Three weeks ago, StoxPoker.com founder and high stakes poker pro Nick Grudzien admitted to using multiple accounts on Full Tilt and PokerStars but denied charges that he was colluding. Earlier today, NoahSD posted a detailed investigative report on the 2+2 high stakes forum proving the accusations to be true.
The full report, which you can see here, is a detailed analysis of the preflop play between the suspected players. Noah also produced a summary of his report that you can see here.
Noah showed that Nick Grudzien colluded with his friend and business partner Robert Papps by analyzing the number of times they 3-bet against each other compared to against other players. He showed that the variation in their play could not be justified through strategic reasons or through random chance. His post was met with wide acclaim and applause from the 2+2 community, who confirmed his analysis and thanked him for his work. They also heavily criticized Full Tilt and PokerStars, who were alerted that the players were colluding over a year ago, but failed to properly investigate the situation.
While colluding, Grudzien played under his false accounts “40putts” on Full Tilt and “knockstiff” PokerStars. His friend played as “Kinetica” and “LittleZen.” Both of the players employed a short stack strategy. Under this type of play, a player generally plays with a 20BB stack and either shoves or folds against preflop opening raises. Noah’s analysis showed that they only 3-bet 1-2% of hands when playing against each other. This represents a range of KK+, AK, which is far lower than against any other players, and far too low to make sense with their strategies.
Noah found that these two players put in more hands against each other than against anyone else, sat next to each other whenever possible, and had highly correlated session times. He also proved that these stats could not reasonably have occurred by random chance. He undertook this investigation and report because he was outraged by Grudzien’s actions and by Full Tilt and PokerStars failure to detect the cheating.
Some posters pointed out that Noah’s analysis clearly shows softplaying, but not colluding. In response, Noah said that the only difference is a matter of intention, and that “if you have to prove intention in order to prove collusion, then we’d never be able to prove that people colluded unless they were dumb enough to admit it.” He added, “I proved that they played exactly like cheaters would. I showed that they had no rational reason for doing this except to cheat.”
2+2 Sponsored Coach “boywonder” called the report “Very clearly outlined deductive work… I could see that they were colluding without a doubt, and this proves that without that evidence having to be released.” He too criticized the two poker networks, demanding that the accounts be frozen and all money used to refund the players they colluded against. “If refunds are not made, I would expect Stars to make their investigation public and refute the evidence brought forward here by Noah,” he said.
Noah and the 2+2 community is still awaiting a response from Full Tilt and PokerStars. Grudzien has not responded to the report, and there is no word on whether or not the disputed money is still in his online accounts.
Thanks to Noah and his associates for their excellent work revealing this scandal.
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