There have been claims of hacks that guarantee you a win when playing poker. Although this information is not available to the ordinary poker player, it is believed that some high-flyer players have been using it for years to build their reputation as champions of the game. This is not to rule out the fact that there are players who are just keen on polishing their strategy and have never won poker any other way apart from their own effort.
When cheating allegations are made by a person that the industry considers a legend, then it might be time to pay close attention. German poker champion Fedor Holz has come out to express his displeasure in the manner in which some players are cheating their way to the top of the World Poker Tour DeepStacks Online Event.
What we cover
Questionable Circumstances sparked Holz’s Interest
The particular tournament that Holz has brought the attention of the world to is a constituent event of the current WPT. WPT included this event to act as bait for big stake poker participation at 888Poker. As part of the schedule, the organizers had included a €1000 event that had made it to the final table shortly before Christmas.
Like many poker fans around New Jersey, Holz was keenly following the action of the final table. He particularly took interest in the manner in which two players, ‘Seijistar’ and ‘Selouan’ executed their moves. On Christmas day, Holz posted his concerns on his Twitter accounts and this led to a full-blown discussion of the final table action.
The action of the final table
According to the social media discussion, ‘Seijistar’ did not have a strong strategy at the start of the final round but suddenly sprung up. ‘Selouan’ on the other hand barely missed being among the last four and when everyone thought that he was the weakest of the round, raised his standings to the top.
As the action folded over the blinds, it was obvious that the axe would be falling on ‘Seijistar’ due to the A-J suit in his hand. Everyone thought he would be calling the shot based on this but he did not, instead folding his hand.
According to the information contained in his Tweet, Holz insinuated that these two players were suspect in the manner in which they conducted their strategy on the final table. He went on further to state that they were part of the Online Brazilian team that targets high stake circuits.
While he was clearly not convinced that they played fairly, Holz issued a disclaimer terming his observation as fair judgment of the game. Although the accusations are not evidence in the case, the fact that the suspect players share action is subject for question.
Ordinarily, poker players are known to react in a certain way on the play table and any player who does not appear to follow this path is considered cunning. Holz’s main allegation is that one player had the chance to knock out an opponent but did not do it perhaps because they indeed were working as a team and it was important that they both keep each other in the game long enough.
History of Online Poker Cheating
Those who have been involved in online poker are aware of the issue of cheating among players. Since players are playing behind a veil, many resort to using fraudulent means to gain an unfair advantage over others. A common form of early day poker cheating took the form of a single player owning multiple player accounts.
The online poker platforms that are used today have multiple levels of authentication to ensure that each player only has a single account. By using IP mapping software, players are discouraged from running more than one account on a single platform. This helps to level the playing field for players with different degrees of poker expertise.
With advances in technology, a betting operator can be able to track the location from which a betting account was registered. No one wants to be caught up in a multi-account ratchet because it would mean being blacklisted, ban from gambling and in some instances, being fined.
Gambling related cheating remained an unimaginable problem because nothing came close to defining this term, in the terms and conditions document. This was until it emerged that some players were unfair in their quest to be winners and employed methods such as impersonation, changing players halfway to facilitate rest, paying a better player to watch how you play with the aim of offering advice and move suggestions (ghosting).
Some players have also been known to win large tournaments by employing a whole team that link via chat services to analyze a game and develop a strategy which the player follow to outdo other participants. Such conduct is extremely difficult to track and prove more so because it is technically not listed under violations of the terms and conditions. If a player employs any of these tactics to win a poker game, it would be hard to deny them the title because there is no law that categorically classifies that as cheating.
Conclusion
888Poker is in no position to comment on the allegations made by Fedor Holz but assures its customers that the incident will be thoroughly investigated. According to the site management, colluding to win a game violates the user agreement between the operator and players. They posted their reply on the original Twitter thread made by Holz perhaps in an effort to calm any more negativity that could crop up out of such allegations. In the same thread were poker fans that clearly condemned Holz for making such mean allegations against the Brazilian players. Before the truth of the conduct witnessed on the poker table is uncovered, everything that will be said about it should be considered as malicious rumors.
