Georgii Belianin Addresses Disqualification from WSOP Main Event
Last week on Day 1c of the 2019 World Series of Poker Main Event, a pair of Level 1 disqualifications caught the attention of the poker world. One was Russian pro Georgii Belianin, who was DQ’d after winning a small pot and swiping a dead stack into his own.
“Here’s the thing, you’re playing the Main Event you can’t touch other player’s chips,” tournament director Jack Effel told PokerNews after Belianin had been escorted off the premises. “The chips that you have in front of you are the ones that belong to you, you shouldn’t be touching chips that don’t belong to you. Plain and simple. Discussing beyond what was seen at the table, everybody saw the exact same thing – he took the chips that were next to him, they didn’t belong to him and you can’t do that when you’re playing the Main Event.”
"You shouldn’t be touching chips that don’t belong to you. Plain and simple."
Belianin’s stack was removed from play while his $10,000 buy-in remained in the prize pool. Not only that, Belianin was banned from all Caesars properties, which meant his later attempt to return to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino resulted in him being arrested for trespassing and spending the night in a Las Vegas jail.
On social media, some pros expressed disbelief in Belianin’s behavior, which they claimed was uncharacteristic. One player who had a front-row seat to what went down was Tom Peterson, who was seated next to Belianin.
“He was drunk. I could smell him. I owned a bar for 17 years and I know he was drunk,” said Peterson. “Was it a joke? He’s drunk, I don’t know. He was upset, yelling ‘Help me, help me, they’re taking me out.’”
Belianin’s Statement
In the days that followed Belianin, who doesn’t speak much English, addressed the situation on Twitter and apologized to the poker community. He also reached out to PokerNews to provide the following prepared statement.
Dear colleagues, poker players and management of WSOP.
I want to sincerely apologize for my awful and unprofessional behavior during WSOP Main Event. I can’t describe how sorry and guilty I feel and I want to apologize to each of the players, each member of WSOP team and Mr. Effel personally because of the problems I have caused him.
I take full responsibility for my behavior which led to the loss of self-control and my subsequent actions.
Currently, I'm going through a painful period and a lot of difficulties in my private life. Unfortunately, the night before the Main Event I got totally drunk while playing cash games in Rio.
It was my fault and definitely bad judgment to register to the Main Event in such condition. I completely understand that being drunk doesn't excuse my later behavior.
I came to the beginning of the tournament, I had seat No. 5, but I took seat No. 6. [For] several minutes the dealer was explaining for me that my seat was No. 5. I played several hands and then this situation happened. Actually, I don’t clearly remember what I did.
As other players said, I took the stack from Seat 6 and mix it with my stack. I was trying to make a joke and under no circumstances did I want to cheat or really take somebody's chips. After this awful and ridiculous joke at my table I was disqualified. Then I was taken away from the tournament area but tried to return to the casino. That’s why I was imprisoned for trespassing. All night in jail I was thinking about my horrible deed and I fully blame myself for what happened.
I completely understand that the tournament director's decision was adequate as I was completely out of line.
I hope that you all will understand and believe me if I say that it’s the first time in my life that I did something like this.
A lot of people in poker community can confirm that before this accident I’ve never been involved in any suspicious activities.
I really care about my reputation and life values and I promise you all that this will never ever happen again.
Now I'm banned from all the Caesar's properties and can't play in tournaments and cash games in the Rio. I really hope that WSOP management will consider commuting my penalty as poker is my life & my job, and I really want to redeem myself as a member of poker community.
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PR & Media Manager for PokerNews, Podcast host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.
