Written On 5/6/11 By Recentpoker.com staff writer Lenny Wasman :
hamed player loses winnings
Online poker pro Jose ‘Girah' Macedo is an embarrassed young man this week; just days after taking down the Bluff Magazine Lock Pro Challenge against formidable opposition, he has been disqualified for multi-accounting, losing his triumph and the top prize.
Macedo's cheating was apparently discovered after the challenge, when audits of the participants' accounts revealed that he had broken Bluff Poker Challenge and Merge Poker Network regulations.
Jennifer Larson, owner and chief executive of sponsor Lock Poker, ( usa players welcome ) was remarkably forgiving, saying:
"Jose is young and he has made a big mistake here. We wanted to make sure that regardless of being a Lock pro he won this fair and square. After doing an audit of his account we have found that he broke some rules and that will not be tolerated by Lock.
"We pride ourselves in standing for trust, legitimacy and loyalty. The truth is sometimes hard to stand by but it is the only way we can move forward. Although José won enough money from his own IP to have legitimately won the challenge, the unfortunate fact remains that breaking the rules is strictly disallowed.
"Jose is an exceptional player and I firmly believe that mistakes only lead to greatness if learned from."
Second place finisher Michael "bigguylegend22" Drummond will take the first-place prize. He earned over $90,000 in profit during the challenge.
Macedo was contrite, commenting:
"I'm deeply sorry for having broken the rules, but I truly had no intention [of doing so].
"Though it is no excuse, I want to be fully transparent at this point to let the poker world know what has happened and why. The computer in question was my backer, who logged into my account to check my balance and ended up playing some $25/$50 PLO while I was asleep and lost some money.
"I fully support and respect Lock's decision to disqualify me and hand over the challenge to the second place winner. I hope that I can win back the generous support and understanding of the players who have believed in me so far."