I would create a new account. One with no history either way.

I would add to the above that the account would have to be verified with copies of ID and also cleared for use in high stakes games.

You can't just start up a Pokerstars account and jump into high stakes.

In b4 we find out some people at stars knew all along but turned a blind eye to keep a high profile nosebleed player happy.

As stupid as it sounds I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

Yeah remember Eli elezra admitting to having played on numerous new accounts back in the day on FTP... But then again who didn't

Actually, this is directly contradicted by several players saying he clearly purposely made fishy plays early during sessions to make it more believable that he was indeed the huge fish the account initially belonged to.

And that's what I really have a problem with, because it shows that there was a clear intent to deceive and that he was absolutely aware of the advantages he was deriving from MA'ing.

And honestly, even without that anecdotal evidence, to think that someone of the intelligence of Stinger (IQ/reasoning skills wise) would not realize the strategic implications of doing something like this is beyond delusional.

All this being said, I don't think it's a coincidence that Brian turns out to be the catalyst for the opening of the Pandora's Box Chuck mentioned in his excellent and depressing post.
Brian is pretty much the archetype of the guy people love to go after (I'm not excusing his behavior and his defense has definitely been terrible).

I think people are disagreeing on this issue because (as usual) they are debating from two different perspectives (grossly speaking):

One is the absolute ethical point of view of MA'ing, VPN'ing, etc...

The other is the relative gravity of BH's offence compared to what's really going on in HS games.

Clearly, from several HS players' reaction itt (Jungleman's comes to mind especially), this is indeed the very tip of the iceberg, and I think Brian, knowing this very well, feels that it's unfair he's getting so much flack for a minor offence relative to the reality of the HS landscape, whereas most of NVG, oblivious to that reality, considers his offence terrible and inacceptable.

quit using your vpn bro before you get caught

Ive been thinking this too

This makes interesting, fascinating but depressing reading!
If indeed a HS player such as BH is found to be cheating it just makes bring the game and particularly online poker into disrepute!
As another poster mentioned, might not be a bad idea for Stars to get rid of these high stakes games and only offer up to 10/20 or so...

Have this weeks pokercast ready to go on the ipod for my communte to work tomorrow. Be interesting to hear what Lee has to say about it.
Anything less than Stars full attention to this matter, along with necessary punishment if required will turn this situation into an even bigger mess/joke and send the worng message to all those who try to gaon an advantage by breaking rules and cheating!

After all that Chuckbass said, how can anyone be 100% sure that Mercier didn't go to Stars about this? By the sounds of it Stars would request hard proof regardless of however much JM says "I can guarantee it's BH, etc. etc."

If this is the case, wth is JM meant to do now other than avoid this. If he went to Stars he cant admit it as it massively shows Stars up, as well as potentially ruining many of his friendships and rep in the inner HS ring, looking like a snitch. If he goes the other way and denies he went to Stars then everyone hates him, it's lose lose.


Just feels there are far too many gaps to start jumping on the boot Mercier from team Stars bandwagon.

ivey GOAT

That quote of his about NH making the final table isn't a slam dunk though. He could have been voicing a suspicion, throwing mud to see if anything sticks.

He definitely has a case to answer though.

If Stars software cant detect remote desktop this is too easy and much safer than VPN

Pratyush is an ****ing scumbag as well. He knows BH is MAing and cheating while masquerading as Noel Hayes and is complicit in allowing BH to cheat Ivey. Then Pratyush has the audacity to claim he was cheated in the 10K WSOP heads up tourney. All of these young punks are colluding on-line to cheat non-colluders. This is what gives on-line poker a major problem in being allowed into the US. This is fodder for the Adelstein group when lobbying the federal government. The entire poker community should come out against all of these punks. They have all outed themselves yet think it is funny how they have screwed people over. If they MA it is highly probable that they communicate with each other while at the same HS table while using a VPN.

im sure hastings just crippled buddiga,im not 100% tho

I'm not sure if the player who is using the VPN is breaking any law, though they are certainly violating the rules of the site. They are, however, through their actions, forcing Pokerstars to be in violation of the law by accepting action from a player in the US.

Of course if they are not reporting their income, then they are in violation of tax laws.

Yup I agree. Its the fact he played under a second identity. That post by Joesm says stars are required by law to identify their players.

It's the MA'ing that I was wondering about.

The look on Lederer's face is hilarious...

Eli Elezra - 17 Accounts Video [tinypic.com]

. TIA

have you ever heard him try to explain the viktor blom game? he comes across pretty bad.

LMFAO

Back then no one thought it was a big deal to multi account. Ub would actually let u set up mutiple accounts.

They are breaking UK laws if they have multiple accounts (he did) and if they played someone in the UK.

You could also ague that he intended to deceived pokerstars and the players for his personal financial gain and that is fraud. People seem to be missing this but the laws against fraud can be applied very broadly. In the gambling world we think of deceiving for profit is normal and ok. Outside of this world deceiving someone for profit is often criminal fraud.

Hastings beaks about how bad it is for the game that this story is gaining ground, while what he did could possibly be the worst thing for the game. It's pos like this who give poker a black eye, not media outlets or ppl who help bring it to light and expose it.

What he did only hurts chances of further regulation of online poker yet he talks about hoping to see legislation in the future, playing in the comfort of his own home etc. It's sad how delusional this dude is.

Multi-Accts on PS making plenty of ill gotten money, then goes on to have an amazing summer winning 2 bracelets already this series, sighhh.

Where's the god damn justice?

hitman loves thieves $$$