Unfortunately yet another scandal has appeared that puts a negative spotlight onto the world of online poker. Fortunately, it is not related to a security breach perpetrated by unsecured poker software but this time, a player has been identified as being part of an alleged multi-accounting scandal which has angered the high stakes Limit Holdem community. This is more of a player pet hate than a full on poker scandal, but it has taken a twist when the two plus two poker community has started to restrict discussion on the matter which has angered forum members.
It must be pointed out to readers that as yet, nothing has been admitted and players should be treated innocent until proven guilty.
Nick “Stoxtrader” Grudzien is a co-owner of stoxpoker.com, which is a fairly large coaching site. He also co-wrote the book, “Winning in Tough Hold ‘Em Games”, which was published by 2+2′s publishing that also has on its books high profile poker authors such as Collin Moshman, David Sklansky and Dan Harrington (none of whom are connected with any of these allegations).
An allegation was made by an anonymous two plus two forum poster that Nick Grudzien was behind four accounts that had enjoyed big winnings and then abruptly quit the site amid these big wins. Behaviour like this always rouses suspicion because it is rare for a gambling player at the high stakes games to walk away with a big profit. Normal behaviour sees them continuing to stay involved like Durrrr or Phil Ivey. The thread was quickly deleted and his account banned. Two plus two often has to deal with things like this so the banning was not unusual.
Stoxtrader further fuelled the flames by making a bizarre response to the allegations where he did not deny the relationship to the four accounts he was accused of owning, thus multi-accounting, and the speculation between forum posters went into overdrive. Despite clamour for full investigation and discussion, two plus two continued to stifle this and unwittingly heighten anger and uncertainty and banned any user mentioning such discussions in the forums. They have therefore faced a large amount of criticism for blindly trying to save one of their own authors from the firing line rather than accepting there may be a case to answer, not least because of Nick’s ambiguous and puzzling statement he made on the matter.
One can back up two plus two to a point as this scandal, albeit potentially damaging, is just hearsay and allegations in its current form. But rather than two plus two allowing it to run its course by stifling the discussion it looks more guilty.
Users of online poker sites need to be reassured as this allegation is more about the character of the poker coaching sites and certain high stakes players rather than a discussion about the code security of the online poker sites themselves. Sites like bwin.com, my favourite poker site for cash games, remain out of the firing line and I believe them to be reputable and highly recommend anyone to try them out.
Hopefully this latest poker scandal has just got out of hand and will pass like the weather. It may hold some credence for certain players and cost a few reputations. Thankfully online poker is not the villain this time, so we can continue to play our hands and study to make our own profits. It is up to those accused of these “poker crimes” to deal with the ensuing chaos surrounding alleged events. For now, at least, the rest of us can simply continue to play poker.
Part 2 of this article will look in detail at whether this is all a large over reaction and exactly what the ramifications of any wrongdoing are.
By Malcolm Clarke