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Brian Townsend Confesses To Online Poker Multi-Accounting

August 29, 2008

American professional poker player Brian Townsend came clean Tuesday, confirming the growing suspicions of many poker fans by confessing in a blog post that he was in fact guilty of multi-accounting at two of the most prominent online poker rooms in the industry, PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

Townsend, currently one of the top instructors of poker video tutorials at CardRunner.com, admitted to using two identities at PokerStars – his usual name “aba20”, with which he is known to be Brian Townsend and participated in higher stakes games, plus “Makersmark66”, Townsend’s lower stakes username.

In March of 2008, Brian Townsend dropped his known nickname at Full Tilt Poker, “sbrugby”, and became a Red Pro instead, using his real name “Brian Townsend” to play at the online poker room. According to his blog admission, Townsend was also playing under the nickname “Stellarnebula”.

In recent years, the discovery of multi-accounting – a practice that is strictly forbidden by PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker, as well as every other respectable poker site - has caused several scandals in the online poker industry.

Full Tilt Poker has already handed down punishment to Brian for his iniquitous actions. Townsend has been suspended from Red Pro status at Full Tilt Poker for the next 6 months. PokerStars, on the other hand, has yet to comment on the matter.

In Townsend’s public ‘blogged’ apology, he affirmed that he never abused his multi-accounts for collusion purposes, seating both in the same tournament or cash game. Allegations nor evidence of that sort were ever brought up, and Townsend is adamant that he has not participated in such activities.

In concluding his apology, Brian Townsend stated, “I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives. I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologize to entire the online community. I will never partake in this type of activity in the future. This post should act as a full admission of my guilt, and I sincerely apologize to anyone that I’ve wronged.”

Townsend made the decision to come clean after speaking at length with Cardrunners COO Lee Jones, former PokerStars manager and EPT host. Knowing his actions were not that of a true professional poker player - who should be a role model, not a red mark on the reputation of the poker community – Townsend has gone a step farther than apologizing by reprimanding himself with a hefty fine. Townsend will be donating $25,000 from his Cardrunners earnings to a yet-to-be-determined charity.

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    Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under Full Tilt Poker, Online Gambling News, Poker News, PokerStars 

    FTOPS IX Rides Into The Sunset: Full Tilt Poker Series Recap

    August 21, 2008

    It was a short, but intensely thrilling 11-days at Full Tilt Poker as the ninth installment of the 25-event Full Tilt online poker Series (FTOPS IX) has closed its final chapter, locked the door and ridden off into the sunset – at least until FTOPS X rolls around next year (and the crowd goes wild!).

    The largest kudos of the series has to go to ‘dubbeemin’, who took down the FTOPS IX Main Event on the final day. Battling it out with ‘valleyho’ in heads-up, dubbeemin held the clear lead of more than 3-to-1 in chips when the final hand played out. The Flop - 9c-7c-6d – gave both players a strong Flush Draw, with valleyho hiding Kc-10c and dubbeemin the Qc-Jc. The Turn brought Ad, no help for dubbeemin, but when Jd fell on the River, he paired up to take the pot, the 1st place prize of $432,400, and the esteemed FTOPS IX Championship Title.

    The FTOPS IX Main Event victory was certainly an admirable accomplishment, but the MVP of the entire Full Tilt Poker series went to Kevin ‘GetPWN4D’ Saul, winning the FTOPS IX Leaderboard competition by 61 points. Saul started things off with a 4th place victory in Event #12, followed by a 10th place finish in Event #16 and 2nd place in Event #17 to give him the clear lead throughout the remainder of FTOPS IX, ending with 500 points.

    Saul’s only rival on the FTOPS IX Leaderboards was Yuval ‘yuvee04’ Bronshtein who gave an astounding performance worthy of the record books by becoming the first player in Full Tilt Poker history to win back-to-back FTOPS events. Bronshtein finished 1st in Events #14 and #15, which – even more amazingly – started on the same day, at the same time. The latter being a turbo style tournament, you simply have to commend such devout concentration. Bronshtein earned 200 Leaderboard points for each win, boosting him to 439 as the series came to an end.

    Last but not least, we have to mention the biggest single-cash prize winner of FTOPS IX who was not the winner of the FTOPS Main Event, as one may reasonably assume, but rather ‘hAAydon’, winner of FTOPS IX Event #22. With a $2,500+$120 buy-in, the 2-day event saw 942 entries trumping the original $2mil GP to $2,355,000 – enough to pay a top prize of $541,650 to hAAydon for routing the competition.

    Congratulations to all of you FTOPS IX winners out there who earned a combined total of well over $15 million. As the excitement slowly flickers like a candle flame with depleting air supply, we say a fond farewell to FTOPS IX; and to Full Tilt Poker, please do hurry back with the next, anticipated installment of the Full Tilt online poker Series.

      Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under FTOPS IX, Full Tilt Poker, Online Gambling News, Poker News, Poker Tournament Results 

      Trash Talking Mike Matusow Takes Aim At ‘DaEvils’

      August 18, 2008

      It was supposed to be an action packed FTOPS IX Event 22, pitting skills vs. skills in a battle to the finish at Full Tilt Poker. Instead, it became an all-out war of words as Mike Matusow and ‘DaEvils’ verbally blasted one another for what seemed to be hours.

      Matusow quipped about players thinking he would actually bluff on the first hand, and DaEvils immediately accused him of trash talking. It only got more explosive and explicitly immature as the poker tournament continued.

      DaEvils criticized Matusow’s play of the hand, to which Matusow called all online poker players (as opposed to live players) “idiots”. To make matters worse, and fuel the fire for DaEvils, Mike seemed to have some trouble with his keyboard (yes, we’ll blame the keyboard) as he could not seem to offer a single post without repetitive typos. Not to say that DaEvils typing skills were perfect – not even close – but he was at least articulate during the exchange.

      As the immature argument escalated, DaEvils took jabs at Mike’s tournament play, saying things like, “it’s just pathetic you pros that talk so miuch trash about medium sized pots… when you’re constantly broke and begging for stakes.” (Please note that I have not removed any typos from the original text :)

      At one point, Matusow responded to his foe by posting monotonous strings of “wheheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” and other repetitive-letter posts.

      DaEvils was quick to respond with, “mike you’re actually just acting like the idiot 8 yer old who puts his hands over his ears and goes “nah nahy nah nah i can’t hear you.”

      The adolescent behavior did not go without notice as it has been the hot topic at online poker forums all over the Internet. While neither participant was applauded for their behavior, Matusow certainly took the brunt of culpability for his childlike attitude.

      At one point, Matusow accused DaEvils of being jealous of his poker success. DaEvils quickly responded, “as much as i’d like to have substance abuse problems… and constantly go broke… i think i’ll find somebody else to idolize.” That certainly didn’t help to defuse the situation!

      Towards the end of the verbal altercation, DaEvils made several attempts to get Mike Matusow to agree to a live, heads-up match between the two. He went offered to make it a mixed game with Pot Limit Omaha and 8 or Better in the assortment, “which you’re supposedly best in the world at”, DaEvils finished.

      Despite the recurring offers to play one-on-one, in person, Matusow never once responded to the offer – not to say yes, no or anything else in relation to the question – rather continuing his verbal abuse in the same foolish manner.

      I must say, I hope these two do not ever play against one another at a live table. Judging by the level of maturity shown at the Full Tilt Poker online poker room, I can just imagine what these two would revert to if they met face to face.

        Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under FTOPS IX, Full Tilt Poker, Online Gambling News, Poker News 

        FTOPS IX Day 9, ‘jobless23’ Finishes On Top

        August 15, 2008

        Full Tilt Poker hosted 3 FTOPS IX (Full Tilt online poker Series) events yesterday, rather than the originally scheduled Events #18 and #19. Due to a multiple hour laps of ‘Voided’ tournaments earlier in the week, Event #13 was postponed until yesterday. Boosted prize pools included, Full Tilt Poker paid out more than $830k in FTOPS IX prize money.

        Among the FTOPS IX events winners, ‘jobless23’ had the biggest day, taking down Event #18 for nearly $70,000. Event #19 went to ‘Rizz13’ for $63k, while the first prize in un-regularly scheduled Event #13, $45k, was awarded to ‘Dukatos’.

        FTOPS IX Event #13 - $216 PL H.A., $200k GTD
        Hosted by Max Pescatori, FTOPS IX Event #13 got underway at 3:30pm as 913 players joined in the action. Switching from PL Hold’em to PL Omaha at each blind increase, the tables slowly shrunk until the final nine remained. It took less than 7 hours to finalize heads-up play as ‘Dukatos’ and ‘Allin4Narnia’ duked it out for the top prize. ‘Dukatos’ finally prevailed, claiming $45,000 for the 1st place victory. The 2nd place prize of $28,500 went to ‘Allin4Narnia’.

        FTOPS IX Event #13 Final Table Results
        1st – Dukatos - $45,000
        2nd – Allin4Narnia - $28,500
        3rd – PostflopAction - $21,100
        4th – ChipSteela - $16,500
        5th – SwoopAE - $12,500
        6th – RubbishPlayer - $9,000
        7th – pokerded - $6,000
        8th – sun2 - $4,500
        9th – mross03 - $3,200

        FTOPS IX Event #18 – $535 NL Hold’em Shootout, $300k GTD
        A field of 662 converged on the tables of FTOPS IX Event #18 as host Andy Black was on hand to watch the action unfold. The $300k GTD jumped to $331,000. Another relatively quick tournament ensued, lasting a mere 6 hours before ‘m_reed05’ and ‘jobless23’ wiped out ’zelik’ to battle it out in heads-up. When the smoke cleared, ‘jobless23’ was left standing to pocket the 1st place prize of $69,510 – the largest purse of FTOPS IX Day 9. ‘m_reed05’ took home $46,340 as the 2nd place victor.

        FTOPS IX Event #18 Final Table Results
        1st – jobless23 - $69,510
        2nd – m_reed05 - $46,340
        3rd – zelik - $33,100
        4th – AlexB81 - $24,825
        5th – Catenaccio - $18,205
        6th – zekulya - $13,240
        7th – mreki88 - $9,268
        8th – jonpijonpi - $6,289
        9th – MattSuspect - $4,468.50

        FTOPS IX Event #19 - $322 Mixed Hold’em (6-Max), $300k GTD
        In the final FTOPS IX event of the evening, hosted by the unsullied poker skills of Full Tilt Pro Erick Lindgren, a respectable field of 1,019 took to the tables; just enough to boost the $300k GTD by an extra $5,700. The longest event of the day, it took little more than 9 hours to reveal a winner as ‘Rizz13’ routed his heads-up opponent, ‘castellimich’, to take the 1st place purse of $63,738.

        A notable 4th place finish went to Team Full Tilt’s David Chui, 4 time WSOP Bracelet winner. In 2008, Chui came back to defeat Full Tilt Pro Gus Hansen for the 2008 WTP World Championship title, worth $3.4 million.

        FTOPS IX Event #19 Final Table Results
        1st – Rizz13 - $63,738.45
        2nd – Castellimich - $42,492.30
        3rd – LegacyRik - $30,264.30
        4th – David Chui - $22,621.80
        5th – nevadabob0 - $16,202.10
        6th – Stubblefield - $10,398.80

          Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under FTOPS IX, Full Tilt Poker, Online Gambling News, Poker News, Poker Tournament Results 

          FTOPS IX Pays $1.4 Million In Events #16 & #17

          August 14, 2008

          It was another stellar day for members of Full Tilt Poker as the Full Tilt online poker Series (FTOPS IX) continued with Events #16 and #17 yesterday. The first event saw a modest overlay of the $200k GP, while the evening’s $1m GP was boosted to $1.2m by the multiple re-buys and add-ons of its zealous participants.

          FTOPS IX Event #16 - $216 Limit Omaha Hi-Lo, $200k GTD
          A field of 856 took to the Full Tilt Poker tables at 2pm yesterday to partake in FTOPS IX Event #16. Hosted by Full Tilt Pro Scott Clements, the action was fierce and steady throughout the full 9 hours and 15 minutes it took to complete the online poker tournament.

          The final table came and it wasn’t long before the player numbers dwindled. Eliminated in 3rd position, ‘dolphin75’ walked away with $21,100 as heads-up play commenced between ‘nortti77’ and ‘masterace222’. Though equally matched in skill, the cards fell in the favor of ‘nortti77’, who finished in 1st place for $$45,000. ‘masterace222’ was awarded $28,500 for the 2nd place finish.

          FTOPS IX Event #16 Final Table Results
          1st – nortti77 - $45,000
          2nd – masterace222 - $28,500
          3rd – dolphin75 - $21,100
          4th – RolldUpTrips - $16,500
          5th – mikegambles - $12,500
          6th – swimmer36 - $9,000
          7th – hasuling - $6,000
          8th – Royal_Clown - $4,500
          9th – Jopke - $3,200

          FTOPS IX Event #17 - $322 NL Hold’em w/ Re-Buys & Add-Ons (6-Max), $1m GTD
          FTOPS IX Event #17 drew a crowd of 1,059 – not nearly enough to cover even half of the $1m GP. Posting 2,239 re-buys and 727 add-ons, however, bolstered the prize pool t well above, totaling $1,207,500 before all was said and done.

          Full Tilt Pro and the evening’s host, Peter “Nordberg” Feldman presided over the approximately 10-1/2 hour tournament as the field inevitably grew smaller and smaller. Eventually, it came down to heads-up
          Play between ‘MishkaT’ and ‘GetPWN3D’ when ‘IWEARGOGGLES’ was eliminated in 3rd ($119,542).

          The skills of ‘GetPWN3D’ were previously apparent in FTOPS IX Event #12 as the exceptional online poker player took 4th place for $105,000. Though finishing two places closer to overall victory, it was not yet ‘GetPWN3D’s day as ‘MishkaT’ took the ultimate honors and 1st place prize of $251,763.

          ‘GetPWN3D’ still pocketed an imposing $167,842 for the 2nd place win, bringing his total FTOPS IX earnings to $272,842.50.

          Another notable finish came from Full Tilt Poker’s red-tagged Ram “Crazy Horse” Vaswani of ‘The Hendon Mob’, finishing in 8th position for $25k.

          FTOPS IX Event #17 Final Table Results
          1st – MishkaT - $251,763.75
          2nd – GetPWN3D - $167,842.50
          3rd – IWEARGOGGLES - $119,542.50
          4th – Masterhp - $89,355
          5th – eisenhower1 - $63,997.50
          6th – Claw1980 - $41,005

            Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under FTOPS IX, Full Tilt Poker, Online Gambling News, Poker News, Poker Tournament Results 

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