Poker Pros Settle Golf Dispute

10/09/2012 :  POKER PROS SETTLE GOLFING DISPUTE
 
Vaswami says "no hard feelings"
 
Phil Ivey's dispute with Crockfords over non-payment of his GBP 7.3 million winnings  triggered a follow up report Monday on a golf dispute that goes back to 2007 and involved fellow poker pro Ram Vaswani (42).
 
In reporting on the Crockfords story The Standard newspaper interviewed Vaswami, and during the exchange he revealed that the duo have resolved a five-year dispute over a game of golf which ended with the American claiming he was owed $900,000 in wagers.
 
“We came to an arrangement and I bear no grudge,” UK-based Vaswami told the newspaper, without revealing details of the agreement.
 
Vaswani has originally accused Ivey of understating how recently or often he had been playing golf ahead of a foursome’s tournament in Australia in 2007.
 
Ivey, Vaswami and two other poker pros began playing for $20,000 a hole but as the game progressed the stakes were raised to $50,000. Vaswani lost to Ivey but refused to pay up, saying the game was void because the circumstances of the bet and handicaps assigned to each player were not fair.
 
Ivey insisted he had accurately represented his golfing skill.
 
The Standard reports that an attempt at arbitration involving other poker pros whilst the parties were in Monte Carlo ended in deadlock. The newspaper claims that sources in the poker world allege that Vaswani did eventually pay up.
 
Vaswami said that it would not be unusual for Ivey to bet big in a Punto Banco game, but that he would prefer to see both sides of the story.
 
With lawyers for both parties still arguing the issue, neither Ivey nor Crockfords has commented on the non-payment.