In the middle of the WSOP, several professional players filed a class action lawsuit against the World Poker Tour, alleging that the release the WPT requires players to sign is overly broad, and infringes on existing merchandising agreements many top professional players have. Without signing the release, the players are not allowed to play in WPT events, and the players allege that the WPT "and its partner casinos have unlawfully conspired to eliminate competition, and violated the intellectual property rights of these players," according to a story at PokerNews earlier this year.

The suit created quite a firestorm, with many at the World Poker Tour asserting that players wouldn't have merchandising opportunities if the WPT hadn't helped spread their popularity, a claim that is a bit specious when applied to players like Joe Hachem, Greg Raymer, and Chris Moneymaker, who are widely-known because of their WSOP achievements.

Today, the World Poker Tour responded to the lawsuit, and once again Poker News is on the case with the following observation: "The most interesting portion of the 22 page answer filed yesterday by WPT counsel is the WPT actually attempts to turn the tables. One portion of the answer asserts that any of the players in this suit that are affiliated with, or participate in the business decision making process of an online poker room are actually putting the WPT at an unfair advantage. The answer asserts that by participating in profits reaped by accepting US bettors via their online poker site, these players put the WPT at a competitive disadvantage."

You can read John Caldwell's report and try to wrap your head around the WPT's response via the link below.

Please note that CardSquad.com will not be responsible for any damage resulting from heads exploding when readers attempt to understand the World Poker Tour's convoluted response.