Spade club do it again!!!A friendly warning...

[ZEEZEE]

After all the controversy that Spadeclub has courted over the past year or so you would think they would start to get it right. Firstly they have an employee win the then 40k monthly tournament, shortly followed by long term regular players being excluded from tournaments where they allowed new exclusive members to play.
Recently I turned my attention to the Bellagio games as I was interested in adding a blog about the winner on the forum and following their fortunes at the live event itself.
It was at this point that I noticed a discrepancy in the rules regarding entry and qualification which seems to have robbed 3 Spadeclub members of their right to play in the final.
So I would ask you to look at the rules in particular Paragraph 2 section C printed here below.
WPT FIVE STAR WORLD POKER CLASSIC BELLAGIO CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES TERMS AND CONDITIONS

2 Eligibility:
C. You must be ranked by SpadeClub as one of the top five (5) persons in the standings for the 2008 SpadeClub Player of the Year, or one of the top five (5) persons in the standings for the 2009 SpadeClub Player of the Year as of 11:59 pm PT on March 27, 2009. If you are ranked by SpadeClub as one of the top five (5) persons in the standings for the 2008 SpadeClub Player of the Year, or the top five (5) persons in the standings for the 2009 SpadeClub Player of the Year as of 11:59 pm PT on March 27, 2009, but are otherwise qualified for the Final Event as set forth in this Agreement, then the person with the next highest SpadeClub Player of the Year ranking will be awarded entry into the Final Event.

Now according to those guidelines any one of the top 5 players (SPOY) from the years 2008 and 2009 who already qualified would have their entry (via SPOY) passed to the next highest player in the rankings.
A simple check of who qualified would show that 3 of the top 5 did qualify.
1. Mirek
2. Chillshot
3. Chillyrooster
That means that because they had already qualified that there were 3 places still left to be filled, which should have been filled by the next 3 highest ranked players, as far as I can ascertain they would have been. 6 7 and 8 which would mean the following players were denied an entry bias to spade clubs own rules in 2C. They would have been:
6. PokerOD
7. BobbyDwait
8. Shmelnik
Put simply because Mirek, Chillshot and Chillyrooster had already “otherwise qualified” it left 3 places up for grabs which should according to spade clubs rule 2C.
“the person with the next highest SpadeClub Player of the Year ranking will be awarded entry into the Final Event.”

In this case there would have been 3 places ? Which means PokerOD, BobbyDwait and Shmelnik should have received entry by default.
However I noticed none of these 3 players received an entry and as 2 of them are forum members here I felt it only fair to ask them if they realised they should have played. As of this point in time I have only heard back from one member who informs me that they have contacted spade club prior to me asking them and they are still awaiting news from spade club. (I will let them make themselves known if they wish)
My best Guesss (excuse the pun) is that spade club will whitewash this one over as is the norm with them.
I would argue that these 3 players by virtue of the fact they made that high of a rank in the SPOY rankings would have had a decent shot at the Bellagio final, but since that game has passed they have no way of qualifying now and have surely been robbed of an opportunity to win the event.
It is my opinion that these 3 players should be compensated by spade club, and I don’t mean with a free months membership or a red token.
At the very least spade club should consider a game between these 3 players for a WSOP entry, since they have no way now of making the 25k event at Bellagio since it is already underway.
I hope the members at spade club and here at the forum get behind these 3 players and try to get some kind of justice for them.
As spadeclubkenny once sarcastically said "Fair is Fair"