Poker rooms serious about game integrity

With the online gambling ban in the United States and new laws and regulations for online gambling about to be enacted in the United Kingdom, the industry has been under the microscope. The last thing the industry needs is more questions about the safety and integrity of online gambling sites.

Perhaps that's why some poker sites seem to have decided to crack down on enforcing their rules and preserving the integrity of the game.

Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf was recently banned on Poker Stars according to a forum post on NeverwinPoker.com. Plus, Full Tilt Poker has closed the account of YourTimeIsUp, a player coached by the notorious JJProdigy.

For Woolf, the rumor is that Poker Stars is cracking down on people who share accounts to play online poker. Woolf was told his account is being permanently closed, and he has seven days to spend his FPPs.

It's not a multi-tournament situation or a collusion issue according to the forum poster. Instead it's about players sharing one other's accounts.

In a 2+2 forum post, one user posted an instant message conversation talking about how other customer accounts at Poker Stars are being frozen as well because Woolf had used their accounts to keep a little more anonymity while playing at the poker site.

The leading theory was that Mark Newhouse, known online as Newhizzle, had turned Woolf in because of a feud they had over a gambling debt. However, Newhouse posted a denial of any involvement in the 2+2 forum thread.

"lol. While I wish I could claim responsibility for this, my accounts frozen too. I don't think he's ever played on my account though other than when we played Joe, and I clearly remember Lee Jones stating that there is no one-player-to-a-hand rule somewhere, so should be able to get it unfrozen pretty easily," Newhouse says.

In the past, poker sites had problems with players creating multiple accounts and using them to have multiple entrees in the same tournament or playing at the same table of a cash game.

One notorious online player who was caught doing that was JJProdigy. He was caught multi-accounting at PartyPoker and ultimately banned from that site as well as others.

Now his student, YourTimeIsUp, is being banned from Full Tilt Poker for allowing JJProdigy to use his account to finish a tournament for him.

YourTimeIsUp posted the following letter from Full Tilt Poker about the situation in a forum:

Hello Justin,

After a thorough investigation into your account, we regret to inform you that your Full Tilt Poker account will not be reinstated and will be permanently closed.

Your account has been closed due to your close associations to players that have been found guilty of unethical activity which was in breach of Full Tilt Poker's terms and conditions. Based on the information available, you have directly shared a computer with these individuals.

However, any remaining funds in your account (if applicable) may be withdrawn. Please reply to this e-mail with a valid payment processor account (eg. ePassporte) or if you would like your remaining balance withdrawn by check.

Justin, please know that as an online card room dedicated to providing all our players with the highest standards of security and protection, players that pose a significant risk to our site and our players will simply be no longer welcome at Full Tilt Poker. Please do not create any other accounts.

Should Full Tilt Poker discover any other accounts, those multiple accounts will be immediately closed and your funds may be held under the order of Full Tilt Poker.

Regards,

Tim V

Security and Fraud, Full Tilt Poker

YourTimeIsUp admits in his post that he let JJProdigy use his account to finish a tournament for him when he "had to go somewhere."

That information has caused some speculation on how much of YourTimeIsUp's poker winnings are the result of his own play or that of his mentor. Add to this the issue of players who have already been banned for cheating finding ways to continue to play at the poker sites.

courtesy of Sarah Polson

News Added: 17 August, 2007

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