The World Series of Poker has had its occasional controversies over the years with some wild moments that made headlines. This time? A 2025 WSOP event might be a scandal.
Here’s what we know: Their $1,500 Millionaire Maker event was down to two players, with James Carroll up on Jesse Yaginuma. But it was Yaginuma who ended up with the bracelet and a cool $1.26 million.
That’s not the controversy. Here’s what could be that’s led to an investigation, per ESPN: “Many of the hands won by Yaginuma came in the form of raises or reraises that were continually not contested by Carroll. Viewers of the event’s livestream, including a number of professional poker players, began to speculate that Carroll was chip dumping to Yaginuma — intentionally losing hands to build up his opponent’s stack — so that the two could split some portion of the prize money.”
Is that collusion? Let’s dive in further:
What are the WSOP rules about collusion?
Per the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
WSOP rule 40b states: “Collusion is defined as any agreement between or among two (2) or more Participants to engage in illegal or unethical acts against other Participants. Collusion includes, but is not limited to, acts such as: chip dumping; soft play; sharing card information with another Participant; sending or receiving signals from or to another Participant; the use of electronic communication with the intent to facilitate collusion; and any other act that Host Properties deem inappropriate.”
What did WSOP say about the investigation?
Last night, we were made aware of a potential breach of the official WSOP Tournament Rules during heads up play in Event 53. An investigation is underway. At this time, 1st and 2nd place have not been confirmed and neither the prize money nor the bracelet have been officially…
— WSOP – World Series of Poker (@WSOP) June 26, 2025
So the prize money and bracelet haven’t been given out yet.
Why would the two players collude in a WSOP event?
There’s some speculation over a prize from ClubWPT Gold: a player could win an additional $1 million if they won a WSOP event and a “ticket” from a poker summer event. Yaginuma had one of those tickets, so maybe Carroll was trying to help him out?
What did the poker players say about the collusion allegations?
Yaginuma told us there was no heads-up deal in his post-win interview, though the two did meet. “No, not really. We talked for a little bit about poker, but yeah, that was about it.”
This article originally appeared on For The Win: WSOP collusion investigation, explained over Millionaire Maker ending