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Not without controversy, here are your BC Poker Championship 2009 Event winners:

Event #1 – $500+$50 No Limit Hold’em

1st Place: Daniel Martel from Spruce Grove, Alberta
$51,842
2nd: Michael McWhirter from Vancouver, BC
$32,683
3rd: Sean SkarboNorth Vancouver, BC
$20,286

Event #2 – $1,000+$100 No Limit Hold’em

1st: Ryan Comely from Edmonton, Alberta
$130,654
2nd: Johua Philipchalk from Langley, BC
$83,678
3rd: Rick Hebert from Delta, BC
$52,796

Main Event – $2500+$200 No Limit Hold’em

1st: Sophon Sek from New Westminster, BC
$364,364
2nd: Roberto D’Amato from Burnaby, BC
$233,359
3rd: Kyriakos Nicolaou from Vancouver, BC
$147,236

First off, congratulations to all who cashed, it was good to see a significant amount of local players in the top 3 in each event.

And now for the controversy: Sophon Sek, the first place winner of this year’s BCPC Main Event was arrested for manslaughter in connection with the Surrey Six shootings of 2007. He was arrested two days after winning when he went back to the River Rock Casino to claim his prize. The money is currently being held by the Great Canadian Gaming at the request of the RCMP.

So the big controversy here of course, is who gets the money?

There is a lot of talk about who should get the money, but very little talk about who will get the money. My opinion it that he is going to get to keep it.

Why?

Well for starters, he is the legitimate winner. The RCMP have also stated that they were only withholding the money to prevent him from leaving the country before he was arrested.

Here’s the (ace) kicker though: What connection to the Surrey Six shootings have to the Sophon winning the BCPC? The answer is, at this point, none. (At least until proven otherwise)

It’s my opinion that these facts make it pretty clear that he will get to keep his winnings, convicted or not. Whether or not he should or should not from a moral perspective is unfortunately irrelevant. We can only take heart in the likelihood that this money will only be going to legal fees, and that he won’t personally see it for a long time, if convicted of course.

Anyways, if anyone would like to leave any comments with their opinion, please feel free.

Until next time, best of luck to you,
~Addict