Online Poker Cheaters Blacklist to Shame Players and Combat Collusion?

Above: Russ Hamilton found himself with access to a ‘God-mode’ account and had his wicked way with the hard-earned dollars of many of the world’s best players

The recent confirmation by Party Poker that a number of players joined forces "to collude against other players" has forced the cheating issue front and center and has resulted in quite a few conversations among poker players about what else can be done to combat collusion.

The online poker forums were rife with suggestions from posters regarding additional steps that sites like Party Poker may want to take in order to perhaps make potential colluders think twice about their cheating ways before the dastardly collusion rings begin operating. One forum poster at CardsChat stated that those "found guilty of collusion should be named and shamed in public."

'Marcwantstowin's suggestion included revealing the guilty players' real names in addition to their screen names as way to "dissuade them from doing it further." Taking that suggestion to another level was 'NKGB13,' who tossed out the idea to "create a cheaters blacklist" that would ban players from playing online poker anywhere.

In other words, the blacklist would be shared among all the poker sites and would be referred to whenever a player attempted to create a new account. It would work much the same way as the credit card chargeback blacklist that several sites have instituted in an effort to stymie players who make deposits via credit cards and then fail to make good on payment when the bill becomes due.

More Info on Action Taken, Please

While Party Poker was applauded for taking positive steps against the offending colluders that included banishment from the site, the formation of a player panel to review suspicious behavior, establishing the new collusion@partypoker.com email address for swift action, and re-compensating the players victimized by the scam, a number of players would like to see Party Poker do more.

The player responsible for blowing the whistle on the collusion ring, 'DukeofSuffolk' at Party Poker, who is identified at 2+2 as 'FarseerFinland,' posted again on that forum, thanking Party Poker for taking his claims seriously, but also requesting additional information from the site.

"Glad to see that proper action was taken, but really would like to see amount of players involved, tournaments affected, and funds seized," he stated. "After all we really know is what Party tells us, and it is hard to follow up and notice further possible collusion later with no additional information at all."

Also mentioned by the whistleblower was the Caribbean Poker Party Leaderboard that was giving away $1 million in rewards that included a bunch of $6,000 prize packages to Punta Cana. The leaderboard was open to players of $109 tournaments and up, the same level at which the colluders were operating.

Those leaderboards were likely affected detrimentally by the cheating. Will that situation be rectified by Party Poker? Players want to know.