blonde poker forum

Ok, many of you know I work in the poker industry.

I get a press release from Betfair saying they're announcing a major new signing on wed in copenhagen. I've got no idea who it is, but they say it'll shock. So who do you reckon they'll add to Annette, Grundy, Songert etc

will it be a scandie? (plausible as in denmark) or someone else?

ssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i cant say untill wednessday

bluescouse imo

Trond Eidsvig?

tikay?

Someone with big tits who has no history as a poker player.

Or a sportsman.

Colin Montgomerie ?

Kev?

Heather Mills McCartney


But........

Serious guess is that Timex Kid that has won every tournament in the last 5 weeks

wouldnt be surprised if its Ben Grundy, always see him playing on there....

Is it me?

Torben Pieknik

Søren Kierkegaard!!

S@rkeed Schmorrgansnuggy

Same to you too...!

That great bluffer.... Mohamed Fayed.

Thorson? Lodden?

LuckyLloyd?

the talk of the ladbrokes lounge out here is perhaps gus hansen? Interesting....

They're Betsson boys.

Soren Kongsgaard perhaps?

Someone who isn't a poker player, maybe.

So it IS Bluescouse!

Boris Becker..check

Shane Warne...check


lets have a wild guess, if not Gus Hansen, at Michael Schumacher!

Gus is a Full Tilt player at the moment.

Maybe Betfair want to get something out of him for the shonky poker software they bought from him which has stunk up Betfair ever since.

dont want to rain on anyone parade but does the intials DU mean anything to anyone

du du du, come on and do the conga?

It's about time Derek Underwood got a sponsorship deal.

Dave Ulliott?

i have been sworn to secrecy

Must be Australian... DOWN UNDER

its going to send shockwaves around the poker playing globe

Godzilla?

bigger shockwaves

Mr Richter

bigger but not quite as big as colchester kiv

Do you actually know, or are you just planning on saying "yeah I knew that" once its been unveiled?

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=8649.0


all is revealed.

Is it Dave Colclough?

ok watch out for the letter DU and RY also the letters JL are important

I think the following letters will feature: AEIOU.

i am assured that 3 of those letters are involved but not that heavy

"I think I need a vowel please Carol."

(http://img17.imagevenue.com/loc61/th_12098_0629217.jpg)

lol

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ruftiuksXfg

looked a bit like carlos mortenson to me

Yes, but Carlos is a Full Tilt sponsored player.

Or at least he was, but now he doesn't appear on the list of sponsored players on FTP's website any more...

not carlos nope and not DC either

when u freeze it when it scans across his face, he doesnt look well lol. But at a guess, he looks spanish or italian. cant think of any famous ones apart from carlos and the mario summat.

Looks a little bit like Sorel Mizzi to me, is he sponsored by anyone right now?

No, but he's been a bad boy....

Actually Mizzi fits the bill perfectly.

Press release said 'will cause headlines' - which obviously he did with the whole shared accounts thing
Said he was a future superstar - which he is, along with annette he is probably one of the top 5 internet players right now
Looks just like him and he does tend to wear a hoody
I think he is good mates with Annette, so that might have swung it
And he is Canadian, and I think that means he can play on betfair

Im still going with Heather Mills

Could it be kunkawap?

When will it be announced?

dunno, what are the symptoms?

what did the doctor say?

yep its mizzi

funny how they sign all these players that are bound to just stay on stars most of the time

FYP

Great publicity for them to have as their 2 most recent sponsored pros:

1. Annette who openly admits to playing online before reaching the age of 18 - something totally against all card rooms t&c.
2. Sorel - proven guilty of buying an account midway through a tournament - also totally against t&c of all card rooms.

No disrespect to either of the 2 pros or Betfair but surely this makes a mockery of any t&c of Betfair.

IMHO I think it's a poor decision by Betfar, for poker as a whole.
Does nothing more than say, if you cheat, you can get a nice sponsorship package.

So does this mean it's not me then?

Im amazed. Why would you want someone with his supposed past to represent your online room?

FYP..he's a cheat and I'm asthonished Betfair are this stupid.

It's a real shocker isn't it? The timing of this so soon after he cheated suggest that they aren't bothered by his actions.

And it hardly helps their moral position when trying to recover the money from the people who got involved in the "1st hand all-in collusion" farce on their 6 handed SnGs.

but ya all those guys will now get a sponsorship deal.

Betfair has to be seen to be squeaky clean and helping to prevent cheating if its business model is acceptable to the sports on which it allows trading to take place. Hence the Memoranda of Understanding that they have with a number of sports to help those sports identify any instances of cheating for profit via the exchanges e.g. with horse racing in this country.

This signing is completely at odds with that approach. I think this is a bad move by Betfair and I'm surprised that the overall business has allowed it.

Now that is an own-goal of epic proportions by Betfair.

Still, they've set out their stall, & punters have the right to choose where they play.

And they are actually larging up the signing!

I think that this deal shows that these online companies have no understanding of the game or their customers.

I can understand when sites decide to take on a celebrity such as Shane Warne, good publicity and a marketing ploy with the aim to attract new players.  I also understand the frustration of many players who have worked their way to the top of the poker food chain, are regulary mentioned in, and in many cases contribute to the poker press, but are unable to achieve a sponsorship deal even though they have a high profile and are seen to contribute to the game as a whole.

However I cannot understand this signing at all, he is a good player, but that is the end of the positives, as a representative of poker being targeted at those who play the game is a major misjudgement.  Many players will be left with a  bitter taste over this.

Is it Red??   If so good luck Tom

anybody heard about there being no such thing as bad publicity? this will bring betfair into the limelight and attract a lot of new players to the site. All this talk of cheating is a little high horse from many on here- what sorel did wasn't actually classed as cheating at the time. It only was classed as cheating after it was made public and terms and conditions were ammended so it didn't happen again.

Can anyone on here hand on heart say they haven't played on someone elses account....ever? I have finished tourneys off in the past for a mate who has had to go out. I have played sats for other people before there was all this one person one account nonsence. Fact is the entry was paid for, they only got one stack of chips and 2 cards the same as anyone else in the tourney. I may be in a total minority but I can't see the harm in what zeejustin, jjprodigy or imperium did. Ok so one of them allegedly had 12 accounts entered into the *s biggy one week- fact is he put 12k into the prizepool. They didn't collude or chip dump as they never got on the same tables (that has been admitted by the sites). How come certain live pros still get invited to live events when they are known cheats and colluders yet a few internet kids are supposed to have a black mark against them for life???

I have read on here many times people saying I've got to go out can someone take over this comp for me or Ive qualified for this sat and can't play will somebody play for me and somebody does. Does this make any player who has done this untouchable? Is he branded a cheat for life because of this? Don't forget Annette played underage breaking many laws and yet she won the wsopE so nobody calls her a cheat and abuses her- in fact shes the internet sweetheart and has been interviewed and "bigged" up by almost every poker magasine/internet site (even here). He's admitted what he did was wrong and lost a lot of money from what he did so why not give the kid a chance, did none of you lot make rash decisions when you were younger?

Good Signing. Sorel Mizzi's abs incredible.

I don't think it will. Only people who are already very interested in poker will have heard of Sorel and player sponsorship has virtually zero effect on people who already play a lot of poker. No one is going to change sites to play on Betfair's shonky software because they see Sorel in a Betfair shirt.

Annette is different - she brings something genuinely new and is, herself, a story capable of reaching new players. She is an excellent signing for a poker room. Sorel isn't.

Nobody has suggested that he should be ostracised for life, just questioned whether he's a good choice as an ambassador for a poker site only a short time after what happened.

And "yes" to the other question as well. If that puts me in a minorty or makes me stupid, so be it.

Ariston in shock betfair defence....

flushy makes shock pointless sarcastic post.....standard

aments

The point was to highlight your bias in all things betfair.

At least you got the sarcastic part right.

Betfair would do better to just upgrade their software as some of you have mentioned already... i think i've played on over 18 different sites and only play on it for the dream team events as the software is so cruddy.

There are 20+ players who deserve sponsorship ahead of him Moorman, Allinstevie, DC, JayPez, Celtic spring to mind. I'm sure others would have their favourites too. For me would love to see Moorman get a sponsor he is so consistent that I am sure he would do well.

anybody who fits the bill of being young and possibly a world beater please send an application to betfair. As for most names being suggested they aren't in sorel's league as players. Nobody elsenoticed  what they are trying to do- going for the young hotshot talked about players instead of the old guard. If they wanted another old has been I would surely have been asked myself wouldn't I.

If anyone on here can put themselves in the same bracket as Sorel or Annette please come forward.

oh and nobody deserves a sponsorship- they don't grow on trees nowadays and to get one you have to be either very lucky or very good.

They did upgrade it a couple of weeks ago but made such a mess of it they had to rollback to the previous version.

I get paid to write for betfair and have done for the past few years. I am also lucky enough to have been sponsored for many events by them so of course I am going to be bias. Sorel has got a job I wouldn't have minded myself but should that make me a jelous moaner? I do think its a good signing by them as all the top players rate him very highly and is rated by all the recognised sources (pocket 5s etc) as being in the top 5 in the world as an online player. Maybe they should have sponsored someone who may get lucky and win the odd event instead of someone who will win many over the next few years. Maybe they should have sponsored a fat bald northern bloke who isn't marketable and would definately win nothing for them.

Ariston....

Moorman is No 11 in world and rising.. sorel is no 42. ??? and dropping  - the stats dont lie.

moorman1: An incredibly consistent player, moorman1 has quietly become one of the most successful players on the Net. Has won several major events, including the Absolute Poker 1k and a chop of the Sunday 2nd chance on Stars.

He's also won several freeze out tournaments on FTP, Stars, and PartyPoker, including the $500 High Roller $30k Guaranteed in January 2008.

Imper1um: Formerly ranked the #1 online tournament player in the world, Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi had won over the adoration of many online poker fans around the world through his inspired poker play and pleasant personality.

However, in late 2007, "Imper1um" was involved in an illegal stack-buyout that made online poker news headlines. Sorel made a public apology for the event, and only time will tell if he will win back the hearts of his fans. Regardless, he remains a top poker talent.

fair enough. Being number 1 in the world has got to be worth something. I didnt realise moorman was ranked as high as number 11 and I in no way meant to insult or offend anyone else on the list, I was simply saying mizzi has got the gig because he is a very talented youngster. Also the fact he is young and marketable obviously helps. Maybe they shouldve gone for an ex sportsman or some bimbo with nice norks like most sites do instead of going for someone who has proved himself. Everybody is being very quick to attack sorel so I repeat- who on here never did anything foolish when they were younger? If everybody can honestly say they never did anything rash that could come back to bite them on the arse then fair enough. I aint defending him as a person because I have never met him- he may be a total cock for all I know. I am defending him as a player and also as a marketable sposored pro. I reckon its a good signing for them to play tourneys alongside Annette as they will both get an awful lot of media attention which is what they want for their money obviously.

You're just repeating the same argument.

Talented player he is. Good ambassador for a gambling site? Arguable.

And the "let he who has never sinned...." argument is completely irrelevant. Lots of people have done rash things in their time but they probably would have been gobsmacked to pick up a well-rewarded, connected position 5 minutes afer dong it!

Mizzi's ROI isn't even triple digits online, that's pretty poor for a world class player, even i run at over 150.

It grates me when people bang on about the 'online rankings' they are about as useless as the live rankings, play the most events and you are locked on to be at the top.

I have only played with zangbezan24 a few times as i am not a regular on stars, i have yet to be impressed.

you are obviously far better then with your 150 roi. I am sure players all over the world know your name and it must only be a matter of time before a site offers you a deal. I will tell betfair they should rip his contract up because he has failed to impress you the few times you have played each other. While I am at it I shall petition to try and get the live ranking done away with as well as obviously that roland de wolfe, julian thew etc don't deserve to be classed as the best players in Europe- not unless its ok with you and you rate them.

stick to make your silly lodonkament type posts because when you try and post a proper argument you come across as a spoilt child who is annoyed because the kid across the road got the toy he wanted.

 ;popcorn; ;popcorn; ;popcorn; ;popcorn; ;popcorn; ;popcorn;

no ty bainn lol

I do suggest a couple of forum name changes though. Can mine be changed to MRBetfair to amuse james. Then could we change royal flush to "me me me look at me everyone"

lol...now this is a funny post.

The rankings are not reflective of who is the best and everybody knows that. On top of which the guy is a blatant cheat.

Someone like Moorman or indeed Flushy would be a better ambassador for a pokersite than this cheating joker who got the gig because Annette wanted a travel buddy. Is he talented? Yeah sure..but so is Ben Johnsson..and that guy too was a cheat and deserved everything he got.

This is not a case of "The kid across the road getting the toy he wants and people now being jealous" This is a case of Betfair giving a cheat a sponsorship deal. That's the problem people have with it.

only a matter of time untill TheVoid gets his deal at Betfair.

Love this...

LOL

moorman I would agree would be a good pic for a site but flushy??? come on boldie it aint arpil the first yet.


I still dont class the guy as a cheat and I am not alone in thinking that. I have played many tournamnets for people in the past before this was classed as cheating. I have won sat seats for big packages for people and finished off many a tournament. I am 100% certain that most people on blonde have at some stage had a mate finish a tourney because they had to go out and said they would split winnings etc. What thevoid did was a completely different case and was done after the sites had made everyone aware this was not acceptable (I havent played comps for anyone since the new terms and conditions on sites covered this form of "cheating").

I actually think Flushy would be brilliant...He's outspoken, he 's an entertaining player..and he's a good tourney player who will surely take a biggie down sooner rather than later. (And curse you for making me say that! ;) )

Are you making my point for me? Roland came 115th in the European rankings last year, we all know that he is much better than that.

As for me coming across as the spoilt child who didn't get the toy he wanted, lol.

Yes i would love a sponsorship deal, who wouldn't, for me though it is not a necessity as i am actually capable of beating the games i am playing in so can pay my own way.

errr i might be wrong but didn't thevoid, ZJ and JJ do the same thing?

 ;popcorn; ;dewi;

roland 115th- depends on which rankinng list you look at. Also roland spent most of last year not playing in Europe and didn't have his best year.

its a good job you can beat the games you play in as you wont ever get anything but a rake related sponsorship imo (unless boldie sets up a site). The days of sponsorship being thrown around are gone and you have to be seriously talented, seriously famous or very lucky to get a deal nowadays.

Everyone seems to agree what a great signing Annette was yet she openly admits (and is indeed famous for it) playing from the age of 15. Under the sites terms and conditions that makes her a cheat as well.

no they didn't do the same thing and yes you are wrong. If you don't know all the facts in certain cases please don't ty and use them to make your point.

Honest Kev the Bookmaker .. latest odds.

Ariston backing down and admitting its a poor board level decision by betfair 33/1
Flushy  backing down and admitting Betfairs marketing gurus are geniuses     33/1
Thread degenerating into total farce as Flushy and Ariston will never agree    1/3
an "AMENTS" in more than 4 posts after this one                                       1/9
Ariston vowing never to post on this subject again                                      6/4
Flushy doing the same                                                                             16/1
Ban for Ariston                                                                                        7/1 (subject to change)
Ban for flushy                                                                                         7/1 (as above)
Thread locked as it turns into a flame war                                                  100/1 ( cos that will never happen WILL IT GUYS !!)

Genius.

lmao

FYP

The European Rankings, my point is i don't need a ranking list to tell me who a good player is, i know Thewy and Roland are top notch players, i also know some of the top 20 in the rankings are dogshit and wouldn't be able to beat £10 rebuys.



Why i asked, i thought they were all multi accounting cheats, what did they do different then?




Glad we are agreed on something then!



As for Annette, she broke t's and c's but it was a very different rule she broke, she gained no advantage by breaking the age rule i think that is why people are far more forgiving.

whats the odds on flushy being the next big name pro to sign for team betfair please kev? with his 150 roi , his photogenic looks and brilliant wit he is surely an odds on shot.

and who in your oppinion is in the top 20 and dogshit? You are obviously the new oracle for all things poker and I expect next months magazines to all run the flushyrankings instead of money based or points based ranking systems. who would want to be known as someone who can beat £10 rebuys instead of beating 1k/10k freeze outs?

wont discuss what they did different as its their business not ours


yes we do agree- you arent seriously talented, arent seriously famous and arent lucky so you didn't/wont get sponsored

Annette won a million online apparently when she wasnt allowed to play under the terms and conditions. this means that money was taken from other players when her account should have been locked/frozen and not able to win. Suppose some cheating is acceptable and some isnt in your eyes.
Do you get a good view from up there on your high horse sir?

I think it's only slightly more favoured than you showing a profit at tournament poker.

oh no we've gone off the mizzi arguments and he's now insulting my profitability. I do ok sir and have gotten sponsorship in the past and currently. Are they knocking at your door?

I have shown a profit in tournaments live every year I have played. Ok its only because I have either won the seats online or been sponsored but a profit is still a profit ;)

LOL


If you actually read my post i said that is why people are more forgiving, i didn't say if it was right or wrong, i hold no opinion on the matter. It is you i believe who said you see nothing wrong with multi accounting, not I.


For the record i was sponsored for a short while with blue square, i was very pleased to have the opportunity to play for them and hope i did my best to represent them at the events i played at.

My argument was never with the Mizzi deal, it was with the use of rankings based on cash's rather than profitability.

I wasn't aware you were currently sponsored, congratulations on talking yourself into that one.

you were sponsored as part of a big campaign where they gave a lot of you a shot. You did so well representing them that they gave you a deal afterwards I see. Quite a few of the others involved in that campaign went on to get a deal with bluesquare or other sites for various events and some of them faded away to become bitter and jelous of anyone who gets a shot because they fked theirs up.

Yeh I have admitted I didn't see nothing wrong with multi accounting if no collusion or chip dumping takes place. It is my oppinion and I am allowed one whether it is deemed incorrect by you and everyone else.

I wont be drawn into MT bashing btw. If you know what went on you know why it was different but its none of my business or yours really so you can LOL all you like.

I repeat
you were sponsored as part of a big campaign where they gave a lot of you a shot. You did so well representing them that they gave you a deal afterwards I see. Quite a few of the others involved in that campaign went on to get a deal with bluesquare or other sites for various events and some of them faded away to become bitter and jelous of anyone who gets a shot because they fked theirs up.

I'm selling t-shirts - £20 each.  Take your pick from 'Team Ariston' or 'Team Flushy'

You are priceless! How did i fuck it up? I came 2nd in the competition to Jen Mason, i would say i exceeded expectations given the quality lineup in the competition.

I am loving the notion that i am bitter about people who have deals, 2 players came out with a blue square deal from the group of us that year, Mickey the Legend who i am constantly supportive off and JP Kelly who is one of my good friends, i can't see any bitterness there!

I am jealous of those players who get to go around to all the EPT's obviously i would love to be able to do that.

If someone wants to sponsor me into an event i will be very grateful and accepted 2 such invitations last year to do so, i hope i get similar invitations this year.

Out of curiosity who is your deal with i must have missed the press release!

im glad to see the rules on flaming has changed on this site. if this was 2 less known blondes going at it this thread would have been locked long ago!

no consistency guys!!!


but hell it certainly is entertaining lol  handbags at 5 paces !  rotflmfao

I have to go soon, truly gutting this is too much fun.

Claw put me down for 1 of each!

no press release needed as I aint famous enough or good enough. I do however have respect of the people that matter and know sponsorship isn't just about how well you do in a tourney. Sites look for a lot more than just results when sponsoring players.

I have played events for betfar over the last few years and will hopefully be playing some events on a joint branding venture with them in the future. If not betfair it will be one of the other major sites. At the minute I am sponsored by a new company with links to betfair alongside a few other players but this will be growing into a bigger team of players over the next few months. Feel free to submit your application (oh sorry I forgot you dont need sponsorship).

feel free to try and keep needling me mate. While you are sat bitter at my ability to "talk" myself into deals I shall be playing the events. Its amazing I also have the ability to talk women into getting naked as well- the mouth is a wonderfully usefull tool ;)

claw- team ariston is a trademark so make sure I get a cut of any sales ;)

And your sponsor is? Isn't the EPT on now?

2nd to a girl- nuff said looool

have to go work now guys but its been fun

Aww. So will i now

Ariston, you are the one coming across as bitter in this thread. You need to have a serious word with yourself.

I have to go sadly as well, still curious as to who Ariston's sponsor is but i guess its a secret!

It can't be much of a secret, he was photographed wearing their gear....

I hope this thread doesn't turn into an "all dayer", I've got shed loads to do!

we need to add some photoshops to this thread

What a fantastic read that was!

"Arguing on the Internet is like the Special Olympics. Even if you win, you're still a retard."

Oops.

Nothing like a couple of Keyboard Warriors...

This thread entertained me no end.

thanks guys.

Mizzi is obviously still a  cheat though.

Time to lighten the mood...

A blonde decides to do something she’s never done before - rent a dirty movie. She drives to the local Video Warehouse and makes here way to the adult section in the back. After looking around at titles, she selects a something that sounds very stimulating.

She drives home, lights some candles, slips into something comfortable, and puts the tape in the VCR. To her disappointment there’s nothing but static on the screen. She calls the store to complain and says, “I just rented an adult movie from you and there’s nothing on the tape, but static.”

The clerk apologized about the defective video and asked, “Which title did you rent?” The blond replied, “It’s called ‘Head Cleaner.’”

They are having a robust exchange of views, but doing so in a civil manner, & we are absolutely fine with it.

Long may it continue.

Personally I made my own point earlier in the thread and still do feel that both Annette & Sorel are not suitable ambassadors for an online poker site despite any other arguments to the contrary that I've read on here. However I'm keen to visualise what other posters feel are the reasons for sponsoring players. IMO a site uses sponsorship of players as a form of advertising to drive NEW players to their site to hopefully increase their revenue. Rakeback, loyalty payments & deposit bonuses etc are IMO a form of sponsorship and theres no doubt that all of those do drive new players to a site. I personally feel the only way to gain new customers, whether recruiting from an alternative site or brand new to poker customers, is to employ known faces to appear in live tournaments or in TV commercials. So who are the recognised faces who could drive the largest number of new players to a site:

1. Annette & Sorel - In Europe & Asia.
2. Shane Warne - Especially so in Australia & Asia.
3. Boris Becker - In Europe & around the world.

The list could go on with sporting & other celebrities but personally I dint think its even a contest as to whether 888 & Stars have better faces than Betfair in terms of attracting new clientele, if it was boxing it would be a mismatch.

It doesn't make it fair on good tournament players that the likes of Boris Becker & Shane Warne are getting sponsorship deals but in a commercial world it makes good commercial sense. I know if I was connected to Betfair I'd be looking to obtain the services of a top European sporting personality and maybe someone of similar stature in Asia to help promote my site rather than Annette & Sorel regardless of how they have both broken T&C in the past - its simple the man in the street who is new to Poker hasn't got a clue who Annette or Sorel are but he for sure knows of Shane & Boris.
Ariston said it earlier and hes probably correct that it will never be easy any more for genuine poker players to get sponsorship deals.

The Blue Square Unusual Suspects Event is referred or alluded to here, which Jen Mason won, from, if I recall correctly, Flushy. Looking back at that whole Unusual Suspects thing, what a great event that was, engineered, I believe, by Jonny Raab.

Now, I know we all see these things differently, but the Blue Square thing did nothing but generate mountains of good, positive, puff, both for the Players, & the Site. I can't help but compare the feedback between the new Betfair signing, & the Unusual Suspects promotion, which we all followed so avidly. But for positive PR per £ spent, Blue Square must surely have hit the bullseye, whilst the Betfair decision has most of us - & on that we must agree - a bit non-plussed.

This was the entire Unusual Suspects Crew.....

Simon (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=399) Nowab (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=399) 

John (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=211) Falconer (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=211) 

Jen Mason 

Stuart (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=420) Nash (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=420)

JP (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=222) Kelly (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=222)

Ian (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=170) Bradley (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=170)

Mickey (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=283) Wernick (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=283) 

James (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=186) Dempsey (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=186) 

Joe (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=205) Grech (http://www.blondepoker.com/blondepedia/blondepedia_view_player.php?player_id=205) 

Some gathering of poker talent that - & for many of whom, much water has flowed under their collective bridges since. Hard to argue though who, from Betfair & Blue Square, got the best value as a Sponsor. I get on just fine with the Senior Suits at Betfair, the MD included, have worked for them, I like them, & we engage in dialogue on stuff from time to time, but I'll have no issue with discussing this cause celebre with them when we next meet - they misjudged the strength of feeling this would cause. Badly. But I wish them, & Mizzi well. Play on their site, though, where they reward those that buck the system with Sponsorship? Sod that!

The winner, by technical knockout (opponent shot themselves in foot) is Blue Square. IMO, that is, I hasten to add......

ive seen not so high profile blondes in the past do just the same and have the "robust exchange of views" nipped in the bud and the thread locked.

just an observation no odds to me whats allowed and whats not il just enjoy the entertainment  ;D

No I don't think I do agree.

One of the keys to any marketing campaign is publicity.
Sorel Mizzi is guaranteed to get publicity, particularly given his recent history.

Also, given the publicity he is getting is for an online gambling site, I am not sure too many people will be over bothered by his previous minor indiscretion.

Taking Ariston's earlier point, I don't recall any of the 'anti-Sorel' posters on this thread, being up in arms when people have posted on this site  asking for someone to take over tourneys for them.

If his offence was such a big issue, why was it not an issue in these situations?

Well I'm delighted you are enjoying it. We shall continue to encourage spirited debate & robust exchanges of views, done in a civil & adult manner that does not cause offence to our Members.

Enough knocking Flushy.

Everyone knows Uncle Ben's have been sniffing around him with a potential sponsorship deal for agggges.

(http://blondepoker.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=9884&g2_serialNumber=1)

The allegations against Mizzi, were not that he took over a mates tourney to cover in unforseen circumstances.

He was alleged to have systematically and repeatedly 'bought' positions in tournaments, from friends and acquaintances, after they had already reached strong positions.

You really think "someone taking over Tourneys", quite innocently, is the same as that which Mr Sorel did?...... If it were the case, I'd agree.

Anyway, Good Luck to Betfair, & Mr Sorel, & I mean that sincerely. However, any chance that I may or may not play on Betfair has now gone out of the window - that's my right, & my choice - & I don't think I'll be alone in taking that stance. I prefer to play on Sites that have better ethicacy. I'm quite sure they'll manage quite nicely without me, & me without them.

here here !

I cant be bothered to read back through 10 pages of this    so who was it?

It was flushy, in the poker room, with a bowl of rice.

Wow congrats Flushy im sure he will do a great job for them. He has been smashing up the mtts for long enough glad someone has given him a real shot at the big time. Better him getting the deal than so other high profile names i care not to mention

Which responds to Jakally's point perfectly.

The positon described by Wardonkey, if true, would amount to 100%, (no caveats, no line-smudging) - cheating. Because there is a clear difference - it's pre-meditated.

Imagine that - routinely - happening in Live Tourneys, when it gets to the sharp end, & the regular guys then started selling their seats - & stacks - to the "faces". There would be an outrage. 

 rotflmfao :)up

I think the intent is a little different, but they are both effectively the same offence.
I also think it is marginal enough to not be an issue in the longer term (in most people's eyes) providing he keeps his nose clean.

The intent is a "little" different"? There we differ! The intent, IMO, is a LOT different

Anyway, it's done & dusted now, the bed is made, & we shall each make our own decisions on whether we approve or not, & what sites we choose to patronise accordingly.

Folks will decide for themselves. In my opinion - & I'm of no consequence individually, I recognize - but this was a goof of Ratner-esque proportions. Others may think it's all rather spiffingly good. Each to their own, eh?

IMO what Mizzi did was cheating pure and simple.

Let's say for example,i managed to qualify for this year's WSOP,i make it through to say day 3,i find myself at the same table as Phil Hellmuth and we both have plenty of chips,then a big hand occurs between the two of us where all the money goes in pre-flop,he has Aces and i have Kings (he always gets his money in front apparantly) but i spike a King to knock him out. As he stands up he says let me play your chips and we'll split the winnings, of course there is no way that would be allowed,so it shouldn't be allowed to happen online.

me and flushing going toe to toe on here isn't rare as we both have strong oppinions and dont tend to mix our words or back down easily. We will still have a pint at the next event and continue to take the piss out of each other though because thats what we have always done and there is never any hard feelings.

gl to sorel and if he breaks rules from now on then sack him plain and simple. The kid is talented and deserves a fair shot imo.

I cant comment on the Mizzi allegations as I have not read anything about it (apart from on blonde).

As for Annette, who as far as I am aware openly states she started playing at the age of 15, if I am not mistaken this is actually "illegal" therefore surely much more a serious offence then "cheating".

Fair comment. But it won't be as easy, or as quick, to repair the damage to Betfair's reputation, methinks.

I was actually at the press conference in Copenhagen where this was announced, and he was asked directly about this.  He said he had apologised, was still sincerely apologetic and rather hoped to forget about it all... He handled himself really well with the sort of question he was probably dreading - and the PR guy from Betfair said that they were 'looking forward' - which in normal speak means that he's not being rewarded for or in spite of his previous rulebreaking but being taken on for the long term (at least a couple of years) in order to give him a shot at live MTTs which they feel he's going to be good at.  Fair enough.

It's true publicity can come from a sponsored player who's (a) really good (b) really well known/liked or (c) controversial on purpose, but I don't think they were picking (c) here.  At the very worst no one will really care (or people will still dislike the software) - I can't imagine choosing my site on the basis of who their sponsored players are anyway.

But would you choose your site based on your view of the Site's ethicacy, or otherwise?

My choice of site(s) is usually on game availability, bonuses or rakeback, ease of deposit/withdrawal. Who they sponsor is low to next to irrelevant to me, but it must get them new players o/wise why sponsor?

All winners paid ;)

I don't want to open this thread up again but to show how many grey areas there are and as to what is/isn't cheating consider these two cases involving high profile players from the last 12-18 months

1) Timex and Action Jeff purchased a players account late in the Sunday Million on stars back in 2006 (IIRC) I believe - they went on to win - there was nothing in stars' t&c's against this at the time. Because of this incident, there is now. They were not banned, and i imagine timex was also under-aged at the time.

And, concerning the one player to a hand rule - very easy to enforce live, but no so online, so much so that stars, recognised by many as the leading site in terms of customer service etc, don't have it as against their t&c's as it's impossible to enforce. Which leads to...

2) The Plattsburgh incident: Matthew Vengrin, known as Plattsburgh pnline took down and FTOPS event 6 months ago for around $300k. Except not on his own. He happend to be at Turning Stone, with a bunch of other players, who were watching the event and confirmed that the following happened. Online, Matthew is (or was?) staked by Josh 'JJ Prodigy' Fields and from three or so tables out Josh was on the phone to Matt effectively playing the tournament for him, no purchasing of accounts happened but it was clear who was in charge. You may think that makes little diff, but at the FT he played a hand against Mr Menlo (Issac Baron) who actually shared a house who Vengrin during the WSOP, so knows his game well, and if Menlo knew that was JJ and not Plattsburgh playing the hand, the outcome would've been very different. Ditto the tournament.

90% of traffic that passes through forums like this does not give a monkeys who this guy is - they have never heard of him or what he is supposed to have done. But the rather regular mentions of a site called Betfair all across the internet will subconsciously be of interest to 0.5 to 1 % of that traffic. That small minority MAY then visit the site, giving Betfair a HUGE PR win. Sorry, but despite what we all think about the ethics of what he has done, Betfair has scored a huge PR victory and fair play to them.

And I work for the opposition!




 

I cant believe anyone, whether they're paid by betfair or not is condoning multi accounting.

I don't think many on this forum are - but the passing traffic does not even know what multi-accounting is, while all the time Betfair is becoming ingrained in their minds, a bit like one of those subliminal  supermarket messages

(http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/6485/arguementsfu1.jpg)

imo

VVVVVgood A++, thread delivers etc and all that jazz!

Above the rim.

Hold on a minute. Russ's legs arent that thin, I know coz I've seen em and Flushy's tail is much bigger than that too, I know coz....er someone told me.

jungle that is absolute class. Love it lol

cough cough :)

ooops sorry was giving credit were it wasnt due. Jungle you are a theif for quoting and fooling me and leknave is the genius ;)

Thanks Ariston, took me ages.

My Junglecat account busted out early but as Leknave was busy 18 tabling I took over his account and posted under his name. Smart of you to notice but shhhh don't tell blonde. I'm looking for photoshop sponsorship from minerpoker.com

:):)

rotflmfao thts class on so many levels, vnh.

Look out for a press release next week that Party Poker have signed a sponsorship deal with Ian Brady :)

Shhhh! It's meant to be a secret

Just caught up on this, a thoroughly entertaining read. There's one thing that I don't understand though - did he break the rules or not?

He had the funds from the tournament win taken away so it appears that he most definetely broke their t&c. However it seems a bit strange that Annette played from 15 years old which is also against the t&c and none of her winnings were ever withheld.

2+2 now has a thread indicating that Imperium has been caught taking over an account during the WCOOP. His initial reply is quoted below:

"LOL , and this is why I don't read the forums, nothing but drama and people spreading false rumors.... Initially I wasn't going to respond to this but it seems like it's getting a little bit out of hand.

Sorry to disappoint everyone, but I only got suspended on Pokerstars and it was for a minor infraction which I don't think I should have been suspended for in the first place.

Basically what happened was I was at the airport in Barcelona , ready to fly to London, when I realized that I had already preregistered for one of the WCOOP events ($300R PLO). Since the flight from Barcelona to London is only an hour, I called my friend (who will remain nameless) from the airpot and asked him to login and play until I arrived at my hotel and set up the internet. I ended up getting to my hotel about 1hr and a half into the tournament. I told him to log off, he did, and I continued playing the rest of the tournament.

This is the only time I've let anyone login to my account since the incident on FTP.... I had no malicious intent and my actions were 100% reasonable and innocent.

I knew I should have been smarter and just blinded out accepting the $300 loss. It's evident that Pokerstars has me red flagged because they think I'm associated with JJ in more ways than I am and because of the FTP incident.... I feel like they were just waiting for me to slip up and I guess this was enough for them.

Pokerstars wanted to suspend me for 6 months but after continuous back and forth e-mails they reduced the suspension to 3 months.

Although I don't agree with the suspension and think it's extremely harsh given the circumstances, I can appreciate the fact that Pokerstars is enforcing their rules and doing their part in protecting the integrity of online poker."


When will these online cheats ever learn that eventually they will be caught out. Just a couple of small points after his reply:

1. If he could get someone to log into his account and start the tournament for him why didn't he get that person to unregister him from the tournament since he knew that taking over an account halfway through a tournament is against the rules.

2. Since when can you fly from Barcelona to London and get checked into a hotel room within 1.5 hours.

3. What drives someone like Imperium to continually cheat especially now that he has secured a very good sponsorship deal with Betfair.

4. Why does he feel that Pokerstars have been unfair to him in banning him for 3 months when he openly admits he did wrong and should have just settled for blinding out and losing the $300.

1. I'm guessing it is because he wanted to play. I've had tournaments before where I've not been able to make the start because I can't physically get online, so I've got in touch with someone I trust and they've started the tourney off for me. I always thought this was allowed if you could prove you couldn't get online when it started...

2. Where does it state that? He states he gets to his hotel 1.5hrs after tourney start, not 1.5hrs after arranging everything...

3. See point 1.

4. I suppose he feels slighted because people who don't have his "rep" get away with it.

sigh, this happens every day