- Casino de Barcelona - one of many EPT venues - Sergi Larripa
Recently a controversial commercial for Pokerstars was brought to light. Set on a secluded clifftop, it starred a number of German pros sponsored by the site and saw each one of them attempt to sabotage their opponents with the use of underhand and violent tactics.
The underlying message of the advert, it seems, was summed up by its closing message: “Play Online Poker: It’s Safer.”
There is no hiding the fact that online poker has taken more than a few hits to its reputation in recent years. The Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals uncovered the online player’s worst fear - that an inside job was illegally depriving them of their money - and for many no amount of reimbursement or reassurance could ever drive them back to those sites.
At the same time, well-organised tournaments worldwide had seen poker players young and old travelling the globe to make their living from the game. The glamorous venues of Las Vegas, London and Monaco appealed greatly to those whose other option was clicking buttons on a mouse, and more and more of the world’s cities got in on the act.
But recently, while poker sites have been understandably keen to clean up their act and leave no room for cheating or manipulation, some of Europe’s casinos and hotels have fallen one step behind in terms of safety. And I am not just talking about security of funds.
The problems began to come to light earlier this year, at the European Poker Tour event in Berlin. Armed robbers stormed the Grand Hyatt Hotel, where the tournament was being held, and made off with a reported €1million.
Then, just this week, lightning struck again as the tour came to Barcelona. Thankfully no one was hurt, and thankfully (for the reputation of the game) the events in question took place away from the casino, but that did not prevent reigning champion Carter Phillips threatening to give up poker as a consequence of what he experienced.
Phillips and fellow pros William Reynolds, Kayvan Payman and Kevin Stani had been - in the words of Reynolds - “shootin the **** for a few hours while drinking some beers” at a bar within walking distance of the casino.
The trouble begun when Payman had his pockets picked, and when the group called for assistance they got quite the opposite - the two men they had hoped would help them instead thought it more appropriate to attack them with a frying pan and machete, perhaps interpreting the knocks for help as an attempt to break into their property.
Of course this incident was separate from the tournament, and therefore not quite on the same scale as the armed robbery in Berlin, but it is unlikely that Phillips and his friends would have encountered the same problem had they been sitting in front of their computer screens.
This takes me onto the second part of the safety issue: the security of playing online as opposed to live.
The aforementioned Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet scandals piqued the interest of those already sceptical about the security of the online game, while also planting seeds of doubt in the minds of those who previously had no reason to doubt the honesty of the virtual cardrooms where they plied their trade.
As the live scene grew, it was believed that the well-organised tournament circuit was far less open to manipulation or ‘cheating’ than the online game, where such instances were well-documented.
But in recent weeks a new scandal has developed, casting a whole different light on the live circuit and encouraging players to keep their cards close to their chest - quite literally.
It all started when German pro Ali Tekintamgac - winner of this year’s World Poker Tour event in Barcelona who also made impressive runs in events in the Italian, European and Partouche poker tours.
Earlier this month it was announced that he had been disqualified from the main event of the Partouche Poker Tour. The news was made public on the eve of the final table, reducing the Cannes event’s ‘November Nine’ down to a less-alliterative November Eight.
Tekintamgac is still under investigation for fraud, but the charges brought against him relate to communications made between him and supposed bloggers during the course of the event. It is believed that the bloggers would stand directly behind Tekintamgac’s opponents, peek at their cards, and let him know their holdings based on pre-arranged signals.
This follows similar controversy at the EPT Tallinn, where Tekintamgac finished 36th, leading the field after the opening day’s play. Fellow pro Perica Bukara joined him at the top of the field, and suspicions were aroused when a number of journalists thought to be connected to the duo were expelled from the tournament area.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Tekintamgac’s disqualification in Cannes has led some opponents to question the behaviour of him and Bukara in Tallinn, as well as the legitimacy of Bukara’s victory in the EPT Cyprus high-roller event one week after the Tallinn tournament.
The smoking gun - as it were - concerns one so-called blogger, German national Edmund Buiac-Cazacu. He has been spotted by vigilantes from the Two Plus Two poker forums providing what some have interpreted as signals towards Tekintamgac, and indeed Buiac-Cazacu has popped up in a number of photos and videos of the events in question, often standing directly behind opponents and close enough to see their cards if he so wished.
At the moment it is difficult to make clear statements with regard to isolated acts of cheating, as those in charge of the investigations are reluctant to release any information which might jeopardise their months of hard work.
One thing which is clear, however, is that the myth of live poker being safer could well be shattered by the findings of this investigation.
And as more doubts are cast with regard to the live circuit, online poker is finally beginning to look like the safe option.
Tom Victor - Tom is a recently-graduated Postgrad Journalism student, based in London. He writes primarily on soccer and poker.
