11 Nov
When poker players feel they’ve been cheated out of money, the internet is often a great place for them to air their grievances and look for advice and help.
The 2plus2 forum regularly sees such claims and this week it was the turn of online player ‘Peligr0s0’ to ask for assistance when his iPoker network jackpot ‘win’ of $65,000 turned into a nightmare of suspicion, blocked accounts and an almost complete lack of information from the site. He has also not received a single cent of his Betfair poker-room jackpot.
The Russian player, playing out of Mexico, provided a detailed account of his allegations on the forum:
I was playing in iPoker Network (BetFair room) 6-max Jackpot RIO SnGs for €20. In addition to standard payouts these tournaments give you a chance to get big Jackpot by winning six in a row,” he explained, continuing, “On October 20th, only thanks to iPoker’s RNG, I’ve won 6th tournament in a row. Jackpot was worth €65,000. In according to promotion’s rules, I informed BetFair about my consecutive winning games.”
This was the start of his problems, as the website – as is usual and correct –has to check whether his jackpot claim was correct and also not the result of collusion or some other form of cheating. As ‘Peligr0s0’ himself states:
Every time someone wins Jackpot, security team scrutinizes games for any sign of collusive play. It’s a correct and required action to counteract any fraud.”
However, after being told it would take up to 72 hours, and then being told “we need up to 48 hours more”, for these checks to be completed, the online SNG-player was further told that the “investigation is going to take more time and thanked me for my patience. But didn’t say expected timing.”
With alarm bells ringing, and a huge $65K payday in the balance, ‘Peligr0s0’ then made what many of those on the forum claimed to be a huge mistake. He contacted the poker site with an explanation of why there could have been no cheating involved
Several days later I sent an email with my comments about the last tournaments, trying to help the investigation. I provided detailed review of every important situation in this tournament and explained the logic of my every action.”
This action was described as being ‘absolutely idiotic’ by one poster, who stated “they should confiscate [your money] for sheer stupidity.”
Another 2plus2 regular, PasswordGotHacked, was less abusive of the player’s actions, but still explained what the majority of posters thought:
Sending that long winded email makes you look guilty as **** of something though imo, especially if it was sent before your account was locked while they were just supposedly going through the “required checks.”
Finally, after having his account blocked and for many days attempting to contact and get an answer from the Betfair and iPoker sites, he was told his Jackpot would not be paid out. As he explains:
Only on the 5th day after my account’s block, BetFair support manager told me that it’s a final decision and my account and funds will remain blocked “It’s a business decision made by iPoker poker team. We are not going to provide any further information.”
As ‘Peligr0s0’ explains:
I was totally shocked by this reply. It’s hard to explain what emotions I have felt during these two weeks, having gone all the way from winning the Jackpot to facing such a fraud.”
Asking the poker community for help to attract attention to his ‘plight’, the player stated:
I hope that with your help we can attract the attention of iPoker Network and, more importantly, UK Gambling Commission. Everything I want is clear and honest investigation conducted by independent party.”
With the to and fro between ‘Peligr0s0’ and the other posters being generally helpful – and naturally highly inquisitive of his actual play, playing conditions and the possibility that HE was the one scamming rather than iPoker network – the players credibility seemed fairly solid. His actual play in the final, Jackpot-winning 6th SNG being devoid of any obvious collusion according to many who studied the hand histories.
Other details emerged, however, with the 2plus2 forum’s notorious investigatory and detective skills revealing that there were certain correlations between ‘Peligr0s0’ and another Russian online player – ‘CtaruiXumuk’.
-Both players had been at all six of the Jackpot-winning SNG’s together.
-Both were Russian, although ‘Peligr0s0’ claimed to not know nor to have had any contact with the other player
-Both were generally playing, and sitting out, at similar times.
One poster – Daelroxxu – furnished the thread with a very detailed analysis of the tables and hands which both players played, and also noted the times they had started sessions and games – all of which seemed very suspicious to many.
OP your case interested me so I did some analysis using ProPokerLabs,” explained Daleroxxu. “As you played all 6 of your winning games with player ‘CtaruiXumuk’ this seems like it would be the reason for iPoker disqualifying you of collusion, so I looked at both of your stats as well as your games played together on the site. (I also briefly looked at the other 4 players in your 6-in-a-row winning game and seen nothing to be concerned about).”
His final conclusion was that:
I wonder if iPoker have disqualified you just based on you playing in the same games together or if they have further evidence. I’d hope that they would have enough evidence that you were guilty beyond reasonable doubt before disqualifying you. The burden of proof is on them. From all the information I have there is certainly “reasonable doubt”, but iPoker have more information than me.”
Another poster – mjm – summed up the general feeling at this point: “Starting to look pretty sketchy,” asking why the OP hadn’t mentioned the same player being present at all 6 tables: “why didn’t you comment on this in your original post or your email to the site? The timings of both your play in these jackpot sng’s also looks shady.”
With others now more sceptical about the OP’s claims to have been ‘scammed out of his jackpot win’, further interesting evidence appeared –an almost identical post and thread on another forum, as found by ‘qetou’:
Btw, OP made a thread on russian poker forum regarding this same topic. She claims to be a girl there, even posted a photo. When she was offered $500 to Skype videochat with one of forum members to confirm that she’s a girl and knows how to play poker, she refused.”
Amidst all the talk and trolling, including pics of the supposed player – who may or may not be the same ‘Peligr0s0’ – alleged e-mails and postings from the iPoker network themselves emerged.
One of these supposed official messages read:
In order to dispel any doubt, I want to inform you that the players ‘Peligr0s0’ and ‘CtaruiXumuk’ were blocked for violation of one or more items of our rules,” it began, although many were very sceptical of its actual source. ”Unfortunately, this is all the information that I have, because Service network security IPoker (which includes our poker room) does not provide more detailed information.”
The reasons given for this, which many players can no doubt understand and support, were stated as “non-disclosure of the reasons for blocking it makes sense not to give fraudsters superfluous information. I hope that my message will put an end to this discussion, and deliver our poker room from unfounded attacks.”
But still, no officially-official (i.e.checkable!) announcement has been made by either iPoker or Betfair on the alleged incident. And so the Jackpot still hasn’t been paid to ‘Peligr0s0’ – and seems unlikely to ever be paid, barring any legal action.
The forumites have yet another investigation to join in and dissect, and those who are unhappy with poker sites’ policies and inability to communicate with their customers will also have grist for their mill. Journalists like myself have stories to tell – or part-tell – and the world of poker has yet another shady headline to add to the list.
The full 2plus2 thread can be viewed and followed here.
