There are funny pranks, others are annoying and then, there are some, that just border on stupid and bad taste. It was precisely, the latter one that cost a poker player dearly at a tournament being played in Italy. Italian Gaetano Preite  , is now the star of a new edition of this, the weirdest section in CodigoPoker: Freaky Friday.

The story for this episode begins last weekend, when at the doors of the final table for the third stage in the People´s Poker Tour at the Portomaso Casino in Malta, the organizers of the tournament decided to expel Preite from the event because of a prank.

It was Gaetano himself who took al the blame via his Facebook account:

“Dear Friends,

After playing a perfect tournament, unfortunately, I must inform you that due to a regrettable and surreal situation, I won’t be able to play at the final table of the PPTour Malta today.

After the last hand of Day 3, I got the idea of pranking an old friend of mine, Nicola Luigi Abrusci and hid part of the stack he had won from the player he had just eliminated. Then, I came close to my followers and told them about the prank and left to take the customary picture. When I got back to the table, I noticed that my friend, Nicola, had already bagged his chips. Therefore, I decided to come clean about the prank and tell the board about it. Said and done!

Afterwards, the directors of the tournament told me that even though my intentions were clear, my actions went against the rules and announced that they would take measures accordingly. These, were cutting me from the tournament.”

In this way, Preite, who was fourth in chips, was out of the event and the final table was played with only eight competitors. Finally, this tournament had a €990 buy- in and reunited 153 players for a €133.000 pot, won by Gianluca Escobar    after he defeated the prankee, Nicola Luigi , who took €41.000, while the «funny man» got  €2.100 for placing ninth.

“I understand now that I shouldn’t have risked so much for such a silly prank. I respect the decision taken by the board of the People’s Poker, but I sincerely think it was too harsh a punishment. Knowing me to be a professional, the punishment could have been less severe. I accept the decision in spite of me, and trying not to create useless controversies.”

What do you think of the sentence passed by the organization? Have you ever been in a similar situation? How would you define Preite’s actions? Let the debate begin.

Previously on Freaky Friday: Hit! https://www.codigopoker.coHit! Bilzerian’s fortune doesnt hail from poker, but from «dirty» money

Source: pokeritaliaweb.org