{"id":1753571,"date":"2022-07-31T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-31T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/?post_type=station&p=1753571"},"modified":"2022-07-31T02:41:17","modified_gmt":"2022-07-31T06:41:17","slug":"pokerstars-and-ggpoker-escalate-the-war-on-cheaters","status":"publish","type":"station","link":"https:\/\/platogaming.com\/plato-data\/pokerstars-and-ggpoker-escalate-the-war-on-cheaters\/","title":{"rendered":"PokerStars and GGPoker Escalate the War on Cheaters"},"content":{"rendered":"
The founding myth of the Olympics is the story of Pelops, grandson of Zeus, hosting the first edition of the games as a funeral celebration for his vanquished father-in-law King Oinomaos of Pisa. Pelops fell in love with Oinomaos\u2019 daughter Hippodamia, but in order to win her hand in marriage, he had to defeat the King in a chariot contest. Pelops was victorious, but only after bribing the Oinomaos\u2019s charioteer to replace the bronze axle pins of his chariot with wax ones, thus sabotaging his ride and causing his death.<\/p>\n
\nthe Greeks believed in naming and shaming those who cheated<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
For as long as there has been sport, there have been cheaters. In Greece today, lining many of the pathways to ancient stadiums, there are pedestals that once held great statues, effigies not of athletic heroes, but rather of sporting villains. A walk of infamy, the Greeks believed in naming and shaming those who cheated, those who sullied their sport.<\/p>\n
Some might say why exalt the cheaters, why magnify their deeds in art? The side of a cup dated 490 B.C. depicts a wrestler biting and gouging the eyes of his opponent while the referee strikes him with a stick. The Greeks clearly believed that these publicly displayed artistic commissions would serve as a warning to others, a deterrent to dissuade would-be scammers and connivers from bringing the game into disrepute.<\/p>\n
The tip of the iceberg<\/h2>\n
Cheating scandals abound and more are on the horizon as RTA (Real Time Assistance), card-sharing, ghosting, and multi-accounting pose an existential threat to online poker. Some in the poker community might be sick and tired of hearing about this, but they need to buckle up because we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg right now.<\/p>\n
Some of the major poker sites have at their disposal an abundance of evidence. Their clients contain software tantamount to spyware. Once you download it, they know what other programs you have open and with the specific data that they can garner, a conclusive picture of cheating behavior can be painted.<\/p>\n
At a press conference on July 5, GGPoker announced the creation of a Poker Integrity Council (PIC) to help combat unethical play. Less than four weeks later, the council comprising of Jason Koon, Andrew Lichtenberger, Fedor Holz, Seth Davies, and Nick Petrangelo is now poised to drop the hammer on a number of high-profile offenders.<\/p>\n
The Poker Integrity Council<\/h2>\n
Back in September 2020, German online gamer turned poker player Fedor Kruse hit the headlines when his flatmates blew the whistle on his use of an RTA device known as a \u201cdream machine.\u201d GGPoker ultimately banned him and confiscated $250,000, while other sites returned his balances before locking his accounts.<\/p>\n
Later that same month, GGPoker banned 40 more accounts for RTA usage and issued final warnings to 40 others. In total, the operator seized around $1.2m from 13 of the banned accounts:<\/p>\n