Player disqualified from PPT final table for cheating

[AndrewT]

Big cheating scandal overnight - The German player Ali Tekintamgac has been disqualified from the Partouche Poker Tour final table after the TD decided he'd planted a mate of his as a fake poker reporter, and this mate would peek at player's cards over their shoulders then signal to him what they had.

http://www.internet-poker.co.uk/Poker-News/Poker-Tournaments/Ali-Tekintamgac-Disqualified-from-PPT-Cannes-Final-Table-for-Cheating~3866.html

The thing is, there's been rumours about this sort of thing going round for a while - Shawn Deeb posted on 2+2 about something similar back in August.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/61/mtt-community/protect-yourself-your-other-players-862434/

Benjo posted a link to this video when Tekintamgac won WPT Barcelona back in May (look at guy with camera at about 27 secs before Tekintamgac decides his Q5 is ahead).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7kmXINjkYA&feature=youtu.be

[TightEnd]

and there were suggestions that this occurred at EPT Tallinn too, and that some reporters "knew"/"suspected" and said nothing. Which if true is not too clever either.

[ACE2M]

this definitely happens. I rememeber in monte carlo watching ben grundy at a table, i could see his cards everytime, we were like 2 ft away from him. Problem was that the 2 guys standing right next to me were the mates of the other big stack at the table and could see the same, they played several big pots against each other. Not saying they were cheating but it would have been so easy.

[ACE2M]

Benjo posted a link to this video when Tekintamgac won WPT Barcelona back in May (look at guy with camera at about 27 secs before Tekintamgac decides his Q5 is ahead).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7kmXINjkYA&feature=youtu.be


Thats so obvious.

[NoflopsHomer]

and there were suggestions that this occurred at EPT Tallinn too, and that some reporters "knew"/"suspected" and said nothing. Which if true is not too clever either.

Two reporters were kicked out of EPT Tallinn, I don't know what for 'officially' but of course it was most likely for this.

The idea insinuated that reporters knew/suspected and said nothing is simply not true and I would really love to see where you're getting that info from. This is a horrible situation for a reporter as it could potentially hamper or even destroy our efforts to do the job of updating properly.

[TightEnd]

It was on twitter yesterday from an individual called benjo. If I have got the wrong end of the stick I apologise, but that's how it read to me

Of course the two bogus reporters who got kicked out knew, most likely, so clearly its an undesirable situation for the whole community, this situation.

[TightEnd]

this is the tweet. Possibly wrong end of the stick from me, possibly not?

BenjoDiMeo 

One of the major issues is : lots of ppl (including me) knew about it since EPT Tallin. But communication wasnt handled properly...

[Claw75]

this is the tweet. Possibly wrong end of the stick from me, possibly not?

BenjoDiMeo 

One of the major issues is : lots of ppl (including me) knew about it since EPT Tallin. But communication wasnt handled properly...

this doesn't imply to me that they didn't say anything necessarily, rather that the people they told didn't do anything with the information

[NoflopsHomer]

It was on twitter yesterday from an individual called benjo. If I have got the wrong end of the stick I apologise, but that's how it read to me

Of course the two bogus reporters who got kicked out knew, most likely, so clearly its an undesirable situation for the whole community, this situation.

Yeah, Benjo, Winamax reporter (came to the Blondebash at DTD actually). A few media people including myself knew that two reporters had been kicked out of Tallinn, Thomas Kremser's tournament staff also knew and I believe had passed details on to other TD's in Europe which could be how they caught this guy.

All evidence I've seen looks purely circumstantial but frankly there's enough of it for me to be pretty sure that they cheated, is it provable? Probably not atm.

fwiw I think the staff (certainly TK's staff) are incredibly alert to things like this, more than we give them credit for.

[ACE2M]

i've probably missed the thread but when did you go to hero memebr tighty?

To be hnest about the situation for reporters i don't see any reason why you get to stand any closer than anyone else. Tournament should nominate a few watchers who you can call over who will relay hand details. too much money at stake to f about imo.

[TightEnd]

i've probably missed the thread but when did you go to hero memebr tighty?

i did? no thread, just if you go over certain numbers of postings the software gives you a different title

Sadly "Serf, lackey and completely nuts" was not in the list of descriptions

[NoflopsHomer]

i've probably missed the thread but when did you go to hero memebr tighty?

To be hnest about the situation for reporters i don't see any reason why you get to stand any closer than anyone else. Tournament should nominate a few watchers who you can call over who will relay hand details. too much money at stake to f about imo.

Dude, that's a pretty ridiculous solution, some venues are impossible to watch tables if we weren't allowed in the area ahead of the public, besides as much as we have people for PN recounting hands for us at the WSOP, I NEED to be at the table so I can understand the atmosphere, the flow of the tournament so I can write about it properly. I worked on producing videos at EPT Vienna last week and I felt very disconnected from the tournament to the point where I'd walk around the tournament area watching everything for 15-20 minutes so I could understand what was going on.

If I'm blogging I want to know what's happening at all times otherwise I can't do my job properly, simple as that. Frankly percentage wise, I'd take the integrity of the journalists over poker players every day of a week, that's not a slight on anyone I know but this is the first time in nearly 5 years of tournament coverage that anything like this has ever happened.

But thanks for assuming we don't take what we do seriously.

[AndrewT]

I'd take the integrity of the journalists over poker players every day of a week

I like the integrity of journalists, but I also like the integrity of poker players. Which is best?

[skalie]

LIVE POKER!


IS IT RIGGED?

[Boba Fett]

and there were suggestions that this occurred at EPT Tallinn too, and that some reporters "knew"/"suspected" and said nothing. Which if true is not too clever either.

Two reporters were kicked out of EPT Tallinn, I don't know what for 'officially' but of course it was most likely for this.

The idea insinuated that reporters knew/suspected and said nothing is simply not true and I would really love to see where you're getting that info from. This is a horrible situation for a reporter as it could potentially hamper or even destroy our efforts to do the job of updating properly.

Im pretty disappointed you didnt tell me anyones cards in Riga.  Couldve saved me hero calling my stack off.