PokerStars are retroactively removing winnings awarded for playing in “Red Spade Open” satellites that was mistakenly paying out too much, players have reported to pokerfuse.
The special SNG satellites that ran on Friday should have rewarded the top two winners seats in the next satellite level valued at 300 FPPs – worth around $5. Instead, due to an administrative error, the tournaments rewarded tickets direct in to the main tournament – valued at $55. If more than one ticket was won, players were awarded $55 tournament dollars that could be used to buy-in to other events.
Enterprising players who noticed the mistake begun to multi-table the tournaments and amassed sizable winnings; some reportedly won more than $2k before the error was finally fixed later in the day. Threads appeared on poker forum 2+2 that publicized the loophole, although these threads were deleted. At least one 2+2 moderator was seen playing in these tournaments.
On Tuesday – fives days after the satellites ran – PokerStars has moved to remove the winnings deemed erroneous. Winnings for the first two tournaments will be granted, but all additional winnings from subsequent tournaments have been removed from players’ bankrolls, leaving only the original 300 FPP prize in its place.
It is not the only recent backfire from a PokerStars promotion; the poker room recently got in hot water over awarding the $70k milestone prize to players who were clearly abusing the promotion to maximize their chances of winning.
