This year’s One Drop was the most anticipated event of the year, partly because a group of Macau high stakes players were scheduled to come to Vegas and join the one Drop, and the huge cash games. However, they were absent, and the reason is quite interesting.If rumors are true, the "Macau Boys" decided to skip the event because of an argument with One Drop founder and billionaire Guy Laliberté.
Laliberté flew to Macau with a friend to participate in the famous "Big Game", a huge high stakes cash game that runs in the StarWorld Casino in Macau. Allegedly, Guy left after a few hours and vouched for his friend, who proceeded to lose $4 million during the session, then left the country without settling the debt.
The Macau crew went to Guy to settle, but he refused, stating that it was not his responsibility to pay up.
The language barrier probably prevented the players and Guy to clear up what Guy meant by "vouching" for his friend. Guy probably refused the payment, because he only invited the friend to the game, but didn’t vouch for his losses, while the Macau crew thinks that since his friend didn’t pay up, Guy is responsible for the money.
The dispute led to 5-6 Macau businessmen missing the One Drop, also, a few people unregistered because they felt the field would be too strong without the recreational players, and at least two players who are known to be regular participants in the Big Game, Tom Dwan and Andrew Robl have probably missed the event so they don’t offend their friends, and cash-cows.
As a 2+2 forum poster, who has played a lot with Guy in private games puts it, "Guy has a very strong feeling of righteousness, and can’t lose", so after the arrest of Paul Phua, Richard Yong, and other Macau businessmen, rumors started about Guy’s involvement in the case.
Tom Hall, who frequently posts about the Macau high stakes scene, has posted shortly after his bustout from the One Drop that he will clarify what happened once he gets back home. After the arrests though, he posted again on the 2+2 forums and said:
"I cannot comment on anything before the hearings, but after that I will have some extremely interesting stories about the One Drop, previous Macau stuff, and the things that have led to this happening. Until that I just hope my friends get the best legal advice possible."
Tom Hall
