The Dark Side of Poker: Cheats and Scams
8 years ago29 Oct
What would Halloween be without scary stories of monsters and ghouls and things that go bump in the night? Boring, right, and just so poker fans donât miss out on the yearly fright-fest, here are a few of the most frightening ways things can go wrong for you in the big, scary world of pokerâŚ.
Letâs begin with a Halloween poker scare story that would put paranoia and fear into the heart of anyone unfortunate enough to fall victim â Collusion.
Collusion
According to Professional-Poker.com, âIn very basic terms, poker collusion is when two or more people sitting at a poker table are working together to win more money from other players.â
An example might be secretly signalling to their âpartner in crimeâ what cards they hold; or sometimes âteaming upâ with raises and re-raises to push everyone else out of a hand.
When it comes to online play, such collusion can be very difficult to spot and/or prove. In âreal-lifeâ poker, there is more chance of spotting the signs that 2 or more of your table-mates are, in fact, cheating you out of your bankroll!
Horror story please
In the 2009 Partouche Poker Tour Main Event final table, Jean-Paul Pasqualini and Cedric Rossi were accused of using hand signals to collude and an 8-minute video, compiled by the French poker-playing author Nordine Bouya, was produced to show exactly how they were supposedly doing it.
Basically, it was claimed that the players had devised a code of signals which involved touching various parts of their bodies to signal their holding. An example being, if one of them held an ace, they would touch the top of their head; two hands on their head would indicate pocket aces!
The success of their alleged cheating was evident, as the ever-interesting poker writer Haley Hintze reported:
Pasqualini eventually collected about $1,430,000 for the win, with Rossi in second for about $870,000.â
This wasnât the only such problem which the PPT had faced. One year later Ali Tekintamgac, who was also suspected of cheating earlier the same year at the EPT Tallinn stop, âenlisted the help of bloggers/reporters to stand behind his opponents and inform him of their cards via hand signals. As a result, Tekintamgac was disqualified from the final table and his chips were removed from play,â according to a PokerNews.com report at the time.
How scared should I be?
This is probably the biggest âthreatâ you will face in poker, or at least the most common form of cheating youâll encounter. Almost every poker player has come across some form of collusion in their career, and although varying in degree it always leaves a sour taste in the mouth and usually a hole in the pocket to go with it.
Online sites and gambling rooms generally have no truck with such things, but occasionally things are over-looked in favour of âlocalâ players and or âregsâ.
How do I avoid it?
Firstly, make sure you know what is/isnât acceptable when playing in a casino/online event/whatever. Some card-rooms have slightly different rules than others on what constitutes âcollusionâ, and they will also have different penalties in place for dealing with those caught at it.
Reporting suspected collusion is the first step, but avoid at all costs the following approach: Iraj Parvizi launched a lawsuit accusing 2 high-profile pros of colluding over a number of years in cash games.
Whether true or not, the biggest body-blow to Parvizi was the following statement: âan anonymous high roller in the game has claimed Parvizi is a "terrible" player and "no one would need to cheat" to beat him!
So, make pretty sure what youâre seeing is collusion and not just your own frightfully bad play before making accusations!
Alternatively, simply make everyone at the table wear âScreamâ masks and capes â hard to collude when youâre all scared half to death about who the real killer is!
Multi-accounting
Multi-accounting is âwhen one person controls many accounts, playing in the same game from multiple computers. With the advantage the cheat gets from using multiple accounts, he can simply choose from the best starting hand dealt to all the accounts, not to mention using various other collusion techniques available,â according to CheatOnlinePoker.net.
Horror story please
British poker pro Darren Woods won more than $430,000 and a WSOP bracelet in live events, but it was his online identity fraud which landed the 29-year old in jail this January after he âplayed as several different gamblers at the same time and also racked up lucrative commission payments.â
Although multi-accounting is not necessarily illegal according to the laws of many countries, it isnât allowed by online poker sites and, as in Woodsâ high-profile case, identity fraud can be the main threat to the cheaters.
Quite how long the fraudster had been doing this is uncertain, but he was hit not only with a 15 month jail sentence, but also an order to pay back ÂŁ1million otherwise his sentence would have 6 years added!
The prosecutor explained that Woods was âable to defeat the sophisticated methods employed by those companies to prevent multiple accounting and collusion.â
Campbell went on to explain that:
Woods opened multiple accounts, using the identities of real people to gain commissions at online poker sites that he otherwise would have no claim to.â
Apparently Woods would appear on high stakes cash games with another anonymous player â who would have a different name each time - getting big action from the âfishyâ mystery-player. This would attract other high-stakes players, who then became victims of Woods and his âcolluding cohortâ.
When enough hand histories were investigated, it was discovered that âWoods plus oneâ would âshove large stacks, even when both had nominal holdings, encouraging the victim to fold.â
How scared should I be?
Quite scared, particularly as several big-name pros tried to defend the method â or variations on it â claiming that it was difficult for them to get âtakersâ for high-stakes games if they had to use their own âreal nameâ accounts.
Poker sites do a lot to prevent such things happening, but some tricksters will always find a way around things eventually.
How do I avoid it?
âNot everyone is trying to cheat you,â claim HoldemRealMoney.com, stating, âin fact the vast majority are ethical, moral and fair poker players just like you. Take prudent precautions as you would in other areas of your life to avoid being cheated. Prudence, not paranoia, is required.â Along with the precautions poker sites have in place, this is basically your only defence.
Otherwise, try hanging a string of garlic around your neck!
Ghosting
"Ghosting" is where another player (or players) offers their opinion to you while you are playing a hand. They may be offering their opinion over the phone, over the computer or they may even be sitting right beside you.â according to Poker-King.com.
Horror story please
Back in 2007 a huge story broke. The âBluff Magazineâ editor at the time was Chris Vaughn, and he was running deep in the $1 Million Guaranteed on Full Tilt â so deep in fact that he scooped the 1st prize.
Then the stories started to emerge â it wasnât Chris 'BluffMagCV' Vaughn who had played the latter stages of the event at all - he had passed the playing on to Sorel Mizzi, an aggressive young star of the game.
Whatâs the problem you might ask? Well, as PokerNews later explained in an in-depth interview with those involved, it was âquickly recognized that a star player taking over one of these accounts was gaining a significant edge over his remaining players, who would have no idea that a new tough player, perhaps with a radically different style, had suddenly assumed a seat at the table.â
The week after his Full Tilt success, he did the same in the PokerStars Sunday Million under his online name there of âSlippyJacksâ. It was only later revealed that in fact he had âsoldâ his FullTilt account to Mizzi when he reached the last 20 or so players, and who knows who actually played the PokerStars event?
The general â and basically correct at the time â view was that such things happened everyday online, but this was the first confirmed case involving a big name in a big event and led to much stricter controls.
How scared should I be?
A bit! There is really no telling who is sitting at the shoulder of your opponents online whispering the correct plays and giving advice, or if several of them are playing together at the same time at your table or in your tournament (see collusion). Players have actually been jailed for âfraudâ offences connected to this!
How do I avoid it?
Ghosting is basically a violation of the âone player, one handâ rule and if you suspect that someone is breaking this rule you should contact your poker site about your suspicions. Poker sites have fraud and collusion departments which should try to determine when it might be an anomaly, isolated incident or an egregious pattern.â
Poker forums and chat-rooms are among the best, and the worst, places to take suspicions. Trolling is inevitable, but you may be able to find others willing and able to help you understand and take investigations further if need be.
As a last-gasp defence, a crucifix against the cheaterâs forehead might do the trick!
Viewing Hole Cards
This is the simplest and most deadly form of cheating in poker â somebody at the table can see everyone elseâs cards! Known as âGod-modeâ, this is obviously the biggest advantage you could have in poker, allowing you to base your decisions on almost perfect information: fold, raise, bet â if you know your opponentâs cards it makes poker much more fun!
Horror story please
There are a few, the most famous (or infamous) being the Ultimate Bet scandal of the mid-to-late-noughties where one or more âsuper-userâ accounts allowed various people high-up in the sites to view the hole-cards of everyone at the table. A similar âGod-modeâ scandal had erupted at Absolute Poker a few months previously.
Estimates of how much they cheated unsuspecting players out of vary, but itâs in the âmany $millionsâ category â and much higher than the few $million they eventually paid out in compensation. There are so many details and stories of this scandal available that itâs impossible to do justice to it here â but the skeletons continue to come out of the closet to this day.
A more recent (i.e. last month) version of it saw a software Trojan known as Odlanor being discovered. 'Odlanor' basically the exposes the hole cards of unsuspecting players by sending screenshots from their computers directly to cheaters, who then use the information to âoutplayâ the unfortunate victims.
The malware is apparently installed secretly along with certain poker software programs including Poker Office, Tournament Shark and Poker Calculator Pro. The downloads are believed to have been from unofficial torrent sites, and have mainly affected Eastern European online players.
How scared should I be?
Well, I would have said ânot veryâ were it not for the Odlanor case; it had appeared as though the biggest sites would never allow a repeat of the UB/AP scandal above, but cyber-criminals outside of the sites themselves are a tenacious and greedy bunch who are never short of a sneaky plan or two.
How do I avoid it?
If your sites own top guys are doing it, then youâre in trouble! On a personal level, the easiest way is to have good security software on your computer and try not to use âtorrentâ sites! If you do, keep away from 3rd-party poker software and/or have a separate drive for your poker playing â at least this way any âinfectionâ shouldnât spread to other parts of your online life!
Last resort? Fend off the âGod-modeâ users with a burning pentagram as your avatar!
Staking problems
If this sounds like a situation where Dracula might be involved, youâre not far wrong! Basically, staking is when somebody other than the player puts up the money for somebody else to play, and receives a cut of any winnings.
When it goes wrong, however, it often bleeds the sponsor dry and leaves him with a nasty bite or 2 on his neck â the problem being that, once-bitten-twice-shy and the backer might withdraw completely from this often-necessary part of poker.
The one thing about staking is, it tends to be a fairly confidential business â but sometimes things, or players, get so out of hand that it becomes public â and thatâs when the fright-night fun begins!
I've heard a lot of horror stories of backing with people scamming, stealing, punting tournaments on purpose. You have to definitely get the right people." Jason Mercier;Horror story please
David âChinoâ Rheem â for anyone who knows about his history, then the Halloween nightmares have probably already kicked in. For those who donât, the young star of poker back at the turn of the noughties was one of the most sought-after poker pros, for all the wrong reasons.
He left a trail of debts behind him in almost every card-room and casino he walked into, and despite winning over $4.5 million his ability to avoid paying his debts was legendary, sparking separate 100+page threads on 2+2.
âChino has an art of scamming people. He is very charming, and makes you feel really ****ty if you don't lend him money. He makes you feel really guilty, and convinces you 100% that he'll pay you back tomorrow...etc...â wrote KMPoker on the 2+2 thread catchily titled âChino Rheem SCUM part two (more scams)â.
The thread was started by Bill Molson, a poker high-roller of Canadian beer company fame, who loaned Rheem $20k in a transfer which was accidentally doubled by PokerStars to $40k. Despite Rheem cashing for some $150 in the event, he still hadnât repaid Molson a year later, prompting the Canadian to go public in the hope that others wouldnât share the same fate.
Rheem was caught on camera being screamed at in a viral poker video in 2011, "You owe the whole ****ing city of Las Vegas money - you're a bitch,â which pretty much summed up what most people think about Rheem, and shows the down-side of poker-staking.
Of course, the upside is that if you have money to spare, and trust some good players enough to stake them, you can make a tidy profit with little or no effort on your own part â but the scare stories are all out there, including this recent one.
How scared should I be?
This darker-side of the poker world is unlikely to affect the vast majority of players, but just think about that time you loaned a âfriendâ 50 bucks and are still waiting for it? Itâs doubtful if anyone doesnât have such a story. Just multiply this scenario a hundred-fold and youâre getting into the realms of big-money poker-staking, and the possible pitfalls it entails.
How do I avoid it?
OK, the trite answer is simply donât stake anyone, friend, foe or other. However, as mentioned, it can be a profitable business and can help you yourself fund your tournament life-style if itâs a reciprocal kind of arrangement.
If you do stake someone, or multiple players, make sure there is a written and signed contract outlining every detail of the arrangement. If you do find yourself being bumped for the readies when your âhorseâ comes in, you may have some recourse.
Alternatively, a silver bullet to the heart tends to prevent repeat performances by the âChino Rheemsâ of the poker dark-side.
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