When the Stoxtrader scandal broke I found myself reading the Internet forums searching for a massive morsel of scandalous information that would put into question the very integrity of online poker. After searching for some time I did note that various large companies were under the microscope in a negative way but I came to realise that the large online poker sites were not in the firing line this time. In fact, given the furore and anger in the forums it was a bit of an anti-climax when the actual “scandal” was made clear to me.
It is particularly reassuring for me to know that there is not another super-user problem as was discovered in the far worse UB and Absolute Poker problems of 2007 and poker sites like bwin.com remain trustworthy and dedicated to providing a good online poker experience for us all to enjoy. I note with pleasure that the poker software upgrades in the opening part of 2010 by many poker rooms have been excellent. Unfortunately it is the players themselves in this case (if they are guilty as nothing has yet been definitively proven) that have used the software in a certain way rather than the software being coded to maliciously cheat players.
This scandal should remind everyone that there are far more instances of players being naughty than online poker rooms. The real dangers of cheating lie in opponents more than they lie in the poker rooms in my opinion. Everyday poker rooms issue refunds to players affected by those who have acted in breach of the rules of fair gaming. I even had money refunded to me from a SNG I played in as there was something going on in that game, probably two players sharing details of their hole cards with each other via Skype or mobile phone.
One thing that did alarm me was given the session times of two of the accused players was it not obvious to the poker room security people that these players had a very co-incidental habit of appearing on the same tables together? But when you consider that some players follow other players whom they have stats on and hand histories you realise that there must be many instances where a certain fish is followed through the tables they play on by opponents believing they will get their money. Buddy lists, table selection over many thousands of poker players must make instances of players playing on the same table over and over commonplace. For that reason I do think that this could vilify the poker sites for appearing to be slow on the uptake that this was colluding was potentially going on.
Stoxtrader has since resigned from his coaching site Stoxpoker.com as he does not want to drag its name through the mud. Unfortunately the damage may have already been done. He has said he had two accounts one for playing and one for his training. Why did he not use another site? His explanation is plausible but there are still questions to be answered.
Despite his own problems, the actions he has taken are that of one individual and unfortunately there are many cheaters in the online poker world, protected by the relative anonymity of it. For this reason alone, I believe the furore of this is a little bit of an overreaction. This is especially in light of the fact that Stoxtrader has not yet been found to have done anything wrong.
Ironically damage has also been done to the reputation of his publishers two plus two, who have banned users and deleted threads when discussions of this scandal have appeared. They portrayed themselves in the past as the honest voice of poker during previous scandals but now refuse to allow discussion on a scandal close to home. This blind protecting of their authors despite increasingly compelling evidence that he was, at the very least, not acting completely honestly in the way he was playing online poker, has enraged their users.
To honest poker players integrity is everything. This compounds the feeling of dissatisfaction when a player or company acts below that high standard. Only by everyone discussing their issues openly and hopefully reaching the truth can this matter be resolved. Hampering this discussion has only added petrol to the flames on what is an issue that poker room security can probably solve through their own records. Two plus two need to let the public have their say and air their grievances.
By Malcolm Clarke