According to Lock Poker, a secondary computer logged in and played from his account, which is both a violation of the contest and of Merge Gaming Network terms of service.
“José is young and he has made a big mistake here. We wanted to make sure that regardless of being a Lock pro that he won this fair and square. After doing an audit of his account we have found that he broke an important rule and that will not be tolerated by Lock” said Jennifer Larson CEO/Owner of Lock Poker.
“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. It nevertheless remains José is an exceptional player and I firmly believe that his mistakes only lead to greatness if he learns from them and himself moves forward.”
“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. It nevertheless remains José is an exceptional player and I firmly believe that his mistakes only lead to greatness if he learns from them and himself moves forward.”
Macedo accepted full responsibility in his blog, but explained that it was his backer who had logged on to his account to check his balance while he was sleeping then decided to play some $25/$50 PLO under the Girahh account.
“The unraveling of this whole event has been bizarre and overwhelming,” wrote Macedo. “Although I genuinely believed up until this whole thing exploded that I had won the challenge fair and square, I recognize that I have no choice but to accept full responsibility for breaking the rules. As I said before, I want to be fully transparent and let the poker world know exactly what happened and why so there is no question about what my actions and intentions were.”
With Macedo’s disqualification, the prize, which includes a cover story in the July issue of BLUFF, will now be awarded to runner-up finisher Michael “bigguylegend22” Drummond, who earned $90,198 over the course of April. The 24 year-old from New Hampshire will become a sponsored pro on Lock Poker. As part of the prize package, Drummond receives seats in 2012 WSOP events as well as a Lock Poker campaign featuring him.
