Former banned player making most of 2nd chance at WSOP

Luke Vrabel sat calmly in his black Iron Maiden T-shirt at table No. 678 in Bally’s Event Center on Saturday, alternating between friendly banter with other players and checking his phone.

The last thing he wanted to do was bring any negative attention upon himself.

“I’m really happy to be back,” Vrabel said. “It’s been amazing.”

Five years ago, Vrabel was banned from the World Series of Poker and all Caesars Entertainment properties following an incident during the “Colossus” No-limit Hold’em tournament.

But he was reinstated this summer by WSOP vice president Jack Effel prior to the start of the $10,000 buy-in Main Event No-limit Hold’em World Championship and was climbing the chip counts entering the dinner break on Day 3 of the tournament.

The Main Event, which drew the second-largest field in its history with 8,663 entrants, continues Sunday with Day 4.

Vrabel declined Saturday to discuss why he was banned, but posted in 2017 on the poker forum twoplustwo.com and Facebook about the incident. He also appeared in 2017 as a guest on the “HighRollerRadioTV” podcast to explain what happened.

According to Vrabel’s posts and interview, the poker pro from West Hartford, Connecticut, was being heckled by a group of fans with 10 players remaining in the 2017 “Colossus” event at the Rio Convention Center.

Vrabel said on the podcast he asked a tournament director to quiet the fans but claimed he was told, “They did nothing wrong. Sit down and deal with it.” When the taunting escalated, Vrabel said in the interview he asked the tournament director to remove the fans.

Section 40-c of the WSOP official rules state that, “All Participants are entitled to expect civility and courtesy from one another at every table and throughout the WSOP area. Any individual who encounters behavior that is not civil or courteous — or is abusive in any way — is encouraged to immediately contact a WSOP Tournament official.”

Vrabel, who admits he too can be loud and difficult at times at the table, said in the interview that security was called soon after. But rather than being stationed near the fans, the two guards were posted on either side of Vrabel as he played.

After play halted with nine players remaining, Vrabel posted that he confronted the tournament director and the two clashed once again. According to Vrabel’s posts and interview, the tournament director called him an obscenity.

“(H)ere i am playing for 1 million dollars … the biggest moment of my wsop career by a long shot, and this guy is siding with spectators,” Vrabel wrote on twoplustwo.com.

Vrabel returned the following day for the final table and was eliminated on the sixth hand in ninth place for nearly $80,000. Afterward, he posted he would never play the WSOP again.

According to unconfirmed posts on twoplustwo.com, Vrabel was banned soon after because of the incident during the “Colossus” and his subsequent comments about it on social media and podcast interviews.

Effel declined through a spokesperson to be interviewed about Vrabel. The spokesperson said Caesars does not comment on security procedures or, in this case, reinstatements.

Vrabel said Saturday his friend and fellow poker player, Nicholas Palma, spoke last week to Effel on his behalf trying to get the ban lifted.

Vrabel was set to play a $400 buy-in event at Aria recently when he said he received a phone call from Effel.

“He called me personally and he said, ‘You’re back. We’re leaving all that in the past and we’re moving on with our lives,’ ” Vrabel said. “I was praying. I could see it in (Palma’s) eyes that he really felt it. So I was like, ‘Maybe he’s right.’

“Jack gave me a call and boom, here I am.”

Vrabel, who first gained recognition in 2011 when he won nearly $700,000 and a Lamborghini in the online PokerStars Sunday Million, saw his stack fluctuate wildly during the first three levels on Day 3.

After starting with 119,000 chips, Vrabel lost almost 25 percent of his stack early on then recovered to just shy of the 200,00-chip mark.

He dipped down once again, but about an hour before the 6 p.m. dinner break, Vrabel scored a key double-up with pocket jacks. He was sitting on 331,000 chips (82 big blinds) when play paused as the money bubble grew closer.

Poker pro Michael Rocco was the unofficial leader at the dinner break with 1.4 million chips.

“Most people are thrilled (I’m back) because they know I’m a good guy and it shouldn’t have gotten to that point,” Vrabel said. “I’m having a great time.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.