After the superuser scandal at Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet, that a new scandal is born: that of groups of Chinese collusion. Recently, a group of cheaters based in China has been unmasked by PokerStars. This is the second time that such a network PokerStars unmask cheaters: the first case of lesser magnitude, was in 2008 when a group of Chinese working together in parts Stud limit.
All the recent case began on May 24 when " Jane0123 " a member of the American TwoPlusTwo forum, complained that PokerStars has blocked his account for over three months. Jane0123 a player sit'n'go type "double or nothing" (where 10 players compete to pay 5 places: so 5 players double their bets, while the other half of the 10 players lose their) was under investigation about his relationship with ... 46 other Chinese players, nearly all of the city of Hangzhou. These Chinese played almost exclusively at the upper limit of "double or nothing" or $ 52 or $ 104.
The situation quickly turned against Jane0123: several players have applauded the decision to block his PokerStars account because these players suspected something fishy and had on several occasions contacted the security PokerStars. The account Jane0123 subsequently closed down by PokerStars, which states that "after review of hands played, it is clear that you regularly create favorable situations through team games; you and your friends have regularly played four or five players, pressing your opponents sandwiched between retries (technique known as the "whipsawing"). After reviewing several hands of several players, it is clear that these actions were the result of a prior arrangement. " Jane0123 then disappears TwoPlusTwo without reparticiper again for discussion.
Several players then legitimately complain that they have played thousands of sit'n'go type "double or nothing" against some players making parties of 46 players with a link Jane0123. Immediately after, informs the PokerStars players "Given the complexity of the situation and the number of players involved, no compensation has yet been given in this case and PokerStars expects to be able to begin distributing compensation during the next week."
Then in June, the saga took an interesting twist: one of the players on the list of 46 Chinese players reappears again on the tables. Many players complain when an abnormal influx of new Chinese players winners tables sit'n'go "double or nothing" to $ 104, and some players suspected of collusion can be found again on the tables after PokerStars banned ... for a month!
Meanwhile, PokerStars announced that while the investigation takes much longer than expected, but that all affected players will receive compensation.
In late June, PokerStars announced that they then set up a compensation fund equal to the sum of the profits which the cheaters site adds a bonus of $ 250,000. Profits are then of the order of $ 337,000. Only $ 84,000 was seized, so that PokerStars pays $ 503,000 to $ 587,000 bottom. 4000 players affected and share amounts ranging from $ 5.20 to $ 8,424.13 for the losses they suffered in December 2009 and January 2010.
Dissatisfied with the amounts, players argue that cheating goes back much further than February 2010. Some speak of earlier date in November 2009!
Then, in the last days, a member of TwoPlusTwo announced that PokerStars is returned back to July 2009 and that losses are more than expected. He announced that in addition to $ 587,000 previously announced, PokerStars added the $ 157,507 earned by cheating during this new period July 2009 to October 2009 and 72 $ 511.40 rake paid by them are added to the bottom. PokerStars also refund all the rake paid by legitimate players, amounting to $ 741.80 747. Finally, $ 500,000 will also be added to the amount of goodwill gesture. adding this additional 1.5 million thus bringing the compensation fund of more than $ 2 million.
The scandal is apparently still underway: several suspects Chinese players are still on the tables of sit'n'go "double or nothing" and tables 7-card Stud would still populated by Chinese.
You will find on TwoPlusTwo a summary of the important dates in the case of collusion.
Discuss this news on the forum by clicking the following link: Chinese Collusion on PokerStars
