Find out if Dan Bekawak can clear his name after failing to organise his own tournament

Two years ago there was an interesting tournament in the US where participants were given prizes in the form of gold bars and silver coins. No one could figure out what the big deal was. After all, the players had absolutely no expectation that the prizes would be in precious metals, still worth 30% less.

Dan Bekavac was the organizer of this charity tournament, which was called Midway Poker Tour. For a year and a half he settled his debts and cleared his name.

The charity tournament was found to be a fraudulent scheme

Some time ago, American poker player Bekavac caught fire with the idea of setting up his own MRT series with his business partner Trezak. Two years ago, in the midst of a pandemic when everyone went online, Dan was thinking about how to run it.

At the end of 2020, they decided to make the idea a reality by using trickery. Dan rented a hotel, took care of the logistics, ran ads, and hired media representatives, all of which cost him $70,000.

The tournament was to be a charity event, but the entry fee was $1,100 and a guarantee of $100,000. They had no way to license the event and had to use a charity. Out of the $130 commission only $100 went to charity and $30 was left to cover organisational costs. A pilot version of the tournament was needed to test the viability of the business model.

The event lasted for several days and there were 226 entries with a prize of $55,060 for the first place. But at the beginning of the second day there were 31 players, and it became clear that everyone got into the ITM, as well as the payout would be made in precious metals. The gamblers voiced their displeasure about this, but had to see the game through to the end and receive their prizes.

But there was no problem in exchanging the prizes for cash. It was this point that was noted as fraud on the part of the organizers. Why? Because at the tournament ticket office they were paying with silver for USD 35, but in the jewelers’ shops they were ready to take it for USD 25.

All the bumps fell on the representatives of the charity foundation, as Dan himself disappeared at the end of the first day.

The state of Illinois has very unusual rules for the game of poker.

The existence of restrictive measures for poker events in the state of Illinois was clear to the tournament organizers. Therefore, they could not make payments exceeding $500 above the initial deposit as prize money. Players could not legally receive more than $1,600. All other payments could only be in the form of valuable prizes.

The scheme of the event included the following activities, which did not violate the law. A certain amount of precious metals had to be brought to the hotel where the tournament was held and given away as prizes. Every gambler had the right to take the prize and exchange it at an exchanger, who was invited by the organisers.

But everything went to waste, the whole plan was ruined, as the organisers received a message from the state attorney general that the exchange of precious metals within the hotel walls was forbidden.

Dan started looking for shops that could exchange gold and silver, plus he had to find an option to pay off the $200,000 prize.

Framed and out of sight by Bekawak’s partner

Dan was the organiser of the event, but it was not his idea to make the payout in a cut. He tried to reimburse the funds, to the players affected by his partner’s machinations, the amount was $50,000.

Now Dan has already been able to say goodbye to the disgruntled players and has paid them all the forfeitures, as well as paid the hotel rent and the administrators’ salaries.

Today Bekavac is an honest businessman who has been able to get back into poker. This year he was able to take two prizes in different disciplines for a total of $425,000 in prize money.

Dan has won the American MSPT series 4 times, let’s hope that his clean karma will help him in his future career.