by Craig Tapscott, Special to FOXSports.com

Poker players exploit edges to put themselves in a position to consistently win. In online poker the edge for some players has been multiple accounts; a precarious edge that threatens the continued growth of poker's mainstream acceptance.

Party Poker Sunday Winner Caught Entering Tourney Twice

Playing under multiple account names is relatively easy. Players ask friends to register at a poker site then play themselves under that person's account. They can also create additional accounts from different computers and have numerous account names at any one site. Why? The +EV (expected value) is a huge advantage, especially in MTT's (multi-table tournaments).

The case that brought much of this to light occurred during the PartyPoker $500K Sunday Tournament on February 12th of this year. As the tournament decreased to three tables, a post flew up on the forums that a respected online player, JJProdigy, was in the hunt for the $140K first prize. When the railbirds flocked to cheer they found that JJProdigy had been knocked out hours before. The forums lit up with speculation. The eventual winner of the tournament was identified as ABlackCar, and later discovered to be an account also played under by JJProdigy. The holder of the accounts had entered the tournament twice under two separate online IDs.

JJProdigy's real name is Josh Field. In the past twelve months Field has been tearing up the MTT's across every site. This past August he won the PokerStars TLB and a challenge in a highly publicized battle against online phenom Gigabet. Field is undeniably a very talented player seeking any edge he can find. One such edge turned out to be eventually playing under multiple accounts in the same tournament.

"The account 'ABlackCar' was not made for multi-accounting," Field posted online. " It was intentionally made for my grandma for her birthday present. However, it was never given to her. So, I had an extra account. Yes, I multi-tabled. Yes, it is incredibly easy. Yes, many people do it. A lot of my friends did it, and I always gave them a hard time for it. But, I had a conversation with a player where we decided it would be a lot of +EV to not be known when you are playing MTT's. So, basically, I had a spare account with tons of +EV in it. So many people did it with no repercussions. I know someone who had over 10 accounts in a recent million guaranteed. Party has no idea."

Field turned out to be incorrect. PartyPoker did have an idea and a clue and froze the $140,000 first prize pending an investigation.

"On February 13th our internal systems generated an alert on suspicious activity between two accounts that had played in the $500K Tournament," said PartyPoker Poker Room Manager Michael O'Malley. "These alerts cause the accounts to be locked pending an investigation. In this case we also received several emails from players concerning the winner of the tournament and the possibility of multiple accounts. Players had suggested that there might be something suspicious based on postings made on some of the Internet poker forums. An investigation was completed and it was determined that the accounts had both played in the tournament while logged in from the same IP/system, meaning one person was playing both accounts in the same tournament from the same house and computer. Both accounts were closed, the players banned and all funds confiscated. The winner was disqualified from the $500K tournament and each player was moved up one spot in the tournament payouts."

Online Poker Leaders React Hard and Fast

Similar to the network of brick & mortar casinos, word spreads fast online, information is shared for security purposes to protect the site's players and the JJProdigy accounts were closed across most poker sites.

The rules are clearly posted on PartyPoker. Breaking them has consequences as stated in an email to JJProdigy from Party:

"In this case we should also remind Mr. Field that his behavior is both against our terms and conditions and against generally accepted casino and poker rules (which are incorporated by reference in clause 6) and which are there to protect both him and our other players. His actions leave us with no other options given our zero tolerance policy to cheating and unfair practices."

The use of multiple accounts is an issue that both Party and Stars take very seriously.

"No person is allowed to open multiple accounts," said O'Malley. "This includes one person opening multiple accounts under their own name or one person, with the aid of others, opening multiple accounts in various names with the intention of that one player using all of the accounts. As the company grows and technology progresses the terms and conditions will be continuously looked at and updated to keep up with the new ways that players will find to attempt to deviate from the spirit of our policies."

PokerStars Poker Room Manager Lee Jones responded in kind - "A single player is not allowed to have multiple accounts," he said. "We have had (for years now) a dedicated collusion team that catches colluders. We also have software that proactively searches out colluders and multi-accounters. Our team reviews any hits that software produces, plus (of course) any complaints we get from players, reports we read on the Internet, etc. When we find colluders, we close their accounts, confiscate their funds, and restore funds to the victims."

Online Community Reacts

As would be expected, top online players vehemently voiced their opinions. While they were quite varied, it was a clear-cut response across the boards; nearly 99% agreed that entering multiple accounts into one tournament is cheating.

"It's a shame that the raw pursuit of money causes people to act unethically, but I think that's what it comes down to," said professional Shane Schleger. "I talked to many players about multi-playering and was quite surprised that most people didn't consider it blatant cheating, but rather some ambiguous ethical issue, that the brave new world of online poker is one without ethics or boundaries. I am secretly relieved that multi-playering has been clearly identified as a non-ambiguous method of cheating."

WSOP bracelet winner and online pro Brett Jungblutt said, "The issue of it being possibly unenforceable is not a valid reason for justifying it. Bottom line is that a man is only as strong as his values, and a society is only as strong as its accepted values, or customs, and I am not prepared to let the very poor and selfish minds of a few players lead to compromising the integrity of our great game."

Paradise Poker player ambassador Todd Arnold didn't mince words. "Using multiple accounts in one tournament is 100% cheating. No gray areas."

It became crystal clear, as the debate raged on, playing multiple accounts in one tournament held a clear but unfair advantage, even if a player was paying multiple entry fees. After all, imagine if Phil Ivey signed up his friends and family to the WSOP main event and proceeded to take over their seats if he busted out. Chaos would ensue at the ol'WSOP corral and quite possibly Ivey would face a six-shooter square between his darting eyes.

"For me, this is my job," said pro David Cossio. "The one that allows me to feed my family. We cannot let the greed of a few destroy our job. We should do as much as we can to help Internet poker grow. I think a lot of younger players don't understand this point."

Further Investigations - More Problems

Each day consequences reverberated throughout the online poker world. Within days, another online star, Justin Bonomo (aka ZeeJustin), was revealed to have entered as many as six accounts in one tournament. PartyPoker froze all accounts for further investigation. PokerStars in turn conducted their own investigation, found that an additional account ID had been used in some tournaments, closed the accounts and banned him from the site.

Nineteen-year-old Bonomo responded to the accusations by posting his rebuttal on many popular forums.

"Yes, it's true," confessed Bonomo. "I did use these accounts to enter multiple accounts in the same multi-table tournaments. I have never done this in a tournament with less than 1,000 players. I have been at the same table as myself. For what it's worth, my standard protocol has been to increase my number of tables when this happens. If I had 6 tables open and two of my accounts were brought to the same table, I would simply open up 4-6 more SNG's. I felt that this would negate my unethical advantage. I realize my standard play should have been to sit one account out when this happens, but I want to make it clear that I never used collusion to my advantage, never chip dumped, or did anything of the sort."

Bonomo, like many top players, at first created multiple accounts to escape from having opponents adjust to their namesakes ID's style at cash and SNG tables.

High limit cash game player Taylor Caby (aka Green Plastic) agreed - "I think this gives players the advantage of having the other players not know who they are or how they play. However, I don't think this is cheating. Sometimes players will do this simply to avoid observer chat or to try out some new strategies on opponents who don't know their normal styles/tendencies."

If Bonomo had not entered multiple accounts into a MTT simultaneously, quite possibly detection would have been minimal. Upon further investigation from PartyPoker, Bonomo was banned for life from the site.

Still another important question came to light regarding multiple accounts during the investigations. Many casual online players became concerned about family members playing in the same house on different computers. College students are worried about being scrutinized as they may share the same IP addresses in their respective dorms.

"We do permit people in the same household to play in a multi-table tournament together at PokerStars (wife/husband, college roommates, etc)," stated Lee Jones. "However, they can't play in cash games or sit-and-go's together. We have software to block that. Furthermore, that couple (roommates, whatever) have to play absolutely independently (as any two players must). We will punish any soft play or chip dumping."

High Tech Justice

Where does it all end? Online poker sites are working diligently to enhance the technology to detect these occurrences quicker and more easily. On any one evening, these sites individually host up to 80,000 players at 7000 or more tables, dealing hundreds of thousands of hands. It is impossible to detect every possible security breach.

However, technology and software leap ahead in the blink of an eye. Years ago it took computers months to decipher DNA evidence; today the process is light years faster. Similarly, poker sites are working to improve their security, enforce the posted rules and continue to make online poker a safe environment for their clients.

"When we opened PartyPoker.com in 2001, the investigations team used a very sophisticated method by which to detect collusion ... they watched the games!" said O'Malley. "Back then at peak time a small team could watch each and every player, which was no doubt the best way to monitor the games. Fast forward to 2006 and it is obvious why that is not the case anymore. Today the investigations team uses a massive amount of technology to detect, prevent, decipher and stop any and all forms of cheating."

The poker sites feel the punishment fits the crime. Players caught violating the rules will face possible suspension for life. At the recent WPT LA Poker classic players buzzed about the repercussions of catching players entering MTT's with multiple accounts. Many players responded at the online forums that in the old days the methods of punishment held severe consequences - broken limbs, a shovel, a permanent vacation in the desert - and that online players are let off easy. No matter the danger, players will continue to seek loopholes and ways to circumvent the system for an edge.

As this article goes to press PokerRoom.com has discovered players multi- accounting in MTT's and taken serious action to halt more of the same in the future. "Multi-accounting by itself is probably one of the least effective means of cheating on-line I can imagine," said online poker star Double Lucky. "For most players, what little edge is gained from playing more than one account will almost certainly be offset by the loss of focus. If all the average Internet cheat would do is multi-account on-line tournaments, the rest of us could rest peacefully. The problem, of course, is that isn't where the cheating will stop."

Where will it all stop? For every transgression a player makes, poker suffers. Over the last five years the game's reputation has emerged from smoke-filled backrooms to shine in the bright lights of primetime television. It's up to players to keep the game clean. Every player should find an edge and use it but not an edge that violates the rules and cuts to the heart of poker's integrity.

Craig Tapscott is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com Poker, Card Player & Card Player College magazine. He may be contacted at: ctapscott@verizon.net.