Pokémon player sacrifices $50k and World Championship title after making hand gesture on livestream

POKÉMON is widely thought of as a children’s game, however, it’s hugely popular with adults, particularly when it comes to competitive matches.

While the Junior and Senior categories are popular with hundreds of participants, the 16+ category, known as Masters, is by far the most popular.

Over 1.1k players competed in the Pokémon Trading Card Games’ Masters category, with more than 600 Masters participating in the Video Game Competition.

With the most players, TCG also has the biggest prize pool as the winner will take home $50k (£40k), however, there are cash prizes for the top 32 players.

Those who come between second and thirty-second place can take home between $5k (£4k) and $30k (£20k) in cash.

The top 32 players also win numerous other prizes such as packs of TCG cards and Pokémon merch worth hundreds if not thousands.

There’s a lot on the line for the TCG competitors, which is why people prepare for months for the event.

While everyone is desperate to take home the prize, one mistake led to a top 8 player being eliminated.

Ian Robb of the US was having an excellent run at the Pokémon World's Championship, winning 11 games and taking just two losses.

He faced off against Fernando Cifuentes in the top 8 match, which was chosen to be shown on the official Pokémon livestream.

Robb had a convincing win over Cifuentes, beating him in the first two games of the set, meaning that there was no need to go to a third game.

Immediately after Robb won the match, he turned to the crowd and allegedly made an obscene gesture to celebrate.

While some believe it was supposed to be a gesture for shaking and rolling dice, The Pokémon Company ruled it obscene and handed Robb the match loss.

At this stage of the tournament it is single elimination, meaning that the match loss saw him eliminated from the tournament.

For his top 8 place Robb won $15k (£12k) but would have won at least $20k ($15k) if he had been awarded the win.

Cifuentes went on to win the whole tournament, earning $50k (£40k) as the grand prize.

Robb says that he is happy for Cifuentes and harbours no ill will against him for being given the win.

He wrote on Twitter: “I’m cheering for him (Cifuentes) today.

“After meeting him and his dad I could tell how much making cut (top 8) at Worlds meant. He’s a deserving champion.”

If you want to read more about the game, check out all the announcements from the Pokémon World Championships 2024.