As has always been the case, Star City Games respects and adheres to all DCI rules and policies regarding our DCI-sanctioned events. This allows players who are currently under DCI investigation to continue playing in DCI-sanctioned events, as the system presumes you are innocent until proven guilty.

Due to the amount of time that is required for these investigations to complete, tournament organizers can be put in the difficult situation in which players currently under investigation win prizes, then end up suspended by the DCI upon the investigation's resolution. The exact situation I just described happened at this past weekend's Invitational in Charlotte, but I believe it is morally wrong to award any prizes, let alone a $10,000 check, to a player under this circumstance.

In order to ensure that this situation will never happen again, I am instituting the following StarCityGames.com Open Series Prize Policy, effective immediately:

STARCITYGAMES.COM OPEN SERIES PRIZE POLICY

In accordance with DCI Policy, players under DCI Investigation will be eligible to play in Star City Games Open Series events. However, any player who is the subject of an open DCI Investigation will have his or her StarCityGames.com Open Series prizes and Player's Club benefits held until the conclusion of the investigation. In the event that a player is suspended, all prizes and benefits earned during that period will be donated to charity. In the event the investigation is resolved without a suspension, all StarCityGames.com Open Series prizes and Player's Club benefits earned during that period will be issued to the player within ten (10) business days of the resolution of the investigation.

Star City Games will attempt to contact any player with at least one (1) Open Series Point in the current or previous Open Series season by e-mail or through the DCI website in the event that he or she becomes the subject of an open DCI Investigation. Failure to receive this message does not exempt a player from the withholding of prizes and StarCityGames.com Player's Club benefits.

In accordance with this policy, I will not be awarding Alex Bertoncini with any cash prizes or appearance fees from the Charlotte Invitational. Instead,I will be donating all cash prizes and appearance fees Alex was scheduled to receive from the Charlotte Invitational (totaling $10,250) directly to the Child's Play charity, an organization that provides toys and games to children in hospitals across the world.

I am also stripping Alex of the titles of Charlotte Invitational Champion and 2011 StarCityGames.com Player of the Year. The 2011 StarCityGames.com Invitational: Charlotte Champion is now Adam Prosak. The 2011 StarCityGames.com Player of the Year is now Gerry Thompson. I congratulate both players on their excellent performances in both the Invitational and during the 2011 Open Series season. I wish them both the best and hope to see them at future StarCityGames.com Open Series events.

As always, please feel free to post any feedback in the comments section below.

Best wishes,

Pete Hoefling
President, StarCityGames.com