Online Player Admits To Multi-Accounting
Professional poker player Brian ‘sbrugby’ Townsend has admitted to the practice of multi-accounting at two online poker rooms, Alderney-licensed FullTiltPoker.com and Isle of Man-licensed PokerStars.com.
The practice can also be done by using more than one computer and allows players to have more than one entrant in a tournament or to play online under a second alias to give them a substantial edge in multi-table competitions.Townsend admitted using the usernames ‘aba20’ and ‘Makersmark66’ with PokerStars.com and ‘sbrugby’ and ‘Stellarnebula’ with FullTiltPoker.com but emphasised that these additional accounts were not misused to collude during tournaments. In addition, he stated that he only utilised the second monikers when wanting to play at lower levels so as not to lose face or have players realise who they were competing against.
“I hope that people can not only look to me for poker education but also for the way to live their lives,'' said 26-year-old Townsend in his apology.
“I made a mistake and I am willing to take responsibility for it. I am willing to stand up and face the music. I apologise to the entire 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 apologise to anyone that I've wronged.”
FullTiltPoker.com has suspended Townsend from its Red Pro status for the next six months while PokerStars.com has yet to announce how it plans to handle the issue.
Townsend’s admission came after strong player suspicions surfaced last week that he could be multi-accounting and it is rumoured that he discussed the issue with Lee Jones from CardRunners.com. California native Townsend acts as a lead instructor for the video instruction site and posts instructional videos and blogs about his daily life. As an act of penitence, it is understood that he will also donate $25,000 to a charity taken from his earnings from CardRunners.com.
6 comments
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Posted by ChipsAlive – 5 Sep 2008, 8:06 AM
I can understand this being done by relative newbies, but a professional! That's terrible-no way should that sort of behaviour be tolerated by those in the site's pro ranks. It's cheating, regardless of how valid his points are.
Posted by srabel – 3 Sep 2008, 3:32 AM
I can understand the want for a second account to play on thats not staff or well known, but he could at least have asked permission from the site instead of sneaking about.
Posted by Thalia – 3 Sep 2008, 6:42 PM
I'll never understand why if people are good at something that they have to feel the need to cheat. I like watching the poker tournaments on TV just to learn, but I would never even consider joining a poker online site to compete if cheating can be that easy. Then again, I'd never be up to par with the better players.
Posted by monies – 11 Sep 2008, 5:18 AM
I always thought this was tolerable for online games, but not per say gambling ones. More like the video games and such only.
Posted by Ethan10 – 3 Sep 2008, 4:43 AM
I don't know if this is something most places do not like or allow. I do know it can be done pretty simple when the sites don't care about it though, snergy allows for two computers to share a kb and mouse, I use it all the time, just not for sites to gamble on.
Posted by sneezy – 3 Sep 2008, 4:30 PM
I don't see the big deal, if it's for the purposes he says. I agree with srabel, though - he should have contacted the site's administration before doing something like that. It just makes him look bad, whether he did something wrong or not.