Cheating has been a part of poker pretty much since the game was invented. It has always been frowned upon and, back in the old days, there were often very serious consequences for those caught cheating (albeit not always perfectly legal).
The online poker boom has done wonders for the game, but it also created numerous new venues for those looking to make a profit in less than honest ways. From poker bots over super user scandals to players using RTA (Real-Time Assistance), things have gotten pretty bad in the poker cheating department.
In a game where winning money is the main and ultimate motivation, there will always be cheaters – there is no two ways about it. That said, in the past, the fact that those caught cheating in the online arena faced very few real consequences certainly helped encourage this type of behavior.
Calling someone out on social media or not being very nice to them at a live table doesn’t really move the needle. After all, if someone is willing to cheat at poker, they are probably not overly concerned about their legacy or how the poker world perceives them.
It seems that the poker world is finally coming around to this conclusion, though, starting to realize that the only way to at least somewhat reduce the number of cheats is by introducing some actual, real life consequences – such as banning them from the biggest live events and telling them that their money is no good.
For a very long time, this was a controversial topic, but it seems we are finally reaching the point where the controversy is no more, and poker cheats are starting to feel the heat!
Ali Imsirovic Removed from the RGPS Main Event
Ali Imsirovic is a name that’s impossible to avoid whenever there is a discussion about cheating in poker. The high-stakes pro hailing from Bosnia has been accused of colluding in live events, using RTA, and various other forms of unseemly behavior.
To his credit, Ali even admitted to some of it, but the admission of guilt doesn’t magically absolve him of the responsibility, and it most certainly does nothing who suffered real financial losses because of it.
Imsirovic is also one of the first players who had to deal with the real consequences of his actions. Just recently, he was quietly removed from the $1,200 RunGood Poker Series Main Event. It seems he got off to a great start, building a chip-lead stack during one of the initial flights by the dinner break.
However, as players returned from the break, Ali or his stack were nowhere to be seen.
This wasn’t Imsirovic’s first rodeo, either. Back in February, he was also removed from a tournament at the Champions Club in Texas, and the disqualification was followed by an altogether ban from the premises.
The Bosnian pro did not try to appeal his case, seemingly accepting that his actions have consequences and dealing with the reality of the situation. But Ali is just one player, so the real question is, are poker rooms just using him as a scapegoat to “virtue signal” while letting others accused of similar actions fly under the radar, or is this a sign of bigger things to come?
GGPoker & WSOP Set to Draw Line in the Sand?
The World Series of Poker is the biggest and most prestigious live festival of them all. If the WSOP decides to take a stark stance against poker cheaters, many others will likely follow suit.
In the past, organizers were reluctant to take action, allowing everybody who wasn’t banned by Caesars specifically to play. In 2016, Chris “Jesus” Ferguson and Howard Lederer, people who played a huge role in the Full Tilt fiasco back when, made their comeback at the World Series, and, while many players were not happy to see them, organizers seemingly had no problems with it.
However, it seems things are changing, following GGPoker’s acquisition of the WSOP brand.
Back in March, Fedor Holz, GGPoker’s integrity ambassador, took it to X (Twitter) to announce that players who were banned from the online platform for using RTA will likely not be allowed to participate in World Series of Poker events.
The key word here is “hinted,” though, as there was no official statement coming from either GG or WSOP to explain what this means in practice.
Will organizers really turn away people who may have traveled thousands of miles to play in the series because their GGPoker accounts were banned for cheating? From everything we’ve seen in the past, this just seems far-fetched, but it’s unlikely Fedor would make the statement he did without something to back it up.
Taking a firm stance against those who were found guilty of cheating by denying them access to the largest poker event of the year would certainly be a huge deterrent.
It’s easy enough to open a new online poker account in someone else’s name – but you can’t send your grandmother to play the WSOP Main Event in your stead. Well, you can, technically, but I somehow don’t see that trend picking up.
It Might Be the Only Way
Cheating has really picked up speed in online poker in recent years. In the past, it used to be an occasional issue, but over the last couple of years, especially with the rise of the RTA poker tools, it seems more and more players are starting to embrace it almost as “normal.”
In recent months, we saw a number of stories about Americas Cardroom (ACR) involving their high-profile ambassadors being accused of using RTA. Ebony Kenney and Nacho Barbero were both caught with RTA running in the background while streaming their sessions live.
I won’t go into how ACR handled things and all the excuses and explanations that followed. The bottom line here is this: it seems that cheating, especially using RTA, is becoming the norm, and that’s not the way forward for online poker.
While not exactly the same, this is similar to playing online chess with an engine running to just “help you a bit with a few moves.” It’s not only that this is unfair to everyone who plays fair; it also creates a very bleak image for anyone who might consider giving poker a try.
What’s the appeal of playing against the machine, and especially so when you have to pay (dearly) for the privilege?
So, it is high time for the poker world to send out the message that cheating, in any of its many forms, will not be tolerated, and those who engage in such practices will be ostracized.
We are finally seeing some moves in the right direction. Hopefully, this movement will continue and pick up speed, maybe leading to the creation of a “poker black list” of some sort, which was suggested by some of the pros.
If poker cheats can’t face any legal consequences (which, in most cases, simply won’t happen), they should at least be punished by the very community that they are a part of. This will not solve the problem altogether, but it will at least help reduce it.
The 2025 World Series of Poker is just around the corner, so let’s wait and see if they come good on their threat and some players are actually denied access, sending a clear message that even in a game where money is the measure of all things, integrity and honesty must be preserved!
