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Roy Cooke on Cheating and Cheaters
Taken from RGP,
Roy Cooke's post. I m mostly a lurker on rgp and I know some people resent that I don t post more. As you probably know I have other forums I write for. And I have 3 jobs my Internet job, my Real Estate business, and playing poker. Plus there s always a book in the works. (My new Rule Book from ConJelCo should be out in June or July, finally!). And I have a family with whom I love to spend time. Then there s golf. Can t have life without golf. So I don t have time to post here often, but I do stop into rgp from time-to-time to peruse the latest in flames :-) Of all that I have read here over the years, perhaps the most interesting things have been the GCA posts on cheating. I recently wrote two articles about cheating in poker in a general way. (http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_maga...name/Roy_Cooke). These articles stirred a lot of conversation and mail. Fact is though, that there s lots more I could have said, but for a variety of reasons, including space limitations, I didn t. The bottom line is that cheating exists, is probably less prevalent than most players think, and the industry has a vested interest (these days things were different in the old days) in keeping the games honest. Some of the things I might have said have already been said by Russ. I have been playing poker a long time, and I have known Russ Georgiev longer than that. As a young teen I had visions of being a champion bowler. Russ was a top bowler in the Pacific Northwest at that time, and I bowled against him in pot games at Magic Lanes. (I lost.) Later when I started sneaking into poker rooms at 15, Russ was there. And his reputation way back then was much what he has told you all as a person who knew more than the average bear about cheating, and reputedly wasn t bashful about using what he knew. We were never friends but we knew each other in more than passing. I also ran into him at the table from time-to-time over the last three decades in LA and Vegas. Usually when he sat down I figured it was time to get up. Not that I knew I d get cheated by him, but I suspected I might. I am sure of one thing though: When Russ tells you he s an expert on cheating, he ain t lying. Russ is by nature a fellow given to exaggeration and hyperbole. (I have a few friends with the same tendencies.) He tends to overstate the case to make his point. But that doesn t mean the case should be ignored. I do not know that every detail of cheating described by Russ is true. When he describes specific incidents, I wasn t there and I don t know though I have heard some of the same stories Russ has told from other (more?) credible sources. I would guess there is at least a kernel of truth in a lot of Russ s accusations. The fact that when he names names he doesn t get sued is telling to me, although I have been told by some the reason they don t sue is that they could never collect. Mind you, this is not a blanket endorsement of everything Russ says there s lots I just don t have knowledge about. Further, there are differences among what you think is true, what you know is true and what you can prove is true. It concerns me some that Russ doesn t always differentiate these. He treats all three with equal dignity; he doesn t distinguish between a fact and a belief ----- a belief which may or may not in truth be a fact, but which in either case cannot be dispositively established. But the man does know his stuff on this subject. Also, to any person Russ has pointed a finger at I know that some of his accusations are true, I believe some of his other accusations are true, and many of his accusations I have no personal knowledge of. It s likely that in some cases he s incorrect. I m not necessarily talking about YOU. Here s the bottom line if you re playing $10-$20 or lower, to the extent there are cheaters they tend to be incompetent and get little edge. As you play higher, the likelihood of being effectively cheated grows with each level you step up. If you play VERY high regularly (I m guessing most rgpers don t) it is almost a certainty that you will eventually run into some form of cheating. In tournaments, you want to know who is playing the same money and as with ring play the higher the stakes, the more risk you have. On the Internet, you really want to play sites with published procedures for stopping cheats, especially if you play $15-$30 and higher. Don t just rely on celebrity spokesmen affiliated with a site ask exactly how they protect you. Also if you suspect collusion do yourself, the game and everybody else a favor and report it right away with the players names and the hand number of the suspicious hand. Russ s pokermafia site is the only place in the world I know of that regularly posts information about cheats and protecting against cheats. And though he certainly has a history as a slimeball (which is a big part of why he is so credible on this subject), and though he is prone to exaggeration the higher you play the more you need to pay attention to much of what he has to say. Russ, I ain t particularly interested in being friends but when you re right you re right. And since I m sort of launching my own attack on cheaters I figured you deserved the courtesy of me saying so. You said it publicly first and loudest. I won t be posting again on this thread, though I will stop in from time-to-time to see what y all have to say. In between my three jobs and occasional websurfing, including stops at pokermafia.com to help keep me on top of protecting myself against being cheated. And of course, golf. Life is Good :-) Roy Cooke I am sometimes still in awe shock at the how rampant cheating is at poker, but when respected figures like Cooke and Caro speak up against the grain, I can't help but nod my head. Surprisingly enough, I often find that higher level forms ofcheating does not get discussed often enough here on 2+2. Lawrence |
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