silly mistake has cost me'
On Friday, Clack released a statement across a number of Stories on his Instagram account.
Clack admitted that he had a solver open while he was playing on the iPoker network (home of Grosvenor Poker Online) but stressed that he was looking up a previous hand and not using it for real-time assistance.
"I was just studying with GTO while I was playing. After a hand had been played, I looked up a hand to see if I'd played it well. I wasn't using it to affect my play."
"It was a silly way to study," he continued. "iPoker banned me, and the Grosvenor online site banned me."
"It's a bit disappointing," he said. "One silly mistake at the end of the year has cost me my sponsorship. It was an honest mistake... a costly mistake. I was so happy at the end of the year. I was so happy to be working with them [Grosvenor]. I'm not sure what that means for me going forward."
Grosvenor releases official statement
Grosvenor Poker made its statement on Friday as well.
In a Facebook post, it said, "After the conclusion of the 2025 National Poker League (NPL), we were informed by the iPoker network that one of our players had been suspended from their online platform.
"As a result, the player, who had qualified as a leader in the National Poker League 2025 promotion, no longer met the criteria outlined in the National Poker League 2025 Terms and Conditions and therefore could not be awarded the full prize, including the sponsored player pro package."
Clause 53 of its terms and conditions reads, "All players taking part in this promotion must be eligible to play in Grosvenor casinos both live and online."
Clack ended his Instagram Stories by thanking people for their support. He admitted that he was expecting a backlash but said that people that knew his character would know that he wasn't a cheat.
Clack is still eligible to play in live events at Grosvenor venues.
