Popular YouTube vlogger Cat Valdes, aka Catrific, caused an uproar during a recent World Series of Poker Circuit (WSOPC) event after playing in the main event by mistake, and even busting out another player before she was booted from the tournament that she didn’t buy into.
Giving her side of the story via YouTube, the social media maven prefaced the video by explaining that she’s still new to poker.
After providing an overview of how live buy-ins work, she told her 666k+ subscribers that she intended to play a $400 WSOPC side event at Bally’s, Las Vegas, but instead was mistakenly seated at a table for the $1,700 main event.
Catrific’s Version of Events
During an 11-minute video, Catrific admits that she “didn’t realize right away” what had happened, even though there were early signs that something was amiss. After playing for over an hour, she claims floor staff “kicked her out” of the tournament in a “extremely rude” way.
“You can probably hear it in my voice, I’m getting emotional and anxious just remembering yesterday because it was so bad,” Valdes said on March 31.
The confusion, according to Valdes, stemmed from a mistake by the cashier. Despite questioning the number of starting chips she’d been given, the novice was assured by the cashier and dealer that everything was in order.
After an hour, Catrific eventually realized she was in the wrong tournament.
“A break was coming up on the screen and I looked and I was like s**t they put me in the wrong tournament,” she continued.
After noticing the error, Valdes continued to play but admits she was faced with a dilemma over what to do next.
“In my head, I was thinking I could go tell somebody but if I tell someone it will cause all this chaos. I was like, what if they stop the clock and people are mad at me,” the YouTuber went on to say.
On a friend’s advice, she continued to play in the wrong event until the tournament director removed her from the action.
In her opinion, she was surprised at the “aggressive” reception she received but she was allowed to join the $400 she’d originally intended to play.
https://youtu.be/wsZUeYVbFjY
UPDATE: Valdes has disabled the video in question, at least temporarily.
Poker Players Balk
For some players, the reaction was not only expected but warranted. Although many agreed an aggressive tone wasn’t necessary considering the tournament staff’s error, but a few pointed out that it could have been seen as cheating.
All I heard was: when the dealer gave me 30k chips i knew i was about to play the $1700 main event for $400. And if i ended up cashing I’d just give them $1300 back. No big deal. Why is this floor man being such a dick to me? He’s acting like i 100% knew but it was only 99.9%
— Pej Premo (@Its_Preeeeemo) April 1, 2019
U r lucky the Caesars did not ban u from all properties. U had several indications that you were not in the right tournament by your own admissions. Amount of chips, time stage of the tournament, etc. I wish you took responsibility for your mistake instead of acting like a victim
— rezagolestani (@rezagolestani11) April 1, 2019
Players pulling scams at the table is nothing new. In 2015, Valeriu Coca raised suspicions but was ultimately cleared by the Nevada Gaming Control Board of foul play at the WSOP.
In fact, it’s not just players that have been accessed of cheating. Poker dealer Robert Brown was indicted but avoided charges after an incident involving a card falling from his sleeve in 2016.
From @queenofsets.
Player buys into 4pm $400 tourney Player goes to Main Event late reg table; dealer doesnt check ticket correctly; sends player to main event.
Player plays for 2 hours; runs up 100k stack. Floor realize shes in the wrong event. Whats the correct thing to do?— Allen Kessler (@AllenKessler) March 31, 2019
With incidents such as these still fresh in the mind of players, Catrific has raised the question of what the right course of action should have been — and that discussion has been ongoing.
