How about you do both, play them because you think you have an edge, and for practice for the bracelet bets?

do you ghost players, or have you done in the past?

Still would be interested to hear what obligation you think Brian had to proactively tell people that he had been practicing/improving in mixed games. Seems like sour grapes, but based on Twitter others who also know their way around the gambling world share your view.

This issue was well covered in Ivey's golf bet with Vaswani.

I'm not sure if there was a conclusion though.

Nah man. Cut this crap out that he doesn't have to explain anything and stop being so hard on poor old Stinger.

If something like this happened to him we would hear. Only a few short days ago he went to social media to call another out on an apparent angle shoot, even though comments from everyone else at the table suggested it was borderline at best.

This arrogant holier than thou attitude expecting people to be stupid enough to fall for his dodgy behavior and then gloss over it by throwing enough BS at it.

No.

Multi-accounting has nothing to do with bracelet bets. Aren't there specific cases where players are allowed to change their names on PS or open new accounts? It seems like there are legal ways for a player to have a new, anonymous account and it wouldn't be unethical for that person to not tell anyone about it. IIRC a high stakes player on FTP had an offensive screen name, and FTP made him change it -- should he have gone around announcing his name change?

Or what if some well known live pro decides to start "practicing" on PS and opens a new, random, anonymous account for the first time and does well enough online to start booking bracelet bets with people? There is no moral obligation to disclose that he's been playing online.

People think that because Hastings was specifically multi-accounting, he's morally obligated to disclose that information to people he's making bracelet bets with, yet it would be completely fine if he was secretly playing online through a method that didn't break Pokerstars' terms of service. This distinction is laughable imo. He shouldn't be multi-accounting at all, and he may have done something unethical wrt online play, but the bracelet bets should not be affected by this.

KagomeKagome's opponents all received an email to inform them of the name change as did Ivey's etc..... I'm sure Hasu could lay out the detail if required

what about jared bleznick...??

Yeah yeah buddy. You keep up the justification. The dumb folk will come round eventually and the still dissenting voices shall be sent away for reprogramming.

Apparently 5=2+2 if you throw enough BS and think about it abstractly enough

What about him?

Disclaimer: I am a Hastings fan, have been a long time. (This could change)

Obviously accusations of MA'ing are pretty serious but don't you guys think there would be waaay more hype in the HS forums and social media calling him out as a scumbag if this was completely unknown and as bad as NVG is making it. I'm focusing solely on the MA thing because the rest is in the past (although I suppose relevant for character) and has been somewhat addressed.

So...
[ ] Highstakes players are aware of and don't care about "certain" MA'ing?
[ ] Hastings is putting together a response....carefully (guilty)?
[ ] Typical NVG witch hunt?

Just some nobody, but very interested thoughts....

The reason that the high stakes community isn't 'up in arms' is most of them know about it already. They were told directly from the horse's mouth. If they come out now and denounce it, they lose access to this information in the future.

I can understand this self-serving attitude for some people, but IMO once you become a PokerStars sponsored player, you give up your right to hoard this exclusive information. I'm trying to wait for a personal response before I really blow up here, but it seems like the deal is that TWO PokerStars sponsored players knew about this situation way before me, and didn't bring it to the light

As someone that has had my screenname changed- you are wrong.

If your screenname is offensive or includes your last name, you can get pokerstars to approve your screenname to be changed.

When was that? last 5 years?

Isnt that more like pokerstars force you to change ur nick cause it offensive?

Stinger88, is that offensive or include his last name u'd say?

I know numerous of players that have tried to get there nicks changed by many different reasons, some really good reasons but without success.

But maybe Im wrong.

for someone who sold out to cardrunners at 17, did self incriminating interviews after winning 4 million, and constantly flaunts his wealth and gf's titties on social media, this is a new level of having a big mouth.

how couldnt you think this is super risky? dude is so bad at cheating

[QUOTE=Bakes;47349207]The reason that the high stakes community isn't 'up in arms' is most of them know about it already. They were told directly from the horse's mouth. If they come out now and denounce it, they lose access to this information in the future.

/QUOTE]

This of course makes the whole thing even worse and more dishonest, not somehow ok-ish, as some will try to claim.

Why would he have anything to say regarding multi-accounting etc. Worst case, he´s a losing player wannabe. "Best" case, he´s a guy who has been cheating for 3+ years sitting in games he had no business sitting in via multi-accounting, VPN stuff etc. Not sure why Joey would be your go-to-guy regarding poker ethics.

well put

I wasn't commenting on stinger, just accounts being changed in general.

For someone so smart Hastings is such a dumbass. Is he REALLY increasing his winrate so much that its worth further tarnishing his reputation?

Hello xxxx

Thank you for contacting PokerStars.

PokerStars takes a very strict stance on changing User IDs. In an ideal
world, there would be no changing of PokerStars User IDs, just as it is not
normally possible to change your identity when playing in live poker games.

That said, we accept that there will, very rarely, be situations where it is
reasonable to allow such a User ID change. We are willing to allow you to
change your User ID on this occasion.

We have granted your account the appropriate privileges, so please follow
these steps:

1) Restart the PokerStars software.

2) Select 'Account', and then 'Create Account' from the PokerStars Lobby.

3) Follow the on-screen instructions to create a new User ID. Be VERY
careful about selecting your new User ID, as it will not be possible for you
to change your User ID again.

4) Email us and let us know that you have changed User IDs, and if you have
any, we will transfer your money balances, Frequent Player Points (FPPs),
VIP Player Points (VPPs), and any tournament tickets to your new account.

As a consequence of this User ID change, please be aware that if you have
any, you will lose access to records like hand histories and financial data
from your previous User ID in the PokerStars software. In addition, self
imposed restrictions such as ‘Restrict Deposit Limit’ and/or ‘Restrict Table
Limit’ will not be transferred from your original account and you must
re-apply them on your new account if desired.

Finally, given that we have allowed you to change your User ID to protect
your privacy, we would expect that you will keep your new User ID confidential.

Thank you for your cooperation, and please let us know if there is anything
else that we can do to assist you.

Regards,

Tuba
PokerStars Support Team

To me the whole reason why MA is bad is because you are trying to hide your identity. If it's common knowledge amongst high stakes players that Stinger is using the NoelHayes account, then this to me shows that his intent is not to deceive players into getting action.

Is the account just being used to VPN from the states and not put the Stinger account in jeopardy?

Obviously this is just pure speculation on my part and VPNing is against TOS anyways, however VPNing seems far less egregious of an offense to me compared to multi accounting to gain a competitive edge.

I'm just going to withhold judgement until more information comes to light.

exactly. it's very very rare that stars would allow a screen name change, and just because they do allow it, that doesn't make what brian did not cheating...

the one instance i've heard of a reg changing screen names was when a guy had his last name as it. this was back when locations were cities instead of countries, and unfortunately some eastern euro thugs showed up at his house and held him hostage, forcing him to transfer them all his monies.

Funny thread here:

http://pokerfraudalert.com/forum/sho...ng-allegations

He must have known he would get busted since pros would recognize his play and an old businessman wont play at this skill level. So since cheating will be a big hit to his reputation he probably decided to not hang around at the poker scene anymore on beforehand and thus might as well book a winning online while its still possible at high stakes.