What starts out as background talk between Eli Elezra and Patrik Antonius during the Poker After Dark cash game last week ends up getting Howard Lederer\’s panties in a severe wad … not just when Antonius extols the greatness of being able to play online anonymously, but even more uncomfortably when Elezra (wearing a Full Tilt patch) confesses: \”I have 17 accounts on Full Tilt.\”
Seriously, this is such an issue that online poker will eventually have to deal with in some way. Get the feeling if one of the online rooms launched a multi-accounting crackdown, they might lose half their players/avatars? It\’s a rule the online sites have in place for the sake of security and game integrity, or at least as a component of legal disclaimer. And yet it\’s counter-intuitive to one of the things that makes doing anything online, let alone poker — semi-anonymity — desirable.
The same issue is relevant at PokerStars … and for now, because both these operations, FTP and Stars, operate outside the (American) law*, the fates of players in violation of this unpopular rule — and the money in their accounts — is left to the discretion of an unregulated company, in an anything but an open forum.
* Not saying these are illegal businesses … just noting that they operate off-shore, and therefore fall outside American jurisdiction in most legal and business matters.
Will be curious to see if Elezra faces any sort of patch suspension for his \”breakthrough\” during poker therapy. Lederer has been super-diligent about protecting the integrity of \”Play with the Pros\” ever since Phil Hellmuth got called out for letting an amateur friend play as \”Phil Hellmuth\” on UB. But then again, perhaps Elezra has a solid defense: \”just kidding … trying to put Howard on tilt in a cash game setting.\”
Also curious if we\’ll ever see the likes of Justin Bonomo consulting online sites the way reformed shoplifters get hired to advise retail corps on how to limit their losses from grift.
