Two Plus Two Newer Archives - Possibly ignored AP cheating acct (modnote: nah)

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Possibly ignored AP cheating acct (modnote: nah)

Recently I have been discussing with other high limit players about the actual extent of cheating that occurred on AP. We all know that the most blatant examples of it occurred from approximately August 20th to September 16th of this year. However, there have been many reports (such as on point-spreads.com) claiming that the cheating has been going on for years, and resulted in as much as $7 million being pilfered from the players.

While I am not ready to buy into every crackpot conspiracy theory and witch hunt, I think it's worthwhile looking into a few suspect accounts that have not been examined thoroughly.

The one I'm most suspicious of is SPONSOR.

I am still collecting data on him, and I will have more to report shortly. However, this is my memory of SPONSOR:

1) He appeared sometime in the mid-summer of 2007.

2) He preferred heads-up play, and would play SUPER SHORT sessions -- sometimes less than 10 hands. After abruptly leaving (always when ahead), he would then return and play again against the same opponent. However, 15 minutes would always pass between sessions, and often it would be more time separating these micro-sessions.

3) He was an incredibly infuriating opponent. He was excellent at catching my bluffs and semi-bluffs, raising me back, even if his hand was not strong. I rarely got action from him when I had a monster. He barely ever lost any sessions -- whether against me or other opponents I watched him play. Even if he got off to a bad start, he always managed to come back and do well.

I remembered being incredibly frustrated at how "lucky" this guy was. I remembered thinking to myself that he didn't play well, and it was just a matter of time until he lost big to either me or another heads-up opponent. But it never happened -- at least, I never saw it happen.

4) He inexplicably vanished from the site right around the time that GRAYCAT showed up. Again, I need to go through my data to see the date of my last session with him.

Is all of this proof that he was a cheater with access to the superuser account? No. However, it is definitely worth looking into for several reasons.

First off, his "hit and run" style was especially peculiar. He would always hit and run for very small amounts. Some would say he was just obsessed with booking a win. However, he might have simply been a more "careful" cheater, making sure never to decimate any opponent in one sitting, and making sure not to stay too long at once so it was harder to put together a cohesive memory of his activities.

Second, the timing of his appearance and disappearance is odd. We all know the "admitted" cheating started in mid-to-late August. This guy appeared in June or July and vanished sometime around mid or late August. Why would he leave so abruptly if he was winning so much? Isn't it coincidental that his play seemed to directly precede that of the known cheaters?

Third, how did he run so well? He played a lot of heads up matches, yet almost always booked a win. Did he ever lose badly to anyone? How come nobody seemed to be able to get him down and keep him down? How come he ALWAYS managed to dig himself out of the hole, break above even, and leave?

Does anybody else have odd memories of this guy? Did his play seem superuser-ish to you? My memories of him seem to suggest that he exhibited a style rather similar to that of GRAYCAT -- except he played much shorter sessions, was more conservative in his per-session win goals, and preferred heads up.

What data do all of you have on him? I am not ANYWHERE near sure on this one, but I think it at least warrants investigation.

Furthermore, if we can indeed prove that SPONSOR was a cheater, it will be interesting to see if our refunds reflect money lost to him. If they don't, then obviously the refunds aren't as full and complete as AP is claiming, and point-spread.com's article may be a lot more true than we're giving it credit for.

Discussion open. Please don't clutter this thread with BS or comedy. I would rather hear from those who played with SPONSOR or observed his play.

Also, another suspect account, according to another highly respected online pro, is WAZFACTOR2. Please post data on that account. I did not play with WAZFACTOR2, so I cannot comment on him.