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Saturday, February 18, 2006

Online Scandal

WOW is the online poker community buzzing about the BIGGEST scandal to hit, or what??

JJProdigy, a very well known online player, was recently ousted for cheating in the 2/12/06 PartyPoker $500K Guaranteed tournament for playing two accounts during the event.

The user name "JJProdigy" busted out approximately in 2000th place, but a player named "ABlackCar" went on to win the event and $140,000.

One of JJProdigy's "friends", gbmantis, went online to a public forum, www.PocketFives.com and congratulated JJ on his win. Some other readers took the liberty of looking at the winners list and noticed that "ABlackCar" won, not "JJProdigy" so putting two and two together, realized that he was playing under a different name.

JJ then went on to say that ABlackCar was his Grandma's account and after he busted out, Grandma got tired and so he graciously stepped in, took over for her, and went on to win the event under her name.

Having more then one account is against PartyPoker's rules and once the word got out, emails were sent to support, investigations were performed and JJProdigy was stripped of his $140K win, along with $40K of funds that was in his account, and all other players in the event moved up one spot. Both accounts were closed and banned and JJ is now threatning legal action for his $40K, although he admitted his wrong doing today on PocketFives.com and admits that the $140K should be taken from him, he still wants "some" of it and feels he deserves a part of the 140K. (rolling eyes)

OK, here's my take on this:

What a moron.

Not for having two accounts and playing under multiple names, because let's face it, we all know that most of the "big" online names do this. Think back to the PokerStars LeaderBoard Point Race when there would be teams of players playing under one name to try and win the monster bet that was going on.

But I call him a moron for not only telling one or two friends about it while playing, but by telling about 30 people, while he was playing, that ABlackCar was him.

I can think of exactly ONE online friend that I would tell, but other then family and a few offline friends, I wouldn't tell a soul.

Now, I don't have multiple accounts, and never have. In fact, due to my stint with PantherPoker, I KNOW how easy it is for the online sites to determine if multiple accounts are being created, IP addresess, etc. So I've always been too scared to try to cheat in this matter, IF I was going to cheat at all, that is.

The Morality Issue:

This is where some of my readers and I may disagree. I feel I have ethics and morals, but I do not feel that what he actually did was that big of a deal. The reason why I feel that is because I feel that this happens ALL the time. I feel that there are always players playing multiple names in "Big" events, and I feel that the online sites really can't do much about it so how can they possibly try to control it?

It's almost along the lines of using AIM while playing, is it ethically OK? Is it morally OK? The consensus is that it's "OK" as long as you're not using AIM to collude together against other players, but to use AIM as a "coaching" tool is OK (especially according to Lee Jones of PokerStars) because there is no way for online sites to control it, therefore they cannot ban it.

Now, while I don't think what he did was that big of a deal (mainly because I believe others do it as well) I do know that it is a form of cheating and because he got caught, he must pay the piper. I am SHOCKED as hell that PartyPoker has taken the actions that they have taken because, let's face it, their customer service SUCKS. PokerStars would have banned both accounts and taken the money 1 day later, it took PartyPoker almost a full week. However, kudos to them for taking this action.

Will this prevent other online players from playing multiple accounts? I don't think so.

Will this prevent other online players from playing multiple accounts and telling their "friends" their playing multiple accounts? You betcha.

Bottom line is: If JJProdigy had not been so proud and "boastful" of his win, he never would have been caught.

Hey XaQ_Morphy, this is a perfect DonkeyManifesto entry if you ask me. It's like the guy who robs a bank and then goes back into the bank 1 hour later, wearing the same mask and trying to make a deposit.

Play SMART people!!!

4 Comments:

Blogger Poker4peace said...

Thanks for the update. I've been following the story from the beginning like many others. If there is a DonkeyManifesto award I would have to place this one near the tippy top. ))

2:13 PM  
Blogger "MissT74" said...

Is there anyway you can email support and ask them to check his play through that account carefully? Have you seen Bryan Slick's post on RGP? He sent a letter to PS re: JJ and how he feels they should ban his account as well.

8:15 AM  
Blogger "MissT74" said...

Welcome, and thanks for reading!!

I have never heard of his age being an issue, do I do not believe he is only 16, he's young...but I'm putting him at 20-22 something like that.

2:04 PM  
Blogger "MissT74" said...

Naw, the link is fine.

I personally don't like 2+2, so it's hard for me to take anything that is said on that forum without a grain of salt.

I know that JJ is very well known and liked on www.PocketAces.com and they haven't mentioned his age, or being young, at all, which is why I tend to believe that he's older then 18.

2:20 PM  

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