Poker Pro Steve O’Dwyer Slams Late Reg Abuse as Soft Cheating

Most poker tournaments are fairly tolerant of latecomers and would sometimes even allow a player to register once the late registration period has closed. Not everyone is on board with this, however, as one poker pro vented his frustration about players who abuse this tolerance.

O’Dwyer Says Being Late on Purpose Is “Soft Cheating”

Steve O’Dwyer, an Irish-American professional poker player, expressed his frustration with the fact that tournament organizers aren’t strict enough. He was especially angry with his fellow poker pro Daniel Smiljkovic who is allegedly abusing the system to the detriment of other players.

In a post on X, O’Dwyer critiqued tournament organizers and directors, saying that they should be stricter and never seat players once the late registration period has closed. He went further, calling out those who abuse this leniency and labeling them “parasites.”

O’Dwyer’s rant stems from Smiljkovic’s recent failure to show up at the recent Irish Open 10K on time. According to the former player, his German competitor was seated a whopping 16 minutes after late reg closed. However, O’Dwyer implied that this isn’t the first time Smiljkovic has done that.

He does this everywhere he goes and gets away with it because of the good graces of the TD’s who aren’t wise the fact that he soft cheats us everywhere he goes.

Steve O’Dwyer

In the comment section, Max Silver confirmed that he also saw Smiljkovic appearing 10 minutes after late reg in a separate tournament.

Organizers Should Be Stricter, According to O’Dwyer

O’Dwyer emphasized that tournament organizers and directors should be stricter when it comes to tackling “soft cheating.” He and other players have long argued for stricter late reg procedures at certain events. According to him, several events, such as EPT Paris, PokerDream Jeju and Triton have responded well to this criticism and late reg-related problems are no longer an issue there.

Modern tournament apps make it very easy to know exactly how much time is left on the clock to reg, there is absolutely no excuse for a player to walk up to reg 1 second before it closes and stall as long as possible before being seated.

Steve O’Dwyer

O’Dwyer acknowledged that sometimes people are truly late but noted that, unfortunately, not everyone can be trusted.

O’Dwyer tagged Matt Savage, a major tournament director, and said that he hopes Savage can “take the reigns” and make sure TD’s everywhere are aware of the issue.