All In Magazine apologizes to disabled player after accidentally calling him "crippled"

One of the writers at All In Magazine used the poker terms "crippled" and chip & chair" without realizing that the player he was writing about, Garrett "gdub2003" Greer is disabled and in a wheelchair. The magazine apologized and is making a charitable donation to honor Greer.

All In Magazine's Tournament Roundup series deals with the events of a recent timeframe, giving a short summary about the final table, but the latest article in the series caused an outrage, after author James Foley used the terms "crippled" and "chip & chair" in regards to Garrett Greer, a disabled player who played the WPT Five Diamond Poker Classic final table in a wheelchair.

After the article was published, Greer took to Twitter to find out who was responsible for the article.

The story sparked an outrage in the online poker community, many players have stated that not knowing about Greer's disability does not excuse this mistake, while others believe that the case is just an unfortunate mistake.

All In Magazine and Foley apologized in an article on April 8.

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"I have known James Foley for several years and know him to be a good person who knows right from wrong and would never knowingly mock a handicapped individual in this manner. I asked James for a statement, and he has issued the following:

“In a recent edition of Tournament Roundup, I made what I thought was a snarky joke about a short-stacked player and used the term ‘crippled’ to describe his chip condition after losing a huge pot. As a freelance writer who doesn’t cover poker full-time, I’m often unfamiliar with the players involved and rely on second-hand reports. It was to my absolute horror when I learned, months later, that the player in question, Garrett Greer, was involved in an accident several years ago that left him a quadriplegic. Greer’s story is well-documented and his personal blog describing the situation and his recovery is incredibly inspiring. This should never have happened. I am deeply ashamed and embarrassed that my ignorance and lack of research in preparing this piece appeared to turn Greer’s circumstances into a cheap punch line. I truly can’t imagine the adversity that Greer has faced and the fact that he is back at the tables competing at the highest level is something to be celebrated, which this article egregiously failed to do. I sincerely apologize to Garrett Greer and anyone else who was offended.”

Greer suffered an accident in 2010 at a pool party that left him disabled and unable to do his job at the Los Angeles film studio he was working at. Greer started playing poker to cover his expenses and he has become a well-known player in both the live and online tournament circuit, he has live tournament earnings of more than $2 million and almost winnings of almost $1.6 million on PokerStars, where he plays under the "gdub2003" nickname.