23-Way Chop at Foxwoods WPT Side Event

Sick things happen in the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut: 23 players remaining in the $400 NLHE preliminary event of the World Poker Finals agreed to a deal giving them all $12,011 to $10,091 from the prize pool.

John Agelakis

The total prize pool for the 956-player event was $324,000, and they say that when the deal was agreed, the chip leader had more than 2,000k in chips (40bb+), while the shortest stack had only 160k (3.2bb). Despite this, they agreed to split the money almost evenly:

1st place $12,011
2nd to 4th place $12,000
5th to 23rd place $10,091

The lucky winner who won $11 more than the 2nd, 3rd and the 4th place players was John Agelakis (pictured above) who won a trophy and a commemorative leather jacket along with his main prize.

It amazes me how can 23 players manage to negotiate an agreement that satisfies all the players. And how the hell could the chip leader agree? He would have won more than $68,000...