The 1995 Championship Controversy

Did the finals end fairly?

While Landon “The Slam” Skilling walked away with the 1995 U.S. Championship trophy, not everyone agreed the final match was decided on skill alone.

Runner-up Chloe Donovan didn’t hold back in his post-match comments, hinting at what she believed was an unfair advantage.

“I’ve played against Landon before, and something felt off in that final,” Donovan said after the match. “The way the stack was breaking… it just didn’t react like it should have.”

Donovan’s frustration centered around Skilling’s slammer, which he claimed behaved differently than expected during key moments of the match. While no official rules were broken, Donovan suggested that Skilling may have been using a modified or unusually weighted slammer—something that wasn’t strictly regulated at the time.

“There needs to be consistency,” Donovan continued. “If we’re all playing the same game, then we should all be playing under the same conditions.”

Skilling, for his part, dismissed the claims entirely.

“A win’s a win,” he said in a brief response. “Everyone had the same chance out there.”

Tournament officials stood by the results, stating that all equipment used fell within the loose guidelines of the era. Still, the controversy sparked debate across the competitive POG community and led to increased scrutiny of equipment rules in the years that followed.

To this day, the 1995 championship remains one of the most talked-about finals—not just for the gameplay, but for the tension that followed.