Here is what ESPN.com has to say about Josh Field JJProdigy and Online Poker Cheating.
By Gary Wise.
Turning 18 is a big moment in any man's life. Granted, these days it's not as honorary as it was in the age of the hunt, but you can vote, serve in the military, and in some countries, you can play poker anywhere you damn well please.
Recently, Josh Field hit the big one-eight. Before we get into who Josh is, can you think of any time when an 18th birthday ever registered in your mind in relation to poker? Each year, lists of up-and-coming soon-to-be 21-year-olds are compiled as we try to figure out who the next big thing at the World Series of Poker will be, but 18 is a whole other matter.
Field is a different story because he's emblematic of a lot of the problems within this industry. That's not to say he's responsible for them. He's a kid who was smart and cold and merciless enough to take advantage. Those familiar with Field's story will tell you he epitomizes the problems in the poker industry. They're right, but the problems in question are not the ones they're thinking of. Bear with me.
Josh Field
Jamie McDowell/PokerNews.com
Josh Field saw his first live action during the Aussie Millions.
Field is better known to many as "JJProdigy." It's his online alias that he once used at online tables. "Once used" because two years ago, he was caught multi-accounting and was made an example of, banned by PokerStars and PartyPoker and made a pariah by the online community he once called home.
Rather than take these developments as a calling to something more earnest, Field continued going with what he knew. "My immaturity again was working against me," he wrote in multiple online forums, confirmed by ESPN.com on Dec. 22, 2007. "I didn't think what I was doing was wrong. After that, it was a downward spiral. I was a fugitive in the online poker world. I used the reasoning, 'If I'm already a wanted man, I might as well maximize my value.'"
In the time since his actions first came to light, he's continued to break online poker rules by multi-accounting, purchasing accounts mid-tournament and gaming the system, all without showing much in the way of remorse. He apologized for his actions in that Dec. 22 posting, but without any reparations other than public embarrassment. After all, this is poker, where the object is to get the most money. In this particular version of the game, he was winning.
Justin Bonomo, a 22-year-old pro with experience in both the live and online poker worlds, wasn't impressed with that rationalization.
"In the history of poker, 'JJProdigy' is the only person to be publicly caught cheating more than once, and it was a lot more than once," he said. "I don't think JJ realizes, even now, that what he's done was wrong. I wish he would realize the damage that cheating does, not only to his opponents, but to the image and health of poker as a game."
[+] Enlarge
Justin Bonomo
Joy K. Miller
Justin Bonomo has had his own share of problems in the online realm, but has apologized for his actions numerous times.
Bonomo knows of what he speaks, because he used to be a "JJProdigy." He was banned from multiple sites for the same offenses, also around the same time Field was. Not surprisingly, in poker circles, their names have become synonymous. The difference however, is that Bonomo has expressed continued regret for his past actions, constantly taking steps to not only repair his once-fractured image, but also to educate the poker community about the mind-set behind cheating and how it might be prevented.
The reception to Field's writings was divided. On one hand, he was unrepentant and therefore undeserving of forgiveness. On the other, there was the realization that for all of the rule-breaking he's done and the monies gained through illicit dealings, there was no punishment. Cheat the system for a few years, apologize for a few years and move on. That's what Field was attempting to do, without so much as giving a penny back.
It was when Field mentioned in another post that he'd be going to the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure a week after his 18th birthday (which made him legal to play in some live tournaments abroad) when a backlash began. PokerStars was flooded by complaints and as an apparent reaction to public demand, released a message to concerned players (and ESPN.com) which informed Field he would not be allowed to play in its event. Field adapted and decided that his first live tournament would be played at the 2008 Aussie Millions.
It was there he did two interviews that caught the community's attention . The first was with Amanda Leatherman for pokernews.com and the second was an appearance on Poker Road Radio, the Joe Sebok/Gavin Smith/Bart Hansen show hosted online. Both interviews threw Field some soft-toss questions, not shying away from the tough subjects but not condemning him for his actions, either.
It was after the two interviews when Dani "Ansky" Stern had enough. Stern, a 21-year-old pillar of the online poker community, wrote a long, passionate, frustrated diatribe about how the interviews had let Field off too easy and how the community should not. He called out to players to be more vigilant in ostracizing those few who would remind the world of poker's checkered past instead of embracing the newer, cleaner game. He also called out industry leaders to come together to ensure players like Field would not go unpunished.
"The casinos are brutally efficient in weeding out the card counters, they even keep records with rival casinos about the card counters because it suits both their interests to do so," he wrote. "If someone is caught counting cards at the Bellagio on Monday, do you think he will be able to walk into the Venetian the next week? Fat chance.
"Card counters are not cheaters, and yet they are so vigilantly and unequivocally barred from casinos. Yet known cheaters are banned from one site and not the next, or are banned from one tournament and not the next. Why is there no unity amongst the casinos or the sites in this case, but such fervor for unity in the case of card counters? Oh right, money, it's always about money, and never integrity. Card counters win money from the casinos, multi-accounters and cheaters pay rake just like everyone else, they are only stealing from us. This is why the burden is on the PLAYERS to pressure the casinos, the sites, and even TV networks to be harsher about this, and why people like JJProdigy should not feel comfortable enough to sit down face to face with two important figures in the poker community."
There weren't a lot of answers in Stern's post. It was more an attempt to wake the world up and inspire some action. In reading through Stern's and Field's writings, one thought kept screaming through my mind: "Who cares?"
Harsh? Yeah. I mean, I obviously don't want these actions to occur, and more importantly, the offending players aren't being punished. Like Stern wrote, it's all about the money. As far as the short term is concerned, caring for the state of the game is not a profitable endeavor. The answer to "Who cares?" is "The wrong people."
I've long held to a theory about poker players in business doing business like poker players. Accustomed in their time at the felt to employing a "me against the world" mentality, they often (or so the theory goes) allow that mentality to supersede other logical progressions in their business dealings. "Grab as big a piece of the pie for me while I can. Rake in those pots. Let someone else worry about the greater good, I'm here to make money."
There are exceptions to the rule, but their pleas often fall on deaf ears, and that leaves an industry that exists in a cyber Wild West vacuum. Without a regulatory body, everyone makes their own rules and those rules only fall over the scope that the rule-makers survey.
There are no real solutions here. After all, I'm just a lowly writer sitting on my perch commenting on the big things other people should do. The thing is, if I were one of the folks sitting on an eight- or nine-figure bankroll, looking at the game that had attained me that lofty station, I'd want to do something for the good of the game, even if that wasn't commensurate with profitability. Knowing I feel that way, I take the prerogative and wonder why those folks have done no such thing.
Poker remains to this day a world divided: WSOP and WPT, Bluff and CardPlayer, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, the biggest islands in the lawless industry ocean. If these entities stopped focusing on beating the other guy for just a minute of each day, it would mean so much to the long-term health of the game.
A regulatory body supported by, funded by, but not answering to industry biggies could codify the rules of the game and the punishments for breaking them. It could blanket the players in a measure of security. The relationship between regulatory body and poker room would benefit the latter in being recognized by the former. Is there any way to ensure rogues don't try to get their piece of the pie? No, but at least the prospective player would know the risks they'd take by taking a seat with an unrecognized entity. Any company donating either time or money toward this endeavor would gain the benefits of being recognized as an industry pillar that wants to better things for all of us.
Greg Raymer, the 2004 World Series of Poker main event champion, has been one of the few TV pros who has been open-mouthed with their disdain for Field's actions, vigilant in his referrals to them as criminal activity. On the idea of our autonomous body, he's cautiously optimistic.
Greg 'Fossilman' Raymer
Ethan Miller/Getty Images
Greg Raymer believes online players would be less likely to cheat if there were known major repercussions.
"Anything we can do to make cheating more difficult is going to be a deterrent," he said. "There are always going to be people who try to cheat the system, but knowing there are real ramifications for those actions might stop them before they start."
Raymer points out there are many little issues that would need to be handled. Overshadowing them all, however, is the reality that this is an industry in which the money is the scorekeeper, so chucking some cash at "the good of the game" endeavors is about as likely as I am to find the money needed to start such a project in a jacket pocket.
Bonomo agrees, however, that our hypothetical organization's existence would go a long way toward stopping cheating at its roots: "A set of standardized rules could eliminate the gray areas of cheating. Once everything is defined as right or wrong, it becomes a lot harder to justify the wrong."
Cheating, unfortunately, is inherently human. We as a species are never wholly content to sit on our laurels when there are advantages offered, especially without matching consequences. It's frustrating to know that players like Field have cheated, but if it weren't him, it would be someone else, and then someone else and then someone else. It's also inherently human to strike out at those few individuals who tarnish the game in loud, emotional but ultimately forgotten strokes. Companies of massive standing have the power to be inhuman, to do the things that individuals can't for the greater and enduring good. The real blame should be placed on the shoulders of those with the power to make change that aren't seizing the opportunity. Until they do so, the Josh Field's of the world won't have much to disincline them from doing what they do.
I hope I'm wrong. Happy birthday, Josh.
Gary Wise is a regular contributor to ESPN.com, Bluff magazine, worldseriesofpoker.com and other publications. His podcast, Wise Hand Poker Radio, can be heard at roundersradio.com and airs at 8 p.m. Wednesdays.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Daniel Negreanu lashes out at Josh Field JJProdigy and cheating!
Daniel Negreanu: JJ Prodigy Josh Field "may grow up someday."
Daniel Negreanu concluded a recent blog post about cheater JJ Prodigy by saying, “It is a real shame that the poker world hasn’t advanced enough so that we can keep a kid like that from playing in live events. It’s a shame that we can’t keep him from playing online. It’s a shame that there are no concrete penalties for what he did.”
In what reads as a personal and pondered reaction to the Poker Road interview in which JJ basically said he’d cheat in the future, Negreanu compared him to Justin Bonomo, another player caught cheating, who reacted by apologizing and changing his ways. Excerpt from Daniel’s post:
Let me start by saying this: I don’t know the kid. He may grow up some day and be an upstanding citizen, but he SHOULD have a lot of work to do in order to earn any kind of acceptance in the poker world. His ban at both FTP and PokerStars are totally just.
You see, this isn’t a kid who got caught cheating, realized it was wrong, apologized, and then turned a new leaf. No, this kid went balls to the wall and did it even more. He said that in the interview. To be capable of that, you couldn’t possibly care about “doing the right thing.” You couldn’t possibly have legitimate remorse for what you did.
Again, I don’t know the kid, but my instincts just from listening to him actually speak about the issue is that he is a liar that still has no idea what he is going to do about what he’s done.
Daniel Negreanu concluded a recent blog post about cheater JJ Prodigy by saying, “It is a real shame that the poker world hasn’t advanced enough so that we can keep a kid like that from playing in live events. It’s a shame that we can’t keep him from playing online. It’s a shame that there are no concrete penalties for what he did.”
In what reads as a personal and pondered reaction to the Poker Road interview in which JJ basically said he’d cheat in the future, Negreanu compared him to Justin Bonomo, another player caught cheating, who reacted by apologizing and changing his ways. Excerpt from Daniel’s post:
Let me start by saying this: I don’t know the kid. He may grow up some day and be an upstanding citizen, but he SHOULD have a lot of work to do in order to earn any kind of acceptance in the poker world. His ban at both FTP and PokerStars are totally just.
You see, this isn’t a kid who got caught cheating, realized it was wrong, apologized, and then turned a new leaf. No, this kid went balls to the wall and did it even more. He said that in the interview. To be capable of that, you couldn’t possibly care about “doing the right thing.” You couldn’t possibly have legitimate remorse for what you did.
Again, I don’t know the kid, but my instincts just from listening to him actually speak about the issue is that he is a liar that still has no idea what he is going to do about what he’s done.
Canadian Poker Players Canadian Poker Cheaters
I recently wrote an article for Canadian Poker Player Magazine in which I contrasted poker cheating between Canadian cheaters and cheating in Canada and American cheaters and cheating in America. Here's the article:
HAVE CANADIAN CARDSHARPS BROKEN INTO POKER CHEATING’S BIG LEAGUES?
When I was a kid I was a diehard hockey fan. My favorite team was the New York Rangers and I followed them devoutly. But as a teenager my interest in the NHL began to wane. For a funny reason. Not that my fascination for the game had diminished but rather I learned that none of the players on my beloved New York hockey team were American. For that matter, neither were the vast majority of the remaining players in the league. I learned that they were mostly Canadians with a speckling of Europeans. Not that I was jingoistic about anything American, but I just thought it strange that a professional sport with most of its franchises in America was peopled by ninety-nine percent foreigners. Somehow that bothered me.
Why am I talking about hockey and how does it relate to poker cheating? Well, obviously it doesn’t but it does recall an e-mail I received from a young Canadian poker player last month. He explained that he was contemplating quitting his day job in Toronto and packing his bags to hit the poker circuit south of the border, mainly in Las Vegas and California. His specialty was high-limit cash games and he’d been playing successfully at the poker tables at Rama, Windsor and Niagara. He said he’d read about me in the Toronto Star in which I’d commented about the huge baccarat scam that had hit Canadian casinos and was busted last May, and he’d figured I’d be the right person to ask his questions.
Getting ready to embark on a career as well as a location change, the young Canadian wanted to know two things: if there was more cheating in American brick and mortar poker rooms than those in Canada and whether Canadian players represented poker’s cheating ranks in numbers proportional to their population. He specified that his second question was posed merely out of his curiosity while the first was of sheer importance. Obviously the cheating factor weighed on his decision whether to emigrate to the US in search of a better poker future.
Reading his e-mail, my childhood hockey-rooting days came to mind, which then accelerated to the present-day NHL. There are now many Americans playing in the NHL. But can we say that there is a parallel in the poker cheating ranks, that Canadians are now abundant in this dirty world? There is no question that thirty years ago, when American-born NHL hockey players were at an extreme premium, cheating at poker was as dominated by American poker players as hockey was by Canadian players. This was not surprising as poker itself in Canada was much less prevalent than in the US, albeit not quite as rare as the sport of curling was in the Fifty States. There were few Canadian professional poker players among the likes of American legends such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim. Chances of a Canadian cardsharp in the mix of some of Vegas’s most notorious poker games were just that—slim. But as the game has tremendously grown in popularity, even more so in Canada than the US if one looks at demographics, Canadian poker players have appeared on the pro circuits just as stunningly as American hockey players did in the NHL.
But what about Canadian cheaters? Have they as well kept pace? Well, this is a question that is not as readily answered as the obvious expansion of poker in Canada and Canadian players. But I do have a way of measuring it. Many people who read the blog on my website richardmarcusbooks.com report both confirmed and suspected cheating incidents in brick and mortar poker rooms. As my book “Dirty Poker” has been just as available in Canadian bookstores and Amazon Canada as it has been in American bookstores and Amazon US, and as I write for both Canadian Poker Player and American poker magazines, I get equal exposure proportionate to the populations of both countries, therefore, I can derive a pretty fair opinion based on the e-mails I get from players on either side of the border. Based on reports and suspicions of collusion play, card-switching, card-marking and tournament cheating that includes chip-dumping and softplay, there is no question that—and for you Canadians this is good news—cheating incidents in direct proportion to US cardrooms are happening less in Canadian cardrooms. By following mathematical formulas based on the number of rooms, tables and players in each country and dividing them by the number of estimated Americans and Canadians who play live poker, and then inserting the cheating complaints into the equation, I feel quite confident with my statement. My overall conclusion is that you are less likely to be cheated at any given time at a Canadian poker table than a US one, including in tournament play.
Why? Does it have something to do with the fact that in general US cash games and tournaments have higher limits and prize money? Most definitely yes. And I would say that those Canadian cheaters who do cheat on a professional level have basically done the same thing my young Canadian e-mailer is planning to do—emigrate to the United States. Which brings us back to his second question asking whether Canadian players make up a percentage of professional cheaters equivalent to their population. Well, on this front the answer is not as benevolent to the Canadian people. Although they do not yet quite match up to their demographic numbers, Canadian cheaters are growing in population and will probably catch up to their American counterparts. Although I cannot mention names, there have been several incidents coming to me where the suspected cheaters were Canadians, even a woman or two. I can say this, however: in nearly all of these incidents the poker room where this questionable activity occurred was in the United States. So for all you honest players in Canada, rest assured that the vast majority of your not so honest compatriots have gone south.
What about online poker? Well that’s another story. You see, the histories of our two countries in that regard started at about the same time.
HAVE CANADIAN CARDSHARPS BROKEN INTO POKER CHEATING’S BIG LEAGUES?
When I was a kid I was a diehard hockey fan. My favorite team was the New York Rangers and I followed them devoutly. But as a teenager my interest in the NHL began to wane. For a funny reason. Not that my fascination for the game had diminished but rather I learned that none of the players on my beloved New York hockey team were American. For that matter, neither were the vast majority of the remaining players in the league. I learned that they were mostly Canadians with a speckling of Europeans. Not that I was jingoistic about anything American, but I just thought it strange that a professional sport with most of its franchises in America was peopled by ninety-nine percent foreigners. Somehow that bothered me.
Why am I talking about hockey and how does it relate to poker cheating? Well, obviously it doesn’t but it does recall an e-mail I received from a young Canadian poker player last month. He explained that he was contemplating quitting his day job in Toronto and packing his bags to hit the poker circuit south of the border, mainly in Las Vegas and California. His specialty was high-limit cash games and he’d been playing successfully at the poker tables at Rama, Windsor and Niagara. He said he’d read about me in the Toronto Star in which I’d commented about the huge baccarat scam that had hit Canadian casinos and was busted last May, and he’d figured I’d be the right person to ask his questions.
Getting ready to embark on a career as well as a location change, the young Canadian wanted to know two things: if there was more cheating in American brick and mortar poker rooms than those in Canada and whether Canadian players represented poker’s cheating ranks in numbers proportional to their population. He specified that his second question was posed merely out of his curiosity while the first was of sheer importance. Obviously the cheating factor weighed on his decision whether to emigrate to the US in search of a better poker future.
Reading his e-mail, my childhood hockey-rooting days came to mind, which then accelerated to the present-day NHL. There are now many Americans playing in the NHL. But can we say that there is a parallel in the poker cheating ranks, that Canadians are now abundant in this dirty world? There is no question that thirty years ago, when American-born NHL hockey players were at an extreme premium, cheating at poker was as dominated by American poker players as hockey was by Canadian players. This was not surprising as poker itself in Canada was much less prevalent than in the US, albeit not quite as rare as the sport of curling was in the Fifty States. There were few Canadian professional poker players among the likes of American legends such as Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim. Chances of a Canadian cardsharp in the mix of some of Vegas’s most notorious poker games were just that—slim. But as the game has tremendously grown in popularity, even more so in Canada than the US if one looks at demographics, Canadian poker players have appeared on the pro circuits just as stunningly as American hockey players did in the NHL.
But what about Canadian cheaters? Have they as well kept pace? Well, this is a question that is not as readily answered as the obvious expansion of poker in Canada and Canadian players. But I do have a way of measuring it. Many people who read the blog on my website richardmarcusbooks.com report both confirmed and suspected cheating incidents in brick and mortar poker rooms. As my book “Dirty Poker” has been just as available in Canadian bookstores and Amazon Canada as it has been in American bookstores and Amazon US, and as I write for both Canadian Poker Player and American poker magazines, I get equal exposure proportionate to the populations of both countries, therefore, I can derive a pretty fair opinion based on the e-mails I get from players on either side of the border. Based on reports and suspicions of collusion play, card-switching, card-marking and tournament cheating that includes chip-dumping and softplay, there is no question that—and for you Canadians this is good news—cheating incidents in direct proportion to US cardrooms are happening less in Canadian cardrooms. By following mathematical formulas based on the number of rooms, tables and players in each country and dividing them by the number of estimated Americans and Canadians who play live poker, and then inserting the cheating complaints into the equation, I feel quite confident with my statement. My overall conclusion is that you are less likely to be cheated at any given time at a Canadian poker table than a US one, including in tournament play.
Why? Does it have something to do with the fact that in general US cash games and tournaments have higher limits and prize money? Most definitely yes. And I would say that those Canadian cheaters who do cheat on a professional level have basically done the same thing my young Canadian e-mailer is planning to do—emigrate to the United States. Which brings us back to his second question asking whether Canadian players make up a percentage of professional cheaters equivalent to their population. Well, on this front the answer is not as benevolent to the Canadian people. Although they do not yet quite match up to their demographic numbers, Canadian cheaters are growing in population and will probably catch up to their American counterparts. Although I cannot mention names, there have been several incidents coming to me where the suspected cheaters were Canadians, even a woman or two. I can say this, however: in nearly all of these incidents the poker room where this questionable activity occurred was in the United States. So for all you honest players in Canada, rest assured that the vast majority of your not so honest compatriots have gone south.
What about online poker? Well that’s another story. You see, the histories of our two countries in that regard started at about the same time.
Borgata Open Classic in Full Swing...Cheating?
The Borgata Winter Open is in its second day today, and as of now I have not heard any rumors of cheating, either in the tournament or upstairs in the Borgata's hotel rooms. Why do I mention the hotel rooms? Well, for those of you who may have forgotten or never heard about, one of the biggest high-tech poker cheating scams ever got busted in one during the Borgata Summer Open Classic last June. It happened in a high-above-the-tournament hotel suite and was allegedly engineered by Steve Forte, the once revered casino cheating consultant who know finds himself charged with enough felonies to make a good poker hand. Steve Forte and his crew set up the suite with cameras in the walls to film players' hole cards in a very high-stakes private Texas hold'em game. The case is still being investigated and is shrouded in mystery as no one, including me, seems to be able to get to the bottom of it. The pervasive rumor is that Forte and his gang were setting up a big similar scam for the tournament itself, perhaps the reason for the hush-hush by New Jersey gaming authorities.
In any event, I haven't heard of anything suspicious going on there, but if you do, please let me know so that I can post it.
In any event, I haven't heard of anything suspicious going on there, but if you do, please let me know so that I can post it.
Facebook Poker Room!
Facebook has overtaken Myspace as the number one portal in social networking, and to help keep it ahead, Mark Zuckerberg and his people how add Facebook Poker to its network. The Facebook powered poker room, Ujogo, is the result of a study that concluded 30 million adults play free poker for about 3 hours a week, thus it became obvious that Facebook was the perfect portal for poker.
The biggest obstacle in front of them is of course the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), as Facebook is a very popular application in the US, but they appear to have skirted that issue by making the application free. No money is wagered and everyone starts with 1000 points, much like a play money game. Where this is different is that big prizes seem to be on offer for those who make it to the top of the leader board.
Although it is just essentially a play money application, there is no doubt that this will have a big impact on the poker industry. Facebook's own free Texas hold'em poker application is the third most active application on the site after being installed 5.4 million times and has over 370,000 players per day. The more players you refer the more free chips you get. This is in many ways the online version of Pub Poker, a free, points based social poker game which will ultimately bring a lot of new players to the real money tables.
Have some free fun at Facebook!
The biggest obstacle in front of them is of course the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), as Facebook is a very popular application in the US, but they appear to have skirted that issue by making the application free. No money is wagered and everyone starts with 1000 points, much like a play money game. Where this is different is that big prizes seem to be on offer for those who make it to the top of the leader board.
Although it is just essentially a play money application, there is no doubt that this will have a big impact on the poker industry. Facebook's own free Texas hold'em poker application is the third most active application on the site after being installed 5.4 million times and has over 370,000 players per day. The more players you refer the more free chips you get. This is in many ways the online version of Pub Poker, a free, points based social poker game which will ultimately bring a lot of new players to the real money tables.
Have some free fun at Facebook!
Monday, January 28, 2008
French Bank Scam Artist's Trading Scandal makes Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel my kind of guy!
$7.2 billion French Bank Fraud! That's 4.9 million euros. Jerome Kerviel is not only my type of scam artist, but what he did to Societe Generale with his unauthorized trades dwarfs what I did to French Casinos and American casinos into the world of petit! Wow! $7.2 billion! You could build the Bellagio, Venetian and maybe a few other casino megaresorts with that type of cash. I wonder how long he'd been planning that coup against the bank, or if he just started it one day on the spur of a moment and then decided to go with it. In any case, kudos for Mr. Kerviel or I should say Monsieur Kerviel! I should almost put him in my Casino Cheaters Hall of Fame for such a great ripoff but it didn't happen in casinos...Hey, wait a minute...does the French Bank Societe Generale make loans or do any other business with casinos? If it does, then maybe I can put Jerome Kerviel in my Cheaters Hall of Fame!
German Online Ban Assailed by European Union
German Online Gambling Ban Assailed by European Union
It should come as no surprise that the European Union is not pleased with Germany's newly enacted ban on online gambling. The news service Reuters has reported that the EU has decided to take legal action against Germany, and will seek European Commission approval as early as next week. This latest round of legal action by the EU against Germany's discriminatory online-gambling law would result in a final warning prior to advancing to the European Court of Justice.
The EU decision is consistent with its policy to enforce cross-border competition in services and is clearly not the first such action
Duplicate Poker
connected to online gambling. EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has initiated proceedings against nearly a dozen EU countries over discriminatory policies and laws in their gaming or lottery sectors. As European countries fight for state monopoly control of the sector, online gambling has become a battleground issue in the much broader philosophical debate regarding the EU's goals and authority. The ultimate resolution of online-gambling services in the EU may, in many ways, determine whether the EU evolves into an organizational arrangement of trading convenience or the authoritative determinant of trade policy.
The EU's tangle with German online gambling policy is not new. Back in March 2007, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote to a number of German states that had imposed regional bans, giving them a month to revise their laws; the states were undeterred. The Austrian company Bwin was somewhat more successful in legally challenging the regional bans. In May, Bwin regained its Bavarian operating rights outright. In December, German courts ruled that Bwin's license to operate, granted prior to German reunification, was valid in Eastern Germany.
Should the European Commission adopt the decision to pursue legal action against Germany, as expected, it will be applauded by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which represents eight major European online firms and which earlier this month filed a complaint with the European Commission over the new German law.
It should come as no surprise that the European Union is not pleased with Germany's newly enacted ban on online gambling. The news service Reuters has reported that the EU has decided to take legal action against Germany, and will seek European Commission approval as early as next week. This latest round of legal action by the EU against Germany's discriminatory online-gambling law would result in a final warning prior to advancing to the European Court of Justice.
The EU decision is consistent with its policy to enforce cross-border competition in services and is clearly not the first such action
Duplicate Poker
connected to online gambling. EU Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has initiated proceedings against nearly a dozen EU countries over discriminatory policies and laws in their gaming or lottery sectors. As European countries fight for state monopoly control of the sector, online gambling has become a battleground issue in the much broader philosophical debate regarding the EU's goals and authority. The ultimate resolution of online-gambling services in the EU may, in many ways, determine whether the EU evolves into an organizational arrangement of trading convenience or the authoritative determinant of trade policy.
The EU's tangle with German online gambling policy is not new. Back in March 2007, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen wrote to a number of German states that had imposed regional bans, giving them a month to revise their laws; the states were undeterred. The Austrian company Bwin was somewhat more successful in legally challenging the regional bans. In May, Bwin regained its Bavarian operating rights outright. In December, German courts ruled that Bwin's license to operate, granted prior to German reunification, was valid in Eastern Germany.
Should the European Commission adopt the decision to pursue legal action against Germany, as expected, it will be applauded by the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA), which represents eight major European online firms and which earlier this month filed a complaint with the European Commission over the new German law.
Mohegan Sun has New Poker Room!
Well, almost. Mohegan Sun has poker for the first time in over four years. But there still is no actual Mohegan Sun poker room.
Mohegan Sun used to have a great poker room, but that room closed on Labor Day, 2004, with the announced reason that there wasn't enough interest in poker in New England to support two poker rooms. This left Foxwoods with a monopoly on live casino poker in New England. This also meant that Mohegan Sun's poker room was closed, allegedly due to lack of a player base, during the period that will be remembered for the greatest increase in poker players in the history of the game.
As of October 2007, however, Mohegan Sun has poker once again. Well, again almost. They have PokerPro poker machines. No dealers, no chips, no cash at the table, and no cards. Everything but the play itself is done by a computer – like playing poker on the Internet, only with the opponents all facing each other around a large table that is in essence a large computer screen.
I have posted this month on these PokerPro tables (see past blog entries)
For Mohegan Sun management, they might have the best of both worlds. They have poker tables that generate revenue and that also make the casino an acceptable destination for poker players. But they don't have any poker room dealers, cashiers, chip runners, floor people, or other staff, which may have contributed to the earlier difficulties regarding the room. And of course, no...or lots fewer cheaters.
There still are plans to open a separate, enclosed, poker room. Different people claim different dates. Officially, it will open some time in August, but it might be earlier, later, or never – especially if these automated poker tables generate a decent income.
The 'poker area' is not in a segregated room but on the main floor of the casino, nestled in and among slot machines. There are eight PokerPro tables. These tables can be programmed for any limit of stud or hold'em, including no-limit, with any blind or ante structure desired. They can also be set up for tournaments.
The machines work much like an individual's computer screen at home, but with some significant differences. Players need to create an account with a cashier, which they can easily do at a window near the poker room. Each player has an individual screen before him which displays his individual two cards. They are face down until the player touches the image of the card on the screen, at which point a corner is turned face up revealing the card to the player. A player needs to shield his virtual cards from players on either side to make sure that his hand isn't inadvertently exposed – just as with real cards. This is not hard to do, though it does take a small amount of attention. Here, you have to beware of cheaters.
Each player indicates his betting action and the size of his bet by touching the screen in the appropriate place. It takes a little getting used to but is quite intuitive, especially for the poker player used to playing on the Internet.
There is a large screen in the center of the large table around which the players sit. The large screen displays the community cards. It also shows the virtual chips that have been wagered and displays the pot size, just as in an Internet poker game. The only difference is that the image is significantly larger than the actual size of a standard casino playing card – making it easier for a player with poor vision to read the board.
The game is still raked, and rather significantly, considering that no dealer, cards or chips are provided. Players pay $4.75 per half hour of play. There are no comps given to players. The house figures that the $.25 a half hour less than $5.00 a half (the rate charged at Foxwoods) is essentially the same thing as a $.50/hour comp to players. Though there are usually only no-limit games being spread there, they also offer limit hold'em, most commonly $3/6. There is a rake in those games of 10% with a maximum of $3.50 per hand. For the moment there is no stud.
Overall, it's a good room for anyone who likes no-limit – especially now before the poor players lose their money or the really excellent players find out about it and start to converge on it.
Mohegan Sun used to have a great poker room, but that room closed on Labor Day, 2004, with the announced reason that there wasn't enough interest in poker in New England to support two poker rooms. This left Foxwoods with a monopoly on live casino poker in New England. This also meant that Mohegan Sun's poker room was closed, allegedly due to lack of a player base, during the period that will be remembered for the greatest increase in poker players in the history of the game.
As of October 2007, however, Mohegan Sun has poker once again. Well, again almost. They have PokerPro poker machines. No dealers, no chips, no cash at the table, and no cards. Everything but the play itself is done by a computer – like playing poker on the Internet, only with the opponents all facing each other around a large table that is in essence a large computer screen.
I have posted this month on these PokerPro tables (see past blog entries)
For Mohegan Sun management, they might have the best of both worlds. They have poker tables that generate revenue and that also make the casino an acceptable destination for poker players. But they don't have any poker room dealers, cashiers, chip runners, floor people, or other staff, which may have contributed to the earlier difficulties regarding the room. And of course, no...or lots fewer cheaters.
There still are plans to open a separate, enclosed, poker room. Different people claim different dates. Officially, it will open some time in August, but it might be earlier, later, or never – especially if these automated poker tables generate a decent income.
The 'poker area' is not in a segregated room but on the main floor of the casino, nestled in and among slot machines. There are eight PokerPro tables. These tables can be programmed for any limit of stud or hold'em, including no-limit, with any blind or ante structure desired. They can also be set up for tournaments.
The machines work much like an individual's computer screen at home, but with some significant differences. Players need to create an account with a cashier, which they can easily do at a window near the poker room. Each player has an individual screen before him which displays his individual two cards. They are face down until the player touches the image of the card on the screen, at which point a corner is turned face up revealing the card to the player. A player needs to shield his virtual cards from players on either side to make sure that his hand isn't inadvertently exposed – just as with real cards. This is not hard to do, though it does take a small amount of attention. Here, you have to beware of cheaters.
Each player indicates his betting action and the size of his bet by touching the screen in the appropriate place. It takes a little getting used to but is quite intuitive, especially for the poker player used to playing on the Internet.
There is a large screen in the center of the large table around which the players sit. The large screen displays the community cards. It also shows the virtual chips that have been wagered and displays the pot size, just as in an Internet poker game. The only difference is that the image is significantly larger than the actual size of a standard casino playing card – making it easier for a player with poor vision to read the board.
The game is still raked, and rather significantly, considering that no dealer, cards or chips are provided. Players pay $4.75 per half hour of play. There are no comps given to players. The house figures that the $.25 a half hour less than $5.00 a half (the rate charged at Foxwoods) is essentially the same thing as a $.50/hour comp to players. Though there are usually only no-limit games being spread there, they also offer limit hold'em, most commonly $3/6. There is a rake in those games of 10% with a maximum of $3.50 per hand. For the moment there is no stud.
Overall, it's a good room for anyone who likes no-limit – especially now before the poor players lose their money or the really excellent players find out about it and start to converge on it.
Ultimate Bet Cheating Scam / Phil Hellmuth Using Steroids?
Ultimate Bet Cheating Scam / Phil Hellmuth Using Steroids?
On January 15, 2008, this article appeared on the Pokerati website:
Ultimate Bet pulled into Absolute Cheating Scandal
Phil Hellmuth Denies using steroids.
I just recently made a double-entry post on my blog about poker and steroid and was not at all aware of this Phil Hellmuth situation until I read this today. Does anyone have more information on this? Who spoke out about Phil Hellmuth using steroids?
Anyway, this is what I read on Pokerati, posted by DanM:
Now Ultimate Bet, sister site to Absolute Poker, is under intense scrutiny from the intelligentsia at 2+2, who seem to be looking — and finding — semi-mathematical proof of another “superuser” account. At first it appeared that UB Pro Phil Hellmuth was already speaking out on the matter — but emails supposedly from Hellmuth were quickly discovered to be a hoax. However … that has since led to a real, unofficial response from Phil, shared second-hand from a presumably respectable poster named trambopoline:
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold of him, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that info should be released within the next few weeks.
THE E-MAIL HOAX:
Posted by brsavage on Pocketfives:
As is widely known, the UB software was developed in Canada, the Absolute software was developed in Japan. That being considered, it is unlikely that if cheating happened that it was the same methodology. Adam, I agree that it would be HIGHLY unlikely that Phil would email or call anyone to verify that cheating occurred at UB.
All of this being considered I find it rather suspicious that the accounts in question both won at the percentages they did and then suddenly were deleted.
Further, if the management of AP also found irregularities at UB it creates a terrible conundrum.
If they openly admit that cheating also happened at UB then their business is impacted even more so than what was seen with the AP scandal. If they deny cheating occurred and it is proven that it did indeed happen and UB/AP covered it up....well I personally think it should end their operations, although I suspect some will still blindly give them their business.
I wonder if anyone is remembering Leggggy's warning that UB was aware of people having upwards of 20 accounts to play cash games and yet did nothing to stop it. I feel for the UB reps who are the salt of the earth, as they are all trusted individuals whom I call friends, yet the company that sponsors them continues to have a bad light cast on them.
Posted by LitezOut on Pocketfives:
so drphiljr is FFS or has been duped by PH poser? which is it?
Posted by drphil on Pocketfives:
All of my info is still valid EXCEPT for the email/emails (plural on 2p2, only 1 posted here) I received from some asshole impersonating Phil. However, I now have Phils actual email and I can assure that any new released info is most definitely valid. I dont want anyone to think that because I made that one mistake that my other info can not be trusted either. This is the post i made on 2p2 this morning right after I got off the phone with phil....
More dramabombs: Ive been duped
So the emails I’ve been getting that I thought were Phil Hellmuth (I had good reasons to believe so) turned out to be some playing me like a fiddle, apparently ****ing with me for no good reason. What happened was I gave my email address to Phil while chatting with him at a table and there were hundreds of obvservers watching. I receieved about 8 different emails within the next 5 minutes and I was dumb enough to just assume that the scree nname I thought was Phil was actually phil. I guess the way he talked just seemed the most professional and I was convinced it was him. I kept in touch with this guy all day thinking it was actually Phil. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel right now. I feel like my reputation has been tarnished but I want everyone to know, this was an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t look enough into the info before I got all giddy and posted what I thought was a huge breakthrough.
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold ofhim, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that infoshould be released within the next few weeks. He is going to call me again within the next 1-3 days. That is all I’m going to comment on the issue right now, once again I’m terribly terribly sorry and I hope this does not tarnish my name.
Well, I (Richard Marcus) forgive him, but I still want to know what’s going on with Phil Hellmuth and steroids, if anything. I can’t see to find anything written except that subtitle.
On January 15, 2008, this article appeared on the Pokerati website:
Ultimate Bet pulled into Absolute Cheating Scandal
Phil Hellmuth Denies using steroids.
I just recently made a double-entry post on my blog about poker and steroid and was not at all aware of this Phil Hellmuth situation until I read this today. Does anyone have more information on this? Who spoke out about Phil Hellmuth using steroids?
Anyway, this is what I read on Pokerati, posted by DanM:
Now Ultimate Bet, sister site to Absolute Poker, is under intense scrutiny from the intelligentsia at 2+2, who seem to be looking — and finding — semi-mathematical proof of another “superuser” account. At first it appeared that UB Pro Phil Hellmuth was already speaking out on the matter — but emails supposedly from Hellmuth were quickly discovered to be a hoax. However … that has since led to a real, unofficial response from Phil, shared second-hand from a presumably respectable poster named trambopoline:
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold of him, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that info should be released within the next few weeks.
THE E-MAIL HOAX:
Posted by brsavage on Pocketfives:
As is widely known, the UB software was developed in Canada, the Absolute software was developed in Japan. That being considered, it is unlikely that if cheating happened that it was the same methodology. Adam, I agree that it would be HIGHLY unlikely that Phil would email or call anyone to verify that cheating occurred at UB.
All of this being considered I find it rather suspicious that the accounts in question both won at the percentages they did and then suddenly were deleted.
Further, if the management of AP also found irregularities at UB it creates a terrible conundrum.
If they openly admit that cheating also happened at UB then their business is impacted even more so than what was seen with the AP scandal. If they deny cheating occurred and it is proven that it did indeed happen and UB/AP covered it up....well I personally think it should end their operations, although I suspect some will still blindly give them their business.
I wonder if anyone is remembering Leggggy's warning that UB was aware of people having upwards of 20 accounts to play cash games and yet did nothing to stop it. I feel for the UB reps who are the salt of the earth, as they are all trusted individuals whom I call friends, yet the company that sponsors them continues to have a bad light cast on them.
Posted by LitezOut on Pocketfives:
so drphiljr is FFS or has been duped by PH poser? which is it?
Posted by drphil on Pocketfives:
All of my info is still valid EXCEPT for the email/emails (plural on 2p2, only 1 posted here) I received from some asshole impersonating Phil. However, I now have Phils actual email and I can assure that any new released info is most definitely valid. I dont want anyone to think that because I made that one mistake that my other info can not be trusted either. This is the post i made on 2p2 this morning right after I got off the phone with phil....
More dramabombs: Ive been duped
So the emails I’ve been getting that I thought were Phil Hellmuth (I had good reasons to believe so) turned out to be some playing me like a fiddle, apparently ****ing with me for no good reason. What happened was I gave my email address to Phil while chatting with him at a table and there were hundreds of obvservers watching. I receieved about 8 different emails within the next 5 minutes and I was dumb enough to just assume that the scree nname I thought was Phil was actually phil. I guess the way he talked just seemed the most professional and I was convinced it was him. I kept in touch with this guy all day thinking it was actually Phil. I can’t tell you how terrible I feel right now. I feel like my reputation has been tarnished but I want everyone to know, this was an honest mistake on my part. I didn’t look enough into the info before I got all giddy and posted what I thought was a huge breakthrough.
Anyways after tracking down Phil at the tables I finally got a hold ofhim, this time for real. I just got off the phone wiht him after speaking with him for well over an hour. He informed me that he understands I made an honest mistake and totally forgives me, and even informed me to post that he said so. We went over the accounts in question and I got to say, he was very suspicous to say the least. He informed me that UB has already started an investigation and that infoshould be released within the next few weeks. He is going to call me again within the next 1-3 days. That is all I’m going to comment on the issue right now, once again I’m terribly terribly sorry and I hope this does not tarnish my name.
Well, I (Richard Marcus) forgive him, but I still want to know what’s going on with Phil Hellmuth and steroids, if anything. I can’t see to find anything written except that subtitle.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Full Tilt Poker Scam Scandal and Ban, Cheat, Bluff Fires Chris Vaughn (BluffMagCV), Sorel Mizzi (Imper1um)
The Full Tilt Poker Scam that saw Bluff Magazine Fire its editor Chris Vaughn over the cheating scandal was probably the second best poker cheating story of 2007. It was, to my knowledge, the first time ever, that a major figure in the poker media world was implicated in an online poker scam. For more on this scam and its fallout, check the archives in my blog.
Tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth
Tomorrow: Phil Hellmuth
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