Casual poker fans may not realize that the Rio is not the only host to a November Nine this weekend. The final table of the Partouche Poker Tour Cannes event is set to resume play after a lengthy hiatus and play down to a winner as well, but they will be doing so with only eight players, as one of the competitors has been disqualified for cheating.

News coming out of Cannes is that German player Ali Tekintamgac has been removed from the final table. According to a report from the Partouche Poker Blog and several European poker outlets, the tournament staff reviewed video footage from early days of the tournament and discovered evidence of Tekintamgac working with fake journalists and bloggers who were feeding him information about his opponents’ holdings using signals.

The video evidence was compelling enough to disqualify Tekintamgac and, according to several sites reporting from Cannes including Poker Nyhederne and 01men.com, the matter is being turned over to local law enforcement who will be investigating Tekintamgac on charges of fraud.

Partouche will begin the final table eight-handed and the organization informed the media that all players will be guaranteed eighth place prize money and the ninth place payout will either go to charity or be divided amongst the remaining players, which include Fabrice Soulier, Tobias Reinkemeier, Soren Kongsgaard, and Vanessa Selbst, who will begin the final table with the chip lead. Tekintamgac was set to begin final table play fourth in chips. Instead, his chips will be removed from play.

This is not the first time Tekintamgac has been at the center of the cheating controversy. Earlier this year, rumors were swirling at the EPT Tallinn event that he was conspiring with bloggers in a similar fashion. Media on hand for the tournament confirmed that reporters had their credentials revoked during the tournament, but Tekintamgac, who finished in 36th place in the tournament, was not disqualified from the event.

Many believe that a TwoPlusTwo thread authored by poker pro Shaun Deeb warning players that media members on the European circuit were helping players cheat is referring to Tekintamgac, but he never went on the record about which individuals were involved in the rumors. Deeb could not be reached for comment at time of posting.

The Partouche final table is set to play out to a winner on Saturday November 6th at the Palm Beach Casino in Cannes. Here are the chip counts and seat assignments for the eight players remaining in the event:

Seat 1: Tommi Etelapera – 3,129,000
Seat 2: Soren Konsgaard – 1,073,000
Seat 3: empty
Seat 4: Raouf Ibrahim – 3,492,000
Seat 5: Cyril André – 600,000
Seat 6: Raphael Kroll – 2,390,000
Seat 7: Vanessa Selbst – 3,951,000
Seat 8: Tobias Reinkemeier – 819,000
Seat 9: Fabrice Soulier – 3,652,000

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