At 19.14ET on February 11th, 2009, Full Tilt launched a full frontal attack on the livelihoods of LAPPIN and Rounder63. Why? Do we have a secret stash of WMDs? Are we suspected of having ties with Al-Qadea? Do we have oil? The following letter was in my e-mail this evening:


Hello David,
 
We recently concluded a security review of your account, specifically regarding your association with Rounder63. We are concerned about the high volume of games that you have participated in with this player. Taking into consideration your direct associations, we are implementing the following conditions:
 
1) You are not permitted to sit together at the same cash game tables.
2) You are not permitted to play together in tournaments found under the "Sit & Go" tab, including the 45 to 180 player Sit & Gos.
3) You are permitted to play in two person heads-up Sit & Gos against each other.
4) You are permitted to play in the same scheduled multi-table tournaments found under the "Tournaments" tab.
 
If you both play at the same table in a multi-table tournament, keep in mind that acts of collusion such as sharing hole cards or soft playing will lead to an investigation. This may result in account suspensions and forfeiture of funds.
 
We kindly request that you respond to this email acknowledging that you will adhere to the above conditions.
 
David, Full Tilt Poker strives not only to take appropriate action when collusion is found, but also to proactively prevent collusion before it occurs. We apologize for any inconvenience. However, we are sure you understand the need for stringent security to protect the integrity of our site.
 
Thank you for your cooperation.
 
Regards,
 
Tim
Security
Full Tilt Poker


My response was penned just moments ago:


Dear Tim,

While I recognise that two players playing a high volume of games together is something that requires your attention, I think that there are a number of relevant factors of which you may not be aware.

Since September 2007, Nick Carrillo has played 9720 45-player SNGs on Full Tilt (the most prolific on the site)
Since September 2007, I have played 5348 45-player SNGs on Full Tilt (the 2nd most prolific)

According to Sharkscope, Nick has played 33700 games on Full Tilt. I have played 12393. We have played 980 games together, representing 2.9% of his overall play and 7.9% of mine. I make no effort to play in the same games as Nick (except when we might have a last-longer bet!), nor do I try to avoid him.

9720 of Nick's games have been on the 45-player circuit while 5348 of mine have been. This is, without doubt, where the vast majority of our games have overlapped. This means that, at most, only 10.1% of Nick's and 18.3% of my 45-player games were played together. Considering our volume of games (I'm sure there are times when we both enter every single available 45-player game in a two-hour period), this seems to me a sensible statistic.

To offer a comparison with the next 4 most prolific players on the 45-player circuit:

Nick has played 9405 45-player games ($24 or more)
Break_evan has played 3123 45-player games ($24 or more)
Bethwolf22 has played 3008 45-player games ($24 or more)
ChicagoAPA has played 3219 45-player games ($24 or more)
Dr Fill Good has played 2588 45-player games ($24 or more)

Nick has played 980 games in which I have also participated.
Break_evan has played 295 games in which I have also participated.
Bethwolf22 has played 293 games in which I have also participated.
ChicagAPA has played 292 games in which I have also participated.
Dr Fill Good has played 224 games in which I have also participated.

Expressed as a %, Break_evan has played 33.2% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games ($24 or more)
Expressed as a %, Break_evan has played 30.1% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games in which I also participated

Expressed as a %, Bethwolf22 has played 32% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games ($24 or more)
Expressed as a %, Bethwolf22 has played 29.9% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games in which I also participated

Expressed as a %, ChicagoAPA has played 34.2% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games ($24 or more)
Expressed as a %, ChicagoAPA has played 29.8% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games in which I also participated

Expressed as a %, Dr Fill Good has played 27.5% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games ($24 or more)
Expressed as a %, Dr Fill Good has played 22.8% of Nick's Volume of 45-player games in which I also participated

While these statistics show that I am statistically slightly more likely to be in a game with Nick than any of the other regular players, the difference, I hope you will agree is negligible.

Nick and I met on Full Tilt. I am sure our first ever exchanges are retrievable from the chat-box of some 45-player Final Table 18 months ago. We both play online poker for a living and therefore, it is in both our vested interests to play when the site is at peak traffic (between 2pm ET after the Europeans have come home from work on to 4am ET when the West Coast Americans go to bed) . There are two reasons for this; firstly, the games load faster and as multi-tablers (Nick plays up to 15 games at once while I play 10), it is in our financial best interests to keep our screens as full as possible; secondly, when the site is at peak traffic, the likelihood is that there will be more poor quality players in the field.) As a West-Coast American, these are normal waking hours in Nick's part of the world. While it would be considered by my friends and family that I keep anti-social hours, it is a sacrifice I have been willing to make. I tailor my lifestyle/sleeping pattern around online poker and do my best to play when it is optimal to do so.

Nick and I are friends. We share poker insights, analyse hands, stake each other in tournaments, argue over optimal strategies and offer moral support to the another when the grind of online poker and the negative swings get us down. We have been integral to one another's development as players, an association which has led to us both becoming very profitable in the game. However, we have never and would never collude on the poker table and in fact, enjoy a healthy rivalry, as we do with many other MTT and SNG rounders with whom we are friends (over a dozen of which are also 45-player game regulars I might add). If we ever play a cash game or 9-handed SNG together (and we very rarely do), we get a table of friends together so we can all 'go at it!' We would never share information about our hands to dupe an opponent and the idea that you even could collude while playing a dozen games each is hysterical. You barely have enough time to get a sip of water between decisions, let alone mastermind a scheme to rid some punter from his chips. The notion of cheating is anathama to my very being and I know this to be true of Nick also. In short, we are honourable people.

The 45-player circuit is a most lucrative area of Full Tilt which provides the professionals who play on it consistent income with lower volatility than the MTT circuit. I have been graduating into the MTT arena more of late but still rely on the 45s for about 65% or more of my play. While I cannot speak for him, I believe Nick's outlay is similar. I play 10 (sometimes 12) games at once and he plays 15. If we are both playing at the same time, it is inevitable that we would want to be in the same games. A discussion on how we could even go about dividing up territory has already led to an argument between us. Neither of us will wish to play fewer games and thereby lose money and, assuming that there is no software in place to block one of us once the other has registered, we will be forced to compete for seats in tournaments, a sort-of 'who has the fastest internet connection gets in first' scenario. Even then, what if we were to both register? Would the person who register last be to blame? What if we both saw that a tournament had 40 people in it and was filling fast? We saw that the other wasn't present but just as we entered, the other did and then the tourney filled and we were seated, unable to unregister. What if we both registered for a game just as one of our 12 screens popped up (as is inevitable when you are making a poker decision every 3 seconds), prompting a decision and because of this we missed that the other had entered at the same moment, only to find outwhen the game starts and we are sitting opposite each other (or when we reach the final table, unaware that the other was in the tourney all along!). What if we both enter simultaneously? How do we decide who must unregister? I am not willing to make a trans-Atlantic phone-call every time this happens and even if I was, who's to say I would successfully contact him before the tourney started. You see, logistically, what you are proposing causes a great deal of hassle.

I appreciate that you are not accusing us of any wrong-doing. I do however, have a problem with the term 'proactively prevent collusion before it occurs'. That, in my opinion, is tantamount to having a man's penis removed for fear that he may rape someone in the future. If there has been no crime committed, it is wrong to take punitive action against someone who 'is capable' of committing a crime. I am sure you have sophisticated ways of monitoring collusion: tracking player's hole cards and actions, matching them up to what would be considered appropriate action in any given situation. If I am guilty of cheating, I should be banned from the site and blacklisted from other sites. But I should not be restricted from playing freely within the card-room on the basis of what I 'might' do.

Yours sincerely,

David K Lappin


I am hopeful that this matter will be rectified as soon as possible. Watch this space!

 


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