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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 

    Titan Poker - Single Satellite Awarding 50 Seats In $2.5M GTD

    August 28, 2008

    It’s no breaking news headline that Titan Poker is the premier online poker room of the iPoker Network, but what has the industry in a stir is the announcement of a single Satellite tournament awarding a record-breaking 50 seats in an upcoming $2,500,000 guaranteed.

    Titan Poker will be hosting its largest guaranteed online poker tournament Sunday, September 7th, with a guaranteed prize pool of no less than $2.5 million. Direct buy-in to this event is a whopping $1,500+$80, but Satellites are ongoing daily.

    The biggest Satellite to the Titan Poker $2.5m Guaranteed will occur Sunday, August 31st at 8:35 pm (GMT +1), listed in the Titan Poker Lobby as “$2,500,000 Stage 1R/A 50 Seat”. What makes this upcoming Satellite competition so intriguing is that Titan Poker will award the top 50 players – yes, 50! – a seat in the $2.5m GTD. That is more guaranteed seats than any Satellite competition in the history of online poker.

    “This is an exciting eleventh hour opportunity for players who have not yet secured their seats to the online tournament of a lifetime,” stated a highly enthused representative of Titan Poker. “Low stakes and the chance to win big - it’s a dream for most players.”

    Direct buy-in to the 50-Seat GTD Satellite is $160 + $12; much more cost efficient than the express buy-in of $1.5k. However, players can bypass this buy-in as well by entering daily Stage 2 and Stage 3 Satellites, which award seats in this Sunday’s 50-Seat Guarantee.

    Stage 2 Satellites incur a buy-in of $20+$2, while Stage 3 Satellites cost only $2+$.20, and are played as single-hand Sit’n’Go tournaments. The Stage 3 awards a seat in the Stage 2 - Stage 2 awards a seat in Sunday’s “$2,500,000 Stage 1R/A 50 Seat”, where the top 50 players will be rocketed into the massive $2.5m Guaranteed.

      Written by Donna Norman · Filed Under Online Gambling News, Poker News, Titan Poker 

      Scotty Nguyen Apologizes For Drunken belligerent Poker Play at $50,000 HORSE event at the World Series of Poker.

      August 28, 2008

      “Where the **** are the ******* cocktails!?” - Scotty Nguyen

      Fourteen hours is an enormous test of endurance for a tournament poker player. Imagine yourself battling it out, table after table, building your chip-stack, your table image, and holding it all together for hour upon hour. A poker player is said to have to options, make the right decision under a tremendous amount of pressure, or go home early.

      Now let’s look at the game of H.O.R.S.E. Take this back to the cowboy days if you will. In the worldof poker, you are not a pro, you are not an old timer, you’re not a cowboy until you’ve broken the horse.

      H.O.R.S.E stands for Holdem, Omaha, Razz, Studd, and Eight or better. Five of the most challenging poker games, all wrapped up into one tournament. That’s what this years WSOP $50,000.00 horse contenders were up against. The best of the best, in one of the biggest high stakes poker matches there are, at the most prestigious poker event of the year.

      It looks like the pressure might have gotten to a few of pro poker players, Scotty Nguyen a bit more than others, add all the pressure outlined above, plus the fact that his beer was apparently not being delivered in a timely manner, the Poker World was treated to less than the classy behavior we’re used to seeing from the man known to many as the prince of poker.

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      Amanda Leatherman from Poker News interviewed Micheal DeMichele, who came in second place against a really tough field, he went heads up against Scotty with a short stack, he missed.

      DeMichelle explained that he had rubbed Eric Linden and Scotty Ngyuen the wrong way by playing into the audience a bit, DeMichelle apologized, he told Scotty he wanted to conduct hmself in a professional manner at the poker table, and said that he wasn’t going to do it again. But Scotty who’d had a bit much to drink didn’t let it go there.

      “Enough is enough man, we play this game we wait for ******* cocktail!”

      In fact, at one point, during his drunken poker play, Scotty, who was never warned for language, and received no penalties, picked cards up off the table, and showed them to the audience while in a hand.

      “It’s no fun when Scotty Got the Gun Baby!” Scotty slurred to another player after beating him in a hand.

      “When I did the interview with him, he was falling down a little bit - but he’s a good guy” explained Amanda Leatherman.

      Nut Nut BABAY! Scotty yelled into the crowd, the crowd yelled back, “Nut Nut BABAY - What What BAYBAY”

      The blunt of Scotty’s outburst was taken by DeMichelle, however he did have his moment with Eric Lindgren, who told Scotty that he was not on his team, never had been. On his way out, he said “I Hope the kid wins” in reference to DeMichelle - 23 year old professional poker player.

      Scotty made a public apology for his drunken behavior during the event, which he posted on Cardplayer.com poker forums, in his apology Nguyen explained that the tournament was 14 hours long, but asked the fans to keep in mind that the cut edited for television was only 2 hours long, with of course the most entertaining [drunken] moments included.

      This tournament was too important for me, the trophy, the fifth bracelet, and history, my head was zoned in for this event, and for that time, I forgot the fans were watching me. I said things I shouldn’t have said that have disappointed you, and I apologize for my actions. Scotty said to fans in his apology.

      The tournament was played in the honor of Chip Reese, Scotty Nguyen eventually won the tournament, 2 million dollars and a Chip Reese Trophy.

        Written by Lady4Flush · Filed Under Online Gambling News 

        APT TO HOST ASIA’S LARGEST CASH GAME – MINIMUM BUY-IN HK$1 MILLION!

        August 28, 2008

        28th August 2008 (Macau, China) – The cards are in the air at the Galaxy StarWorld Hotel and Casino in Macau as Day 1A of the eagerly awaited APT Macau finally got underway! ‘Godfather of Poker’ Doyle Brunson and the legendary host of the 1970 World Series of Poker ® Jack Binion joined Asian Poker Tour Tournament Director Matt Savage to ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’ as a world class field took their seats. Jack Binion, standing alongside Doyle Brunson, addressed the players as they took their seats.

        “This is the future of poker,” said Binion. “This is so exciting and significant - you can see the potential and feel the energy.”

        A formidable line-up of players are at the StarWorld for the landmark USD $5300 (US$5000+$300) event. Amongst those spotted include Johnny Chan, Todd Brunson, Liz Lieu, J.C Tran, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Nam Le, Quinn Do, Steve Sung, Huck Seed, Michael ‘Chino’ Rheem, Mel Judah, Mansour Matloubi, Harry Demetriou, Carter Gill, Richard En and APT Philippines champion David Saab. You can follow all the action LIVE at http://www.pokernews.com/live-reporting/2008-apt-macau/main-event/ with a selection of videos available at http://www.thenutz.tv/ . Information can also be found at the official website http://www.asianpt.com/

        Amongst those choosing Day 1A include Doyle and Todd Brunson but there was considerable interest on the rail as Saab and JC Tran got drawn on the same table and locked horns. The APT Macau is making history by offering US$1,500,000, the largest guaranteed prize pool ever to be offered in Asia, with the first prize also guaranteed at US$500,000.

        On Friday 29th August at 7pm, the Asian Poker Tour will make history again with Asia’s largest cash game, coverage of which will be televised and distributed worldwide at a later date. The details are simple, minimum buy-in is HK$1,000,000 (US$130,000), starting blinds are HK$3,000 - $6,000, straddling and blinds are raised at the discretion of the players. Even the most conservative estimates suggest that HK$15 million (well over US$1.5 million) will be at stake, MORE than the guaranteed prizepool of the APT Macau tournament! Amongst those taking part include Doyle Brunson, Todd Brunson, Johnny Chan, Nam Le, JC Tran, Kenny Tran, John Juanda, Steve Sung, Yevgeniy Timoshenko, Waki, Yamazaki, Gary Benson and Bruce Parker. Doyle Brunson has already wired in HK$2,000,000 (US$260,000) and quipped “that’s just the start.”

        Chris Parker, CEO of the Asian Poker Tour, will also be taking a seat in the lions den.

        “I’m so glad we have such soft tables!” joked Parker. “In all seriousness, we were astounded by the interest in the high stakes cash game – everybody wants a piece of the action. We set the mimimum buy-in at HK$1,000,000 but anybody who knows anything about Macau or the potential of poker in this area of the world knows this will be small stakes by the end of the night. It is going to be something very special – when it airs we predict you will witness record breaking pots! You think the action in Vegas is big, just wait and see what comes out of Macau!”

          Written by Lady4Flush · Filed Under Online Gambling News 

          Beating Low Limit No Limit Hold’em Cash Games

          August 27, 2008

          For all you grinders just starting a bankroll, let’s discuss a few points on how to beat the low limit no limit cash games online.  The games at this level are surprisingly mixed with new poker players who can and will draw out on you, and multi-tabling sharks that play 10 tables at a time and grind out $50 an hour while playing low limit poker and clearing bonuses.

          There are few adjustments that need to made to your game, regardless of your level of experience.

          Low Limit Poker Strategy: Don’t Bluff

          Bluffing works, and it’s very profitable but not at this level.  A key concept in using a bluff in no limit hold’em is relying on your opponent being good enough to fold his hand.  When you’re grinding it out in  the micro no limit games, you cannot do this profitably except for rare situations,  very rare situations. The likeliness of your opponent folding a bad hand is not great.

          Cash poker games are not like tournaments where you need to steal blinds and antes just to survive.  In these games, we are looking to buy in with the maximum allowed stack and wait patiently for the nuts (the best possible poker hand)  and someone who will pay it off.  Thank you for your whole stack sir, fish again.

          Low Limit Poker Strategy: Play Post Flop Poker

          Keep in mind, you will run into a lot of people limping in with big hands.  Ace King and high pocket pairs like Aces or Queens. All of these hands will be limped a lot both by beginners who are afraid to broadcast the strength of their hand, and more experienced players looking to trap you.  While I don’t encourage limping with these hands myself, I definately don’t over commit to them pre-flop either.

          Knowing the large range of hands I will be called with, I prefer to put in “value-raises” of 2.5 x the big blind with big hands and see where the cards fall before putting them on a hand to continue the action on later streets.

          You can and should fold JJ and QQ, or AK AQ after missing a flop, it simply depends on the reads you make.  The exception to this style of play is that if you hold KK or AA, you should  raise AT LEAST 4 times the big blind.  It is also okay to open shove all in with hands like this, you never know who will wake up and call behind you with a pocket pair of fives!

          If you feel you have the best hand, but aren’t quite sure or know that your opponent will call to the river on a strong draw, don’t be afraid to use a small value bet or even check the flop to see if the draw hits.  Using the turn to extract value instead of the flop helps insure you won’t be semi-bluff shoved all in by an opponent with a 30% draw that may or may not hit.  After the turn, you can evaluate your odds to win much easier by seeing how it may or may not have improved your opponents hand.

          These poker tables are a gind and you should treat them as such, for the most part you need to play very tight poker and wait for 80% or greater edges to get your money in with, this will help your bankroll grow at a steady pace without big risks and with the added benefit of clearing your first bonus.  Players who can multi-table four or more of these low limit cash game tables  find that it is easier to play tight poker as they don’t get “bored” as easy.

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            Written by Mike Murphy · Filed Under Poker strategy 

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