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Renowned UK Circuit player, Ali Mallu (left), was last week sensationally barred from all Grosvenor casinos.

Mallu, a popular figure among the UK scene, was given his ban sometime last week after an ‘incident’ at one of the Grosvenor casinos. However, seemingly unaware of his expulsion, Ali headed over to Grosvenor’s Sandcastle Casino in Blackpool this Friday to participate in their £300 No Limit Hold ‘Em Freezeout – an excellent competition that very generously added £3000 to the prizepool and attracted 96 runners.

As we all know, Ali is not only a highly successful player (his biggest win coming in 2003’s European Championship), but he's also often right up there with the chip leaders, so it was of no surprise to anyone when he returned for Day 2 with 135,000 and approximately 25% chips in play.

However, although Ali held this commanding position, Grosvenor Casino refused him entry, stating that he was ‘barred’ from the casino and therefore unable to play. As a result, Ali was awarded 9th place (£800) and his chips were removed from the table.

If only for the huge income he provides Grosvenor via the Blackjack table, Ali’s ban was a shock to everyone concerned, especially considering he was allowed to start the competition. However, it was later revealed that not only does it take a period of 72 hours for the ban to be implemented (my only guess would be that paperwork slows down the process), but also there was a slight lack of communication between both Grosvenor and Ali and within the Grosvenor chain itself that enabled this mishap to occur.

Of course, much speculation has been created over what crime Ali must have committed to be dealt so severely by Grosvenor, and whilst words such as ‘assault’ and ‘cheating’ have been mercilessly flying around, there are always two sides to every story, and the truth is that we may never know precisely what happened. In that sense, it is vital that we don’t jump to conclusions, for the integrity of both Ali and the Grosvenor chain.

What has caused even more debate, however, is the removal of his chips, the allocation of 9th prize and the players’ refusal to chop up the prizepool. Whilst many argue that they should have been distributed among the remaining players, some believe they ought to have remained on the table with Ali taking home the prize for whatever position he subsequently finished in.

On the Blonde Forum, the following comments were made:

James ‘Royal Flush’ Dempsey: “It's such a bizarre situation, I think leaving them like he was late in arriving is probably the right thing. If I were one of the other 8 I would press for a 9 way chip count and distribute the money purely based on chips, it's the right thing to do in my opinion.”

Tom ‘Red-Dog’ McCready: “IMHO, If they let him start the comp, they must let him finish, UNLESS he commits an offence after he has started.”

Richard ‘TightEnd’ Prew: “If I was one of the 8 remaining, I'd be arguing loud and strong for a nine way chop out of fairness to a competitor hard done by. Unfashionable maybe. Equitable? I think so.”

Keith ‘The Camel’ Hawkins: “The only fair decision would be to leave his chips in play and let him get him anted away. The players who refused to chop on chip counts should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.”

Ron ‘Mad Yank’ Finelli: “Asking other players to chop/not play it out is unfair to them. If the 8 agreed on it fine, as TD I'd be happy about it, but I don't see a compelling moral obligation to chop.”

And so, whilst the debate continues, so does Ali’s ban, and thus we have lost a great character from the Grosvenor events. It may be a while before we hear the word ‘Mallued’ in a Grosvenor live update, but you never know. We’ll keep you updated on any further updates on what has become an intriguing and eye opening story.