Midway Poker Tour Shadiness. Possibly $60k+ in precious metals stolen
PokerNews and Bravo were advertising the "Midway Poker Tour", which is supposed to be the inaugural event for what will be an ongoing series. It was advertised as a $1,100 tournament with $100k guaranteed. They said $100 is being taken out for rake and $20 goes to the dealers, with $980 going to the prize pool. The event is being held at the Sheraton Hotel in Elk Grove, Illinois. Even though it's listed as a "charity event", I figured that's pretty reasonable rake so I decided to play it.
I show up on Saturday to register, and they tell me I need to enter my PokerBros player ID, and if I don't have pokerbros I'll need to download the app and create an account and they'll also send me some free money to load my account. Uhh, ok already shadiness with them giving me their sales pitch for their PokerBros affiliate account. I signed up for PokerBros, and then entered the tournament with $1,100 cash.
So I make day 2 of the tournament and come back Sunday morning for day 2. They had some fail with not having enough chips and delayed the start time by 30 minutes. I start hearing people in the hallway talk about how they're going to pay people out in gold. ???? I think it's obviously ridiculous as it wasn't mentioned anywhere, either when signing up or in the advertisements or on PokerNews, which is reporting on the event. Pokernews listed all the prizes as USD.
Before the tournament starts, the tournament director starts talking and says "apparently some people are just finding this out" but per Illinois charity gaming regulations we can only pay out $1,600 in cash. Anything above that will be given out in precious metals. Apparently they bought a bunch of precious metals from some guy and were planning on having him onsite to immediately convert the precious metals to cash, but then the attorney general found out about this and said they absolutely cannot convert the precious metals on site as it would be illegal. I got the impression that the Attorney General was not happy with the event overall. They also informed us that they would give us the contact info for the precious metals guy and we could contact him to sell the metals. But of course I have to assume he's taking some sort of commission, so now we're paying additional rake that wasn't advertised. I got some info from the staff working the event and they informed me that the TD they hired for the event opted not to come back for Day 2 because of the situation, and the owner/founder of the tour, Dan Bekavac, has not been on-site for 24 hours. He's essentially disappeared.
So I ended up busting pretty early on and got what they call a "$2,600 cash". So they pay me out $1,600 in cash (in $20s for some reason), and give me 28 1oz silver coins, which they tell me is worth $1,000. As I'm leaving the hotel, the guy who was in the cashout line in front of me is telling me how the coins are only worth $700. So we're being shorted 30%?? I looked up the price of silver and it's $24/oz. I assume I can sell these coins for around $25, which would be $700. So they're stealing $300 from me, which isn't the biggest deal but that means everybody is taking a big cut. First place prize is listed as $55,060, of which over $53k will be paid out in gold. If they undercut the price of that by 30%, they're ripping off the winner by over $15k. If they chop off 30% of the prizepool they're taking out an additional $65k+ on top of the rake they took. They gave out contact info for the precious metals dealer that they obtained the coins from. I reached out to him and he hasn't contacted me back (though it's only been a few hours), but I can't imagine he'd pay 45% over the spot price. I also googled all his contact info and he's nowhere to be found on the internet, even though they supposedly bought $210k worth of metals from this guy.
The whole tournament is filled with shadiness, and I would not recommend people play this event in the future. Had I known we were going to be paid out in silver and gold I would not have entered the tournament to begin with. Yes I still made money and only got shorted a few hundred, but that's not the issue here. They should have been upfront about how they're doing cashouts, but if they did that a lot of people would've not bothered to play. If the winner of the tournament gets shorted a five figure amount, it may be wise for him to explore a class action suit.
Edit: At the beginning of Day 2, PokerNews posted the following. It appears they weren't aware of the precious metals angle either until Day 2. Here is what they posted on the matter:
Day 2 hasn't officially kicked off yet and already there have developments in the inaugural Midway Poker Tour.All 31 players returning to action today are guaranteed a $2,300 prize, while the eventual winner is slated to receive $55,060. However, due to the Illinois Charitable Gaming Acts and regulations (230 ILCS30), organizers are only able to pay out $500 in cash atop the cost of the buy-in. As such, players will only receive $1,600 in cash no matter their finish, while the remainder of their prize will be awarded in gold/precious metals/collectibles.Apparently, not all players had been aware of that fact. Tournament officials just informed the players that they have contact information for someone off-site willing to buy said gold/precious metals/collectibles if players are interested in selling after the fact.The payouts are a topic of conversation among the seated players, many of whom seem to be unhappy with the situation and the fact the payout situation wasn't more clearly explained prior to the tournament
8 Replies
Let me start by saying I have screenshots of EVERYTIHING!
I've been quiet for a long time but I am going to publicly tell everyone what happened to me at Club Jaqk Club JAQK. I was hired to run the live stream with the agreed up rate of $15 an hour plus 15% of the tip split between 2 people, on the days that I worked. At the time I was not aware that a tip split was illegal. If you don't know what a tip split is let me explain. A tip split for the sake of Club Jaqk is a percentage of the tips taken from tipped employees and paid to non-tipped employees. I agreed to the wage again unknowing that the tip split was illegal and I worked and let me just say I worked my ass off, more than 40 hours a week much much more and I was told by Dan Bekavac that they did NOT pay overtime, which again is illegal. My first week went off without a hitch and I was paid via direct deposit, now I never received a paycheck stub but I was paid $15 and hour for 40 hours and it was directly deposited into my bank account. I was then paid cash for the 15% tip split.
The following week I was sent a photo of two figures that were written on the back of an envelope from Dan,
$600 Hours
$360 Tip split
I was informed that this was my pay and I was informed that it would all be cash and I would receive a 1099. I was also informed that the tip split went from 15% to 8%. I was not happy but I needed a job so I worked the following week.
This is the week the **** hit the fan, the week of November 17th, and the Ladies Tournament. I was informed the Ladies Tournament would be live-streamed for a feature table. The day before I was informed that the the players for the feature table would be hand-picked instead of randomly chosen. I was not happy as that to me is collusion but again I needed a job so I went to work. I was offered by Rags to pay for my buy in to the ladies tournament and I was allowed to play per Dan as someone else would cover the live stream. I began to play but was stopped as the livestream wasn't working. My chips were removed from the table so I was not blinded out as I worked to get the live stream up and running. For hours I was on the phone with different people trying to get it working. I went back to the tournament once as the players, with every right, were complaining that my chips were not in play, so I went back to the table. Needless to say my mind was not in the game and I continued to get interrupted by Dan because of the live stream not running. I eventually busted out of the game and continued to work on getting the live stream up and running which never happened.
I worked the entire week with different people trying to get the live stream up and running and because the developer lives in Australia I was working crazy hours. Now if you don't know I have a degree in computer software so I am not stupid, I tried many different things to get the program back up and running but to no avail. I worked well over 40 hours, which Dan agreed to me working the hours as he said, "We have to fix it". Dan proceeded to leave Louisville the night of 19th after he lost $4k in the PLO game, that was supposed be live streamed after it was recorded, I do not know if that ever happened as you will see I was fired.
On November 20, 2023, the week of Thanksgiving, I texted Dan asking if he had heard anything from anyone regarding getting the live stream running. I explained to him that I had appointments on Tuesday and and Wednesday my daughter would be home for Thanksgiving and of course I had to cook, so I needed to work on the livestream that day. He said he would reach out to people and let me know. In this same conversation I asked about my pay for the previous week and was informed that I had money at the Club
$600 Hours
$80 Tip Split
as you can imagine I was NOT happy about the drastic difference from $360 the previous week to $80 this pay period, so I questioned it and I was informed and I quote the following.
" You only worked the live stream on Sunday and I didn't factor in Thursday, I'll tell Rocco to throw in another $100 in there for you". I was furious, I told him the number of hours I worked and that I accepted the job on the primes that I would be paid a 15% tip out between myself and Rocco Pace and now it was 8% and I had no idea how many people were sharing that tip split and that I couldn't pay my bills on that amount. Dan continued to tell me that I didn't really work 40 hours that week, yet he paid me for 40 hours. At this point texted the following text, which I will include in my post.
"Ok, I'm sorry we had a misunderstanding I appreciate the work you've put in. You will be hard to replace but thank you for trying to make things work"
So I was fired because I questioned my pay.
The following week, November 28, 2023, I received a text from Dan "Looks like we got the live stream fixed. Are you still going to run it? Or do we need to find someone"?
I told him I would need to be paid what I was owed and discuss my pay going forward. He attempted to negotiate with me but never accepted accountability for not paying me what we agreed to, needless to say, I was never working for him again.
As most know, Dan left Club Jaqk High and Dry and in financial hardship on December 15, 2023. So around this time, several people were posting on Social Media and 2 + 2 https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/.../m... forum how they did not get paid by Dan. Ray Copley I believe was one of the first to go public and he did get paid by Brad Bishop. I was NEVER contacted by Brad until I reached out to him and he NEVER has paid me my loss wages. I will probably never see the money I am owed but I feel like I have the right to tell my side of the story. Club Jaqk should never be allowed to remain open as Dan Bekavac is still the owner on file with the state of Kentucky. Brad's last message to me on January 24, 2024, was asking if I had reached out to Dan regarding W2's and 1099s for me to file my taxes and that the next time Dan reached out to him for numbers, as Dan has him blocked, he would as Dan for me. I have heard NOTHING since.
Started reading then stopped. Try paragraphs.
lol there paying people out in gold? Yea u got scammed
Here you go sweetie, maybe this will be easier.
Let me start by saying I have screenshots of EVERYTHING!
I've been quiet for a long time but I am going public to tell everyone what happened to me at Club Jaqk Club JAQK. I was hired to run the live stream with the agreed rate of $15 an hour plus 15% of the tip split between 2 people, on the days I worked. At the time I was not aware that a tip split was illegal. If you don't know what a tip split is let me explain. A tip split for the sake of Club Jaqk is a percentage of the tips taken from tipped employees and paid to non-tipped employees.
I agreed to the wage, unknowing that the tip split was illegal and I worked, and let me say I worked my ass off. I worked more than 40 hours a week, yet I was told, by Dan Bekavac, that they did NOT pay overtime, which again is illegal. My first week went off without a hitch and I was paid via direct deposit, now I never received a paycheck stub but I was paid $15 an hour for 40 hours and it was directly deposited into my bank account. I was then paid cash for the 15% tip split. The following week I was sent a photo of two figures that were written on the back of an envelope from Dan,
$600 Hours
$360 Tip split
I was informed that this was my pay and I was informed that it would all be cash and I would receive a 1099. I was also informed that the tip split went from 15% to 8%. I was not happy but I needed a job so I worked the following week.
This is the week everything hit the fan, the week of November 17th, the Ladies' Tournament was held on November 19, 2024. I was told the Ladies Tournament would be live-streamed for a feature table. On Friday, November 18, Dan informed me that the players for the feature table would be hand-picked instead of randomly chosen. I bought into the ladies' tournament and was allowed to play per Dan as someone else would cover the livestream. Early into playing in the tournament, I was informed that the live stream wasn't working. my chips were removed from the table by Dan Bekavac so I was not blinded out as I worked to get the live stream up and running. For hours I was on the phone with different people trying to get it working. I went back to the tournament once as the players were complaining that my chips were not in play, as I would have also if the roles were reversed, I went back to the table but my mind was not in the game and I continued to get interrupted due to live stream not running. I eventually busted out of the tournament, I continued to work on getting the live stream up and running which never happened.
I worked the entire week with several people trying to get everything up and running. I was working with a software developer who lives in Australia. so I was working crazy hours. If you don't know I have a degree in computer software (NOT ENGLISH) so I am not stupid, I tried many different things to get the program back up and running but to no avail. I worked well over 40 hours, and Dan agreed to me working the hours as he said, "We have to fix it". Dan proceeded to leave Louisville the night of the 19th after he lost $4k in the PLO game, which was supposed to be live-streamed after it was recorded, I do not know if that ever happened as you will see I was fired.
On November 20, 2023, the week of Thanksgiving, I texted Dan inquiring about the status of the livestream and getting it fixed. I explained my crazy schedule to him with it being Thanksgiving week. Monday was the only day I could work on the live stream. He informed me he would reach out to people and let me know. In this same conversation, I asked about my pay for the previous week and was told I had money waiting for me at the Club
$600 Hours
$80 Tip Split
as you can imagine I was NOT happy about the drastic difference from $360 the previous week to $80 this pay period, so I questioned the pay, Dan said
" You only worked the live stream on Sunday and I didn't factor in Thursday, I'll tell Rocco to throw in another $100 in there for you". I was furious, I told him the number of hours I worked and that I accepted the job on the primes that I would be paid a 15% tip out between myself and Rocco Pace and now it was 8% and I had no idea how many people were sharing that tip split and that I couldn't pay my bills on that amount. Dan continued to tell me that I didn't work 40 hours that week, yet he paid me for 40 hours. At this point texted the following text.
"Ok, I'm sorry we had a misunderstanding I appreciate the work you've put in. You will be hard to replace but thank you for trying to make things work"
So I was fired because I questioned my pay.
The following week, November 28, 2023, I received a text from Dan "Looks like we got the live stream fixed. Are you still going to run it? Or do we need to find someone"?
I told him I would need to be paid what I was owed and discuss my pay going forward. He attempted to negotiate with me but never accepted accountability for not paying me what we agreed to, needless to say, I was never working for him again.
As most know, Dan left Club Jaqk High and Dry in financial hardship on December 15, 2023. Around this time, several people were posting on Social Media and 2 + 2 forums, about how they did not get paid by Dan and Club Jaqk. Ray Copley, I believe was one of the first to go public and he immediately was paid by Brad Bishop. I was NEVER contacted by Brad until I reached out to him and he NEVER has paid me my wages that were owed.. I will probably never see the money I am owed but I feel like I have the right to tell my side of the story. Club Jaqk should never be allowed to remain open as Dan Bekavac is still the owner on file with the state of Kentucky. Brad's last message to me on January 24, 2024, was asking if I had reached out to Dan regarding W2's and 1099s for me to file my taxes and that the next time Dan reached out to him for numbers, as Dan has him blocked, he would as Dan for me. I have heard NOTHING since.
How to forum? Just saying.
