It sure looked like a blatent chip dump

[Ansky]

Mods, if there is a problem posting something like this please let me know.

The hand in question is at the bottom.

This was with around 20 or something left in the stuper last night (which I won obv). I was talking to Adanthar during the hand and we both thought it was like a 1 in a million chance that it was a genuine disconnect. Stars... disagreed. I edited out names and such. :
__________________________________________________ __________

Hello Mr. Stuper winner,

Thank you once again for reporting your concerns to us. Although we do
monitor the games for collusion, we always appreciate vigilant players such
as yourself reporting any strange or unusual play to us for review. I have
completed my investigation into the accounts of the players "xxx"
and "xxx".

The first thing that we look for in such cases is a relationship between
the two players. In this instance, they live in Norway and Texas
respectively. They have never logged in from a common computer or internet
connection.

I then look for frequency of play together. I am looking to see if these
players seem to be seeking each other out. Although a high frequency of
play is not necessarily an indictment, it can be a harbinger of unethical
play. In this case, this is the first tournament that they have shared a
table. There are also no other links between their accounts that would
indicate any kind of relationship.

With that said, the real question comes in the play of the tournaments. One
of the advantages of online poker is that there is a full record of every
hand, and after the fact, we can look through the hands with all cards face
up; as a result, cheaters cannot hide what they are doing.

I reviewed this tournament with all cards face up, looking for any forms of
collusion. There was no indication of collusion or a chip dump between
these players. A search of our logs indicate that "x" simply
suffered a connection problem. If you review the hand history you will see
that he did not intentionally fold this hand, but was timed out due to his
disconnection. It was unfortunate that this occurred at this time, and if
there were any relationship or previous play between the players perhaps we
might be suspicious of this being an intentional disconnection, but that
isn't the case.

Overall, given the lack of any previous play together, the lack of any
relationship between their two accounts, and the lack of any suspicious
play during this event, there is nothing to indicate that these two players
are colluding in any way. I will however place notes in both player's
accounts indicating this review and your concerns, and if any future
suspicious play is noted between them, there will be a record of your email
for reference.

As you can see, we have a lot of tools at our disposal which help us keep
our games honest and fair. In addition, the thousands of honest, vigilant
players who point out situations that merit investigation are an important
part of our arsenal. Thank you for doing your part to protect the integrity
of our games.

Regards,

Randy
PokerStars Support Team


----- Original Message -----
From: me@myemailaddress!.com
Sent: 2006/05/07 00:49:52
To: support@pokerstars.com
Subject: blatent chip dump.

>final two tables of the 150 tonight. ridiculous.
>
>PokerStars Game #xxxxxxxxx: Tournament #23912130, $150+$12 Hold'em No
Limit
>- Level XIV (750/1500) - 2006/05/07 - 00:46:11 (ET)
>Table '23912130 15' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
>Seat 1: Bunkie (14230 in chips)
>Seat 2: y (7665 in chips)
>Seat 3: supernova9 (63939 in chips)
>Seat 4: Baton3338 (52723 in chips)
>Seat 5: x (30168 in chips)
>Seat 6: yellowsub86 (69660 in chips)
>Seat 7: northerngent (15742 in chips)
>Seat 8: safedweller (17223 in chips)
>Bunkie: posts the ante 75
>y: posts the ante 75
>supernova9: posts the ante 75
>Baton3338: posts the ante 75
>y: posts the ante 75
>yellowsub86: posts the ante 75
>northerngent: posts the ante 75
>safedweller: posts the ante 75
>Baton3338: posts small blind 750
>yellowsub86: posts big blind 1500
>*** HOLE CARDS ***
>Dealt to supernova9 [7s 4h]
>northerngent: folds
>safedweller: folds
>Bunkie: folds
>y: raises 3000 to 4500
>supernova9: folds
>Baton3338: folds
>x: raises 3000 to 7500
>yellowsub86: folds
>y: raises 90 to 7590 and is all-in
>x has timed out while being disconnected
>x: folds
>x is sitting out
>yellowsub86 said, "what a fold?"
>Bjorg009 is disconnected
>supernova9 said, "oh what the ****. you should be banned"
>oakeyp collected 17100 from pot
>oakeyp: doesn't show hand
>Bunkie said, "wtf"
>*** SUMMARY ***
>Total pot 17100 | Rake 0
>Seat 1: Bunkie folded before Flop (didn't bet)
>Seat 2: y collected (17100)
>Seat 3: supernova9 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
>Seat 4: Baton3338 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
>Seat 5: x (small blind) folded before Flop
>Seat 6: yellowsub86 (big blind) folded before Flop
>Seat 7: northerngent folded before Flop (didn't bet)
>Seat 8: safedweller folded before Flop (didn't bet)

[bonds25]

looks pretty brutal to me dude

[Ansky]

[ QUOTE ]
looks pretty brutal to me dude

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, ridiculous, but I mean wtf can be done? If there is no other evidence can stars really legitimately take action?

[MSUcougar]

How long was the guy "disconnected" for?

[Ansky]

Ohhhhhhhhh that's the other huge thing, thanks for reminding me MSU. He came back right away after the hand was over.

[BadgerPro]

Here's what I got back from Stars for the same situation:

Chip Dumping

Doesn't seem like Stars will do anything except warn people anyways.

[absoludicrous]

Why is he not raising all in there? It's 90 more. Seems shady as hell to me.

[MadTiger]

[ QUOTE ]
The first thing that we look for in such cases is a relationship between
the two players. In this instance, they live in Norway and Texas
respectively. They have never logged in from a common computer or internet
connection.

I then look for frequency of play together. I am looking to see if these
players seem to be seeking each other out. Although a high frequency of
play is not necessarily an indictment, it can be a harbinger of unethical
play. In this case, this is the first tournament that they have shared a
table. There are also no other links between their accounts that would
indicate any kind of relationship.

With that said, the real question comes in the play of the tournaments. One
of the advantages of online poker is that there is a full record of every
hand, and after the fact, we can look through the hands with all cards face
up; as a result, cheaters cannot hide what they are doing.


[/ QUOTE ]

Free business consulting, since Lee Jones is the man:

1. Physical proximity does not stop con artists/crooks etc. in the cyber age. Too much technology is available to facilate their various schemes. You can collaborate on good things such as software (Linux), music, art, political activism, etc. without ever physically seeing the other person. With online payment vehicles available, you can share the proceeds without even involving PokerStars transfers. (I let you win, and you Neteller/FirePay, etc. me my cut later)

2. A cheater does not have to use the same crew every time they cheat.

3. Cheaters can pick and chose their times to do their dirty work. And PokerStars cannot determine what caused the "legitimate" disconnect. And it was a perfect time, since your investigator no doubt saw that the player had marginal/bad holdings, and not AA or KK or some other great hand. But as the OP pointed out, he had odds to call with *anything*, 7 2 offsuit, or whatever.

My gift to Lee. I could have taken the time to be more elegant in my writing, but you get what you pay for.

[jcm4ccc]

So 20 people left, and player x from Norway, who has an excellent chance of making the FT, significantly decreases his chances in order to help his buddy y from Texas, who is on life support at the moment? yeah, that makes sense.

PokerStars investigated their prior relationship and found none. On the basis of no other evidence, you really want to ban these two players? Then I hope you were for executing ZeeJustin.

Disconnects happen, even on the FT HU in a major tournament, as happened recently.

[Spellcast]

Might want to look over the HH again, I think you were trying to conceal their names but one of them appears in the HH if I am not mistaken.