On 20 November 2023, a Brazilian poker player Rafael Caiaffa was suspended indefinitely from the Brazilian Series of Poker (BSOP) Millions event for breaking a tournament rule. As reported, Caiaffa added extra chips to his stack at the start of Day 2 of the Latin America Poker Tour (LAPT) currently running in Sao Paulo to violate the rules and gets an indefinite suspension from the tournament.
Suspicious Chip:
The breach was noticed by another player and verified by the video surveillance records proving that Caiaffa had kept a 100,000 chip stack in his backpack and used it together with the initial 100,000 chip received during registration for the event. According to Poker News, the player was down to 10,000 chips at one table to step away and get back at another table with a suspicious 110,000 chip that triggered the organizer’s reaction.
As reported by Super Poker, Devanir Campos, CEO of BSOP, explained the situation:“He got involved in a hand, lost a lot of chips and was changed tables. Upon sitting down, Caiaffa placed the other extra chips he had received. At this moment, the players brought this fact to our attention and we took the action we had to take,”Campos said.
Notable Poker Player:
Rafael Caiaffa is a notable Brazilian player who reportedly played the World Series of Poker (WSOP) in the summer of 2023. Poker News reports that he also won the online bracelet in a 2022 GGPoker tournament. Soon after the incident at the BSOP Millions event of the LAPT tournament, Caiaffa admitted adding an extra stack and agreed that the suspension was a fair measure for the violation of the tournament rules.
According to Poker News, Caiaffa said:“The truth was this: I entered the Mystery KO max late and they handed me 200,000 chips, 100,000 on the island and another 100,000 on the table. I realized right away that I received more, and I even mentioned it to a friend of mine. I told him that I would return it soon, but it happened that they broke my table at the time, we only played three hands.’’
He added:’’Then I thought: ‘it won’t change anything if I keep the chips, it was their mistake’. But obviously, I was the one who made the mistake. I don’t take away my responsibility. A player at my table noticed and spoke up, and he’s more than right. The floor came and saw everything that happened. I also told the truth and he eliminated me.”
Rafael Caiaffa has been suspended from the event indefinitely. Despite his recent participation in the reputable poker tournaments, Caiaffa will not be allowed to to take part in any upcoming BSOP Millions tournaments.