Mike Leah WPT Win Was Normal Poker Business

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Mike Leah took down the Main Event of the WPT Falls View Poker Classic on Monday to win his first World Poker Tour title. It was clear from the way the final hand was played out that a deal had been cut and Ryan Yu threw the game to Leah despite heading into heads-up play as the chip leader.

Following the win, many have stirred up a controversy saying that Leah “bought the title” and that the deal equated to cheating. Leah took to Facebook early Wednesday morning to explain what went down and explained it was basically an ICM chop with the guarantee that he would win.

While some are fine with what went down, there are many still upset over the ordeal. Personally, I have no issue whatsoever with what went down and have even been in similar situations myself, just not on the scale of Leah.

It’s clear from the backlash that people either don’t really understand the thinking behind chops or they simply want to find someone to hate on.

The Argument For Chopping

I will admit that I chop pretty regularly if the option is available. I’m not the type of person whose ego is bruised if they chop nor am I a person that thinks their game is far superior to everyone else. Quite the contrary, I know that my game is average at best.

When you get to the final table, the ultimate goal is to win the tournament. However, the money at the very top can also be a motivating factor. Depending on one’s situation, this money could be a major help financially.

Let’s say that you have a tournament that pays $50,000 to first place and $32,000 to second place. An even chop, in this case, would net each player $41,000. For the person that finishes in second, that’s another $9k.

For some players, $9k isn’t much. From a personal perspective, I could pay my personal bills for several months on $9k. That’s not even considering models like the ICM that base your payouts on chip count.

One of my best chops was in a HORSE event that I played at the Bike a few years back. We were down to the final six players and the blinds were so high that even the chip leader only had about 8 big bets.

We decided to look at the numbers via ICM and I happened to be third in chips. When the numbers came back, my prize would be a bit better than 2nd place money. The only way I could get more was to win outright and with the bets the way they were, I could have just as easily finished in 6th place.

The condition of the chop was that the chip leader got the trophy. Nobody had a problem with this and the tournament ended. I ended up getting about 50x my buy-in with the chop, so I was a happy camper.

Most people that play poker do so for the money. While it sounds nice when you have players that talk about the competition and that they are in it solely to win, that’s not reality for most of us.

If I can cut a good financial deal for myself, I have no problem with someone else taking the win.

Both Players Agreed to the Deal – What’s the Problem?

As Leah revealed via a Facebook post, both he and Ryan Yu negotiated the terms of the chop and were in perfect agreement prior to playing the heads-up match. Some still think that this is wrong based on the fact that players get POY points and the winner gets a seat in the Tournament of Champions.

On the surface, one can see their argument, but as Leah pointed out, neither player is in any serious contention for POY. Next, in terms of the TOC seat, it’s not like they wrestled the seat from a more deserving player. The deal was cut heads-up. Either Yu or Leah was going to get the seat. Yu decided that the deal was more beneficial to him than any potential future value of the TOC seat.

While not on nearly the same scale, I have cut deals for seats into tournaments in the past. The first time it happened, it was a satellite paying 7 seats and when it was down to 8 players, we offered for each player to give the short stack a little money to walk away. The deal suited him and we got the seats.

I ended up cashing in that tournament (min-cash) and one of the guys at the table that got a seat won the event outright. Did we tarnish the tournament because of our deal? No. We cut a deal that suited everyone and then still had to play the tournament. Nothing was handed to us.

Leah will still have to go to the TOC and play or run remarkably well in order to take the event down. Cutting a deal that resulted in him getting the seat doesn’t mean that the TOC title is handed to him. He just gets a freeroll into the event.

Ultimately, both players cut a deal that was acceptable them and was in what they perceived to be their best interest. Those that claim they are tarnishing the win, the WPT or their individual legacies obviously have no clue what they are talking about and just want something to complain about.

Poker is about winning money. That is the ultimate goal. If it is just about “competition” then just go play at some play money tables or at a bar league that doesn’t pay out cash prizes. Don’t chastise players that are able to cut a deal to improve their personal situation. After all, it’s their money and they should do with it as they wish.