Josh Field

Josh Field Poker

I have recently noticed that my blog post about Josh "JJProdigy" Field being banned for life by PokerStars is the most read post in the history of my blog. So for those of you who haven't read it, here it is again below. For those of you who have read it, skip down to my main post today: "Advocates of Online Poker."

Josh Field Poker Cheating:

More online poker scam related issues!

First, just like many of you, PokerStars didn't buy Josh Field's apology for his multiple-accounting gig. Now he's gone from multi-accounts to nada-accounts, at least as far as PokerStars is concerned. He's even booted from their land-based tournaments. Field's next move? I can't say for sure, but you can bet your every last account that he will have one. Here's how it went down:

One of the world's most popular online poker rooms, PokerStars.com, has announced that it has permanently banned a young player from not only using its website but also its land-based tournaments after he was found to be holding multiple accounts, a practice frowned upon by the online gambling community.

The player, 18-year-old Josh Field, is known in the poker room as 'JJProdigy' and had already qualified online to play in PokerStars.com’s Caribbean Adventure lucrative land casino event this Saturday.

Field issued an apology on various well-known online poker forums last week for multi-accounting but management at PokerStars.com took a decision to kick him off the website as well as prevent him from playing in any further live poker events including the Caribbean Adventure.

It is thought that many online poker players from around the world put pressure on PokerStars.com to ban the player once his transgressions became public as a clear indication of the poker fraternity’s 'zero tolerance' attitude towards unscrupulous players and cheats.

PokerStars.com’s Caribbean Adventure is to take place at the Atlantis Casino and Resort in the Bahamas from January 5 to 10 with millions of dollars in cash prizes up for grabs.

T6 POKER SPAT WITH TONY G AND PokerWiki

It started with this from PokerWiki:

T6Poker

Poker sites launched in December 2007 by the company 1oz Group. According to their ads the site will "change the poker business" and the goal is to "become one of the largest poker sites in the world within six months". Freerolls started in December 2007 and cash games are promised from January 1 2008. Still, T6Poker claims to give away prizes totaling €4.4 million in December 2007 and January 2008.
According to an article by Swedish poker profile Ola Brandborn in the Swedish Daily Expressen T6Poker is a suspected ponzi (or pyramid) scheme. The public is offered profit shares (not stocks) of T6Poker which are said to be "limited in supply" and that will "probably be sold out within a month."
Other notable characteristics of T6Poker include:

1. The client is downloaded from an anonymous file sharing site (Rapid Share),
2. The company's Internet domain is registered anonymously,
3. The company (AlistonPrice) can be found on the warning list of the Swedish
Financial Supervisory Authority (Finansinspektionen) but changed its name in
November-December 2007 to 1oz Group.

Now Tony G:

Professional poker player Tony ‘Tony G’ Guoga responded today on his blog to charges, raised on various poker forums, against online poker room T6 Poker. Guoga recently signed a one-year deal to endorse the room.
Questions about the credibility of T6 were first raised by PokerWiki in their article on T6

My announcement yesterday brought comments that need to be resolved. Concerns for the good of internet poker are important, but the facts are important also, and I want to clear up a few things.

I know that Torben Hubertz is behind T6 Poker. When I search, I get the name of the owner of the site so your information is not correct, you can find the same information I did and it’s public record:
I have seen this claim before but this is untrue, the owner of T6 Poker is not hidden. There is an attack on this person by some people in the poker industry. It’s pretty normal and you can find people bashing and poker site shredding in every forum on the internet. I have not had one person say that he or she was scammed by T6 Poker.

I am not involved in T6 Poker – other than being part of the Pro Team. I don’t own any part of the site. When I signed a deal with them it was a professional deal to play for the site for 1 year and I will evaluate everything with time.
From my point of view, I want new sites in the poker market and T6 Poker is currently the biggest spender there is so they are spending money; they really want T6 Poker to be a real site and not any kind of scam.
T6 Poker just redesigned their software and launched the new poker program on January 1st. The comment about their security and safety for players should be addressed by reading about the actual security involved.
I am not a scammer. I believe in new enterprise and the poker market. I will be playing at T6 Poker. I want you to join me there. My bike’s parked outside, if you need a ride, just let me know.

P.S. The linked comment in the previous post goes to Wikia.com. Wikia.com is an ad based site, collecting revenue, and the opinions stated there may not be completely unbiased. The main user/creator of poker.wikia.com is PhillipR. The following is his statement of introduction about poker.wikia.com:

“Hi. I’m part of a team of a few volunteers from 2+2 who are driving this project because we think this has the potential to be a really great resource. That doesn’t mean this is a dictatorship, or even an oligarchy. Consensus and cooperation are essential to Wiki Culture and this community should be no different.”
The statement has merit, but as with all things you read, arm yourself with actual knowledge and keep an open mind.

Now Me:

Well, all this online poker scandaling is getting a little bit much, isn't it?


ADVOCATES FOR ONLINE POKER:

Online poker has many advocates using many venues to decry the absurd policies of the federal government regarding online play; Thursday an eloquent voice was heard in a new setting. Charles Nesson, professor at Harvard's renowned law school, appeared on "The Colbert Report" on the Comedy Central Network.

Political satirist Stephen Colbert had Nesson on to explain his belief that online poker is getting a raw deal from lawmakers. Nesson stated,"...it is my mission to legitimize poker as a teaching tool, a learning tool... Poker is the quintessential American game." He went on to give poker credit as a frontier invention, begun on Mississippi riverboats even as it is played today.

Nesson pointed out that, while playing online is not currently illegal, the transfer of funds by banks or credit card companies to gambling sites is, and further noted that, in his home state of Massachusetts, a bill before the state legislature has a provision to penalize online players with up to two years in jail; not coincidentally, this is Governor Patrick's bill seeking to legalize three land casino licenses in the state.

Nesson also praised poker's value as a device to teach strategy and risk management, and argued poker is unfairly lumped in with games of chance in which house odds make the prospects of long-term winning very dim. Poker, according to the professor, is a game of skill with multi-tiered levels of reasoning. Nesson expressed a desire to teach an open-elective course online featuring poker strategies, from the simplest to the most complex.

When Colbert reacted somewhat skeptically, Nesson made an interesting proposition: invite the Presidential candidates on the show to play poker against the host and each other. Certainly viewers could learn a great deal about the various Democrats and Republicans by how they played their hands. Economics, foreign relations, and political skill could all be demonstrated and seen through the revealing prism of poker. It could be expected that Hillary Clinton would be the one cheating and dealing from the bottom of the deck, given her about-faces over voter issues in Nevada, Michigan, and Florida.

Nesson made an interesting proposition: invite the Presidential candidates on the show to play poker against the host and each other.

Hey, my idea: Make it a freezeout and whoever wins get the first prize of becoming president! No election necessary.