Darren Woods from United Kingdom also known as Dooshcom on 888 poker is a cheater and a scammer.
It is a strong statement and I can prove it, but it will be a long post with many details.
Let me first tell you the basic elements of the story. Darren Woods won a WSOP bracelet this year in Limit Hold'em event. He is a sponsored pro on 888 poker. He is a good player who has been on the poker scene for years playing mostly fixed limit hold'em heads up at 200-400 and 500-1000 levels.
He also makes instructional videos for Pokerstrategy and works as an affiliate.
So basically he is trying to squeeze every possible buck out of poker industry.
I'm a fixed limit specialist known as jama-dharma on Poker Stars and ThrCnBeOnly1 on 888 poker. Usually you can find my at 1-2k tables waiting for the action. I won millions playing this game and I am well known in the fixed limit community.
This post is written by me but it represents the opinion of the group of respected high stakes players.
About a year ago Dooshcom contacted me on MSN and offered a rakeback deal on 888 poker. I'm not that interested in rakeback deals as the rake doesn't mean much at my limits, but I agreed cause I wanted to add 888 poker as my playground anyway.
Since then we talked on MSN sometimes and I also did a few favors to him, like helping to exchange money between the sites. We discussed current poker news, some players we both have played against and stuff like that, but never the poker strategy or specific hands.
So I was kinda surprised to learn that he plays against me on iPoker in his instructional video for Pokerstrategy. I know his iPoker screen name, but this match he played from a different account. Dingdonk1984. That's not the thing you expect from your poker buddy. In the video he analyzes the session replay in Holdem Manager, and although he substituted his name with
Dooshcom and mine with anonymous villain, he forgot to erase the table name and date.
One of my friends looked it up on PTR and found this session between dingdonk1984 and me.
I'm not a member of Pokerstrategy community, so he might have assumed I would never find out.
It was a very douchy behavior from him, but it's not the cheating yet.
Due to the lack of limit hold’em action, I partially switched to no-limit push or fold games on 888 poker. The initial buy-in in those games is 5 BB and the game can eventually get deeper. I play as high as 500-1000 blinds with 5k initial stack.
Doosh was never interested in those games and only came once a week to play a few orbits. Just to gamble a bit, like he said.
One day a new player (liverfc123) appeared and obviously the 500-1000 table got crowded pretty fast. Dooshcom was one of the players who decided to join. Nothing unusual. He is not a regular push or fold player, but he is a high stakes pro, who is often seen online.
The supposed fish liverfc123 proceeded to lose about 70k.
Very soon he returned with a new screen name, Benhamcheese. It's not a proven fact, but it became obvious to everyone in the game at the time. Same stakes, same style, same table behavior, 5 minutes after he busted his first account. And the same country (you can see the country of the player on 888 poker) - United Kingdom.
He busted his liverfc123 account, then benhamcheese account, then benkaremail account.
He was down about 200-300k in the first few days. That convinced most regulars to keep playing him despite his play wasn't that bad. Actually he was up EV-wise according to my Holdem Manager.
Dooshcom joined every game, which involved any of these 3 SN's. And many thought he was a bigger spot than the supposed fish. We all saw some very weak plays made by him. Unfortunately, as we discovered later, he only plays weak vs his buddy with whom he shares his hole cards and a bankroll.
The games ran for a month and a half. Out of roughly 50 sessions I know about, dooshcom was in almost each one of them.
liverfc123 and benhamcheese accounts were busted but benkaremail made a huge comeback, dooshcom was doing fine too.
I took the biggest hit, losing about 300-400k to them in August, mostly when playing 3-handed.
In the beginning of September I was contacted by two Swedish regulars in push or fold games. They told me they suspect dooshcom colluding with benkaremail.
They showed me some hands, we discussed their behavior, their game and seat selection. All the weak hands they have played etc.
Then we contacted all other regs we could reach, who were involved in the games with the supposed cheaters.
We created a Skype channel and started a collective investigation. Soon it became absolutely obvious the collusion was taking place.
Dooshcom and benkaremail were always together. 500-1000 push or fold, nl20k deep stack, fixed limit hold’em 250-500. Always.
Benkaremail starts the game, 10-20 hands later dooshcom joins. Pretending he just noticed a good game going.
A conversation where I pretended I don’t want to play him cause of him jumping across the tables.
benkaremail >> lets play
ThrCnBeOnly1 >> i think you only play from the button
benkaremail >> you can have the button again
benkaremail >> I am here for roughly 2 hours
benkaremail >> to play push/fold
ThrCnBeOnly1 >> hu or ring?
benkaremail >> if you find I lie - ever - no play again
benkaremail >> I prefer 4 handed to be honest
benkaremail >> so ring
benkaremail >> but hu for now
benkaremail >> and others will see game and join
He is willing to do everything to get me in the game.
Obviously by others he meant Dooshcom as he joined 5 minutes later.
Whereas Dooshcom considered benkaremail a weak player, he would be taking a seat right next to him. This is what all good players (Dooshcom included) are doing in normal circumstances.
Instead they were always leaving an empty seat for a victim between them. It will be shown below that such seat selection makes it easier to collude.
Sometimes they started a game by playing HU vs each other. Their heads up play was absurdly bad. This was obviously performed to lure viewers to join and maybe to chipdump.
Just an example
$500/$1000 No Limit Holdem
4 Players
Hand Conversion Powered by
weaktight.com
Stacks:
CO feruell (
$42,351)
BTN needAAAA (
$31,673)
SB DooshCom (
$56,473)
BB liverfc123 (
$11,387)
Pre-Flop: (
$1,500, 4 players)
feruell is CO 9
4
feruell folds,
1 fold,
DooshCom goes all-in $56,473,
liverfc123 goes all-in $10,387
Flop: 9
8
2
(
$22,774, 2 players, 2 all-in)
Turn: A
(
$22,774, 2 players, 2 all-in)
River: Q
(
$22,774, 2 players, 2 all-in)
Final Pot: $22,774
DooshCom shows
3
9
liverfc123 shows
6
6
DooshCom wins $67,857 (net +$11,384)
liverfc123 lost $11,387
No sane player is pushing 93o 12 BB deep. And benkaremail already showed that he is willing to call lightly.
I can guarantee Dooshcom has never done anything like this vs anyone else.
The same with benkaremail. He pushes 23o 5 BB deep only vs dooscom. You will find more hands below.
One of us tried to contact VIP support about our suspicions. The response was along the lines of "maybe you should move down in stakes where the games are softer".
True, fair games are softer.
So we had to investigate this case by ourselves. After we found enough evidence, we made a collective statement (which you can read below) and presented it to the 888 fraud department with some help from Pokerstrategy CEO.
They are investigating it. As far as I know, the accounts are blocked at the moment.
The interesting part is that it's not the end of the story.
A new player Salamdolphie has appeared on iPoker LHE tables. He has played me a few times at 300-600 pounds LHE HU table. Later he switched to 6-max tables.
Soon dingdonk1984 started to join the games... leaving one seat between them for a victim.
As you remember dingdonk1984 is proven to be Dooschom.
I immediately contacted all the iPoker LHE regs I know to stop them from playing.
Unfortunately Darren Woods and his scammy friend were able to take some money from Kagome Kagome (previously known as IHateJuice).
We only have about 600-700 hands on iPoker so the iPoker case is much weaker than the 888 case. Still after looking at the LHE hands, Kagome, me and two other regs involved in the game are convinced the cheating did take place.
Out of 4 players they have played against, all 4 are convinced they cheated.
We contacted iPoker fraud team providing as much info as we had, asking them to investigate, but the chances they do their job properly are kinda slim.
At this point 888 has blocked their accounts. They also stopped playing on iPoker.
Probably cashing out everything they can.
We expect 888 poker to seize the funds the colluders still have, distibute it among the players, make a statement about the situation and take this case against Darren Woods and his uknown buddy to the court.
Missing anything of the list would be a disappointment for us. It would make us feel unsecure to play on 888.
I know many players know Darren Woods, and many have business with him. I advise you to stop all the deals immediately. Darren Woods is a cheater. Darren Woods is a scammer. Darren Woods is a fraud (I welcome google bots on 2+2).
If you know more about Dooshcom scamming activity, please share your info with us. If you can help us with the iPoker case, please do it.
If you doubt our judgment, wait until the end of 888's investigation.
We have sent all the hand histories to NoahSD. Hope he can find an undisputable proof.
We can also send all we have to other reputable members of the community.
You can read the report we sent to 888 fraud team below.
It was mostly written by PoolFc1, hhhhhhhhhepp, NeedAAAA and me.
Cliffs:
- Darren Woods, known as Dooshcom, a sponsored 888 poker pro and a WSOP winner, colluded with his friend Benkaremail (real name unknown) at the 500-1000 shortstack tables.
- They won hundreds of thousands of dollars during the August of 2011.
- Cheating was discovered by the group of high stakes players.
- The investigation has started only after the group made a big detailed report asking Pokerstrategy CEO to present it to the 888 poker management and fraud department.
- Another cheating occured on iPoker, under SN's of Dingdonk1984 and Salamdolphie.
- This cheating was also discovered and reported. But the evidence is weak and it's very likely they will get away with colluding on iPoker.
- The group would like to take it to court with the help of 888 poker.
- A help with the investigation is appreciated.
The colletive statement
Purpose and Introduction
This is a collective statement from the high stakes players of 888.com. What brought us together is a very strong suspicion that some other players at the highest stakes of the 888.com PushorFold (PoF) tables are colluding (they are sharing hole cards with each other).
The push or fold tables are perfect for this as the play is very easy and straight and the advantage provided by collusion maximized as all decisions take place early.
We are all agree that something suspicious is happening and we ask you to immediately freeze the involved accounts and their assets until a thorough investigation is done. They keep playing every day and many innocent players are getting hurt.
Its very important to stop what we suspect as cheating as soon as possible.
The players suspected of colluding is dooshcom (Darren Woods) working togheter with benkaremail, liverfc123 and benhamandcheese.
Why do we think they are cheating?
- They always sit down at the same table, leaving an empty seat for a victim between them. During 07/24/2011 to 9/6/2011 dooshcom basically never missed a single session with benkaremail or liverfc123 or benhamcheese. Out of 50 their sessions we know about, he was always there except for a few very short ones.
- Whereas dooshcom considered benkaremail a weak player, he would be taking a seat right next to him. This is what all good players (dooshcom included) are doing in normal circumstances.
- Dooshcom didn't play PushorFold tables on a regular basis before. Moreover, during August and July of 2011 he missed a lot of good action benkaremail, liverfc123 and benhamcheese was not involved in. But he is always there when they are.
- They are all from the same country, UK.
- All of them play very good and understand the game as deeply as we do. Although they deviate from the good play in some spots. These situations only make sense in case of the collusion. More detailed explaination of how and why they deviate from the optimal play is rather complicated and can be found below.
- They start 6-max tables by playing heads up. Their heads up play is absurdly bad. This is obviously performed to lure viewers to join and maybe to chipdump.
- We are experts in the game. Our observations and discusions led to a mutual agreement on the collusion taking place. Whether any one of us was in doubt, you would never receive this email.
The technical details
There are a couple of things that makes us belief that they are playing together:
Anyone of the listed players above has the positions button and big blind and the pot is unopened. If you are on the button in this scenario and you know you won’t get called by the big blind or at least you don’t have to worry about being called by the big blind since you play together you can play many more hands with a profit and this is exactly what they are doing.
In this scenario the button player raises or goes all in with many hands but he very seldom gets called by the player in the big blind postion. We have looked thru a big database of hands with these scenarios and by help of statistical tools determined that when any of them raises from the button and another is on big blind the buttons win/loose ratio is about 10/1.
We have compeered this with how they play against other players and also looked into how we ourselves play in this spot and have concluded that the normal ratio for both us and them(vs a player not listed above) in this case is about 4-5/1.
This could not be the case unless they are cooperating since then they would fold a lot to all players but now they only do it to themselves and allow the other player to steal the blinds from the victim in small blind.
Another thing that caught our attention is that most of the time they are seated at a table with one player between them which enables them to collude in this way which would not be possible if they were seated next to each other.
We have attached a small sample of this to show how different they play versus other players.
The first one is dooshcom in big blind and shows how different he plays when benkaremail and thrcnebeonly1 raises from the button.
The second is benkaremail and how he plays versus dooshcom and thrcnebeonly1
As you can see, the difference is really big in these two cases and shows that both dooshcom and benkaremil protect the big blind much more often vs thrcnebeonly1 than vs each other.
The second big thing we have discovered and have made a thorough looked at is that when any of benkaremail or dooshcom moves allin and gets a call from an opponent they will overcall with really bad hands that there is no question is a really bad play unless you are cooperating to win the pot.
This is something bad players sometimes might do but since we know Darren is a very good player we find it impossible to imagine he would even consider making this plays unless he was cooperating with the other player and tries to use their four cards vs the opponents two cards.
We have attached a number of hands in which this appears clearly and there are many more that we have found which are the same. We have also made a scatter plot which visually shows how much they differ from other players
Colluders are in position BTN and BB, villain is in SB. BTN shoves/raises, SB calls/shoves, BB overcalls.
It is not very hard to understand that the range of BB should be quite narrow to overcall the raise from SB. As you can see in this figure
Y-axis: BTN raise, SB folds: ratio between how often BB folds and how often BB raises.
X-axis: BTN raise, SB call/raise: ratio between how often bb folds and how often BB raises
The three red dots indicates: dooshcom vs. liverfc123, dooshcom vs. benkaremail, and benkaremail vs. doshcom (from top to bottom on the y-axis).
The scatter plot is all players vs. all players and we believe it is clear that they do part from the rest of us. Considering the x-values of the red dots is somewhat hard to draw any conclusions from. This is mainly because the number of hand samples is too low.
But, the red dot most to right is dooshcom vs benkaremail which also is the dot with the most number of samples and therefore has a better significance than the others. Any investigation by 888 would clarify this further since they have access to all the hands.
Considering the y-values, which indicate an action a lot more common compared to the x-axis, we see a clear pattern.
Both things listed here are very effective ways of coulluding and looking into other perspectives of the case such as that whenever benkaremail, liverfc123 or benhamandchease have played almost always dooshcom has been in the game as well.
We have not presented all of our data here since it would take a lot of time to present but we feel very sure about this and we urge 888 to take immediate action and freeze the suspected players account until you have completed you’re own investigation into this. We have not been able to get in contact with all players without making them know we are suspecting something so there are still players who are at risk.
Sincerely,
needAAAA,
thrcnebeonly1,
algohr,
jnevanli,
poolfc1,
hhhhhhhhhepp,
antero666,
d144n1
Last edited by feruell; 09-12-2011 at 04:02 PM.