- The GGPoker has officially announced a temporary window for banned pros to get unbanned.
- This get out of jail free card was a direct response to the controversy surrounding the banning of professional poker player Tobias Duthweiler.
- Many pros have spoken out against the ban lift.
WILLEMSTAD, Curacao – A recent controversy has occurred in the professional online poker world as GGPoker announces a temporary opportunity for banned players to be reinstated.
This comes following the banning of popular poker pro Tobias Duthweiler a few weeks ago, leading to several debates in the community.
Many professional players are against the idea of reinstating the banned pros, leading to GGPoker being stuck regardless of what they do.
Banned Players May Return
The world of online poker is an intense and competitive one and the situation with GGPoker and banned pros is a prime example of how intense things can get.
For a limited time only, we will be extending an olive branch to previously banned players on GGNetwork. If you have been banned and wish to return, we will be taking applications for the next 2 weeks (~Sep 5). Please read our stance on pros here: https://t.co/kV6m8QbFHy
— GGPoker - HOME OF WSOP 2020 ONLINE BRACELET SERIES (@GGPokerOfficial) August 22, 2020
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Tobias Duthweiler was banned originally from the GGNetwork skin Natural8 in 2016 for violating the network security and ecology agreement by bumhunting, the practice of taking a seat at an online poker table, and refusing to play opponents who aren’t weak.
In 2019, Duthweiler made an account for Bestpoker, another GGNetwork affiliate poker site. He would go on to leave Bestpoker due to the lack of high stakes poker options.
In 2020, Duthweiler would again make an account at a GGNetwork skin, this time Betkings which would fold into GGPoker later in the year.
Dutweiler deposited $50,000 into his GGPoker account and managed to win $180,000 when he went to collect his earnings and submitted his ID, the company realized he was already banned from 2016 and confiscated his winnings.
The GGNetwork would go on to refund him his original $50,000 deposit. This banning lead to major discussions in the poker world about the handling of the situation.
Popular professional poker player Fedor Holz would take to his twitter to address the Duthweiler situation.
I wanted to address the ‘dudd1’ case on GG that he posted about on 2+2 to share the perspective I’ve gained from talking to the management and looking into the case. From everything I’ve seen so far the integrity and quality of security at GG has been up to very high standards.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
Dudd1 has been banned initially 2016 from Natural8 with a warning to not attempt to play at “GGNetwork” again. GGs standard procedure after this initial warning is to confiscate funds to disincentivize banned players to return, otherwise there would be no effect.
He created a new account within the GGnetwork that he played on. The account hasn’t been immediately flagged because a lot of the provided information didn’t match with the initial account he created. Only after a recent internal check he has been flagged.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
Following the procedure his account has been banned and funds confiscated. This is NOT a scheme to steal from players. The money has been distributed between the players he won from. Given the long timeframe that passed detecting it they decided to refund him his 50k deposit.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
I understand that there’s a lot of room to jump to conclusions here, but I can assure you that this is not a practice to profit from players. They are following their internal security protocol to make sure to grow a healthy poker ecosystem.
— Fedor Holz (@CrownUpGuy) August 11, 2020
That leads us to the latest development, with the new program to reinstate professional poker players who have been banned, GGPoker has broken professional players into three categories. Those being Good Pros, Regular Pros, and Bad Pros.
The link is not available in certain countries like the US. Here is a screenshot instead pic.twitter.com/eIv4R1ct9L
— GGPoker - HOME OF WSOP 2020 ONLINE BRACELET SERIES (@GGPokerOfficial) August 22, 2020
Many pros dislike the idea of GGPoker categorizing players based on the site's own measure of what makes a pro Good, Regular, or Bad.
Players are also against the idea of lumping pros who partaking in bumhunting with other more egregious transgressions like cheating.
For now, the online gambling site still plans to roll out the temporary ban lift program. Players like Duthweiler have not announced if they will return to the poker site or not.