The $7,777 No Limit Hold’em Lucky 7’s event on WSOP.com Sunday brought in many of poker’s elite players, as all high roller events do. The final table featured a handful of well-known professional poker players, including the tournament’s winner, David Peters, Ryan Laplante, Brandon Adams, Galen Hall, and Jason Koon. But it also featured one screen name that no one recognized; ‘CherryHillPD’.
‘CherryHillPD’ played extremely well throughout the event. The anonymous player got down to heads-up with David Peters and even had Peters on the ropes at one point in a big all-in pot, holding pocket sevens against Peters’ ace-jack. ‘CherryHillPD’ was one card away from winning the tournament before the ace of spades came on the river to give Peters the double-up and the chip lead.
The unknown player would eventually finish runner-up in the event for a $175,443 payday. Before the event had even gone final, poker players were already raising suspicions about the authenticity of this account on social media and during live stream coverage.
“Wow, what a testiment [sic] to how study and hard work can take your game to the next level,” Jerod Smith tweeted out mockingly alongside a screenshot of the previously inactive ‘CherryHillPD’ account. “Even if you don’t play for 7 years!”
Ryan Leng lashes out and Ryan Laplante looks for answers
Ryan Leng was eliminated from the $7,777 event outside of the money in 101st place. Leng did not mince words in a major accusation against ‘CherryHillPD’.
“Cool to get ghosted out of the $7777 today by CherryHillPD,” Leng tweeted out a few hours after his elimination. “To whichever c**t high roller reg was on that account today, get f****d!”
Responses to both Jerod Smith’s and Ryan Leng’s tweets discussed concerns about cheating accusations on WSOP.com. Poker player and commentator Katie Stone brought this topic up last week on her Twitter account, questioning the problem of multi-accounting on the site. “Is multi-accounting WSOP.com a much bigger problem right now because of the online bracelets, or is this just a big problem in general?”
Unlike sites like GGPoker that have taken proactive security measures to try to weed out cheaters and suspicious play, WSOP.com’s software is notoriously weak and outdated. Multi-accounting and ghosting are issues that will always be a concern in online poker, barring any major policy changes such as requiring a webcam feed to play. They become an even bigger issue on sites like WSOP.com that don’t seem to take policing rules and security as seriously as other platforms do.
Ryan Laplante, who finished in third place on Sunday, was trying to learn more about the identity of ‘CherryHillPD’ on Tuesday.
“The CherryHillPD account that took 2nd, someone had posted that account’s possible name,” Laplante tweeted. “Please let me know if you know who the account belongs to.” Rumors indicate that ‘CherryHillPD’ could be New Jersey-based player Howard Wolper, but these rumors have not yet been confirmed.
Poker players and fans are waiting with great interest to see the identity that WSOP.com eventually lists for the ‘CherryHillPD’ account. Regardless of whose name is on the account, speculation is likely to continue over whether or not that person was actually the one playing on Sunday.
Featured Image Source: Twitter
