Poker Player Dave Williams Gets A Bum Deal
Williams certainly wanted to be there in Las Vegas, dealing it out with the best poker pros in the nation. He knew his chances of taking home the
$15 million would be incredibly slim, but even that slim chance was taken from him when the tournament sponsor and holder refused to pay up the WSOP entry fee.
To start from the beginning, Williams called a radio station and won a $1,500 entry fee into a charity poker tournament last winter at Michael's Kitchen in Hollywood. He then went on to win the tournament and it's 1st place prize of $10,000 entry fee into the World Series of Poker 2007 for a chance to take home the $15 million.
The controversy began when Michael's Kitchen owners, Michael and Jennie Blum, refused to pay the winning ticket. The Blum's claimed the 1st place prize of $10,000 was to be payed by the charity event's organizer, Ari Goldstein of New York. They also claimed Goldstein was responsible for providing celebrity appearances to boost attendance.
Goldstein told reporters he was only the promoter of the event and that the Blum's in fact owed him money.
As those involved bickered over the outcome, Dave Williams held a ticket announcing him the winner off $10,000 entry to the 2007 WSOP Main Event, inked onto paper with a Michael's Kitchen letterhead. When questioned about the liability of Michael's Kitchen concerning the ticket, Jennie Blum replied, "We never saw this. We never initialed it. We never OKed it.
Nothing. That's why there's no signature on it."
In the end, Williams is sitting home in his living - not at a table in Harrah's. Goldstein and the Blum's continue to disagree over responsibility for payment of the ticket, both now preparing to sue one another over the matter. And once again, Dave Williams gets the bum deal as he cannot afford his own lawyer.