Cashing in on poker tournaments without having to play.

Many who know me know I only play craps. Just the other day I came across some insider trading going on in the casino during the WPT Satellite tournaments.

I should have done this from the start when I asked the supervisor about the flyer. I asked if i can keep playing the level 1 satellites to build up my chances to win more higher level certificates. Answer was yes & also had said to me that players are also selling their unneeded certificates to higher levels for a discounted price.

I thanked the supervisor for the information and put it to rest.

Boy did I miss the opportunity to cash in on this.

a few weeks passed and I drove to the casino on another visit, I had just lost at the craps table (Next to the poker room) and decided to just grab a drink, sit and watch the tournaments.

I watched the Level 1 $125.00 buy in (final two winners receive a satellite to the $550) I watched the table till then end, but then I noticed a guy walked up to the two winners and offered them $400 cash for their certificates. I then noticed his collection of certificates building throughout the day. I put two and two together and noticed when the new $550 tournament started, all the players had placed $550 in chips with their table position. Guy walks up to the table and offers those $550 certificates to each of the players in exchange for the chips. he made approx $150.00 instant profit from each certificate. then later I notice the same guy selling the $2500 buy in cards for $1800 to $2400 each in advance. Wow! later found out the guy made over 10k just buying and selling the certificates in the poker area and it was perfectly OK with the casino.

10k for 3 weeks work. I can do that! sign me up.

Something to keep in mind for next years WPT tournament.

This is pure "Genious"

Is it perhaps possible that the poker room supervisors got the rules wrong? In my opinion there is no way that this is ok but it does seem weird that the staff said it was.

Quote: Tomspur

Is it perhaps possible that the poker room supervisors got the rules wrong? In my opinion there is no way that this is ok but it does seem weird that the staff said it was.

oh yeah, they are fine with you selling your certificates to other players. I also heard that next year there is no cap on tournaments making it open market for next year.

In what way is this "insider trading"?

I am confused. So he buys the $550 tickets for $400. Then he goes to the $550 tournament and sells the people entering the tournament a ticket for full price at the table? Don't you buy in at the cage? I have never played a tournament where you just sit down at a spot with your buy in in chips, but I have also never played one of these large tournaments.

I personally would never buy a certificate like that for full price. Those people are just dumb. Why have a chance at getting scammed for full price. Give me a discount and I may be all for it.

buying tournament entries for a discount and then selling tournament entries for a lesser discount is extremely common. this is nothing new.

This can happen at tournament series that run satellites. Some players would rather just make their money winning the satellites and selling the lammers (tournament buy-in chips) or 'certificates' as the OP mentions. However I am very surprised that someone would take $400 for a $550 valued certificate/lammer. I usually see a very minor discount..like along the lines of $540-ish for a $550 value.

Quote: slyther

This can happen at tournament series that run satellites. Some players would rather just make their money winning the satellites and selling the lammers (tournament buy-in chips) or 'certificates' as the OP mentions. However I am very surprised that someone would take $400 for a $550 valued certificate/lammer. I usually see a very minor discount..like along the lines of $540-ish for a $550 value.

Maybe I do see it wrong, maybe he does offer them a discount.