This has been in my thoughts for quite awhile and time hasn’t settled any of it. I hate cheaters. I hate liars. I hate thieves. I don’t know how we are always supposed to bend over, grab the jar of vaseline, drop our pants, and say, “Hey, it’s OK! They’re young! They made a mistake!”
If you are a convicted felon – even if it constitutes stealing a car when you just turned 18, you are going to have to have a felony card with you, and be registered with law in the state/county you live in, and make sure your address is current with the law. Some companies won’t even consider hiring you if you’re a felon. Even if you served time and paid your dues and it happened years ago and you have a clean record, they don’t want you.
Some of the poker world seems to think it’s OK if players cheat, ghost, multi-account, and in general take unfair advantage of the rest of us dupe donkeys that just want to play poker. Why is it OK for a player to do any of these and then get a wrist slap or then be signed by a poker site as a pro? I could never see these players’ names in print or see them in person without thinking CHEATER!
Justin “ZeeJustin” Bonomo and Dustin “Neverwin” Woolf
Lots of people make mistakes. I make them all the time. But I don’t cheat. I don’t lie. And I don’t steal. As a matter of fact, I try to steer clear of people that do. There are a lot of other people out there that never get caught – but let’s face it, if these people hadn’t gotten caught, they’d still be doing it, right? Would they have just taken the ‘straight and narrow’ without being busted?
So…Brian Townsend loses his ‘red pro’ status on FullTilt poker…whoop-T-fucking-doo-dah…and he’s going to give away $25K to a charity to show the world that he’s really sorry. And has anyone heard what PokerStars plans to do with Mr. I’m Sorry? Is he banned there? And apparently, “Regarding his online accounts, Townsend noted that he will remove all but $100,000 online and set a strategy to earn his way back to high-limit games,…” So big deal! Is he doing that because it’s an out to keep from having his bankroll seized by the online poker sites? If not, what’s the reasoning? So he can show penance in having to regroup and rebuild? Demoted from being a Red Pro for six months…WOW! What a frigging bad beat that one is.
Sorel Mizzi is signed to BetFair as one of their pros. That’s punishment for you.
Chris Vaughn lost his job over his bad move. It’s ugly, but it’s the real world. He won two Sunday Millions back to back, one on FullTilt Poker and one on PokerStars. PokerStars has apparently cleared Chris from any wrongdoing, Full Tilt was the other side of the coin.
Mark Teltscher…maybe a rumor…maybe not it looks bad either way.
Josh Field, his first apology didn’t mean jack, why would this one? There’s an interesting thread on 2+2.
Justin Bonomo and Dustin Woolf? They are out there rampaging through the poker world – are they on the square? If so, will they stay that way?
How many others are out there just tearing apart the poker world with their cheating and suckshit integrity and morals? Probably thousands plus. And there are ongoing investigations with poker sites going through cheating scandals. It’s a sad state of affairs.
But is the answer to just keep saying it’s OK or giving a few of them a stiff penalty and allowing the others to slide by because they play…what? Or instruct…what? Personally, I do not think these players should be allowed to play on any online poker site once it is proven that they have cheated/stolen in using their poker accounts, nor do I think they should be allowed to keep any of their bankroll, even the part they used to fund their account, after all, they are trying to steal the money you funded your account with. They should be forced to give it all up and walk away (donate it to a good charitable cause). Why should they be allowed to glean any kind of income from being a thief?
Perhaps with all of the uniform poker rules that everyone wants to set for worldwide use, there should be an Online Poker Black Book – just like Nevada has a Black Book – these proven cheaters should be listed, with a picture, and all online poker sites that are licensed and regulated should have to ban these players for the period of time that they are in the Online Poker Black Book’s (time period to be decided by a regulatory body) EXCLUDED PERSONS list. After that period of time, they should remain in the Online Poker Black Book for a specified PROBATIONARY time period. If they are under suspicion of crime and found guilty during the probationary time period (again the time period would be decided by a regulatory body), they should be moved to the EXCLUDED PERSONS list through their lifetime, with no change of reprieve. Once past the probationary time period, they should be moved to a section of PROVEN OFFENDERS and remain there for the rest of their life. While they are in the PROBATIONARY and PROVEN OFFENDERS’ section, each poker site may choose to allow them to establish an account or NOT.
In some countries, if you steal and are found guilty, your hands are cut off.