Early Controversy

It didn't take even a single level in the first open event for players to find a controversy at the 2010 World Series of Poker. Here's what we've been able to piece together:

There is a group of player who registered late for this event. The group includes Lyle Berman, Robert Williamson III, Tony G, Todd Brunson, Barry Greenstein, Huck Seed, Amnon Filippi and Josh Arieh. Arieh said that the line at the cage was the reason that he bought in late; others were in the same line behind Arieh. Nick Schulman, in front of Arieh in line, was apparently the last person to get in "on time".

Rule 12 for the 2010 WSOP reads in relevant part,

"A late registrant is defined as a player that registers for an event after the Tournament has officially started. Any player registering for an event after all initial tables allocated for that tournament have been filled will begin play at the start of the subsequent level."

The late group has been told they'll be allowed to enter play at the start of Level 2. The odd thing about that decision is that there are four empty tables along the rail with chip stacks, cards and dealers sitting at them. Those tables were in the field at the start of play but for some reason are not being considered as part of the initial table allocation at this time.

"I don't mind," said Tony G when we asked him about the controversy. "Rules are rules."