For the second straight year, World Series of Poker officials are implementing rule changes in response to controversy from the prior year.
Last year, one of the biggest stories of the 2025 WSOP came from the $1,500 Millionaire Maker event. James Carroll and Jesse Yaginuma played heads-up for the bracelet and the more than $1.25 million.
However, a ClubWPT Gold promotion sparked a collusion controversy. The online poker room awarded a “gold ticket” to certain players. If any of those players won a WSOP bracelet while wearing a ClubWPT Gold patch, the online poker site would give the winner an additional $1 million.
At the outset of heads-up play, Carroll held a massive chip lead. But after several hands that had social media in an uproar, Yaginuma won the tournament and the extra $1 million from ClubWPT Gold.
Then the WSOP opened an investigation into the matter. They decided to withhold the bracelet from Yaginuma and chop the money from the top two spots between the finalists. In the days following the investigation’s conclusion, it was revealed that they also banned both players from future events.
But this year, Rule 40(e) seeks to end any similar event from happening this year.
WSOP Bans Third Party Contests
Rule 40 is the first rule under Section IV titled “Participant Conduct And Tournament Integrity.” It states that officials forbit any action “action that is illegal, unethical, or constitutes cheating or collusion in any form.”
40(e) is where the WSOP prohibits players from participating in any similar promotion to ClubWPT Gold’s.
“Host Properties will penalize any act that, in the sole and absolute discretion of Host Properties, is inconsistent with these WSOP Official Tournament Rules or the best interests of the WSOP Tournament. Such act includes, but is not limited to, the Participant accepting any payment or prize from a third-party person or entity (e.g., pursuant to a promotion, product or service) based on the outcome or results of any WSOP Event, in which case the Participant shall forfeit all of the WSOP prize money; if the prize money has already been paid to Participant, then the Host Properties shall have the right to the return
of all the prize money plus interest.”
The rule bans players from receiving any additional financial gain based on their finish in a WSOP event. Thus, it bans WSOP participants from taking part in any future ClubWPT Gold promotions.
However, it also bans a common prop bet amongst high-volume tournament players.
The rule states that players can’t accept “any payment or prize from a third-party person or entity.” The language is clearly geared at last year’s ClubWPT Gold fiasco, especially given the verbiage in parentheses. But by the letter of the law, this rule makes bracelet bets illegal.
This likely won’t stop wagers on whether someone wins a bracelet in a given summer. But it does ensure that these bets won’t be done in public.
Rule 40 is clearly this year’s “Tamayo Rule.” Maybe it could be dubbed the “Yaginuma Rule.”
Pay Jump Stalling Also Addressed
Rule 80 describes the different scenarios regarding calling the clock on a player. At the end of the rule, it states that players determined to be intentionally stalling or depleting time banks to ladder up the payout scale will be subject to reduced clocks or incur a penalty.
