Im Surprised Bleznick hasnt been banned by Stars or FT....I suppose they 100 % need to prove it first.
I'm pretty sure the Harrington25/Harrington10 accounts have both been banned, but I'm given to understand he has a pretty extensive network of accounts to use/buy and stars/ftp can't just auto ban someone that Galfond/Sauce etc suspect to be him even though those guys will prolly be right a very very high % of the time, takes a bit of time to investigate. I'm sure though, that as soon as the HS guys have a hunch they will tell each other and his MA'ing loses a huge amount of it's benefits instantly.
There are several people we "know" are MAing and they seem absolutely fine. Harrington is managing it in a small player pool imagine at 200nl. Virtual impunity.
Is he managing it though? He has to find new accounts every month, will always have a sweat getting his money off and the player pool he is attempting to exploit is the smallest and best players in the world, so they figure out pretty quick - a new account shows up out of no-where at HS/Nosebleed PLO and seems to play quite well is always going to be an auto suspect of a Harrington MA. His style and preferences are well known to the players he is playing so IDK how successful he really is.
at 200NL for example you'll be almost impossible to stop, but the advantages of MA'ing in 200NL in most player pools are pretty slim given how large those pools will be, you will have mush less actual history and understanding of recent history on most regulars and with players coming and going all the time you'll gain very little edge. If the sites took my system of suspending accounts for un-ethical behavior then the MA's would be getting suspended, forcing them to, if they wanted to persist with this behavior, to constantly find new accounts, fund them, avade being caught - hopefully they just realise it isnt worth the time and just cut half the shady bull-shit out.
iPoker, you can change names/accounts whenever you want, so in affect MA'ing is in action all the time. It becomes part of the game, guessing who is who - but you'd be surprised how many regs stay with the same accounts, or who are pretty open about past names because have moved for legit reasons. So you don't really gain as much of an advantage outside of very condensed player pools.
ive friends or people i know who multiaccount at 400nl it probably happens at every stake to some degree
Do they feel like this gives them a benefit that justifies the efforts they are going to? Would you consider these guys "good" players?
As a complete recreational fish, reading these posts regarding what goes on at the cash tables is enough to put me off for life.
What sort of levels are we talking about here? Surely not the 50/1 level.
My perception is that the underhand tactics are widespread. What sort of message is this sending out to people who just want to have a quick game and maybe win a little?
We don't stand a chance.
Will certainly give the DTD games a blast.
Yes, this is sadly how a lot of people will see it, which is a crying shame because in all honesty the VAST majority of regular online players play the game the right way, give action and don't participate in these shady underhanded tactics. However a few (usually the worst players) found a few ways to exploit the system and have profited from it, as these tactics came to more public knowledge more of the guys who would never have stooped to this level start to as a defensive strategy.
It happens at all levels, but I think it's mostly rampant at mid-mid/high (3/6 - 10/20~)
One thing I will say though, is that the shady nonsense that goes on
IS NOT aimed to deceive or cheat the recreational players, it's direct victims are the other regulars, the reason it rolls back into the recreational player pool is because, firstly, it
looks very shady ( all this moving seats/tables/sitting in and out etc) and secondly the games are not starting and breaking more often, basically the other regs put more focus on not getting grimmed by the few and less focus on providing a good, fun and enjoyable atmosphere for the recreational players - which is a responsibility all regular players have.
5.I completely disagree with this, and I dont think that if someone is able to 16-table gives him an extra edge. I even think that an amateur who is 1-tabling has some more chances to outplay a multitabling pro because he is more attentive to the dynamics, when othwerwise maybe he would have been owned. I have more reasons against Rob, but I guess this is enough to make my point.
Galfond agreeing with me brag - quoted for reference.
every time you dont allow localised hand histories you get cheating. this has happened time and time again on the internet. Im all for robs ideas in principle but to eradicate huds (fine by me) you need to remove hh's, which leads to temptation and cheating. Would need a huge anti-fraud/cheat/bot/collusion team to police, ESPECIALLY with omaha and very deep holdem.
Very good point - a high % of cases of collusion/cheating is identified by PLAYERS, who have used the data they have collected to form the evidence. Like Galfond says as well if you do ban the tracking software then it's even more incentive for the technical geniuses to work a way round it because they will have a substantial edge if the majority of the other regs can't use it. Data mining has to go, tracking software here to stay I feel (as much as i'd love otherwise)