Stars Takes No Action Against Players Cheating In SNG

[terrellk11]

I was playing in a $10+1 SNG at Stars yesterday and we were down to the bubble. I was the shortstack at the table and the blinds were starting to get pretty high. For the most part, the other three players were staying out of each others' way and looking for a shot to eliminate me to get in the money. However, on one hand, two of the players saw the flop after a raise and one bet out into the other. While the other player was debating whether or not to call, the player that bet out announced that he had top pair top kicker and that the other player should fold to avoid an expensive pot.

By having that type of conversation in chat, the two players involved ensured that two larger stacks would avoid a big pot and helped ensure that they would outlast the shortstack (me) at the table. While avoiding such confrontations is perfectly acceptable when done tacitly, having discussions at the table like this is a blatant violation of the tournament rules.

I reported the incident to Stars and got a response indicating that they were going to conduct an investigation. Later in the evening, I received a second response with the results of their investigation. The email stated that the conduct was in fact a violation of the tournament rules - in essence, the players had cheated - but because their was no history of cooperative play between these players that no action would be taken other than a warning.

What is the point of having rules if there are no consequences to be faced for breaking them?

What is the point of conducting an investigation to determine whether players have cheated if you aren't going to take action after determining that they have?

[CybrPunk]

The point is Stars acknowledged that they violated the rules and their accounts are now flagged with a warning. The simple truth is people do stupid [censored] sometimes and they're not always acting maliciously or with full knowledge that they are actually doing something wrong. Since they both obviously had no history of similar complaints they were issued a warning which is consistent with the policy of PokerStars. If anyone has problems with these players in the future their accounts will indicate they've already been warned for this type of behavior and will not be treated as leniently as a result. It's not like your complaint goes completely unnoticed and if these guys continue to discuss hands in that manner it will result in further disciplinary actions. I think that's fair if this really is their first offense.

[hulk3rules]

It is true, cheating is OK at stars

[willie24]

i agree, that's unfair to you. what they should have done is transferred half of each player's winnings from that tournament to you as a penalty/compensation.

the issue isn't that these players are dangerous, or shady or anything like that. it's that they cheated the poster out of short-term money, whether they knew it or not.

[action44]

Blame Jamie Golds retarded ass. People see the world champ do it and think they can. "I got TOP TOP" FREAKIN IDIOT

[Gotmilk]

The title of thread should be changed to "Stars takes appropriate action for an $11 SNG, I just don't agree with it"

p.s. if you bug them enough, I'm sure they'll give you your $11 back.

[TheNoodleMan]

[ QUOTE ]
Blame Jamie Golds retarded ass. People see the world champ do it and think they can. "I got TOP TOP" FREAKIN IDIOT

[/ QUOTE ]
Yeah, because this kind of stuff never happened before Jamie Gold. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

[Emperor]

Yup, moron should get a permaban, and you should get the balance of his account as compensation.

[terrellk11]

The proper course of action in a situation like this is for the players that broke the rules to be disqualified and for the remaining players to be "promoted" into their spots. Stars themselves have done this in the past. In one thread in here not too long ago in which Lee Jones replied, a player complained of simliar conduct in a satellite tournament. The offending players were disqualified and the next two in line got the tourney entries.

[oober]

Had this happen on FTP the other day.... FTP Banned the guys chat for 30day and he was paid out according to what place was next to go out. Everyone moved up 1 spot ahead of him....

Table talk such as this is such BS and I felt I was compensated properly with the action that were taken....