Top 5 Biggest Poker Scandals

08:29
31 Jan

In an industry such as poker that involves a lot of money, there are bound to be those looking to exploit the system and profit illegally. From viruses to online sites not paying their users, here are the top five biggest poker scandals.

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5. The Original Multi-Accounters

Multi-accounting is commonly known among the online poker community today, but that wasn’t the case in the mid-2000s. This form of cheating involves the use of two accounts by the same user. By utilizing different email addresses and internet connections, a single user can not only create multiple accounts, but also enter them into the same tournament to gain an edge against the field.

Josh “JJProdigy” Fields and Justin Bonomo, formerly known online as ZeeJustin, were the first well-known players to be outed for it. The two utilized six different accounts to gain an edge in tournaments.

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4. Dutch Boyd Hightails It

Back in 2001, the poker world was just a mere shadow of what it is today. It wasn’t until Chris Moneymaker shook up the poker world and won the World Series of Poker Main Event in 2003 and launched what would be known as the poker boom.

Although poker would soon blossom into the bustling industry it is today, poker as we know it was still in its beginnings in 2001. Online poker was no different. Dutch Boyd, owner of PokerSpot, created an online poker site known as PokerSpot.com.

The site began experiencing financial problems. To remedy his company’s ailments, Boyd took off with hundreds of thousands of dollars, leaving players left with nothing. Since then, Boyd has faced legal issues on multiple fronts.

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3. Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker Superusers

From 2005-2007, two sister poker sites, Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker, were wrapped up in similar cheating scandals. Accusations of players having access to hole-card information began in 2007 for Absolute Poker. The Kahnawake Gaming Commission eventually launched an investigation that October.

The smoking gun came when a complete tournament history of one player, “POTRIPPER”, was seemingly accidentally sent out. What the tournament history revealed was POTRIPPER’s complete knowledge of every player’s hole cards. Absolute Poker was fined $500,000 and paid out $1.6 million to players affected,

In 2008, the same commission found Ultimate Bet guilty of a similar offense. According to UB, Excapsa Software employees were responsible for the cheating, which involved a software that granted hole-card information to the user. UB paid out millions as a result.

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Postlegate

The most recent cheating scandal to take the poker world by storm involves Mike Postle and Stones Gambling Hall. After former Stones Live host Veronica Brill witnessed some questionable play by Postle during livestreams, she brought it to the attention of Stones Gambling Hall staff.

After a series of tweets shedding light on the situation, the poker community banded together and watched hundreds of hours of footage. Postle was seemingly untouchable in spots that left pros stumped.

The consensus was that Postle was being relayed information about his opponents hole-cards. The caveat: Stones Live is run on a delay, so it had to be an employee or staff member relaying the information.

Postle has been invited to Doug Polk’s podcast to discuss the situation, but nothing has come from it.

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Black Friday

The most notorious date in online poker, April 15, 2011, was quickly referred to as Black Friday. On that date the domains of the three most popular poker sites, PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet were seized and the sites were shut down for real money play.

It was the result of the 2006 Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which held that online gambling was illegal. Although poker was largely unaffected by the act, 2011 was a different story. The crack down came at a time when many states were taking steps towards legalizing online poker.

As a result, funds were seized from the sites and players were left with nothing.